This post was caught in the filters:
Date: Wed, 28 May 2003 21:53:49 -0400
From: Greg Schmidt <slugmail@gschmidt.net>
To: slug@nks.net
Subject: The ponytail versus the penguin
I found this article in The Economist, but I don't think the link will
work.
http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1795930
When I tried, it told me I needed to _subscribe_. Since I am
_subscribed_, I can quote it in its entirety below. The folks at The
Economist have a very finely honed sense of journalistic duty and an
according sense of fair use, so I don't think they'll mind me sending
this article to this list. I think they are the kind of journalists
that make other journalists proud to call themselves journalists. The
article provides some nuances on the MS/SCO/Linux/IBM and perhaps
surprisingly, Sun, controversy that both the US main-stream press and
the geek-press might be missing, besides doing a decent job of
summarizing the relevant points in as few words as possible.
Quote begins here.
Face value
The ponytail versus the penguin
May 22nd 2003
From The Economist print edition
Does Sun's Jonathan Schwartz have a better strategy than Microsoft's for
surviving the threat of free software?
HOW can you compete with something given away free? That has been the
question dogging big software firms, above all Microsoft, ever since
free (open-source) programs made it into the mainstream-notably
Linux, which is now a serious rival to costly proprietary operating
systems such as Microsoft's Windows. It has also been the chief headache
for Jonathan Schwartz since Sun Microsystems put him in charge of its
software business a year ago. Although there has long been speculation
that Linux might one day kill Windows, Sun has always seemed a more
plausible, and imminent, victim of free software. But the Silicon Valley
firm is now fighting back: a new approach, the product of Mr Schwartz's
labours, was unveiled on May 19th.
Interupt quote.
A picture of Mr. Jonathan Schwartz ran with the article and is here:
http://www.gschmidt.net/images/Jonathan_Schwartz_in_The_Economist.jpg
Resume quote.
Aged 37 and pony-tailed, Mr Schwartz might easily be mistaken for a
hacker, or even for one of the Young Turks who developed Linux just for
the hell of it-though he also shares the aggression and feistiness for
which his boss, Scott McNealy, is well known. He joined Sun in 1996 when
it bought his software firm, Lighthouse Design. After that, he was the
driving force behind the Liberty Alliance, an industry group developing
a rival method to Microsoft Passport for securely and easily moving
personal details around the internet. Seasoned observers of the industry
are impressed by his grasp of the complicated beast that is software.
But will even that be enough?
Ironically, for Sun, in contrast to Microsoft, Linux has been less a
software than a hardware challenge. Yes, the program is free-but many
firms use it mainly because it allows them to buy cheap servers powered
by Intel chips rather than more expensive Sun boxes. Since Sun's
flagship Solaris operating system and Linux are both a variant of Unix,
an operating-system standard, many applications written for the former
can be easily converted to run on the latter. The result is that Sun is
rapidly losing market share to makers of Intel-based servers, mainly
Dell.
At first, Sun dismissed this threat. Then it tried to embrace
Linux--offering its own cheap Intel-based servers running the free
operating system. (Mr McNealy even dressed up as a penguin, the Linux
mascot, at Sun's 2002 analyst meeting.) Yet the new computers were
poorly received. Potential customers doubted that Sun was really serious
about Intel-based machines.
So what is Mr Schwartz's new strategy? In San Francisco this week, Sun
unveiled two new low-priced servers based on Intel chips. It also
revealed that Oracle had agreed to make its software work on these
machines-adding to speculation that Oracle is about to buy Sun. But
much more significant was a subtle but crucial shift in the firm's Linux
strategy: as well as Linux, Sun will now also push an Intel-compatible
version of Solaris.
Mr Schwartz may seem to want to have it both ways. But he is trying to
capitalise on an important trend. Some software users have started to
realise that even Linux is not as free as it appears: for instance, it
has to be maintained and upgraded. Linux is like a puppy-in the
beginning it's great, but you also have to take care of it, says Mr
Schwartz. He hopes that firms will opt for Solaris, because it requires
less care.
Simply put, Mr Schwartz wants to give customers a choice. On the one
hand, he will offer them an open-source solution, which lets them tinker
and benefit from the collective brain power of volunteer developers. On
the other, he will offer a proprietary option for customers worried
about operational costs.
Contrast this with how Sun's arch rival is dealing with the Linux
threat. Microsoft executives no longer call open source a cancer and a
destroyer of intellectual property, at least in public. But, if
anything, the firm has become more aggressive in competing with Linux.
Last week, Microsoft was reported to have set up a special fund to pay
for deep discounts on sales of Windows, to stop governments switching to
Linux. Under NO circumstances lose against Linux, demanded an internal
e-mail.
Restless in Redmond
Microsoft has also, indirectly, aided a lawsuit that could hurt Linux.
On May 19th, it said that it had licensed the rights to Unix
technologies from SCO Group, a small software firm. Earlier this year,
SCO sued IBM, which has made a big commitment to Linux, seeking damages
of at least $1 billion for allegedly sharing its Unix intellectual
property with the Linux community. SCO also sent a letter to 1,500 of
the world's largest firms, saying that they could be liable for their
use of Linux. The lawsuit had seemed to be a ham-fisted attempt by SCO
to get itself bought, or bought off, by Big Blue. But the deal with
Microsoft lends credence to SCO's claims and helps it financially to
press them. If the case (in which, ironically, SCO is represented by
David Boies, who led the antitrust action against Microsoft) drags on,
it is likely to discourage a growing number of firms from using Linux.
So which approach is more promising? It is unlikely that discounts and
spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt (or FUD in geek-speak) will stop
Linuxas long as customers see it as a viable alternative to Windows.
Yet with its $46 billion in cash and its near monopoly on desktop PCs,
where Linux has made little headway, Microsoft seems safe, however daft
its Linux strategy. (Assuming that trustbusters let the firm follow
it-the discounts may violate antitrust law, in Europe if not in
America.)
Conversely, Sun may not have the time to see whether its way of dealing
with Linux works, at least for itself. Such is the perceived threat of
commoditisation to its franchise that it is increasingly seen as a
possible takeover target, with Cisco and IBM, as well as Oracle,
mentioned as possible buyers.
Whatever Sun's fate, Mr Schwartz is probably right that the software
industry will not be taken over by free programs, as some geeks would
like. The main attraction of open source, as he says, is the fact that
it is great for innovation, not its questionable claim to be free.
Copyright © 2003 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All
rights reserved.
Quote ends here.
I can't be sure they misused the term "hacker" in the second paragraph.
Realize this is not technical press and consume the required grain
of
salt. Further, they ran an article celebrating the 30th anniversary of
Ethernet around the same time. I know enough about Ethernet to know
that article must have been co-authored by Miss Information, but maybe a
technology article on the technical merits and demertis of Ethernet as
they have historically evolved was beyond the reach of the fine folks at
The Economist magazine. I hope the article I quoted above is worth the
bandwidth to the list.
And please, if you decide to reply, snip heavily.
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