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Halloween Documents

Halloween documents

The Halloween documents is the name used outside Microsoft for a series of confidential memoranda on potential strategies related to Open source software and to Linux in particular. The first Halloween document, requested by senior vice-president James Allchin for the attention of senior vice-president Paul Maritz and written by Microsoft engineer Vinod Valloppillil, was leaked to Eric S. Raymond in October 1998, who immediately published an annotated version on his web site. The document contained references to a second memorandum specifically dealing with Linux, and that document, authored by Vinod Valloppillil and Josh Cohen at Microsoft, was also obtained, annotated and published by Raymond. Microsoft has since admitted the documents' authenticity. Marked "Microsoft confidential", they identify open source software (OSS), and in particular the Linux operating system as a major threat to Microsoft's dominance of the software industry, and suggest ways in which Microsoft could disrupt the progress of open source software. These documents acknowledged that Open Source/Free Software/Linux products were technologically competitive with some of Microsoft's products, and set out a strategy to combat them. The documents were embarrassing largely because they contradicted Microsoft's public pronouncements on the subject. Since the publication of the two original documents, a number of additional Microsoft memoranda on related topics have also been leaked and published (e.g. Halloween VII). Together, these documents demonstrate Microsoft's continued awareness that its open-source competitors are a potential threat to its livelihood in the software industry. Quotes from the Halloween documents:
- "Recent case studies (the Internet) provide very dramatic evidence ... that commercial quality can be achieved / exceeded by OSS projects."
- (Open source software) "is long-term credible ... FUD tactics can not be used to combat it."
- "Linux can win as long as services / protocols are commodities."
- (Microsoft should) "De-commoditize protocols & applications" The last strategy has been described by others as "Embrace, extend and extinguish".

The documents

Note that only some of the documents publicized as "Halloween Documents" are leaked internal memos (specifically documents I, II, VII, VIII, and X). One is a public statement (document III). The others are responses by Eric Raymond to various columns, news articles, and other works.
- "Open Source Software: A (New?) Development Methodology", named The Halloween Document by Raymond. A memo written by Microsoft's Vinod Valloppillil. Describes the benefits of open-source software. and proposes ways for Microsoft to combat it.
- "Linux OS Competitive Analysis: The Next Java VM?", aka Halloween Document II. Another memo by Valloppillil. Describes the basic architecture of the Linux system, its relation to Unix and Windows NT, and its growth in popularity.
- Untitled statement from Aurelia van den Berg, the Press and Public Relations manager of Microsoft Netherlands, aka Halloween Document III. A brief response to the release of the above documents. Later incorporated into an [http://web.archive.org/web/20000816190537/http://www.microsoft.com/NTServer/nts/news/mwarv/linuxresp.asp official response] from Microsoft.
- Halloween Document IV: When Software Things Were Rotten. A parody by Raymond of the two original Halloween documents and of a quote by Microsoft's Ed Muth comparing open source developers to Robin Hood.
- Halloween Document V: The FUD Begins. A response by Raymond to Ed Muth's allegations that Linux has a "weak value proposition".
- Halloween Document VI: The Fatal Anniversary. A response by Raymond to studies authored by the Gartner Group for Microsoft.
- "Research E-Bulletin: Attitudes Towards Shared Source and Open Source Research Study", aka Halloween VII: Survey Says. A summary of the results of a survey of developers and IT managers, describing reactions to Microsoft's Shared Source program. Describes low total cost of ownership as a major reason for Linux adoption.
- "OSS and Government", aka Halloween VIII: Doing the Damage-Control Dance. A memo from Group Vice President of Worldwide Sales, Orlando Ayala, to general managers of Microsoft regional subsidiaries. Describes the availability of support from Microsoft corporate for regional sales personnel facing competition from Linux in government markets.
- Halloween IX: It Ain't Necessarily SCO. A rebuttal by Rob Landley and Raymond to the allegations made by The SCO Group in its initial filings in SCO v. IBM. The title of this document is a play on words of the song entitled It Ain't Necessarily So, which appears in George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess.
- An e-mail from consultant Mike Anderer to SCO's Chris Sontag, also known as Halloween X: Follow The Money. Among other points, describes Microsoft's channeling of US$ 86 million to SCO.
- Halloween XI: Get The FUD. A response by Raymond to Microsoft's "Get The Facts" negative-marketing campaign against Linux.

External links

- [http://www.catb.org/~esr/halloween/ "The Halloween documents"]
- [http://www.catb.org/~esr/halloween/faq.html FAQ on Halloween document] Category:Free software

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation (, ) is the world's largest software company, with 2005 global annual sales of 40 billion US dollars and more than 55,000 employees in 85 countries and regions. The company's headquarters are in Redmond, Washington, USA. Microsoft develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices. Its most popular products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software, each of which has achieved near ubiquity in the desktop computer market. Microsoft has footholds in other markets, with assets such as the MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta computer encyclopedia. The company also markets home entertainment products, such as the Xbox and WebTV. "Micro-Soft" (short for microcomputer software) was founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. After the market saw a flood of IBM PC clones in the mid-1980s, Microsoft used its new position, which it gained in part due to a contract from IBM, to dominate the home computer operating system market with its MS-DOS operating system. The company later released an initial public offering (IPO) in the stock market, which netted several of its employees millions of dollars due to the ensuing rise of the stock price. The price of the stock continued its rise steadily into the early 2000s. In Microsoft Windows, the company was selling what would become the most widely used operating system in the world, which was originally an add-on for their DOS operating system; Microsoft continued to push into multiple markets, such as computer hardware and television. In addition, Microsoft has historically given customer support over Usenet newsgroups and the World Wide Web, and awards Microsoft MVP status to volunteers who are deemed helpful in assisting the company's customers. With what is generally described as a developer-centric business culture, Microsoft has become widely known for some of its internal codes of conduct for its employees. One example is the "eat your own dogfood" mantra, which describes the practice of using pre-release products inside the company to test them in an environment geared towards the real world. Microsoft has also become notorious for its business practices—the U.S. Justice Department, among others, has sued Microsoft for antitrust violations and software bundling. In addition, Microsoft has been criticized for the security of its software. Despite this, Microsoft has won several awards, such as the "1993 Most Innovative Company Operating in the U.S." by Fortune Magazine. The company is on the Fortune 500 list of companies as of 2005. Microsoft opened its first research center outside the US at the Cambridge Science Park, UK. It currently has research centers around the world.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Microsoft&action=edit§ion=header edit this section]

History

:See also: History of Microsoft Windows. First conceived in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft has evolved through several stages throughout its history. By 1985, the company was selling the Microsoft Windows operating system and MS-DOS, and had collaborated with IBM to produce OS/2 Warp. By 1992, Microsoft had released an IPO in the stock market and discontinued OS/2 development to focus directly on Windows. By 1995, Windows was the most widely used graphical operating system in the world, and with the introduction of Windows 95, the company became a more consumer-driven company. Microsoft would proceed to enter other business markets, such as publishing and video games, would be sued more than once by the U.S. Justice Department and other governments and companies, and would continue to dominate the operating system market.

1975–84: the founding of Micro-soft

video game.
Top row: Steve Wood (left), Bob Wallace, Jim Lane. Middle row: Bob O'Rear, Bob Greenberg, Marc McDonald, Gordon Letwin. Bottom row: Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Marla Wood, Paul Allen.]] Days after reading the January 1 1975, issue of Popular Electronics that demonstrated the Altair 8800, Bill Gates called the creators of the new microcomputer, MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), to inform them that he and others had developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the platform. Allen flew to MITS to unveil the new BASIC system. Allen had never handled an Altair, since Gates had carried out all of the product development; however, the demonstration was successful and resulted in a deal with MITS to buy the rights to Allen's and Gates' BASIC for the Altair platform. Having identified a valuable opportunity, Gates left Harvard University to pursue the market and eventually founded "Micro-soft" in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The name Microsoft, without the hyphen, was first used in a letter from Gates to Allen on November 29, 1975, and in November 26, 1976 the name became a registered trademark. The company's first international office was founded on November 1, 1978, in Japan, entitled "ASCII Microsoft". On January 1, 1979, the company moved from Albuquerque to a new home in Bellevue, Washington. Steve Ballmer joined the company on June 11, 1980, and would later succeed Bill Gates as CEO. The company restructured on June 25 1981, to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington (with a further change of its name to "Microsoft, Inc."). As part of the restructuring, Bill Gates became president of the company and Chairman of the Board, and Paul Allen became Executive Vice President. Microsoft's first operating system was Xenix, released in 1980 and later sold to Santa Cruz Operation. However, the source of the real success for the company was the DOS operating system. On August 12, 1981, after negotiations with Digital Research failed, IBM awarded a contract to Microsoft to provide a version of the CP/M operating system, which was set to be used in the upcoming IBM Personal Computer (PC). However, Microsoft did not have an operating system at the time, so it purchased a CP/M clone called QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) from Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products for $50,000, which Microsoft renamed to PC-DOS. Due to potential copyright infringement problems with CP/M, IBM marketed both CP/M and PC-DOS for $250 and $40, respectively, with PC-DOS eventually becoming the standard because of its lower price. Around 1983, in collaboration with numerous companies, Microsoft created a home computer system, MSX, which contained its own version of the DOS operating system, entitled MSX-DOS; this became relatively popular in Japan and Europe. Later, after Compaq successfully cloned the IBM BIOS, the market saw a flood of IBM PC clones. Microsoft was quick to use its position to dominate the home computer operating system market. Microsoft began licensing its operating system for use on non-IBM PC clones, and called this version of the operating system MS-DOS (short for Microsoft Disk Operating System). By marketing MS-DOS aggressively to manufacturers of IBM-PC clones, Microsoft rose from a small player to one of the major software vendors in the home computer industry. Starting on May 2, 1983, with the "Microsoft Mouse", Microsoft entered markets such as computer hardware. This expansion included Microsoft Press, a book publishing division, on November 10 the same year, which debuted with two titles: "Exploring the IBM PC Home Computer" by Peter Norton, and "The Apple Macintosh Book" by Cary Lu.

1985–91: the rise and fall of OS/2

Cary Lu The Republic of Ireland became home to Microsoft's first international production facility in 1985, and on November 20 Microsoft released its first retail version of Microsoft Windows, originally a graphical extension for its MS-DOS operating system. In August, Microsoft and IBM partnered in the development of a different operating system called OS/2. OS/2 was marketed in connection with a new hardware design proprietary to IBM, the PS/2. Shortly afterwards on February 16, 1986, Microsoft relocated to Redmond, Washington. Around one month later, on March 13, the company went public with an IPO, raising $61 million at $21.00 per share. By the end of the trading day, the price had risen to $28.00. In 1987, Microsoft eventually released their first version of OS/2 to OEMs. Continuing its trend of rebranding products from other companies, Microsoft announced SQL Server on January 13, 1988, a relational database management system for companies that was based on technology licensed from Sybase. In 1989, Microsoft announced at Comdex that the 1991 release of Windows 3.0 would be the last version of Windows. Over the next few years, Microsoft continued to issue statements indicating that OS/2 was the future of computing. On May 16, 1991, Bill Gates announced to Microsoft employees that the OS/2 partnership was over, and that Microsoft would henceforth focus its platform efforts on Windows and the Windows NT kernel. Some people, especially developers who had ignored Windows and committed most of their resources to OS/2, were taken by surprise, and accused Microsoft of deception. The Windows changeover was frequently referred to in the industry as "the head-fake". In the ensuing years, the popularity of OS/2 declined, and Windows quickly became the favored PC platform. 1991 also marked the founding of Microsoft Research, an organization in Microsoft for researching computer science subjects, and Microsoft Visual Basic, a popular development product for companies and individuals.

1992–95: domination of the corporate market

Microsoft Visual Basic During the transition from MS-DOS to Windows, the success of Microsoft's product Microsoft Office allowed the company to gain ground on application-software competitors, such as WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3. Some allege that Microsoft used its inside knowledge of the DOS and Windows kernels and of undocumented Application Programming Interface features to make Office perform better than its competitors, but internal sources at Microsoft later revealed that the Office team did not have access to the Windows source code at the time, and relied on reverse engineering. Eventually, Microsoft Office became the dominant business suite, with a market share far exceeding that of its competitors. In March 1992, Microsoft released Windows 3.1 along with its first promotional campaign on TV; the software sold over three million copies in its first two months on the market. In October, Windows for Workgroups 3.1 was released with integrated networking capabilities such as peer-to-peer file and printing sharing. In November, Microsoft released the first version of their popular database software Microsoft Access. By 1993, Windows had become the most widely used GUI operating system in the world. Fortune Magazine named Microsoft as the "1993 Most Innovative Company Operating in the U.S.". The year also marked the end of a five-year legal case brought by Apple, dubbed Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., in which the ruling was in Microsoft's favor. That same year, Microsoft released Windows for Workgroups 3.11, a new version of the consumer line of Windows, and Windows NT 3.1, a server-based operating system with a similar user interface to consumer versions of the operating system, but with an entirely different kernel. As part of its strategy to broaden its business, Microsoft released Microsoft Encarta in 1994, the first encyclopedia designed to run on a computer. Microsoft also created the Microsoft Plus product support program for its customers, a service that offered cost savings on Microsoft products. The name of that program was later used for several expansion packs for Windows. The company changed its slogan to "Where do you want to go today?" in that year, as part of an attempt to appeal to nontechnical audiences in a US$ 100 million advertising campaign, which some critics regarded as uninspired. Dreamworks SKG and Microsoft formed a new company, Dreamworks Interactive, to produce interactive and multimedia entertainment properties in 1995. In March, Microsoft released Microsoft Bob, a Windows 3.1 program manager replacement, which is widely considered Microsoft's most unsuccessful product; its unpopularity became the source of many jokes. Up until 1995, Microsoft was a business-oriented company. However, in August 1995, it released a new version of its flagship software, Microsoft Windows 95, with a completely new user interface, including a novel start button; more than a million copies of Microsoft Windows 95 were sold in the first four days after its release. The new version of Windows was the start of a major transition towards a consumer-oriented company. In September, the Chinese government chose Windows to be the operating system of choice in that country, and entered into an agreement with the Company to standardize a Chinese version of the operating system. Microsoft also released the Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro joystick in an attempt to further expand its profile in the computer hardware market.

1995–99: foray into the Internet and other venues

computer hardware In the mid-90s, Microsoft began to expand its product line into computer networking and the World Wide Web. On August 24, 1995, it launched a major online service, MSN (Microsoft Network), as a direct competitor to AOL. MSN became an umbrella service for Microsoft's online services, using Microsoft Passport as a universal login system for all of its websites. The company continued to branch out into new markets in 1996, starting with a joint venture with NBC to create a new 24/7 cable news station, MSNBC. The station was launched on July 16 to compete with similar news outlets—in particular, CNN; in the same year, Microsoft launched Slate, an online magazine edited by Michael Kinsley, which offered political and social commentary along with the cartoon Doonesbury. In an attempt to extend its reach in the consumer market, the Company acquired WebTV, which enabled consumers to access the Internet from their televisions. Microsoft entered the palm computing market in November with Windows CE 1.0, a new built-from-scratch version of their flagship operating system, specifically designed to run on low-memory, low-performance machines, such as handhelds and other palm-sized computers. 1996 saw the release of Windows NT 4.0, which brought the Windows 95 GUI and Windows NT kernel together. While Microsoft largely failed to participate in the rise of the Internet in the early 1990s, some of the key technologies in which the company had invested to enter the Internet market started to pay off by the mid-90s. One of the most prominent of these was ActiveX, an application programming interface built on the Microsoft Component Object Model (COM); this enabled Microsoft and others to embed controls in many programming languages, including the company's own scripting languages, such as JScript and VBScript. ActiveX included frameworks for documents and server solutions. The company also released the Microsoft SQL Server 6.5, which had built-in support for internet applications. Later in 1997, Microsoft Office 97 as well as Internet Explorer 4.0 were released, marking the beginning of the takeover of the browser market from rival Netscape, and by agreement with Apple, Internet Explorer was bundled with the Apple Macintosh operating system as well as Windows. Windows CE 2.0, the handheld version of Windows, was released this year, which included a host of bug fixes and new features designed to make it more appealing to corporate customers. In October, the Justice Department filed a motion in the Federal District Court in which they stated that Microsoft had violated an agreement signed in 1994, and asked the court to stop the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows. In 1998, Microsoft released an update to the consumer version of Windows, Windows 98. Windows 98 came with Internet Explorer 4.0 SP1 (which had Windows Desktop Update bundled), and included new features from Windows 95 OSR 2.x including the FAT32 file system, and new features specifically for Windows 98, such as support for multiple displays. Microsoft also launched its Indian headquarters that year, which would eventually become the company's second largest after its U.S. headquarters. Steve Ballmer was appointed president of Microsoft, and Bill Gates remained as Chair and CEO. Later in 1999, Microsoft Office 2000 was released, along with Internet Explorer 5.0.

2000–05: legal issues, XP, and .NET

Internet Explorer 5.0. The largest Microsoft campus outside the United States.]] On May 18, 1998, the U.S. Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states filed charges against Microsoft, stating that Microsoft illegally abused its monopoly power in its sales of Windows, in United States v. Microsoft. However, it was not until April 3, 2000 that a ruling was made that Microsoft had to be split into two companies. However, in June 2001, part of that ruling was overturned by a federal appeals court, and in September the Justice Department decided to seek a settlement with Microsoft instead of trying to split it up. While the trial was underway, on February 17, 2000 Microsoft released Windows 2000, which some consider a significant improvement over previous versions. It provided a similar OS stability to that of its Unix counterparts. Unlike previous consumer-level operating systems, Windows 2000 was built on the Windows NT kernel, rather than the DOS kernel as previous consumer versions of Windows had been. Windows 2000 also provided a DOS emulator that could run most old DOS applications from previous versions of Windows. During the trial, Bill Gates stepped down as CEO and Steve Ballmer became the new CEO, with Bill Gates remaining chairman and Chief Software Architect. In the same year, Microsoft released a new version of the consumer version of their flagship product, Windows Me, (Millennium Edition). Widely regarded as one of the most unstable operating systems Microsoft had ever produced, its main features were enhanced multimedia capabilities, such as an automated video editor. In June, the company released a new version of its hand-held operating system, Windows CE 3.0. The main change was the new programming APIs of the software. Previous versions of Windows CE supported only a small subset of the WinAPI, the main development library for windows, and with Version 3 of Windows CE, the operating system now supported nearly all of the core functionality of the WinAPI. In 2001, Microsoft released Windows XP, which brought the consumer and business lines of Windows together, combining the kernel of Windows 2000 with features of its consumer line of Windows, and enhancing the DOS emulation capabilities of the OS. Among the new features was an entirely new interface. However, it included the controversial Microsoft Product Activation, a part of that software that required people to register with Microsoft before using the product for the first time, and if they did not the product would cease to function. This would become a hallmark of the Company's other products, including Microsoft Office. Microsoft Product Activation In 2003, Microsoft launched the .NET initiative, along with new versions of some of its development products, such as Microsoft Visual Studio. The initiative has been an entirely new development API for Windows programming, and includes a new programming language, C#. Windows Server 2003 was launched, featuring enhanced administration capabilities, such as new user interfaces to server tools. In 2004, the Company released Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, a version of Windows XP specifically designed for multimedia capabilities, and Windows XP Starter Edition, a version of Windows XP with a smaller feature set designed for entry-level consumers. In March 2004, the European Union brought legal action against Microsoft for antitrust violations. Eventually Microsoft was fined $613 million, ordered to divulge certain protocols to competitors, and to produce a version of Windows that did not include the Windows Media Player. Microsoft announced a new version of its MSN search service later in 2005, designed to compete with Google.

Product divisions

Microsoft sells a wide range of products, many of them developed internally, such as Microsoft BASIC and Microsoft Word. Others were acquired and rebranded by Microsoft:
- Microsoft Project, a project management package;
- Visio, a charting package;
- FoxPro, a database;
- Links, a golf game;
- Visual SourceSafe, a developer's tool;
- DoubleSpace, a compression tool;
- Virtual PC, software to emulate different version of Windows, which was acquired from Connectix; and
- MS-DOS itself, the basis for the company's success. Many of these products have undergone continual development by the Company. Internet Explorer is based on code licensed from Spyglass, Inc.; the initial development of the software was performed outside Redmond in Spyglass headquarters. In April 2002, Microsoft reorganized into seven core business groups—'each an independent financial entity—to delegate all responsibility and more closely track the performance of each unit. On September 20th, 2005, Microsoft announced a rationalization of its original seven business groups to three core divisions: the Windows Client, MSN and Server and Tool groups were merged into the Microsoft Platform Products & Services Division; the Information Worker and Microsoft Business Solutions groups were merged into the Microsoft Business Division; and the Mobile and Embedded Devices and Home and Entertainment groups were merged into the Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division.

Microsoft Platform Products & Services Division

2005 This division produces Microsoft's flagship product, the Windows operating system. It has been produced in many versions, including Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Almost all IBM compatible personal computers designed for the consumer come with Windows preinstalled. The next planned version of Windows is Windows Vista (code-named Windows Longhorn). The online service MSN, the cable television station MSNBC, and the Microsoft online magazine Slate are all part of this division. Slate was later acquired by The Washington Post on December 21, 2004. At the end of 1997, Microsoft acquired Hotmail, the first and most popular webmail service, which it rebranded as "MSN Hotmail". Later in 1999 Microsoft introduced MSN Messenger, an instant messaging client, to compete with the popular AOL Instant Messenger. Microsoft Visual Studio is the company's set of programming tools and compilers. The software product is GUI-oriented and links easily with the Windows APIs, but must be specially configured if used with non-Microsoft libraries. The current version is Visual Studio .NET 2003, named after the .NET initiative, a Microsoft marketing initiative covering a number of technologies. Microsoft's definition of .NET continues to evolve. As of 2004, .NET aims to ease the development of Microsoft Windows-based applications that use the Internet, by deploying a new Microsoft communications system, Indigo. This will address some issues previously introduced by Microsoft's DLL design, which made it difficult to manage, install multiple versions of complex software packages on the same system (see DLL-hell), and provide a more consistent development platform for all Windows applications (see Common Language Infrastructure. In addition, the Company established a set of certification programs to recognize individuals who have expertise in its software and solutions. Similar to offerings from Cisco, Sun Microsystems, Novell, IBM, and Oracle Corporation, these tests are designed to identify a minimal set of proficiencies in a specific role; this includes developers ("Microsoft Certified Solution Developer"), system/network analysts ("Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer"), trainers ("Microsoft Certified Trainers") and administrators ("Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator"). Microsoft offers a suite of server software, entitled Windows Server System. Windows Server 2003, an operating system for network servers, is the core of the Windows Server System line. Another server product, Systems Management Server, is a collection of tools providing remote-control abilities, patch management, software distribution, and a hardware/software inventory. Other server products include:
- SQL Server, a relational database management system;
- Exchange Server, for certain business-oriented e-mail features;
- Small Business Server, for messaging and other small business-oriented features; and
- BizTalk Server, for employee integration assistance and other functions.

Microsoft Business Division

BizTalk Server The Microsoft Business Division produces Microsoft Office, which is the company's line of office software. The software product includes:
- Word, a word processor;
- Access, a personal relational database application;
- Excel, a spreadsheet program;
- Outlook, Windows-only groupware, frequently used with the Exchange server;
- PowerPoint, presentation software; and Microsoft FrontPage, a WYSIWYG HTML editor. With the release of Office 2003, a number of other products were brought under the Office banner, including Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Project, Microsoft MapPoint, Microsoft InfoPath, Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft OneNote. The division focuses on developing financial and business management software for companies. These products include products formerly produced by the Business Solutions Group, which was created in April 2001 with the acquisition of Great Plains. Subsequently, Navision was acquired to provide a similar entry into the European market, resulting in the planned release of Microsoft Navision 4.0 during the week of 18 October, 2004. The group markets Axapta and Solomon, catering to similar markets, which is scheduled to be combined with the Navision and Great Plains lines into a common platform called Microsoft Dynamics.

Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division

Microsoft Dynamics Microsoft has attempted to expand the Windows brand into many other markets, with products such as Windows CE for PDAs and its "Windows-powered" Smartphone products. Microsoft initially entered the mobile market through Windows CE for handheld devices, which today has developed into Windows Mobile 5. The focus of the operating system is on devices where the OS may not directly be visible to the end user, in particular, appliances and cars. The company produces MSN TV, formerly WebTV, a television-based Internet appliance. Microsoft used to sell a set-top Digital Video Recorder (DVR) called the UltimateTV, which allowed users to record up to 35 hours of television programming from a direct-to-home satellite television provider DirecTV. This was the main competition in the UK for bSKYb's SKY + service, owned by Rupert Murdoch. UltimateTV has since been discontinued, with DirecTV instead opting to market DVRs from TiVo Inc. The division includes consumer and Macintosh software, along with computer hardware and entertainment software. Microsoft sells computer games that run on Windows PCs, including titles such as Age of Empires and the Microsoft Flight Simulator series. It produces a line of reference works that include encyclopedias and atlases, under the name Encarta. Microsoft Zone hosts free premium and retail games where players can compete against each other and in tournaments. Microsoft entered the multi-billion-dollar game console market dominated by Sony and Nintendo in late 2001, with the release of the Xbox. As of 2005, the console ranks second to Sony's PlayStation 2 and ahead of Nintendo's GameCube in market share in the United States (although behind the two worldwide). The console shipped 22 million units compared with competitor PlayStation 2 at 90 million units, and the company took a 4 billion dollar loss due to the console . Microsoft develops and publishes its own video games for this console, with the help of its Microsoft Game Studios subsidiary, in addition to "third party" Xbox video-game publishers such as Electronic Arts and Activision, who pay a license fee to publish games for the system. The most recent version of the Xbox is the Xbox 360. Microsoft markets a number of computing-related hardware products, including mice, keyboards, joysticks, and gamepads, along with other game controllers, the production of which is outsourced in most cases. The division houses Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit, the largest developer of Macintosh software outside Apple itself; it produces such software as Microsoft Office for the Mac (sometimes called "Macintosh Office"), which includes Entourage, a Macintosh-specific application not available in the Windows version of Microsoft Office.

Business culture

Entourage Microsoft has often been described as having a developer-centric business culture. A great deal of time and money is spent each year on recruiting young university-trained software developers who meet very exacting criteria, and on keeping them in the company. For example, while many software companies often place an entry-level software developer in a cubicle desk within a large office space filled with other cubicles, Microsoft assigns a private or semiprivate closed office to every developer or pair of developers. In addition, key decision makers at every level are either developers or former developers. In a sense, the software developers at Microsoft are considered the "stars" of the company in the same way that the sales staff at IBM are considered the "stars" of their company. This culture is reflected in their hiring process—the "Microsoft Interview" is notorious for off-the-wall questions such as "Why is a manhole cover round?" and is a process often mimicked in other organizations. Note that, although they were once ubiquitous, recently fewer interviewers have been using these types of questions. Within Microsoft the expression "eating our own dog food" is used to describe the policy of using the latest Microsoft products inside the company in an effort to test them in "real-world" situations. Only prerelease and beta versions of products are considered dog food. This is usually shortened to just "dog food" and is used as noun, verb, and adjective. For fun, Microsoft also hosts the Microsoft Puzzle Hunt, an annual puzzle hunt (a live puzzle game where teams compete to solve a series of puzzles) held at the Redmond campus. It is a spin-off of the MIT Mystery Hunt. In an ever changing world, Microsoft expects its employees to be comfortable with ambiguity. They may not, for example, know with any degree of certainty when a product will ship, what it will be called, or what features will be included. The business culture expects agile thinkers to rapidly adjust to dramatic changes. Microsoft also fosters a general attitude of long-term strategic wariness in its managers, who are expected to be ready for any challenge from the competition or the market. In this frame of mind, being the largest software company in the world is not seen as a form of safety or a guarantee of future success. For instance, future competitors could rise from other industries, or computer hardware companies could try to become less dependent on Microsoft, or consumers could decide not to upgrade their software as often. Microsoft requires its managers to maintain vigilance and sustain a dynamic expansion in new markets.

User culture

Technical reference for developers and articles for various Microsoft magazines such as Microsoft Systems Journal (or MSJ) is available through Microsoft's MSDN site, short for Microsoft Developer Network. MSDN also offers subscriptions for companies and individuals, and the more expensive subscriptions usually offer access to pre-release beta versions of Microsoft software. In recent years, Microsoft launched a community site for developers and users, entitled Channel9, which provides many modern features such as a wiki and an Internet forum. Most free technical support available through Microsoft is provided through online Usenet newsgroups (in the early days it was also provided on Compuserve). There are several of these newsgroups for nearly every product Microsoft provides, and often they are monitored by Microsoft employees. People who are helpful on the newsgroups can be elected by other peers or Microsoft employees for Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status, which entitles people to a sort of special social status, in addition to possibilities for awards and other benefits.

Corporate affairs

Corporate structure

The company is run by its Board of Directors, which consists of ten people, made up of mostly company outsiders (as is customary for publicly traded companies). Current members of the board of directors of Microsoft are: Steve Ballmer, James Cash, Jr., Dina Dublon, Bill Gates, Raymond Gilmartin, Ann Korologos, David Marquardt, Charles Noski, Helmut Panke, and Jon Shirley. The ten board members are elected every year at the annual shareholders' meeting, and those who do not get a majority of votes must submit a resignation to the board, which will subsequently choose whether or not to accept the resignation. There are five committees within the board which have oversight over more specific matters. These committees include the Audit Committee, which handles accounting issues with the company including auditing and reporting; the Compensation Committee, which approves compensation for the CEO and other employees of the company; the Finance Committee, which handles financial matters such as proposing mergers and acquisitions; the Governance and Nominating Committee, which handles various corporate matters including nomination of the board; and the Antitrust Compliance Committee, which attempts to prevent company practices from violating antitrust laws. There are several other aspects to the corporate structure of Microsoft. For worldwide matters there is the Executive Team, made up of sixteen company officers across the globe, which is charged with various duties including making sure employees understand Microsoft's culture of business. The sixteen officers of the Executive Team include the Chairman and Chief Software Architect, the CEO, the General Counsel and Secretary, the CFO, senior and group vice presidents from the business units, the CEO of the Europe, the Middle East and Africa regions; and the heads of Worldwide Sales, Marketing and Services; Human Resources; and Corporate Marketing. In addition to the Executive Team there is also the Corporate Staff Council, which handles all major staff functions of the company, including approving corporate policies. The Corporate Staff Council is made up of employees from the Law and Corporate Affairs, Finance, Human Resources, Corporate Marketing, and Advanced Strategy and Policy groups at Microsoft. Other Executive Officers include the Presidents and Vice Presidents of the various product divisions, leaders of the marketing section, and the CTO, among others.

Stock

When the company debuted its IPO in March 12, 1986, the stock price was $22. By the close of the first trading day, the stock had closed at twenty-eight dollars, or 97c, compared with the time period after the company's first nine splits. The initial close and ensuing rise in subsequent years made several Microsoft employees millions. The stock price peaked in 1999 at around 119 dollars (60,928 dollars adjusting for splits). While the company has had nine stock splits, the first of which was in September 18, 1987, the company did not start offering a dividend until January 16, 2003. The dividend for the 2003 fiscal year was eight cents per share, followed by a dividend of sixteen cents per share the subsequent year. The company switched from quarterly to yearly dividends in 2005, for eight cents a share per quarter with a special one-time payout of three dollars per share for the second quarter of the fiscal year. Around 2002 the stock price began a slow descent that continued through 2005. The company had its ninth split on February 2, 2003, in what could have been an attempt to arouse interest in the stock, but the price continued to stagnate regardless. On the September 23, 2005, episode of CNBC's Mad Money, the host of the show, Jim Cramer, called Microsoft's stock "the most hated stock on Wall Street".

Diversity

Microsoft received a 86% rating in the 2004 Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign relating to its policies concerning LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) employees. According to the Human Rights Campaign, this was in line with the industry standard . Through the work of the Gay and Lesbian Employees at Microsoft (GLEAM) group and Diversity, Microsoft added gender expression to its antidiscrimination policies in April 2005, and the Human Rights Campaign upgraded Microsoft's Corporate Equality Index rating to 100%, putting it among the most progressive companies in the world. Microsoft also received criticism from the Human Rights Campaign and many others in April 2005 for withdrawing support for Washington's H.B. 1515 bill that would extend the state's current antidiscrimination laws to people with alternate sexual orientations. However, under harsh criticism from both outside and inside the company's walls, Microsoft eventually supported the bill again in May 2005 . Even though it hires many domestic American workers, Microsoft generally goes up to the annual limit in hiring foreign workers with H1B visas. Bill Gates has criticized Congress for the cap on the H1B visas, which he claims makes it difficult to hire employees for the company. Proponents of the cap cite economic and security reasons for the current law. Microsoft was also named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 by Working Mother magazine.

Logo

Working Mother In 1987, Microsoft adopted its current logo, the so-called "Pacman Logo" designed by Scott Baker. According to the March 1987 Computer Reseller News Magazine, "The new logo, in Helvetica italic typeface, has a slash between the o and s to emphasize the "soft" part of the name and convey motion and speed." Employees ran a campaign to save the old logo, which was green, in all uppercase, and featured a fanciful letter O nicknamed the blibbet, but it was nevertheless discarded.

Criticism

Working Mother Microsoft has been the focus of much controversy in the computer industry, especially since the 1980s; in particular, which some some think its business tactics as unfair and anticompetitive. Some describe Microsoft's business tactics as "embrace, extend and extinguish", in which Microsoft initially embraces and extends a competing standard or product, only to later extinguish it through such actions as writing their own incompatible version of the software or standard. Microsoft has also been called a "velvet sweatshop" in reference to the company working its employees to the point where it might be bad for their health. The first instance of the term in reference to Microsoft originated from a Seattle Times article in 1989, and later became used to describe the company by some of Microsoft's own employees. In rulings following antitrust litigation, U.S. courts ruled that Microsoft is an abusive monopoly, and the company endures legal attacks along these lines in many countries around the world; these are successful to varying degrees, but have not yet forced serious reform such as forcing a separation of the company. Some also accuse Microsoft of allowing the user interface of its products to become inconsistent and overly complicated, requiring interactive "wizards" to function as an extra layer between the user and the interface. The security of Microsoft products (such as Internet Explorer) is also questioned by some as being overly vulnerable to computer viruses and malicious attacks. In addition, proponents of free software are engaged with Microsoft in a debate over the Total cost of ownership (TCO) of its products, as some perceive Microsoft software as more expensive to purchase, use and maintain than competitors' software. A July, 2003 article in the New York Times, accused Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, of stealing ideas for the development of Windows from its competitor, Apple. Microsoft has also been criticized for its end user license agreements, which some believe are too restrictive. As detailed in this article, Microsoft has purchased the products of many other companies to market as its own. It has also duplicated the innovations of other companies (Apple in particular) in products which have in many cases gone on

Linux

:See Linux kernel for the kernel itself. See Linux (washing powder) for the Swiss brand of detergent. See 9885 Linux for the asteroid. asteroid frequently featured sitting, is the official Linux mascot.]] mascot Linux is a computer operating system and its kernel. It is one of the most prominent examples of free software and of open-source development: unlike proprietary operating systems such as Windows and Mac OS, all of its underlying source code is available to the public and anyone can freely use, modify, and redistribute it. In the narrowest sense, the term Linux refers to the Linux kernel, but it is commonly used to describe entire Unix-like operating systems (also known as GNU/Linux) that are based on the Linux kernel combined with libraries and tools from the GNU Project and other sources. Most broadly, a Linux distribution bundles large quantities of application software with the core system, and provides more user-friendly installation and upgrades. Initially, Linux was primarily developed and used by individual enthusiasts. Since then, Linux has gained the support of major corporations such as IBM,Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and Novell for use in servers and is gaining popularity in the desktop market. Proponents and analysts attribute this success to its vendor independence, low cost, security, and reliability. Linux was originally developed for Intel 386 microprocessors and now supports all popular computer architectures (and several obscure ones). It is deployed in applications ranging from embedded systems (such as mobile phones and personal video recorders) to personal computers to supercomputers.

History

supercomputer project for a free operating-system.]] In 1983, Richard Stallman founded the GNU project, which today provides an essential part of most Linux systems (see also GNU/Linux, below). The goal of GNU was to develop a complete Unix-like operating system composed entirely of free software. By the beginning of the 1990s, GNU had produced or collected nearly all of the necessary components of this system—libraries, compilers, text editors, a Unix-like shell, and other software—except for the lowest level, the kernel. The GNU project began developing their own kernel, the Hurd, in 1990 (after an abandoned attempt called Trix). According to Thomas Bushnell, the initial Hurd architect, their early plan was to adapt the BSD 4.4-Lite kernel and, in hindsight, "It is now perfectly obvious to me that this would have succeeded splendidly and the world would be a very different place today" [http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050727225542530]. However, due to a lack of cooperation from the Berkeley programmers, Stallman decided instead to use the Mach microkernel, which subsequently proved unexpectedly difficult, and the Hurd's development proceeded slowly. Mach microkernel Meanwhile, in 1991, another kernel—eventually dubbed "Linux"—was begun as a hobby by Finnish university student Linus Torvalds while attending the University of Helsinki. Torvalds originally used Minix, a simplified Unix-like system written by Andrew Tanenbaum for teaching operating system design. However, Tanenbaum did not permit others to extend his operating system, leading Torvalds to develop a replacement for Minix. Linux started out as a terminal emulator written in IA-32 assembler and C, which was compiled into binary form and booted from a floppy disk so that it would run outside of any operating system. The terminal emulator was running two threads: one for sending and one for receiving characters from the serial port. When Linus needed to read and write files to disk, this task-switching terminal emulator was extended with an entire filesystem handler. After that, it gradually evolved into an entire operating system kernel intended as a foundation for POSIX-compliant systems. The first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) was released to the Internet on September 17, 1991, with the second version following shortly thereafter in October [http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=1991Oct5.054106.4647%40klaava.Helsinki.FI]. Since then, thousands of developers from around the world have participated in the project. Eric S. Raymond's essay The Cathedral and the Bazaar discusses the development model of the Linux kernel and similar software. By the 0.01 release, Linus had implemented enough POSIX system calls to make Linux run the GNU Bash shell; after this bootstrapping procedure, development accelerated rapidly. A computer running Minix was originally necessary in order to configure, compile, and install Linux. Initial versions of Linux also required an operating system to be present in order to boot from a hard disk, but soon there were independent bootloaders, the most well known being lilo. The Linux system quickly surpassed Minix in functionality; Torvalds and other early Linux kernel developers adapted their kernel to work with the GNU components and user-space programs to create a complete, fully functional, free operating system. Today, Torvalds continues to direct the development of the kernel, while other subsystems such as the GNU components are developed separately. The task of producing an integrated system, which combines all of these basic components along with graphical interfaces (such as GNOME or KDE, which in turn are based on the X Window System) and application software, is now performed by Linux distribution vendors / organizations. Tux the penguin is the logo and mascot of Linux (although there are other, less common representations; see OS-tan), based on an image created by Larry Ewing in 1996. The name "Linux" was coined, not by Torvalds, but by Ari Lemmke. Lemmke was working for the Helsinki University of Technology (HUT), located in Espoo near Helsinki, as an administrator of ftp.funet.fi, an FTP server which belongs to the Finnish University and Research Network (FUNET), which has numerous organizations as its members, amongst them the HUT and the University of Helsinki. He was the one to invent the name Linux for the directory from which Torvalds' project was first available for download [http://liw.iki.fi/liw/texts/linux-anecdotes.html]. (The name Linux was derived from Linus' Minix.) The name was later trademarked (see below).

Licensing

The Linux kernel, along with most of the GNU components, is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). The GPL requires that all source code modifications and derived works also be licensed under the GPL, and is sometimes referred to as a "share and share-alike" (or copyleft) license. In 1997, Linus Torvalds stated, "Making Linux GPL'd was definitely the best thing I ever did." [http://kde.sw.com.sg/food/linus.html] Other subsystems use other licenses, although all of them share the property of being free/open-source; for example, several libraries use the LGPL (a more-permissive variant of the GPL), and the X Window System uses the permissive (non-copyleft) MIT License. The Linux trademark ([http://assignments.uspto.gov/assignments/q?db=tm&qt=rno&reel=&frame=&sno=&rno=1916230 U.S. Reg No: 1916230]) is owned by Linus Torvalds, registered for "Computer operating system software to facilitate computer use and operation." The licensing of the trademark is now handled by the Linux Mark Institute (LMI). LMI has also sought to enforce the Linux trademark in countries other than the US. In September 2005, Intellectual Property Australia, the trademark regulator in Australia, rejected an application to trademark Linux.

Pronunciation

Linux is commonly pronounced either to rhyme with minix , or to rhyme with my nicks . The first pronunciation is considered more correct, while the second has become popular for sounding more natural in English. Other variations are also possible, but less frequently heard. In 1992, Torvalds explained [http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=1992Apr23.123216.22024%40klaava.Helsinki.FI&output=gplain] (IPA pronunciations added to quote in braces): :"'li' is pronounced with a short [ee] sound: compare prInt, mInImal etc. 'nux' is also short, non-diphthong, like in pUt . It's partly due to minix: linux was just my working name for the thing, and as I wrote it to replace minix on my system, the result is what it is... linus' minix became linux." An [http://www.jx90.com/linux.html audio file] of Torvalds saying "Hello, this is Linus Torvalds, and I pronounce Linux as /linəks/" also exists [http://www.paul.sladen.org/pronunciation/]. Note that in English, "Linux" and "Minix" are usually pronounced with a short /I/ sound that is different from Torvalds's Finland-Swedish pronunciation of these words. See also List of words of disputed pronunciation for a discussion of the various ways "Linux" is pronounced.

Linux and GNU/Linux

Because the GNU libraries and programs, an essential part of nearly all Linux distributions, stem from a long-standing free operating system project that predates the Linux kernel, Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation ask that the combined system (regardless of distribution) be referred to as GNU/Linux or a Linux-based GNU system. Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel, has said that he finds calling Linux in general GNU/Linux "just ridiculous." Still, some distributions do use this name — notably Debian GNU/Linux — while most people simply refer to the system as Linux. The distinction between Torvalds' kernel and entire Linux-based systems that contain the kernel is a perennial source of confusion, and the naming remains controversial.

Litigation

In March 2003, the SCO Group (SCO) filed a lawsuit against IBM claiming that IBM had contributed some portions of SCO's copyrighted code to the Linux kernel in violation of IBM's license to use Unix. Additionally, SCO sent letters to a number of companies warning that their use of Linux without a license from SCO may be actionable, and claimed in the press that they would be suing individual Linux users. This controversy has involved lawsuits by SCO against Novell, DaimlerChrysler (partially dismissed in July, 2004), and AutoZone, and by Red Hat and others against SCO. To date, no proof of SCO's claims of copied code in Linux has been provided and SCO's claims have varied widely. A few of Novell's press releases seem to demonstrate serious problems with SCO's claims:
- [http://www.novell.com/news/press/archive/2003/06/pr03036.html 2003-May-15] Novell Statement on SCO Contract Amendment (good news for Linux users)
- [http://www.novell.com/news/press/archive/2003/05/pr03033.html 2003-May-28] Novell Challenges SCO Position, Reiterates Support for Linux
- [http://www.novell.com/news/press/pressroom/news_brief/archive/2003/05/pr03022.html 2003-May-30] Novell statement re: SCO press conference allegations
- [http://www.novell.com/news/press/archive/2003/06/pr03036.html 2003-Jun-06] Novell Statement on SCO Contract Amendment
- [http://www.novell.com/news/press/pressroom/news_brief/archive/2003/11/pr03042.html 2003-Nov-18] Novell Statement on SCO claims regarding a non-compete clause in Novell-SCO contracts The most comprehensive coverage of this suit is given by Groklaw.

Distributions

Linux is predominantly used as part of a Linux distribution (commonly called a 'distro'). These are compiled by individuals, loose-knit teams, and various professional organizations. They include additional system software and application programs, as well as certain processes to install these systems on a computer. Distributions are created for many different purposes, including localization, architecture support, real-time applications, and embedded systems, and many deliberately include only free software. Over 450 distributions are available [http://lwn.net/Distributions/]. A typical general-purpose distribution includes the Linux kernel, some GNU libraries and tools, command-line shells, and thousands of application software packages, from office suites and the graphical X Window System to compilers, text editors, and scientific tools. A variety of Linux distribution screenshots can be viewed [http://shots.osdir.com/ here].

Development efforts

[http://www.dwheeler.com/sloc/redhat71-v1/redhat71sloc.html More Than a Gigabuck: Estimating GNU/Linux's Size], a study of Red Hat Linux 7.1, found that this particular distribution contained 30 million source lines of code (SLOC). The Linux kernel contained 2.4 million lines of code, or 8% of the total. Using the Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO), the study estimated that this distribution required about eight thousand person-years of development time. Had all this software been developed by conventional proprietary means, it would have cost 1.08 billion dollars (year 2000 dollars) to develop in the United States. Slightly over half of the code in that distribution was licensed under the GPL. In a later study, Counting potatoes: the size of Debian 2.2, the same analysis was performed for Debian GNU/Linux version 2.2. This distribution contained over fifty-five million source lines of code, and the study estimated that it would have cost 1.9 billion dollars (year 2000 dollars) to develop by conventional proprietary means. The source code for the Linux kernel used to be maintained using the software application called BitKeeper but there was a dispute with its openness so now it is maintained via Git, the new directory content manager created by Linus Torvalds himself.

Applications

Git In the past, a user needed significant knowledge of computers in order to install and configure Linux. Because of this, and because of being attracted by access to the internals of the system, Linux users have traditionally tended to be more technologically oriented than users of Microsoft Windows and Mac OS, sometimes revelling in the tag of "hacker" or "geek". This stereotype has been dispelled in recent years by the increased user-friendliness and broad adoption of many Linux distributions. Linux has made considerable gains in server and special-purpose markets, such as image rendering and Web services, and is now making inroads into the high volume desktop market. geek Linux is the cornerstone of the so-called LAMP server-software combination (Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP/Python) that has achieved widespread popularity among Web developers, making it one of the most common platforms on the Web. A prominent example of this software combination in use is MediaWiki — the software primarily written for Wikipedia. The multi-billion dollar video game industry will see widespread Linux use with the 2006 launch of the Sony PlayStation 3 video game console which will run Linux out of the box. Sony has previously released a PS2 Linux kit for their PlayStation 2 video game console. Linux is also often used in embedded systems. Its low cost makes it particularly useful in set-top boxes and for devices such as the Simputer, a computer aimed mainly at low-income populations in developing nations. In mobile phones, Linux has become a common alternative to the Symbian OS software. In handheld devices, it is an alternative to the Windows CE and Palm OS operating systems. The popular TiVo PVR also uses a customized version of Linux. A large number of network firewalls and routers, including several from Linksys, use Linux internally, taking advantage of its advanced firewalling and routing capabilities. It is also expanding into telecommunications equipment through efforts such as Carrier Grade Linux. Linux is increasingly common as an operating system for supercomputers, most recently on 64-bit AMD Opterons in the Cray XD1. As of June 2005, the 3 fastest supercomputers in the world (as recorded by the Top500) run Linux. Linux is rapidly gaining popularity as a desktop operating system. In desktop environments like GNOME and KDE, Linux may be used with a user interface that is similar to that of Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, other desktop environments, and its traditional Unix-like command line interface. Graphical Linux software exists for almost any area and in some areas there is a greater quality and quantity of software available than for proprietary operating systems.

Usability and market share

Once viewed as an operating system only computer geeks could use, Linux distributions have become user-friendly, with many graphical interfaces and applications. Its market share of desktops is rapidly growing. According to market research company IDC, in 2002, 25% of servers and 2.8% of desktop computers were already running Linux. However, argued advantages of Linux, such as lower cost, fewer security vulnerabilities [http://www.theregister.co.uk/security/security_report_windows_vs_linux/] , and lack of vendor lock-in, have spurred a growing number of high-profile cases of mass adoption of Linux by corporations and governments. The Linux market is among the fastest growing and is projected to exceed $35.7 billion by 2008 [http://www.techweb.com/wire/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=55800522]. Linux and other free software projects have been frequently criticized for not going far enough in terms of ensuring usability, and Linux was once considered more difficult to use than Windows or the Macintosh, although this has changed. Applications running within graphical desktop environments such as GNOME and KDE in Linux are very similar to those running on other operating systems. While some applications cannot be run, there usually exists a replacement that will, sometimes of better quality. A growing number of proprietary software vendors are supporting Linux, and open source development for Linux is also steadily increasing. Additionally, proprietary software for other operating systems may be run through compatibility layers, such as Wine. The area of hardware and services configuration is where user experience is most varied. GUI configuration tools and control panels are available for many system settings and services, but editing of plain-text configuration files is often required. On the command shell, many usability hangups from early Unix days generally remain, such as the difficulty in finding some commands, and the inability to undo many operations such as file deletion. Many older programs with text user interfaces (TUI) have wild inconsistencies between them, but they maintain loyal followings. It used to also be easier to find local technical support for Windows or Mac OS than for Linux in some places. It is worth noting that an operating system's usability is subjective and dependent on the background knowledge and needs of its users. For example, Gentoo Linux, a source-based distribution, is time-consuming to install, but can be more usable for advanced users than stereotypical beginner-friendly distributions, such as Mandriva or Ubuntu. Users might have to switch application software, and there may be fewer options, as in the case of computer games. Equivalents of some specific programs may not be available. However, general applications like spreadsheets, word processors, and browsers are available for Linux in profusion. Most distributions of Linux have two or more means of software installation, and more office and end-user applications now come with an automated installation program. Because of reluctance to change and the fact that many computers still come with Microsoft Windows pre-installed, there has been a slow initial adoption of new desktop operating systems. Linux is past that stage now, with numerous manufacturers installing Linux and many organizations having five or more years experience with Linux - since installation evolved to graphical user interfaces - or Unix, which has been around for decades. Linux is rapidly gaining popularity as a desktop operating system as it is increasingly used in schools and workplaces and more people are becoming familiar with it. Support for certain new and obscure hardware remains an issue. Though some vendors provide device drivers, many device drivers must be developed by volunteers after the release of the product. Often, this development requires reverse engineering of some sort, as certain manufacturers remain secretive and refuse to provide the hardware or firmware specifications for their products. Deliberately non-portable hardware drivers like Winmodems and Winprinters have been a general problem. There have been conflicting studies of Linux's usability and cost in the past. Microsoft-sponsored studies such as those by IDC and Gartner have argued that Linux had a higher total cost of ownership (TCO) than Windows. However, Relevantive, the renowned Berlin-based organization specializing in providing consultation to companies on the usability of software and Web services, concluded that the usability of Linux for a set of desktop-related tasks is "equal to Windows XP." Since then, there have been numerous independent studies that show that a modern Linux desktop using Gnome or KDE is on par with or superior to Microsoft Windows. Linux distributions have been criticized for unpredictable development schedules, thus making enterprise users less comfortable with Linux than they might be with other systems (Marcinkowski, 2003). However, some observers claim that the intervals between Linux distribution releases are no worse, and often better, than the project management "schedule slipping" that occurs with other operating systems and with software systems in general. The large number of choices of Linux distributions can also confuse users and software vendors. The paper [http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS)? Look at the Numbers!] identifies many quantitative studies of open source software, on topics including market share and reliability, with many studies specifically examining Linux.

Installation

In the past, difficulty of installation was a barrier to wide adoption of Linux-based systems, but the process has been made easy in recent years. Many distributions are at least as easy to install as a comparable version of Windows. It is unnecessary to file license numbers and enter them during installation. Also, personal computers that come with Linux distributions already installed are readily available from numerous vendors, including large mainstream vendors like Hewlett-Packard and Dell. The most common method of installing Linux, supported by all major distributions, is by booting from a CD that contains the installation program and installable software. Such a CD can be burned from a downloaded ISO image, purchased alone for a low price, or can be obtained as part of a box set that may also include manuals and additional commercial software. Some distributions, such as Debian, can be installed from a small set of floppy disks. After a basic system is installed, more software can be added by downloading it from the Internet or using CDs. Other distributions, such as Knoppix, can be run directly from a "live CD" running entirely in RAM, rather than installing it to the hard drive. With this, one boots from the CD and can use Linux without making any modification to the contents of the hard drive. Similarly, some minimal distributions, such as tomsrtbt, can be run directly from as little as 1 floppy disk without needing to change the hard drive contents. Still another mode of installation of Linux is to install on a powerful computer to use as a server and to use ordinary less powerful machines (perhaps without hard drives, and having less memory and slower CPUs) as clients over the network. Clients can boot over the network from the server and display results and pass information to the server where all the applications run. A Linux Terminal Server is a single machine to which many clients can connect this way, so one obtains the benefit of installing Linux on many machines for the cost of installing on one. The clients can be ordinary PCs with the addition of the network bootloader on a drive or network interface controller. Variations on this mode include using local drives and computing power to run applications. The cost savings achieved by using thin clients can be invested in greater computing power or storage on the server. Many distributions also support booting over a network, so an installation on a properly configured machine can be done remotely. Anaconda, one of the more popular installers, is used by Red Hat Linux, Fedora Core and other distributions to simplify the installation process. It is famous for its ability to automatically partition a hard drive using the Disk Druid utility.

Installation on an existing platform

Many distribution companies now are sparing no effort to provide users with advanced, easy and specific installations. Some beginners (especially those familiar with Microsoft Windows and Mac OS) may still feel that making the shift can be hard but many solutions have been created to solve this problem. Some let the user install Linux on top of their current system. Consider WinLinux, for example. After downloading the installer (more than 100MB), the user can install Linux just like any other Windows application. The software provides all the needed features; it is a real Linux distribution. The difference is that it is not necessary for the user to leave Windows, since Linux is installed to the Windows hard-disk partition. A Linux boot loader will boot the Linux system when the PC is restarted and the user chooses to boot Linux. Similar approaches include coLinux. Technology of virtual machines (such as Virtual PC or VMware) also enables Linux to be run inside another OS such as Microsoft Windows. The virtual machine software will simulate an isolated environment onto which the Linux system is installed. After everything is done, the virtual machine can be booted just as if it were an independent computer.

Demonstration

The difficulty in quickly demonstrating Linux on the computer of a potential new user remains still an obstacle, slowing its adoption as a personal computing platform. So-called "live CDs" that simply boot from CD and automatically load the necessary drivers for the user's respective system promise to change that. Linux User Groups or LUGS, still provide the primary face-to-face forum for demonstration of Linux. Commercial exhibitions provide Linux demonstrations to potential new users, especially corporate buyers. Many commercial distributions are hard to install, but with work, allow someone to re-use an old machine to see what the Linux desktop is like. The approach by Knoppix, which runs Linux directly from a CD without disturbing the PC's hard drive, is probably the most successful demonstration tool to date. MEPIS also runs from CD like Knoppix and they both can also be installed onto a PC like any other Linux distribution. Ubuntu also has a separate "Live" version of their distribution which runs from CD. The fastest approach is probably that of Workspot, which uses VNC to provide a free Linux desktop demo online.

Configuration

Configuration of most system wide settings are stored in a single directory called /etc, while user-specific settings are stored in hidden files in the user's home directory. A few programs use a configuration database instead of files. There are a number of ways to change these settings. The easiest way to do this is by using tools provided by distributions such as Debian's debconf, Mandriva's Control Center, or SUSE's YaST. Others, like Linuxconf, Gnome System Tools, and Webmin, are not distribution-specific. There are also many command line utilities for configuring programs. Since nearly all settings are stored in ordinary text files they can be configured by any text editor.

Running Windows applications

There are several ways to run applications written for Microsoft Windows on Linux, with varying levels of success. The popular Wine software, along with the commercial derivatives Crossover Office and Transgaming's Cedega create an application compatibility layer by reimplementing the Windows API inside of Linux. Many Windows programs run on Linux at approximately the same speed using these programs, and in some cases run faster. Since these programs are written without use of any Microsoft code, they do not require a Windows license. Although compatibility is improving, in many cases week-by-week, applications that make use of non-standard programming practices can experience problems. A similar alternative to running Windows applications inside Linux is to use the proprietary Win4Lin software, which converts Microsoft's version of the Windows API to run inside Linux rather than reimplementing it from scratch. Since a legal copy of the Microsoft implementation of the Windows API is needed, use of Win4Lin requires a copy of Windows. A third alternative for running Windows applications within Linux is to use a virtual machine program and run the desired application along with the entire virtual Windows operating system. VMware is a proprietary hardware virtualisation program that can run Windows in this way with near-perfect functionality, however this approach can carry a considerable speed and performance penalty. Full CPU emulators (such as QEMU or the slower counterpart Bochs) can be used, though to run a Windows program these emulators will also require a copy of Windows. Aside from the performance difficulties, virtual machine approaches to running Windows applications cannot integrate Windows programs into the Linux desktop, as they must instead run inside the virtual Windows desktop. A fourth alternative is to run the applications on a Windows machine but use remote access software such as VNC to view it on the Linux desktop. This is a good solution where applications are unable to be migrated, or an item of hardware such as a dongle, custom decoder card, or some USB devices will only run under Windows. At its simplest one or more people needing occasional access to Windows applications can share remote access to a single Windows PC for that purpose using VNC. In a corporate setting essentially the same can be done using a Citrix server, rdesktop to access a Microsoft Terminal Services server, or with NX technology.

Programming on Linux

A number of compilers are available for Linux. The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) comes with the vast majority of distributions. GCC supports C, C++ and Java among other languages. There are also a number of IDEs available for Linux. Some of the most popular are Anjuta, KDevelop, NetBeans IDE, Glade (actually a user interface designer), Eclipse, the famous Emacs and Vim.

Support

Technical support is provided by commercial suppliers and by other Linux users, usually in online forums, newsgroups and mailing lists. GNU/Linux users are often organised in so called Linux User Groups or abbreviated LUG. The business model of commercial suppliers is generally dependent on charging for support, especially for business users. Companies, which offer a special business version of their distribution, add special support packages and special tools to administrate higher numbers of installations or do administrative tasks more easily.

References

- Glyn Moody: Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution, Perseus Publishing, ISBN 0-713-99520-3
- Gedda. R. (2004). Linux breaks desktop barrier in 2004: Torvalds. Retrieved January 16, 2004 from [http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php?id=568003838&fp=16&fpid=0]
- Mackenzie, K. (2004). Linux Torvalds Q&A. Retrieved January 19, 2004 from [http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,8407881%5E15841%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html]
- [http://www.dwheeler.com/sloc More Than a Gigabuck: Estimating GNU/Linux's Size] by David A. Wheeler
- [http://people.debian.org/~jgb/debian-counting Counting potatoes: the size of Debian 2.2] by Jesús M. González-Barahona et al.
- [http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS)? Look at the Numbers!] by David A. Wheeler

Videos

External links

General
- [http://www.linux.org/ Linux.org] — contains comprehensive information and resources about Linux.
- [http://counter.li.org/ The Linux Counter] — estimates Linux usage around the world
- [http://www.tldp.org/ The Linux Documentation Project]
- [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/categories.html Categorized List of HOWTOs] Distribution related
- [http://eedok.voidofmind.com/linux/chooser.html Distro Quiz] — a test that recommends a distribution based on the answers.
- [http://www.linux.org/dist/ Linux Online] — distributions and FTP Sites (sortable by categories)
- [http://distrowatch.com/ DistroWatch.com] — distribution information & announcements.
- [http://www.linuxiso.org/ Linux ISO] — comprehensive but rather outdated site which has ISO download links for several distributions. Criticism of Linux
- [http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/facts/default.mspx Microsoft: Get the Facts] — Microsoft site that compares Windows Server software and Linux and comes up with the conclusion that Microsoft software has a lower TCO then Linux.
- Category:Unix Category:Computing platforms Category:Free software operating systems Category:Operating systems als:Linux ja:Linux ko:리눅스 ms:Linux simple:Linux th:ลินุกซ์ zh-min-nan:Linux

Vinod Valloppillil

Vinod Valloppillil was a program manager (PM) in the Proxy Server team at Microsoft, and left around 1999 to join onebox.com which was later acquired by Openwave Systems. In 1998, while at Microsoft, he was asked by Microsoft executive James Allchin to write memos for executives Paul Maritz, to educate & discuss potential strategies for combating open source software and Linux. These memos were leaked and are now known as the Halloween documents. At Microsoft, PMs coordinate interaction between groups, sometimes design user interfaces, and perform other facilitating tasks in a product team. They are not "managers" in the executive sense. Valloppillil, Vinod Valloppillil, Vinod

Eric S. Raymond

Eric Steven Raymond (born December 4, 1957), often referred to as ESR, is the author of "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" and the present maintainer of the "Jargon File" (also known as "The New Hacker's Dictionary"). Though the Jargon File established his original reputation as a historian/anthropologist of the hacker culture, after

Halloween documents

The documents

External links

Microsoft

History

1975–84: the founding of Micro-soft

1985–91: the rise and fall of OS/2

1992–95: domination of the corporate market

1995–99: foray into the Internet and other venues

2000–05: legal issues, XP, and .NET

Product divisions

Microsoft Platform Products & Services Division

Microsoft Business Division

Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division

Business culture

User culture

Corporate affairs

Corporate structure

Stock

Diversity

Logo

Criticism

Linux

History

Licensing

Pronunciation

Linux and GNU/Linux

Litigation

Distributions

Development efforts

Applications

Usability and market share

Installation

Installation on an existing platform

Demonstration

Configuration

Running Windows applications

Programming on Linux

Support

References

See also

General

Lists

Magazines

Videos

External links

Vinod Valloppillil

Eric S. Raymond