It's quickly -- and usually quietly -- spreading into more and more services and devices, from e-mail to cars !
A revolution is quietly sweeping consumer technology, and its name is Linux. Burrowed deep within a widening range of products is the upstart operating system that's available free over the Internet and has been giving software giant Microsoft a run for its money in the area of desktop PCs.
Maybe you're not one of the open-source zealots who downloads and maintains a Linux desktop at home, all the while thumbing your nose at Bill Gates & Co. Maybe you don't even know what open source is. But chances are you're part of the uprising. And if you're not now, you will be soon.
Linux and other kinds of open-source software are cropping up in a host of everyday devices and technologies -- from the original TiVo digital video recorder to cell phones made by Motorola. Surf the Net much? (Since you're reading this, the answer is probably yes.) Open-source code is at the root of the increasingly popular FireFox browser. In fact, a big chunk of the Web itself is run by Linux and open-source software like the Apache Web Server and MySQL database.
What's behind all this? For starters, back-breaking technical work by engineers at individual companies and third-party Linux distributors such as MontaVista. Plus, groups like Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) and the CE Linux Forum that are marshaling resources to turn Linux, which traces its roots to the software running massive mainframe computers, into an operating system small enough to run on the tiniest phones and other devices.
For product manufacturers, the appeal of open source is clear. Unlike with corporate computing and PCs, there's little standardization in the software used in a lot of consumer electronics and other products. Even in the same company, legions of in-house engineers may write and support dozens of different architectures and operating systems. That's expensive and inefficient.
So in the case of simple operating systems -- say, the ones used in automotive anti lock brakes -- it makes sense to rely on an outside vendor, much like the way companies buy computer chips from a third party. Likewise, when it comes to phones and consumer devices that are becoming more like mini-computers, Linux can provide a more robust operating system with a built-in base of developers who can write games and other applications.
And you can't beat the price. Though Linux isn't free when you factor in training, service, and support, it's typically cheaper than alternatives.
Benefits or no, Linux still faces plenty of resistance. While many information-technology professionals have come to see open source as something respectable -- even indispensable, some consumers and makers of products for general use still view it as unreliable and hard to maintain, or even subversive. "It has this reputation as a hacker operating system, as something that geeks do in their spare time over the Internet," says Rick Merrit, editor at large of trade publication EE Times. "People want these devices to be very reliable."
Even Linus Torvalds, the Finnish programmer who started Linux in 1991, concedes that it faces big psychological barriers when it comes to phones and devices. "It will take them a while to be entirely comfortable with it," he said of consumer-electronics makers in an interview with Business Week Online late last year. "The same way it took the server-side companies a while to get used to the notion of open source a few years ago" .
So don't expect many device makers to promote products as running "Linux Inside" any time soon. Nor are open-source backers likely push for it. After all, one of the big advantages of Linux over Microsoft is that it doesn't require product branding, says William Weinberg of the OSDL. Until the Linux name gets too popular to be played down, open source may remain consumer companies' best-kept secret.
Maybe you're not one of the open-source zealots who downloads and maintains a Linux desktop at home, all the while thumbing your nose at Bill Gates & Co. Maybe you don't even know what open source is. But chances are you're part of the uprising. And if you're not now, you will be soon.
Linux and other kinds of open-source software are cropping up in a host of everyday devices and technologies -- from the original TiVo digital video recorder to cell phones made by Motorola. Surf the Net much? (Since you're reading this, the answer is probably yes.) Open-source code is at the root of the increasingly popular FireFox browser. In fact, a big chunk of the Web itself is run by Linux and open-source software like the Apache Web Server and MySQL database.
What's behind all this? For starters, back-breaking technical work by engineers at individual companies and third-party Linux distributors such as MontaVista. Plus, groups like Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) and the CE Linux Forum that are marshaling resources to turn Linux, which traces its roots to the software running massive mainframe computers, into an operating system small enough to run on the tiniest phones and other devices.
For product manufacturers, the appeal of open source is clear. Unlike with corporate computing and PCs, there's little standardization in the software used in a lot of consumer electronics and other products. Even in the same company, legions of in-house engineers may write and support dozens of different architectures and operating systems. That's expensive and inefficient.
So in the case of simple operating systems -- say, the ones used in automotive anti lock brakes -- it makes sense to rely on an outside vendor, much like the way companies buy computer chips from a third party. Likewise, when it comes to phones and consumer devices that are becoming more like mini-computers, Linux can provide a more robust operating system with a built-in base of developers who can write games and other applications.
And you can't beat the price. Though Linux isn't free when you factor in training, service, and support, it's typically cheaper than alternatives.
Benefits or no, Linux still faces plenty of resistance. While many information-technology professionals have come to see open source as something respectable -- even indispensable, some consumers and makers of products for general use still view it as unreliable and hard to maintain, or even subversive. "It has this reputation as a hacker operating system, as something that geeks do in their spare time over the Internet," says Rick Merrit, editor at large of trade publication EE Times. "People want these devices to be very reliable."
Even Linus Torvalds, the Finnish programmer who started Linux in 1991, concedes that it faces big psychological barriers when it comes to phones and devices. "It will take them a while to be entirely comfortable with it," he said of consumer-electronics makers in an interview with Business Week Online late last year. "The same way it took the server-side companies a while to get used to the notion of open source a few years ago" .
So don't expect many device makers to promote products as running "Linux Inside" any time soon. Nor are open-source backers likely push for it. After all, one of the big advantages of Linux over Microsoft is that it doesn't require product branding, says William Weinberg of the OSDL. Until the Linux name gets too popular to be played down, open source may remain consumer companies' best-kept secret.
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