MESSAGE
| DATE | 2009-01-15 |
| FROM | From: "Michael L. Richardson"
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] =?UTF-8?B?UmU6IFtOWUxYUyAtIEhBTkdPVVRdIFNlZW4gdGhpcz8gIkEgU29mdHc=?=
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Not to worry, NYLXS, INC will make you it's President and visit you in
Sing Sing (at lest send Ruben).
swd wrote:
> By the way, I just read the paragraph below. I never saw this before. Can I
> get arrested? Please don't call a cop!!!
>
> The New York Times
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>
> January 11, 2009
> A Software Populist Who Doesn’t Do Windows
> By ASHLEE VANCE
>
> THEY’RE either hapless pests or the very people capable of overthrowing
> Windows. Take your pick.
>
> In December, hundreds of these controversial software developers gathered for
> one week at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. They came from
> all over the world, sporting many of the usual signs of software mercenaries:
> jeans, ponytails, unruly facial hair and bloodshot eyes.
>
> But rather than preparing to code for the highest bidder, the developers were
> coordinating their largely volunteer effort to try to undermine Microsoft’s
> Windows operating system for PCs, which generated close to $17 billion in
> sales last year.
>
> All the fuss at the meeting centered on something called Ubuntu and a man
> named Mark Shuttleworth, the charismatic 35-year-old billionaire from South
> Africa who functions as the spiritual and financial leader of this coding
> clan.
>
> Created just over four years ago, Ubuntu (pronounced oo-BOON-too) has emerged
> as the fastest-growing and most celebrated version of the Linux operating
> system, which competes with Windows primarily through its low, low price: $0.
>
> More than 10 million people are estimated to run Ubuntu today, and they
> represent a threat to Microsoft’s hegemony in developed countries and perhaps
> even more so in those regions catching up to the technology revolution.
>
> “If we’re successful, we would fundamentally change the operating system
> market,†Mr. Shuttleworth said during a break at the gathering, the Ubuntu
> Developer Summit. “Microsoft would need to adapt, and I don’t think that
> would be unhealthy.â€
>
> Linux is free, but there is still money to be made for businesses flanking the
> operating system. Companies like I.B.M., Hewlett-Packard and Dell place Linux
> on more than 10 percent of the computers they sell as servers, and businesses
> pay the hardware makers and others, like the software sellers Red Hat and
> Oracle, to fix any problems and keep their Linux-based systems up to date.
>
> But Canonical, Mr. Shuttleworth’s company that makes Ubuntu, has decided to
> focus its near-term aspirations on the PCs used by workers and people at
> home.
>
> The notion of a strong Linux-based competitor to Windows and, to a lesser
> extent, Apple’s Mac OS X has been an enduring dream of advocates of
> open-source software. They champion the idea that software that can be freely
> altered by the masses can prove cheaper and better than proprietary code
> produced by stodgy corporations. Try as they might, however, Linux zealots
> have failed in their quest to make Linux mainstream on desktop and notebook
> computers. The often quirky software remains in the realm of geeks, not
> grandmothers.
>
> With Ubuntu, the devotees believe, things might finally be different.
>
> “I think Ubuntu has captured people’s imaginations around the Linux desktop,â€
> said Chris DiBona, the program manager for open-source software at Google.
> “If there is a hope for the Linux desktop, it would be them.â€
>
> Close to half of Google’s 20,000 employees use a slightly modified version of
> Ubuntu, playfully called Goobuntu.
>
> PEOPLE encountering Ubuntu for the first time will find it very similar to
> Windows. The operating system has a slick graphical interface, familiar menus
> and all the common desktop software: a Web browser, an e-mail program,
> instant-messaging software and a free suite of programs for creating
> documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
>
> While relatively easy to use for the technologically savvy, Ubuntu — and all
> other versions of Linux — can challenge the average user. Linux cannot run
> many applications created for Windows, including some of the most popular
> games and tax software, for example. And updates to Linux can send ripples of
> problems through the system, causing something as basic as a computer’s
> display or sound system to malfunction.
>
> Canonical has tried to smooth out many of the issues that have prevented Linux
> from reaching the mainstream. This attention to detail with a desktop version
> of Linux contrasts with the focus of the largest sellers of the operating
> system, Red Hat and Novell. While these companies make desktop versions, they
> have spent most of their time chasing the big money in data centers. As a
> result, Ubuntu emerged as a sort of favored nation for those idealistic
> software developers who viewed themselves as part of a countercultural
> movement.
>
> “It is the same thing companies like Apple and Google have done well, which is
> build not just a community but a passionate community,†said Ian Murdock, who
> created an earlier version of Linux called Debian, on which Ubuntu is based.
>
> Mainstream technology companies have taken notice of the enthusiasm around
> Ubuntu. Dell started to sell PCs and desktops with the software in 2007, and
> I.B.M. more recently began making Ubuntu the basis of a software package that
> competes against Windows.
>
> Canonical, based in London, has more than 200 full-time employees, but its
> total work force stretches well beyond that, through an army of volunteers.
> The company paid for close to 60 volunteers to attend its developer event,
> considering them important contributors to the operating system. An
> additional 1,000 work on the Debian project and make their software available
> to Canonical, while 5,000 spread information about Ubuntu on the Internet.
> And 38,000 have signed up to translate the software into different languages.
>
> When a new version of the operating system becomes available, Ubuntu devotees
> pile onto the Internet, often crippling Web sites that distribute the
> software. And hundreds of other organizations, mostly universities, also help
> in the distribution.
>
> The technology research firm IDC estimates that 11 percent of American
> businesses have systems based on Ubuntu. That said, many of the largest
> Ubuntu customers have cropped up in Europe, where Microsoft’s dominance has
> endured intense regulatory and political scrutiny.
>
> The Macedonian education department relies on Ubuntu, providing 180,000 copies
> of the operating system to children, while the Spanish school system has
> 195,000 Ubuntu desktops. In France, the National Assembly and the Gendarmerie
> Nationale, the military police force, rely on Ubuntu for a combined 80,000
> PCs. “The word ‘free’ was very important,†said Rudy Salles, vice president
> of the assembly, noting that it allowed the legislature to abandon Microsoft.
>
> Without question, Ubuntu’s rapid rise has been aided by the fervor surrounding
> Linux. But it’s Mr. Shuttleworth and his flashy lifestyle that generate much
> of the attention Ubuntu receives. While he favors casual attire matching the
> developers’, some of his activities, including a trip to space, are hardly
> ordinary.
>
> “Look, I have a very privileged life, right?†Mr. Shuttleworth said. “I am a
> billionaire, bachelor, ex-cosmonaut. Life couldn’t easily be that much
> better. Being a Linux geek sort of brings balance to the force.â€
>
> The first installment of Mr. Shuttleworth’s fortune arrived after he graduated
> from the University of Cape Town in 1995 with a business degree.
>
> He had been paying bills by operating a small technology consulting company,
> setting up Linux servers for companies to run their Web sites and other basic
> operations. His business leanings and technology background inspired him to
> try to capitalize on the rising interest in the Internet.
>
> “I’m more of an academic than a cut-and-thrust wheeler-dealer,†he said. “I
> was very interested in how the Internet was changing commerce and was
> determined to pursue it.â€
>
> Mr. Shuttleworth decided to start a company called Thawte Consulting
> (pronounced like “thoughtâ€) in 1995 that provided digital certificates, a
> security mechanism that browsers use to verify the identity of companies. As
> a 23-year-old, he visited Netscape to promote a broad standard for these
> certificates. Netscape, then the leading browser maker, bought into it, and
> Microsoft, which makes the Internet Explorer browser, followed.
>
> As dot-com mania surged, companies became interested in this profitable
> outfit, based in South Africa. In 1999, VeriSign, which manages a number of
> Internet infrastructure services, bought Thawte for $575 million. (Mr.
> Shuttleworth had turned down an offer of $100 million a few months earlier.)
>
> Having owned all of Thawte, Mr. Shuttleworth, the son of a surgeon and a
> kindergarten teacher, became very wealthy at just 26.
>
> So what’s a newly minted millionaire to do? Mr. Shuttleworth looked to the
> stars. Paying an estimated $20 million to Russian officials, he secured a
> 10-day trip to space and the International Space Station on the Soyuz TM-34
> in 2002 and became the first “Afronaut,†as the press described him.
>
> “After selling the company, it wasn’t a blowout yachts and blondes situation,â€
> he said. “It was very clear that I was in a unique situation where I should
> choose to do things that were not possible otherwise.â€
>
> In the following years, Mr. Shuttleworth set up venture capital and charitable
> organizations. Through investments in the United States, Africa and Europe,
> he says, he has amassed a fortune of more than $1 billion.
>
> He spends 90 percent of his time, however, working on Canonical, which he
> considers another project that challenges what’s possible.
>
> “I have done well with investing, but it has never felt very fulfilling,†he
> said. “I fear getting to the end of my life and feeling you haven’t actually
> built something. And to do something people thought was impossible is
> attractive.â€
>
> CANONICAL’S model makes turning a profit difficult.
>
> Many open-source companies give away a free version of their software that has
> some limitations, while selling a full-fledged version along with
> complementary services for keeping the software up to date. Canonical gives
> away everything, including its top product, then hopes that companies will
> still turn to it for services like managing large groups of servers and
> desktops instead of handling everything themselves with in-house experts.
>
> Canonical also receives revenue from companies like Dell that ship computers
> with Ubuntu and work with it on software engineering projects like adding
> Linux-based features to laptops. All told, Canonical’s annual revenue is
> creeping toward $30 million, Mr. Shuttleworth said.
>
> That figure won’t worry Microsoft.
>
> But Mr. Shuttleworth contends that $30 million a year is self-sustaining
> revenue, just what he needs to finance regular Ubuntu updates. And a free
> operating system that pays for itself, he says, could change how people view
> and use the software they touch everyday.
>
> “Are we creating world peace or fundamentally changing the world? No,†he
> said. “But we could shift what people expect and the amount of innovation per
> dollar they expect.â€
>
> Microsoft had an estimated 10,000 people working on Vista, its newest desktop
> operating system, for five years. The result of this multibillion-dollar
> investment has been a product late to market and widely panned.
>
> Canonical, meanwhile, releases a fresh version of Ubuntu every six months,
> adding features that capitalize on the latest advances from developers and
> component makers like Intel. The company’s model centers on outpacing
> Microsoft on both price and features aimed at new markets.
>
> “It feels pretty clear to me that the open process produces better stuff,†Mr.
> Shuttleworth said. Such talk from a man willing to finance software for the
> masses — and by the masses — inspires those who see open source as more of a
> cause than a business model.
>
> In his spare time, Agostino Russo, for example, who works for a hedge fund at
> Moore Europe Capital Management in London, created a program called Wubi that
> allows Ubuntu to be installed on computers running Windows.
>
> “I always thought that open source is a very important socioeconomic
> movement,†Mr. Russo said.
>
> Ultimately, however, parts of Mr. Shuttleworth’s venture continue to look
> quixotic. Linux remains rough around the edges, and Canonical’s business
> model seems more like charity than the next great business story. And even if
> the open Ubuntu proves a raging success, the operating system will largely be
> used to reach proprietary online services from Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and
> others.
>
> “Mark is very genuine and fundamentally believes in open source,†said Matt
> Asay, a commentator on open-source technology and an executive at the
> software maker Alfresco. “But I think he’s going to have a crisis of faith at
> some point.â€
>
> Mr. Asay wonders if Canonical can sustain its “give everything away†model and
> “always open†ideology.
>
> Canonical shows no signs of slowing down or changing course anytime soon.
>
> “We already have a sense of where we need to compete with Windows,†Mr.
> Shuttleworth said. “Now the question is if we can create something that is
> stylish and stunning.â€
>
> In his personal life, he continues to test what is possible, requesting that a
> fiber-optic connection be installed to his house on the border of London’s
> affluent Chelsea and South Kensington neighborhoods.
>
> “I want to find out what it’s like to have a gigabit connection to the home,â€
> he said. “It is not because I need to watch porn in high-definition but
> because I want to see what you do differently.â€
>
> He says Canonical is not just a do-gooder project by someone with the time,
> money and inclination to tackle Microsoft head-on. His vision is to make
> Ubuntu the standard for the next couple of billion people who acquire PCs.
>
>
>
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