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ARCHIVE
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I think we all know that when the song says "The best things in life are free" it is talking about open source software. What is open source software? Good question. Software is written in a programming language, that part is called the source or source code. The source is then compiled into binary language to run on a computer. Think of the source as the Colonel's secret recipe and the binary is like the fried chicken. The source is usually not released with the binary version. Unless of course, the software is open source. Open source software is gaining momentum because it is free and by no coincidence, rock-solid. The source code of open source software is made freely available for anyone to see and work on. But unlike the food analogy, too many cooks do not spoil the broth.
If the source is freely available, anyone can examine, tweak, optimize, and enhance the software. The best part is that any changes made to the source must be made public, at which point the collaboration continues. The software and its source code is still the property of the creator, it is just shared. Linuxgruven Linux is one of the most popular offspring of the open source movement. In March of 1991 and Finnish programmer names Linus Torvalds wanted to develop an operating system to run on his 386 personal computer. He wanted to operating system to be fully compatible with Unix, a product of AT&T's Bell Labs. He released prototypes of his Linux Operating System through email to other programmers. From that point on, programmers developed device drivers, applications, and continually worked on the operating system's core to make it very powerful and very reliable. Linux now runs on many different types of computers from servers to personal computers to set-top boxes. There is even a version known as LinuxPPC which runs on the PowerPC. The PowerPC was jointly developed by Apple, IBM and Motorola modeled after IBM's high end server chip. The PowerPC is the brain inside the Apple Macintosh. Cash, Money, Software? I know what you are thinking, this digital soup kitchen is great for hobbyists but some of us have children to feed. Where's the moolah? How much for the monkey? Believe it or not, people are getting rich from open source software. The software is very powerful and thus, very complex. Many small companies already sell preconfigured Linux servers which will soon be available from larger companies like IBM and Compaq. Young companies like Red Hat, Caldera, and LinuxPPC Inc. also sell binary versions of Linux configured to run on personal computers(accompanied by all the source code, of course). It seems odd to buy free software but what people buy is the work that went into it to make it easy to use and tailored to a specific machine or purpose. Most releases contain the X Window, graphical interface system. But the most significant part of the deal is technical support and extensive documentation that the companies provide. These companies that want to use the free software in commercial products know that when they release the source, it is available to everyone, including their competitors. I feel that this gives them the motivation to crank out innovation of mass proportions and make sure their support is top notch in order to keep their customers loyal. Open Up And Say Aaaaapple! Apple is embracing the open source model of distribution. In March of 1999, when they released Darwin the open sourced foundation of Mac OS X, their new operating system based on the technology acquired with the purchase of NeXT Software. The source code is freely available over the internet. This enables anyone to view the source code, develop applications and make changes to enhance it or even make it run on platforms other than the Mac. Apple even has a compiled binary release available so anyone can run the Darwin OS right away. Darwin contains the Mach microkernel(developed at Carnegie Mellon University), BSD Unix 4.4(developed at Berkeley), various file systems and some technologies that were previously "Apple proprietary." Also part of Darwin is the Darwin Streaming Server for Quicktime. Apple recently built streaming media capability into their Quicktime multimedia authoring and viewing software. The streaming works similar to RealPlayer except the Quicktime's server software is free and open source and there is no per stream tax. Because it is open source, it has already been ported to run on Linux, BSD, Windows NT and Windows 95/98. Apple's involvement in the Open Source Movement isn't just a hand out. Apple views it as a chance to give back to the open source community. As a consumer of Open Source software, they utilize the Mach microkernel, BSD Unix, the Apache web server bundled with Mac OS X Server, and the GNU C Compiler used by Apple and its developers. Other than being the Mother Theresa of software, they also reap the benefits of the combined brain power of volunteer developers across the globe. These developers work for free and thus are motivated by their own passion for software. But Apple isn't simply giving away the store, their crown jewels, the graphic user interface, ease of use technology, and developing environments are still locked inside of their Cupertino campus. Open Hardware? IBM is joining the party of shared technology, not with software, but hardware. As mentioned above, IBM worked with Apple and Motorola to develop the PowerPC microprocessor. The purpose of the collaboration was to create PReP(PowerPC Reference Platform). A hardware platform that was independent of any operating system and could run Mac, Windows, Linux and so on. This attempt failed but the PowerPC was born and was a success. IBM recently announced POP(PowerPC Open Platform) where they will make the design plans for their motherboards freely available thereby allowing anyone to create their motherboard (using IBM chips, of course). One company already announced plans to market computers based on the POP which will run open source operating systems like LinuxPPC or Darwin. Open Source Column? I will now announce my open source initiative. My column is now open source. Go to http://beatnikblues.com/ and read this column along with those of past weeks. Any changes to optimize, tweak or enhance my column must be made freely available in a post on the message board. |
