Linux the Story:From Torvalds Through Today

byJon "maddog" HallExecutive DirectorLinux International

Trademarks

● Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries

● GNU is a trademark of the Free Software Foundation

● Unix is a trademark of X/Open in several countries

First Use of Unix® FirewallsIstanbul, 1453 A.D.

Mehmet the Conqueror used Unix to guard his Harem..........................

.............or was that Eunuchs?

Software Livre! Vs Software Gratis!

● Freedom in software

– Freedom to read the sources– Freedom to change the sources– Freedom to redistribute those changes

● A lot of software is gratis.....

– Allows you to take money you are paying to licenses..

– Allows you to redistribute that money to tailoring and integration

● In the end, nothing is completely free of cost.

Source Code Distribution Is Not New

1943-1977 computers were huge, expensive and few

● Most application software was distributed in source code

● “Shrink wrap” software did not exist

Free Software Did ExistDECUS (among others) – 1969● Customers wrote and contributed

software– “Maybe someone else will be able to use it”– “Maybe someone else will help to improve

it”● Library stored and distributed software

for small fee– Paper catalogs– Paper tape

Unix: An Operating System(1969)

● Portable across hardware architectures

● Preserves:– Human resources and

training– Software interfaces (APIs)

One More Item In 1969

Linus Torvalds was born

Unix Spread● Various Universities● Unix was not free

– Source code license (160000 USD per CPU)– University Source code licenses (350

USD/campus)● Selected universities● Contamination issues● Trade secrets

– BSD license allowed binary-only distributions

● Unix fragmented

● USENIX hisses

The Beginning of the End1977­1983

● Economies of scale made “shrink wrap” software possible

● Companies Started up– 100 engineers– 1000 customers– 2000 reports– 20/engineer

No problem!

Time Goes On

150 engineers, 4.5 million customers● 9 million pieces of paper● 60000/engineer

See the problem?

Freedom of Software Is Not New1984 – GNU

● 1984 – GNU– Richard Stallman resisted “binary only”

● 1980s and 1990s– Sendmail, BIND, Postgres (nee Ingres)– *BSDs occurred– 1986 Project Athena (X11, Kerberos)

1991 – All But the Kernel

● 1991 - New chip, old operating system, new desktop, old methods...– Linux Kernel was started

● 1993-1994 – Distributions began to appear– SLS, Yggdrasil, Trans-Ameritech, Slackware

● 1994 – V1.0 of the kernel

The Alpha Port

● May 1994: Met Linus● June 1994: Hardware in place

– Documentation gathered– Organization studied

● January 1995: Project started● November 1995: Red Hat shipped

The power of community

Beowulfs:1994­1995

● Dr. Thomas Sterling and Dr. Donald Becker

● Supercomputers at 1/40th of the cost– COTS systems– High speed networking

● 10, 100, 1000 Mbit ETHERNET● Myranet● Crossbar switching

– Solved huge numbers of problems

What Types of Problems?

● Image rendering● Image recognition● Weather forecasting● Global warming● Modeling and

meteors● Resource

prospecting through seismic imaging

● Data Mining● Genome research

(MySQL)● Searching document

image databases● Molecular dynamics

simulations● Virtual Reality● Calculating Financial

Reserves (12 hrs to 15 min)

The Perfect ISP machine

● Unix-like– Multi

● User● Tasking● Architecture● Network stacks

– Demand paged virtual memory● Stable● Secure

The Perfect ISP Machine(Cont.)

● Had all the features– FTP– Apache– Shell accounts– News– Etc.

● Ran on “cheap PCs”

And You Had the Source Code

● Ping problems and buffer overflows● InfoWeek magazine: Best Service Award

More Free Software Timeline

● More ports followed (SPARC, Motorola, etc)

● September 1998 – Databases port● October 1998 – Companies start to

support● High-availability software starts to

appear● 2000 – Embedded systems discover

Linux

Embedded Systems Need:

● Modular system● Multi-architecture● Network stacks● Device Drivers● Low (or no)

royalties● Real Time

More Free Software Timeline

● March 2000 - .coms fail, recession strikes– People start spending money more wisely– People pick Linux as solution

● Winter 2003 – Red Hat becomes profitable

Free and Open Source SoftwareReasons For Using

4000 Business People In A Room...

● How many have had a bug in proprietary software? How much did that cost?

– Lost time– Lost effort

● How many have had to change the way they did business? How much did that cost?

– Retraining– Loss of sales– Customer dissatisfaction

Software Freedom allows Business Decisions

Today – 500,000,000+

500,000,000 General Purpose Computers:● 450,000,000 Micro$oft● 40,000,000 Linux – based● 10,000,000 “everything else”

What happens to the other 5,500,000,000?

Barriers to EntryIn the past hardware was expensive....how

expensive is it now...● ...to hire someone who speaks English?● ...to purchase one “seat” for a design engineer

....or 10 seats?● ...to buy all the software you need to start your

business?● ...to negotiate all the software contracts you

need?

“We are waiting for the letter of authorization...”

A Balance of PaymentsSoftware Freedom means...● Less money leaves your country for

packaged software● More money can be spent locally on

tailoring Open Source, which..– Creates local jobs

● Who eat local food, buy local housing, pay local taxes

– Which creates more local businesses● Who need more tailoring of software● Which creates more local jobs...

Free Software In Government

● Military– Would you trust your weapons.....

● Government– Would you trust your email system....

● Not just war– Companies bankrupt– Companies drop support

Proprietary Shams

● Shared source:– 60 countries, not 200+– 1000 “Top Research Universities”– 500 “Top Business Partners”– Read, not change for major products

● Source Code Viewers● “Special Deals”

– “One shot”– Crippled products

Free and Open Source Software Today

Today

● Linux shipping on 1/3rd of all new server systems

● Linux used on most (if not all) new supercomputers

● Linux is third most-used OS in new system starts

● Linux is now out-selling Apple on desktop

Sourceforge.net

● 74K+ projects● 750K+ developers

What Types of Projects?

● Databases (MySQL, PostGRES, others)● Audio and Video playing and editing● Software development tools and

languages● Accounting, business, ERP, CRM● VoIP – Telephony and video

conferencing● Security (encryption and authorization)

But What About....?

● Standards – Free Standards Group (www.freestandards.org)

● Certification – Linux Professional Institute (www.lpi.org)

● Support– Most major system vendors– Distributors, VARS– Local support

Open Source Development Labs(OSDL)

● Non-profit global consortium of companies dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Linux

● Carrier Grade Linux● Data Center Linux

Future Issues

Issues are not technical● Software contamination

– Trade Secrets– Copyrights– Patents

● Adaption of world economies

The next Albert Einstein of computer science...

I Would Like to Thank

● Linux International member companies● SGI for paying my salary● IBM (for this really cool laptop)● META Group for inviting me● You, for listening● ...but most of all... the Free Software

community...

I Would Like to Thank The Linux Community on behalf of:

● The Royal Navy Air and Rescue Force (allows faster rescues)

● The Genome project (allows easier sharing of data)

● The Borehole Project in Africa (allows clean water for 7000 additional families)

● Faster Detection of Cancer (24 hours to 10 minutes)

● Creation of low-cost community computers for India bringing Internet capabilities ($200 for a sharable computer)

● For the hundreds of students at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji to study and learn

● 1600 doctors in Cuba who use it to spread information

● Scientists at Fermilab looking for the smallest bit