Sunday, Sep 7, 2008
Microsoft, beware: Linux fans are hell-bent on world domination.
May 30, 1998 | Larry Augustin doesn't look like a holy warrior. Clean-cut and slightly harried, the president and co-founder of VA Research wears the classic demeanor of the overworked businessman who's more concerned with shipping product on time than with leading a crusade.
And he should be concerned: VA Research manufactures personal computers pre-loaded with Linux -- the free software operating system created by a loosely linked international band of volunteer hacker software developers. Customers are clamoring. The 15-employee company, says Augustin, is growing at a rate of more than 10 percent a month -- "We're completely overwhelmed," he sighs.
But he's not complaining. The enthusiasm for the so-called Linux PC is one more sign that Linux is for real -- that it's not just an operating system for hacker hobbyists, |ber-geeks and inveterate Microsoft-haters. And for Linux advocates like Augustin, that kind of proof must be immensely satisfying. Because despite his businesslike mien, he is a crusader. At VA Research, the bottom line isn't the only thing that counts; the company also serves the greater glory of Linux -- its inexorable march to "world domination," as Linux devotees put it.
Linux isn't just an operating system: It's a way of life. And increasingly, its fans are pushing it as a way of life for everyone -- not just for the power computer users who have traditionally been the biggest Linux boosters, but also for the average consumer. More and more, Linux acolytes are positioning the operating system as a credible alternative to Microsoft Windows for the teeming computer masses -- those hundreds of millions of users who could not care less about access to "command-line interfaces" or the joy of writing your own shell script.
Can Linux go mainstream? It certainly won't be easy. As the preface to the standard Linux installation guide reads: "[Linux is] one of the most complex and utterly intimidating systems ever written." Sure, it's powerful, it's fast and, best of all, free -- but that doesn't mean it's a snap to use.
To take any chunk out of Microsoft's market share, Linux must solve "the desktop problem": Newbie computer users must be able to find their way around and use their favorite applications without fuss, yet at the same time Linux must preserve the flexibility and openness that is its hallmark.
Not a simple task. A year ago, few people would even have considered it worth tackling. And even now, most industry observers cavalierly dismiss the likelihood that Linux will ever escape the geek ghetto. But within the "Linux advocacy" community, ambitions run unchecked. Right now, Linux developers are tackling the desktop problem with the same ferocity that has propelled the development of each previous layer of Linux software.
Huge obstacles lie ahead, not the least of which is Microsoft itself. But one should never underestimate the cooperative power of passionate programmers working in the tradition of free software. First they gave us the Internet (which, like Linux, was once deemed too complex and geeky for the general public), and now they want to give us Linux -- if not today, then tomorrow.
"We're not interested in Linux only running on the Web server machine in the back room," says Larry Augustin. "Everyone in the Linux world wants to win the desktop."
"Everyone understands that desktop efforts are essential to world domination," says Todd Lewis, maintainer of the frequently asked question file for GNOME, one of the major contenders for the leading role of the Linux desktop interface. "If you want to beat Germany, then bomb Berlin, and if you want to beat Microsoft, attack the desktop."
Will the assault succeed?
"Yes," says Bob Young, CEO of Red Hat, the market leader in commercially sold Linux distributions. "Categorically. There is not a doubt in our minds."
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