Business 2.0: Fighting Microsoft the Open-Source Way

“While the appeals court ruling last week upholding Microsoft’s
settlement with the Justice Department was a molar or two away from
being toothless, Microsoft faces a bigger potential check to its
dominance today than it did at the height of the browser wars five
years ago. This comes not from an ever-vigilant judiciary but (more
fittingly) from an ever-adapting market. And it is taking the form
of Linux and other types of open-source software being developed by
swarms of volunteer programmers around the world.

“The term ‘open-source’ means software code that’s available for
all to see, use, or modify. Any programmer can make changes, but
those changes are subject to the court of public opinion–the best
ones stay, while the worst draw jeers. It’s also no longer the sole
domain of antiestablishment hackers. They gave open-source its
start, but the Linux operating system, perhaps the best-known
open-source program, now runs on about a quarter of all
servers.

“Additionally, open-source code underlies the software products
of some of Microsoft’s fiercest competitors such as Apple Computer,
IBM, RealNetworks, and Sun Microsystems…”

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