May 2008 Archives
By Mark Hinkle
There was a time when I thought the Linux desktop was going to take a market share at least equal to Apple's. Maybe even 5% or 10% of the total desktop market. I had high hopes that the One Laptop Per Child Initiative would put Linux laptops in the hands of impressionable young minds who would never have the chance to become dependent on Windows. Though that plan has fallen through the cracks. I don't hate Microsoft Windows I just don't have a desire to see any operating system dominate the market in such a way that the lack of competition stifles innovation and forces users into an endless upgrade cycle, offering progressively smaller incremental value.
There's some disagreement in the community on just who that target audience is. The big commercial vendors like to hit the "low-hanging fruit": the few but massive enterprise players in the world who stand to gain from Linux use and--let's face it--generate the most revenue dollars. On the other end of the spectrum, there's the call for the ubiquitous "Desktop"--the be-all, end-all interface that everyone, including our grandmothers, can use instead of the hated Windows products.
Somehow, one would think, there should be a compromise between these two extremes.
I remember when the big open source debate was whether a piece of software was really open source, meaning it was released under an OSI-approved license.
I met Black Duck CEO, Doug Levin back in October 2003 at the Enterprise Linux Forum in Washington D.C. I instantly liked him. He was just starting Black Duck Software and as a ex-Microsoftie talking about IP assurance I wasn't convinced about the bright future of his business. However, I enjoyed meeting Doug and wished him the best of luck and went on my way.
It wasn't long before Doug's venture received funding and support from Red Hat who also invested in the business, a telling sign. Black Duck has grown to be a leading global provider of products and services for accelerating software development through the managed use of open source and third-party code.
I have been tinkering with brew your own home DVRs for years with limited success. I have gone through various incarnations MythTV, Mac OS running proprietary software, even a painful weekend with MIcrosoft Media Center.
At LinuxFestNW this weekend I ran into a company, Zareason, that sells computers with Ubuntu pre-installed. Not just desktops but laptops that have camera's, wi-fi, and support for power management of modern laptops.