[azipa] NYTimes.com Article: Developers of Linux Software Planning
Assault on Microsoft (fwd)
der.hans
PLUGd@LuftHans.com
Mon, 14 Aug 2000 17:13:54 -0700 (MST)
moin, moin,
Solaris is gonna start using the Gnome desktop. Pretty cool.
ciao,
der.hans
--
# der.hans@LuftHans.com home.pages.de/~lufthans/ www.Opnix.com
# Only wimps use tape backup: _real_ men just upload their important
# stuff on ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it. -- Linus Torvalds
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 13:07:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: jpowell@interactcommerce.com
To: azipa@egroups.com
Subject: [azipa] NYTimes.com Article: Developers of Linux Software Planning
Assault on Microsoft
This article from NYTimes.com
has been sent to you by Julie Powell jpowell@interactcommerce.com.
AZIPA
Julie Powell
jpowell@interactcommerce.com
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Developers of Linux Software Planning Assault on Microsoft
August 14, 2000
By JOHN MARKOFF
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 13 -- A group of key Linux software developers
and major computer manufacturers are planning to announce on
Tuesday at a Silicon Valley computer conference the first effort
to compete directly with Microsoft's Office suite of applications
for the personal computer.
Until now, the free Linux operating system has had its greatest
impact in the computer server market, where many Internet service
providers and World Wide Web applications and service companies
routinely use the program.
While Linux has gained ground on the PC desktop as an alternative
to Microsoft's Windows operating system, which holds a large
share of the market, it has not yet been used more widely by
businesses and consumers because it has not developed the wide
application support enjoyed by both Windows and Apple Computer's
Macintosh operating system.
That may soon change. On Tuesday, a group of Linux organizations
will announce the creation of the Gnome Foundation, which will
have the support of I.B.M., Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, Sun
Microsystems and several other major computer vendors.
The foundation plans to announce a set of initiatives, including
a unified desktop user interface and a set of productivity
programs intended to compete as a free alternative to Microsoft
Office.
Gnome is a set of software standards developed by an
international group of programmers led by Miguel de Icaza. The
Gnome software has been gaining momentum in both the Linux and Unix
communities as a way to offer a common software development
environment for programmers.
Sun Microsystems also plans to announce that it will adopt the
Gnome desktop user interface for its Solaris operating system. The
move is part of the Linux effort to create a larger market for
application developers.
Last month, the company announced that it was releasing the
source code for its StarOffice software, allowing programmers
around the world to alter the software and share their work.
The announcements to be made on Tuesday underscore both the
progress that Linux has made toward becoming a viable alternative
to Windows and the challenges that remain in persuading business
and consumer computer users to adopt the free operating system.
Until now, the Linux system has had its greatest impact in the
server market.
"What they're doing is extremely valuable," said Dan Dusnetzky, a
computer industry analyst at the International Data Corporation, a
market research firm. "However, there's a bigger issue that has
not been addressed yet and that is the availability of the most
popular desktop applications on Linux."
While Linux currently has about a 24 percent share of the server
market, Microsoft's Windows has an 88 percent share of the desktop
PC marketplace, while Apple's Macintosh has a 5 percent share.
Linux developers say that while progress until now has been
limited, they are confident they can now rapidly close the gap on
Microsoft.
"By the end of the year, we will have a desktop software
operating system that compares favorably with Windows," said Mike
Boiche, chairman of the Eazel Corporation. The company, founded
by former Macintosh programmers, has been developing software
called Nautilus, which is being integrated into the Gnome user
interface for Linux. It is intended to make Linux as simple to
use as Windows or Macintosh.
A variety of announcements intended to consolidate the momentum
for the Linux operating system are planned for LinuxWorld, the
conference scheduled to begin on Tuesday in San Jose, Calif.
On Friday, Hewlett-Packard said that it planned to make Linux its
third "strategic" operating system in addition to Windows and
HP-UX, its own version of the Unix operating system.
The Tuesday meeting itself will feature a keynote address by
Michael S. Dell, chairman of Dell Computer, and will include an
announcement from I.B.M. that it will make a Gnome version of
Linux available on its Thinkpad portable computers as a user
option.
Compaq is also planning to announce that it will make a version of
its hand-held iPaq computer available with the Gnome Linux
operating system on Tuesday.
Henzai, a start-up manufacturer of hand-held and Internet
computing devices, also plans to announce its support for the
Gnome desktop software.
Several executives who support Linux said they now felt
confident that the free software world will soon have a direct
competitor to Windows on the PC desktop.
"A year ago, we were missing the last mile," said Nat Friedman,
president of Helixcode, the Cambridge, Mass., developer of Gnome
and a set of PC applications. "But at the end of this year my mom
could install Helix Gnome and Sun's StarOffice and have a total
office environment."
The New York Times on the Web
http://www.nytimes.com
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