June 2007

From the New York Times:

WHAT a difference 16 years makes. Last month, the technology world was abuzz over an interview in Fortune magazine in which Bradford Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel, accused users and developers of various free software products of patent infringement and demanded royalties. Indeed, in recent years, Mr. Smith has argued that patents are essential to technological breakthroughs in software.

Microsoft sang a very different tune in 1991. In a memo to his senior executives, Bill Gates wrote, “If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today’s ideas were invented, and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today.” Mr. Gates worried that “some large company will patent some obvious thing” and use the patent to “take as much of our profits as they want.”

Mr. Gates wrote his 1991 memo shortly after the courts began allowing patents on software in the 1980s. At the time Microsoft was a growing company challenging entrenched incumbents like I.B.M. and Novell. It had only eight patents to its name. Recognizing the threat to his company, Mr. Gates initiated an aggressive patenting program. Today Microsoft holds more than 6,000 patents.

It’s not surprising that Microsoft — now an entrenched incumbent — has had a change of heart. But Mr. Gates was right in 1991: patents are bad for the software industry.

Popularity: 15% [?]

The first ever Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit ended on Friday. I spent today de-compressing and summing up the highlights and accomplishments in a news release that will go out tomorrow. By my estimation (and most I’ve talked to), the LF Collaboration Summit was a great success.

Here’s the formula I used to make this determination:
The right people + collaborating on the right projects +having a great time = success.

The Right People
The summit was over-subscribed, with over 230 leaders from the Linux community, representing kernel developers, distribution and system vendors, ISVs, end users and community project leaders. This was the most important factor in the summit’s success. If we’d had 230 system vendors there, it wouldn’t have worked. If we’d 230 kernel developers there, it wouldn’t have worked. If we’d had 230 distro vendors there, it wouldn’t have worked. (You get the idea.)
This was the first event of its kind where a true cross-section of leaders from the Linux and open source communities met face-to-face to tackle today’s most pressing issues facing Linux, including technical development, legal issues, ISV porting and end user requirements.

Collaborating on the Right Projects
OK, so we managed to get the right people in the room, but what did we work on? Some press articles mentioned Microsoft as a catalyst or focus for this event. Actually, this event was designed to facilitate technical work to improve Linux, not as a defensive move against a competitor’s legal threats. Competition spurs everyone on to be better, and we want Linux to succeed on the widest possible scale, we want Linux to be better than the competition (in so many ways it already is!), but there’s plenty to talk about without even mentioning Microsoft.

The press release has much more detail. (Or you can read it in Infoworld.) But here are the highlights of some of the work that will come out of the Summit:

• Accessibility. Representatives from the LF’s Accessibility workgroup explained the Linux model for writing accessible applications to key ISVs, end users, kernel developers and LSB workgroup participants. Accessible support is already much greater in Linux and open source than in proprietary platforms.

• Device Drivers: A collaborative and problem solving session on device drivers was held with key representatives from the kernel community, vendors and end users. More information can be found at www.linuxdriverproject.org.

• Power Management: Throughout the Summit, Linux developers, including the Linux Desktop Architects, met to discuss the increasing need for efficient power management in Linux. As a result of these meetings, Linux Foundation is organizing a “Green Linux” initiative to improve power management functionality in Linux.

• Printing. The Linux Foundation Open Printing workgroup announced the LSB Device Driver Kit to improve printing functionality in Linux. At the Summit, key representatives from major printing vendors met with Linux community leaders to discuss the new improvements in printer driver support and work on improvements in the future.

• Testing: The Linux Standard Base workgroup presented their newly created LSB Test Framework and Testing tools to a packed session of kernel developers, ISVs, upstream maintainers and system vendors.

You’ll notice this isn’t cheerleading, or summing up all the advancements all ready in Linux (such as the fact that Linux supports more devices than any OS in the history of computing). We need to continue to do that in other more appropriate forums, but this is showing that the community is working together to make Linux better. That’s what I would want to see in my platform provider.

Having a Great Time
Realistically if you don’t have the proper facilities, organization and plan, innovation and community advancement just don’t take place. (In fact, you wouldn’t get the right people in the room in the first place.)

I have our hosts to thank for delivering an amazing experience: Google. Chris DiBona and Leslie Hawthorn of the Open Source Program Office at Google not only provided the facilities and support of this event, they went out of their way to make every experience unforgettable for our guests. Their support of open source projects and community is amazing in its reach and innovation. (Just take a look at summer of code and the many other initiatives they manage). It’s not easy to pull off an event of this kind, but Leslie and her team of talented initials (Tiffany, Cat and Kat) made it look effortless. We are truly grateful for Google’s support and dedication in advancing the Linux platform.

Keep an eye out on the Summit page. Many presentations and materials are available there. We will update it as planning for our next event shapes up. Thanks to everyone who participated. It was a truly memorable event.

Popularity: 24% [?]

So I think you can all imagine that I don’t have much time for blogging, given the time requirements that organizing the LF Summit require. But I just wanted to say that so far this inagural meeting has been AMAZING.

I’ve been working with open source companies for about six years now, and very closely with Linux for the past four, and I have never see such a diverse and accomplished group of people gathered together. At the summit, we have (in the words of one very well known journalist I won’t name)

• “more kernel developers in one place than I’ve ever seen,”
• all the distros (Novell, Red Hat, Ubuntu and more)
• all the system vendors (HP, IBM, Intel, etc.)
• key ISVs like Adobe, Real, MySQL and many others
• other community projects
• major end users who are betting their business on Linux.

Wow, they are talking to each other, and most importantly, listening. I know one event won’t solve all the work we have to get done, but this reminds me just how unstoppable a united group around a common goal can be. The brain power and passion in the room is palpable.

Well, enough cheerleading from me.

Popularity: 15% [?]