Richard Stallman: The Free Software Movement *Is* Politics, Sep 26, 2003

If the idea that the GNU/Linux operating system is about politics comes as a surprise to many of its users today, this is because they have forgotten its origin. The practice of calling the entire system "Linux" has led many to suppose it was started by Linus Torvalds in 1991. (Torvalds developed a kernel which, once freed in 1992, filled the last gap in the nearly complete GNU operating system.) They often say that the GNU project developed "tools," diminishing its real aim.

International Business Machines Corp. has filed new counterclaims against SCO Group Inc. in the closely watched case involving the Linux operating system, according to a memo sent to the IBM sales force.

According to the memo, which was obtained by The Wall Street Journal, the new counterclaim charges that SCO infringed IBM's copyrights by distributing IBM's contributions to Linux after SCO had violated its Linux license by claiming a copyright on parts of Linux.

Jonathan Schwartz, the executive vice president of software at Sun Microsystems, Inc. has been swamped with requests for him to clarify and expand some of the comments he made in a recent interview with eWEEK Senior Editor Peter Galli. Here are his expanded thoughts about the company's Linux strategy, its Solaris operating system, its support for the open-source Linux operating system and its indemnification policies.

eWEEK.com: What do you think of SCO's recent threats to expand its legal actions?

Love: I'm not privy to the information they have. But, it's not the path I, or our group, would have gone down. I think Caldera investors who wanted a quick return pressured the management. They seem to think that short-term, possible gains are more important than long term ones, which is unfortunate.

I don't believe that the suit is good for the company or Linux. I do believe IBM has not played clean with SCO. Still, with UnitedLinux they were a tremendous help. But, on the other hand, unlike other Linux companies, Caldera/SCO didn't get IBM investments, and of course, there's always Monterey.

Now, the suit has taken on a life of its own and there's a lot of posturing for the suit going on that people now believe in. That said, there are many business relationship issues that the open source community isn't aware of between SCO and IBM. But now it's become an on-going feud between SCO and the open source community.

"More than two dozen nations are considering proposals to promote or require the use of Linux in government offices" according to Erwin Gillich, deputy head of the city of Vienna's information technology unit, which is likely to choose Linux over Windows on 15,000 desktops. So, who are these nations?

Well, they include Japan, China and South Korea who are collaborating over a plan to "embrace alternative operating systems" to Microsoft - which means Linux. It includes India which sees Linux as aiding its fast growing software industry to become less dependent on US and European outsourcing and it includes Brazil where President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is finalizing a policy recommending that federal ministries, agencies and state enterprises install open-source software. (The goal is for 80% of government computers bought next year to feature open-source software). As well as Brazil you can add most of South America, including Peru where the government publicly dismissed a claim by Microsoft that governments that back open source were providing an unfair subsidy.

But the geeky image of Linux is fading quickly. Current desktop implementations of Linux are professional, and the available office applications are up to professional standards. More and more users are finding that Linux provides an effective platform for their private and professional use.

Tom Adelstein, longtime Linux advocate and consultant has spent the last year working closely with state, local, and federal government open source software initiatives. Tom launched Government Forge, a Web site devoted to state and local governments interested in Linux and open source which is newly part of the Open Source Software Institute. In November 2002, Tom initiated the legislation for Open Source Software in Texas which resulted in Senate Bill 1579 filed by State Senator John Carona.

DesktopLinux.com recently caught up with Tom to find out what he has learned while spearheading initiatives to facilitate Linux adoption. Tom shares the grass roots efforts that have offered him an insider's view of what is propelling Linux toward critical mass and the desktop. He shares his view of Linux "from the trenches."

A computer security expert who contributed to a paper deeply critical of Microsoft has been dismissed by his employer, a consulting company that works closely with the software giant.

Dan Geer, a longtime computer security researcher, and several colleagues released a controversial study on Wednesday that called the ubiquity of Microsoft software a hazard to the economy and to national security. Although independently financed and researched, the study was distributed by the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), a Washington-based trade association largely made up of Microsoft's rivals.

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