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Date: 1998-10-26
Linus findet Intel nett
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q/depesche 98.10.26/2
updating 98.10.25/1
Linus findet Intel nett
Es hat wohl des Vorfeldes des Prozesses "Das Volk der
USA gegen Micro/soft" bedurft - alle reissen sich um Linux,
nur einer bleibt bemerkenswert unterkühlt. "In den
Gesprächen mit Intel vor einem Jahr" sagt Linus Torvalds,
Initiator des freien Betriebssystems, das über 50 Prozent
Marktanteil in der Tranche Webserver hält, "war Linux noch
ein dirty word. Jetzt sind sie sehr positiv eingestellt, ist das
nicht nett?"
Der Verlagsriese IDG, zu dem auch die deutschsprachigen
Computerwelt- und -woche gehören, hat wie angekündigt eine
Linuxwelt eingerichtet.
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Interview: Robert McMillan
LinuxWorld: It seems like there are a lot of very rapid
changes happening in the Linux world these days. Oracle is
porting its products to Linux; Intel is now an investor in Red
Hat. In broad strokes, what do you think is happening?
Torvalds: I think we've just reached critical mass in one
market, and that's showing. And that we'll continue to see
this kind of situation. But at the same time, I don't see this
really impacting Linux in any technical sense -- which is
really all I ever cared about.
Everybody who even wants to get into the Linux market -- if
they want to get into the Linux market, it's because they like
Linux at some level, which means they want to do the right
thing. So I don't see anybody getting into the market for any
negative reason.
I don't think that Linux per se will change. You have to realize
that I was more nervous when Slackware came along --
somebody who was selling Linux for money, which was
much more of a shock. I was kind of nervous. I thought it was
a good idea, but I was kind of nervous.
But it just turned out to be so good. I mean there was such a
synergy between having commercial people who wanted to
make it easy to install and technical people who wanted to
do the right thing technically that I'm not worried anymore
when something like the Intel/Netscape announcement
comes along. Because I just don't see how we can lose.
That's why I'm sitting here calmly sipping my Coke.
LinuxWorld: What do you make of Intel and Netscape's
recent decision to invest in Red Hat?
Torvalds: I think that the latest flurry is just a small part of
everything that has been going on lately. I mean Intel buying
into Red Hat is just a sign of the times. It's more of a result of
previous changes.
So we're seeing new possibilities in things like Intel getting
more involved. Having a big company like Intel gives you clout
with other big companies. Not just credibility, but if Intel
wants to do something they have the possibility of actually
talking to other companies and saying, "Hey, can you please
do it this way." It opens a few new doors that Linux didn't
have open [before].
...
Some of them do their own hardware, and they get to control
their own hardware manufacturing. But the rest -- the ones
who tend to run on Intel hardware -- have such a small
market that they are essentially a nonissue. And that's where
Linux comes in, for two reasons. One is that Linux does have
market share. It's not a large market by PC standards, but
it's still a noticeable market. And the other is because Linux
is so open, they can see the possibility that you would have
other Unix companies that would just decide, "OK, if Linux
does this then maybe we can do it too." Which they couldn't
have done before for political reasons. IBM and Sun wouldn't
ever agree. If anyone -- HP -- goes to the Unified Driver
Interface, that has no impact on Solaris, because HP
wouldn't make it available.
I'm not saying it's going to happen. I'm saying where the logic
is.
Sun made a lot of standards like this. NFS is an example of
an open standard -- I mean the standard wasn't technically all
there. NFS is not a great network file system. But it was
good enough, and it was very, very widely available.
Standards really do not come from committees. That's not
how a single good standard has ever come about. It's market
share forcing something to be used.
Linux in the enterprise LinuxWorld: What is Red Hat getting
from their deal with Intel?
Torvalds: When you want to enter the corporate market, you
want to have credibility. And that's what they're getting;
they're getting credibility.
And you also need to have products to sell into this space.
And they alluded to a product strategy. And I bet part of it is
just selling support. For example, when you buy a CD right
now, you can buy a CD for $50 and you get unlimited
licenses. But most companies -- for completely inexplicable
reasons -- think that is wrong. They want to buy 100
licenses. If they can't buy that with Linux, they're unhappy.
So what I assume Red Hat is going to do is they're going to
sell 100-license systems where the licenses are not so much
the software licenses per se, but the support contracts. So a
big company can say, "OK we'll pay $100,000 a year for this
1,000-user license, which includes support on a 24x7 basis.
LinuxWorld: As you add multiprocessor support into the
Linux Kernel, it seems there are a lot of opportunities for
Linux systems vendors.
Torvalds: I don't think Red Hat is going to do that. I think
you're going to find more traditional hardware companies
doing this. I mean, you already find places like VA Research,
which wants to be big. They integrate the hardware and the
software; they sell you a box that has been stress tested, it
has the applications on it (like Oracle and Apache), they take
it to your business location, they turn it on and they support
it.
full interview
http://www.linuxworld.com/linuxworld/lw-1998-10/lw-10-
torvalds.html
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edited by
published on: 1998-10-26
comments to office@quintessenz.at
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