Linuxworld show marks OS evolution

By Duncan Martell

PALO ALTO: Linux, the upstart operating system that many see posing a considerable threat to software behemoth Microsoft, may not yet be ready for prime-time - but it's getting closer.

At a gathering this week of 20,000 software programmers, developers and Linux software and service providers in San Jose, California, the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo featured high-profile announcements by computing giants such as International Business Machines Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Sun Microsystems Inc.

Of particular note was a Tuesday announcement by Compaq Computer Corporation start-ups Eazel, Helix Code, as well as IBM, Sun, VA Linux Systems and Red Hat Inc., to form the Gnome Foundation, a nonprofit group that will aim to boost acceptance of the popular Gnome graphical user environment designed for Linux.

IBM, Sun and Compaq all said that the Gnome interface would be the standard one for their versions of Unix, an operating system used to run powerful computer servers. The Gnome environment gives Linux a point-and-click interface, which so far it has largely lacked, preventing the operating system from catching on with consumers. Most versions of Linux aren't as user friendly as Windows or Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh operating system.

With their backing of Gnome, the computer makers, Linux companies such as Red Hat and others, hope to change that. This will let developers write programmes that can run on varying versions of both Linux and Unix, such as Sun's Solaris operating system, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s and others.

 

Armonk, N.Y. based IBM, the world's biggest computer maker, also said on Tuesday that it will sell its computers loaded with software from Red Hat, which works with the Linux operating system, and package it with IBM's e-mail, group collaboration and database software.

The source code for the free, publicly available operating system was invented by Finnish programmer Linux Torvalds. But in the past two years, it has really taken off. Dell Computer Corp.'s Chairman Michael Dell said in speech at the LinuxWorld conference on Wednesday that fully 10 percent of its computers sold now are installed with Linux.

On servers, powerful computers that handle large amounts of data, Linux had a market share of 24 per cent, up from 16 per cent, in 1998, according to market research firm International Data Corporation. Microsoft's NT operating system had 38 percent for both 1999 and 1998, while Novell's NetWare had 19 per cent in 1999, down from 23 per cent in 1998. The various flavors of Unix had a 15 per cent market share last year, down from 15 per cent in 1998, IDC said.

On desktop PCs, however, indicating how much farther Linux has to go before it can pose a potent challenge to Microsoft, Linux's market share pales. Fully 88 per cent of desktops in 1999 ran Windows, up from 84 per cent in 1998, compared with 5 per cent for Mac in 1999 and 4 per cent in 1998. Other operating systems were 3 per cent last year of the total market, down from 10 percent in 1998.

Although a small number, Linux's market share on desktops is growing quickly: In 1999, it held a 4 per cent market share of operating systems, compared with 1 per cent in 1998.

(C) Reuters Limited 2000.