On Aug 4, 4:26 pm, Roy Schestowitz <newsgro...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> How much RMS has won
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Just returning from the iCommons Summit in Sapporo, Japan. The Free Beer
> | project made a showing, with a locally brewed version. But this ad caught my
> | eye: "Free Beer" for "500 yen."
> `----
> http://lessig.org/blog/2008/08/how_much_rms_has_won.html
The irony is that prior to Linux, you would have had to pay about 10
times the price of a PC for a Sun SparcStation, or an HP-9000
workstation. A typical Unix workstation often costs $10,000 to
$25,000.
Linux made the same core technology available on low-cost PCs, making
it possible to get the same performance as the $10-25K UNIX systems on
a low-cost PC costing less than $1,000.
I remember the first time I installed Linux on a PC. SLS Linux had
Open Look Virtual Window Manager (OLVWM) which had the same look and
feel as a $10,000 Sun workstation. My boss almost went through the
roof and wanted to know how I obsconded with a Sun workstation. When
I told him it was Linux, and that it was running on an 80386/16 PC
that I had rescued from the recycler, he was quite impressed.
The 80486/DX100 was almost 20 times faster than that old 80386 , and
almost twice as fast as the Sun workstation. In addition, the S3
video chip supported 1600x1200 resolution if you had a monitor capable
of displaying it.
> Recent:
> Alfresco CEO John Powell on the Value of Free
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | To John Powell, CEO of Alfresco Software, free is worth billions -- $60
> | billion, to be exact.
He should multiply by about 100. to about $6 trillion. Linux and Open
Source software have established and protected the standards which
allowed the commercialization of the Internet, which generates over $6
trillion per year in global revenue.
Open Source also powers most of the routers, switches, gateways,
firewalls, and core systems used on the Internet, even the back-end
systems.
> | That's the value Powell sees in the open source
> | software market when one looks at what companies save by using it.
Open Source has already made huge impacts on millions of businesses
around the world, through servers, established standards, and
integration with standards.
Even proprietary applications like Lotus Notes, WebSphere, and
Sametime have Open Source components in key roles. These include the
Apache Server (IHS), Xerces XML parser for Java, the SAX and DOM
models for XML, Jakarta, Struts, J2EE, LDAP servers. The OSS
applications and components were accelerated by proprietary code
generators and wizards that helped to accelerate the development, but
the core engines were OSS.
> | Powell says OSS deployment in big business is ready to grow fast.
We're seeing a push toward more OSS on the desktop, and even Linux on
the desktop. IBM Calls it "Open Collaboration", and the key is the
focus on increased productivity through improved collaboration. Linux/
OSS is widely used on projects staffed by global teams. Many of these
collaboration tools were developed by Linux developers for Linux and
OSS projects, and the collaboration tools were just a byproduct.
IBM has again contributed a huge pool of OSS software such as Eclipse,
and combined it with their own familiar tools to create Notes 8,
Symphony, and WebSphere and Rational development tools.
Because the core infrastructure is OSS based, and the core Linux
provides a strategic high productivity platform, there are fewer
issues of incompatibility. A user of Notes 8 and Symphony can
communicate effectively with a client using Thunderbird and Open
Office.
But IBM isn't the only contributor. HP and Sun have also been big OSS
contributors, and have also been generating some huge revenues, not in
direct royalties from OSS software, but from support, enhanced
tooling, and consulting as well as servers and operational support.
Many of Microsoft's former partners have also turned to OSS
technology, including Borland, Corel, and several others. Even Adobe
is now supporting Linux.
> http://www.linuxinsider.com/rsstory/63544.html
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