The Linux operating system has within a decade gone from underground "hackers only" networks to the institutional dollars of glass tower enterprises.
Perhaps no one ever expected the open-source operating system to make this shift, but that is not the only unpredictable move the software program has made. At present, Linux also offers cheaper solutions for small businesses, powers PDAs and provides China's government a chance to climb out from under the hegemony of Microsoft.
In Taiwan, figures as disparate as Chen Ing-hao, author of the world's second most destructive computer virus -- "I LOVEYOU" just beat him out for the number one spot -- and Peter Kurz, a top securities analyst, now work to develop and promote the once alternative operating system.
Mixed up in the middle of all these people, ideals, and financial ventures is XLinux Inc, a Taipei-based solutions provider and software developer.
Kurz says he recently joined XLinux's board of directors because "Taiwan software companies had no market until recently. Linux is a viable alternative to Microsoft, and they [the people at XLinux] are developing unique software that represents global potential."
Among the company's key self-developed products are a 126k Linux kernel -- as the world's smallest, it has significant potential for powering PDAs and other portable or limited memory Internet appliances -- and a Linux platform which supports software in a dozen different languages.
As a board member, Kurz is now helping XLinux prepare an initial public offering on the NASDAQ. Though the technology focused market has recently been rife with jitters, top officers at XLinux are unfazed.
That's because they have a couple things going for them, not the least of which is solid performance. Company sources say XLinux's earnings may jump from last year's US$0.097 per share to US$1 or more this year. Also important: California investors are still warm towards Linux and open-source.
Linux is free
When XLinux was founded in 1991 (the same year Linux was invented), but back then it was called Wahoo and provided other types of office network solutions, such as voicemail. In 1995, the company switched operating systems, going from DOS to Linux. By doing so, it also became part of the Linux world, which operates according to its own unique ideologies.
Linux started out, more or less, as a by-the-hacker and for-the-hacker operating system for amateur programmers. It attracted users who wanted the autonomy of open-source software (libertarians), many of whom also felt that all software, especially operating systems, should not be proprietary (Web communists).
Still, there is an effective copyright to Linux. It is owned by GNU, an organization that spun out of the Free Software Foundation during the mid-1980s. The document, a general public license, maintains that Linux and all of its descendents must exist as free software until the end of time. However, the license also states, "When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price."
It's a bit of a marketplace paradox. GNU's peculiar version of freedom entails the right to copy, distribute and sell "free software." But it also says that anyone can do this without anyone else's permission and that no one can patent or claim proprietary rights to any Linux operating system. In essence, you can sell Linux or you can copy it for free -- both ways are legal.
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