“The day after Microsoft Corp. President and CEO Steve Ballmer
laid out the computing world according to Microsoft, Michael
Cowpland, chairman and CEO of Corel Corp. [TSE:COS][NASDAQ:COSFF]
appeared on the same stage with a different message. A history of
monopolies in the computer industry will end as the Linux operating
system and other open standards gain ascendancy, Cowpland
claimed.”
“Cowpland pointed to the assorted standards on which the World
Wide Web is built – Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), JavaBeans,
and so forth – and said Linux is an ideal operating system for the
Web. That is because, among other things, it was designed with the
Web in mind, it is modular and open-source so that anyone can
improve the code, and it can be managed remotely.”
“Cowpland said the percentage of Web servers running Linux
has increased to more than 30 percent while other operating
systems’ share of that market is declining. He also argued
Linux will be a good system for electronic appliances, personal
digital assistants (PDAs) and the like, because of its small size
and speed. Noting that a typical Windows PC takes about two
minutes to start up and 20 seconds to shut down, Cowpland said
Linux appliances “will start up faster than Windows shuts
down.”