By Don Sussis, Electronic Commerce Guide
I recently gave a talk to forty-five management consultants from
Austria. The talk was sponsored by the Austrian Trade Commission
and arranged by Peter A. Gatscha, Assistant Trade Commissioner for
Science & Technology. It was held at the Intrepid Air and Space
Museum in Manhattan. The Intrepid is an aircraft carrier which
houses, among other things, real jet fighter planes and real space
capsules. Nearby are a real submarine and several tanks. Among the
many other artifacts on display is a piece of the Berlin Wall. The
Intrepid, needless to say, was a courageous and adventurous choice
of location.
What impressed me most about the venue for this talk was its
testimony to the superiority of “open systems” (like the U.S.) to
closed systems (like the former Soviet Union). There can be no
doubt about the number of innovations, freedoms and quality of life
advances that one philosophy has created versus the other.
For those of you who are familiar with Information Theory, this
model of success resides in the work of Norbert Weiner in
Cybernetics. It was a result of this work that feedback became
valued as a mechanism for constantly improving performance.
Continuous feedback is a feature of “open systems;” by contrast,
“closed systems” become static and inefficient because they
discourage new information. For example, guided missile systems are
vast improvements over simple rocket projectiles because constant
and continuous feedback informs the device, making them much more
accurate.
This is a very crucial difference and it has found proof of
concept in both politics and in enterprise. At General Electric,
for example, Chairman and CEO Jack Welsh utilized an open systems
model as part of GE’s corporate culture. New ideas are free to grow
and every employee is encouraged to operate in an entrepreneurial
manner. The company, which was founded more than 100 years ago,
constantly re-invents itself and creates value by adapting to
change.
I mention all of this to present a perspective on the potential
break-up of Microsoft as well as to underscore what is happening in
the Linux world. The Linux OS is based upon an Open Systems
Model-its source code is published and available. Anyone can access
and contribute to its development. That’s also why Linux is often
referred to as the leader in the Open Source Movement.
To better appreciate the Open Source Movement, I spoke with
Larry Augustine, the President and CEO of VALinux Systems. The
venue this time was the Internet Economy Conference sponsored by
The New York Society of Security Analysts. It was chaired by
Vincent Catalano and proved to be one of the most informative
events that I’ve attended this year.
Linux is not only the fastest growing operating system but it
now runs more Web servers and than any other OS used for the
Internet. Why? Perhaps the best answer is that Open Source directly
connects users with developers. In the Windows environment,
developers must go through a middle person — Microsoft. It’s like
having to go through a state-run bureaucracy before being able to
make a change in your business.
According to Mr. Augustine, “In the Linux system everyone has
access to the source code and, so, anyone can contribute to
improving it.” This means, for example, that, “bug fixes can be
created and distributed within hours– rather than waiting for
‘official releases’ which may takes weeks, months or even
years.”
Consider this interesting tidbit. The NT server had a clock that
counts the number of days that the machine is “up and running.” But
the counter was set at a maximum of 26 days. “The result,”
according to Augustine, “was a systems crash -even if the machine
was operating properly.” He added, “It took three years to find
this out.”
Also, since there is access to the source code in Linux,
customization is easily accomplished. This is especially important
if Web hosting is outsourced to giant server farms, such asthose
run by Exodus Communications. If you are running 10,000 NT machines
with Windows, it is difficult to set up a dozen machines with
special OS capabilities. But it is relatively easy to do this with
Linux. This gives customers “what they need when they need it.”
Here is an example.
Cisco Systems, the giant router manufacturer, has had a
long-standing company policy that any printer in their enterprise
should be accessible to any employee, anywhere and anytime. This
couldn’t be accomplished with NT. So, according to Mr. Augustine,
the Cisco Enterprise Printing System Group (CEPS) “fixed the
problem.” Then they published the results. This aids real
innovation because developers can move forward to new challenges by
consulting available libraries of information instead of struggling
to develop fixes on their own. There is no need to reinvent wheels
that are already turning.