"Brin incessantly challenged the status quo. Anand Rajaraman's cubicle in the common study area, known as the 'Zoo,' was next to Brin's. In 1994, Rajaraman proudly told Brin he'd acquired a new computer with the latest version of Microsoft Windows. Brin said Microsoft was 'lame,' went to Rajaraman's apartment and installed Linux - a free open-source operating system then almost unheard of.

'He had this kind of cocky self-confidence. He knew it all,' says Rajaraman, now a venture capitalist."

Matt Marshall, The Seattle Times, August 22, 2004



Virtualization Tools Can Halt End-user Meddling

"There are currently only two real commercial contenders for virtualization tools: EMC's VMware, and Microsoft's Virtual PC. Microsoft's offering currently runs only on Windows PCs, while VMware can also run on Linux. Unless Microsoft radically changes its licensing policy, the only cost-effective way of virtualizing your Windows clients will involve Linux as the host OS. Or perhaps Microsoft will incorporate the technology as a standard feature of Windows. Now that would explain Gartner's bullishness, but it couldn't possibly happen. Could it?"

Kelvin Taylor, writing at vnu.net.com, August 24, 2004

Thin-client Desktops Aren't Defunct Yet

"IDC analysts say Linux took as much as 20 percent of the global thin-client market in 2003, with a 43 percent year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter alone. In the commercial sector, companies are fundamentally shifting toward server-centric systems, with officials often using thin clients, according to IDC analysts.

That outlook has drawn traditional PC vendors such as Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. into the thin-client business, joining traditional vendors such as Wyse Technology Inc. and Neoware Systems Inc. Wyse Technology, a leading thin-client vendor, started a group dedicated to federal government business just three years ago and has seen exponential growth in the use of thin clients since then, said Dave Bachman, the company's federal sales manager."

Brian Robertson, writing at fcw.com, 23 August 2004

"Commercial Open Source Should Drop GPL," Says BusinessWeek Correspondent

"Bright as it is, the future of commercial open source might be considerably brighter if Linux and other programs went to a more commerce-friendly license with fewer complexities and ambiguities than the GPL. There's plenty of precedent. The BSD license, the Mozilla Foundation license used for browsers, and the Apache license all provide for free distribution of code and source code with fewer restrictions than the GPL."

Stephen H. Wildstrom, BusinessWeek, August 13, 2004

IBM Eclipses Linux

"IBM has announced a new Eclipse development package for Linux. ...IBM's willingness to engage with open source is laudable and in this it is doing better than many other big software companies we could mention. But let's not confuse it with altruism: it has spotted what it believes will be an important business trend, and is making sure it is not left behind."

Lucy Sherriff, The Register, August 20, 2004


Novell's CEO Messman: "Linux is an IT bright spot"

"One of the bright spots in the information technology market is the popularity of the Linux operating system. Linux momentum is building . . . [and] we remain very positive on this market for the near and long term."

Jack Messman, Novell's chairman and chief executive, during a teleconference, August 20, 2004


Linux, Microsoft, and 'independence'

"Critics frequently lambast Microsoft's use of the word 'independent' to describe certain studies by research firms that compare Windows to the open-source Linux operating system. The main criticism. . . is that Microsoft has paid for many of the studies it cites. Many people would probably say that makes the studies something less than independent. But Microsoft has consistently defended the practice, and the language.

Recently, however, the company began quietly downplaying the word "independent" in its characterization of studies posted on its Get the Facts on Windows and Linux site - the centerpiece of its attempt to show that the total cost of installing, running and maintaining Linux is more than the total cost of doing the same with Windows."

Todd Bishop, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 20, 2004 



"Will I give up Windows...Probably."

"Will I give up Windows altogether? Probably. The more I use Linux, the better I like it despite the challenges. It hasn't crashed; it's immune to Windows viruses; it won't fall victim to spyware, worms or hackers; and it feels (and looks) refreshingly different. But best of all, Linux promises greater choice at less cost. Just give it time to climb more of the Windows mountain."

Michael Pollitt, The Independent (UK), 25 August 2004

[after reading 'Moving to Linux' by Marcel Gagné and trying out the bootable Linux CD-rom that comes with it and turned his PC into a trial Linux system, yet left Windows unharmed.]

Microsoft's Ledgard: "Hell, from their perspective, some of our assaults on Linux are downright insulting."

"In a weblog post, Josh Ledgard, Microsoft's evangelist for Visual Studio, has called for a little more decorum and cooperation between his company and the open source community. 'Engaging the "open source crowd" is something that we have historically neglected,' he wrote. 'Hell, from their perspective, some of our assaults on Linux are downright insulting.' And open source attacks on Microsoft have been equally insulting, he said."

Reported by the Seattle Post Intelligencer, August 24, 2004