There's no question that Linux is here to stay. (Supporters say there are 7 million users. Detractors say that there are 125 users and they all spell "rules" as "rulz.") The question is whether it's going to stay the way Windows^TM is staying or the way Star Trek: The Next Generation is staying.

Linux, for those of you who thought civilization had finally settled on Windows, is a Unix-like operating system that is completely in the public domain and is developed, extended and supported by legions of individual hackers when they're not at Star Trek conventions. It is certainly more open than Windows and is also more stable -- it doesn't crash when you have the nerve to run Word and Solitaire simultaneously. And when a program does crash, it doesn't bring the whole system down.

The problem, of course, is that currently there aren't a whole lot of applications running on Linux. For example, the big database companies recently announced that they won't be porting to Linux in the foreseeable future.

[This just in from the wait-a-moment-and-it-will-change department: Oracle and Informix have now announced that they will be introducing Linux versions after all. Guess "the foreseeable future" gets shorter all the time, eh David? -Ed.]

But support is growing. One my favorite 'zines, Tasty Bits from the Technology Front reports that Corel, Inc. is porting its applications, including WordPerfect, to Linux. Of course, Corel has also announced it's shutting down WordPerfect R&D, so this is a bit like taking the movement of "The Nights and Days of Molly Dodd" to the Lifetime channel as a sign of the show's vitality.

[In addition, Netscape has announced plans to port its Messaging and Directory Servers to Linux by Q1 1999; Software AG has already ported Adabas D, its distributed database; Sun Microsystems offers Linux ports of Java Workshop and Windows ABI (a Windows 3.x emulation environment); and Applix, Inc. has ported its Applixware Office suite to the upstart OS. -Ed.]

Notes from Underground

Greg Cavanagh, the Voice of His Generation, contributes (at my request) the following manifesto:

Have you heard Linus [Torvalds], father of Linux, on the radio? Or perhaps caught Corel, Netscape, Java and the virtue of the open source model in the news?  Did you know the Linux kernel can directly run Java classes? Heard the 315th fastest supercomputer in the world is a cluster of Linux PCs? Perhaps Linux is a mystery to you.  I suggest you get to know it.

Linux is evolving to be faster, leaner and meaner.  Computer programmers around the world are working 24/7 to make Linux run on the newest and oldest hardware available.  I cannot name a computer, file system, or programming language that doesn't have a team of experts getting it to work with Linux. Linux can run and network a palm pilot, an MIT wearable, or a supercomputing cluster with unmatched proficiency.  Linux is released, upgraded and repaired world wide all day everyday.  Its growth, versatility, and stability are unparalleled.

Linux has a bad reputation as difficult to learn.  The Linux community continues to simplify interfaces and provides detailed books and how-to documents online.  In fact, Linux is no more difficult to operate than win95.

As the strength of Linux grows so does its user friendliness, with special thanks to ambassador RedHat.  System components can now easily be installed or removed with the RedHat Package Manager (RPM).  Graphical user interfaces are ubiquitous.  However, the code and files behind these windows are sleek and manageable.  More significantly, the tools for remote system installation, administration and upgrading are in place today.

The government is upset with the Microsoft bully, but we don't have to be, thanks to Linux.  The WINE project aims to run win95/NT executables entirely within Linux (and other x86 UNIXes). Soon anyone left with an excuse to run a win95/NT machine will do so with Linux running underneath.  Linux is not going to replace win95/NT,  it will absorb it.  Folks, it is just a matter of time.

Meanwhile, StarOffice will read your Microsoft Word files and Quake  has been ported. The operating system is superior, its support is unmatched, its maintenance is unequaled, and the applications are arriving daily.

Australian Ron [a JOHO regular] put it slightly differently in a recent message:

And that, ultimately, is the reason to root for Linux: it's so damn webby. It's free, it's the result of the largest distributed software development process in history, and it's not owned by anyone. Just like the Web.

In short, it's not a David vs. Goliath story at all. Linux is The People vs. Microsoft, a radical new way to break the grasp of The DeathStar.

Coda

On the other hand, it's so much easier when there's just one serious operating system businesses have to consider. So let's all take off our hats, thank Bill for simplifying our lives, and take whatever he dishes out to us. After all, we deserve it.

The last word - for now - will go to Eric Lundquist who recently wrote in PC Week (July 13) that after writing a column about Linux, his favorite response came from a manager at a big, unnamed company. The manager likes Linux but says that his company "would never put their accounting system on an OS from somebody that they cannot sue -- and get something."

Game, set, match.