[ Thanks to Alan
Boyd for this link. ]
“Plotting the overthrow of the world’s largest software
company is no job for a part-time revolutionary, says Miguel de
Icaza, a 27-year-old computer whiz who has tried it. A year
ago, he was devising a way to turn the conventional software
industry on its head, but only after his day job as a systems
administrator in Mexico City.”
“Now, with an “Innovator of the Year” award under his belt from
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he runs a company that
develops alternatives to some of Microsoft Corp.’s key products.
And he conjures up a day when his so-called open source software
will be better than Bill Gates’ best – and free.”
“Mr. de Icaza’s dream has its roots in the enormous
technological needs and limited resources of his native Mexico. But
to achieve it, he moved to this northerly hotbed of technological
innovation to found Helix Code Inc. … Helix Code and several
other U.S. companies are developing open source applications to
compete with Microsoft programs such as Outlook, Excel and
Word.”