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 From : Sergey Lentsov                       2:4615/71.10   28 Jun 2001  17:11:05
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 Subject : URL: http://lwn.net/2001/0628
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 Leading items and editorials
 
    Caldera's new releases and per-seat licensing. On June 26, Caldera
    International announced a couple of new distribution products:
    [44]OpenLinux Workstation 3.1 and [45]OpenLinux Server 3.1 Both of
    these releases contain a great many new features which should be of
    interest to Caldera users (and others); they are covered in depth on
    [46]this week's Distributions page. There is another aspect of this
    release, however, that we'll look at here.
    
    The OpenLinux press releases and web pages say very little about
    licensing for these products, which could lead many to believe that
    OpenLinux is yet another free distribution. If, however, you dig into
    the [47]OpenLinux Workstation Reviewer's Guide (warning: 5MB PDF),
    you'll find the following text:
    
      OpenLinux Workstation licensing has changed from previous versions.
      OpenLinux Workstation, as a product, is licensed per system and
      cannot be deployed without limit. Caldera will provide a
      certificate of license authenticity (COLA) with each unit sold, and
      Caldera expects each customer to have a COLA for each system that
      deploys OpenLinux Workstation.
      
    Linux users have grown accustomed to being able to copy distributions
    at will. It's not uncommon for a company to buy a small number of
    distribution CDs and to install them on dozens or hundreds of systems.
    By imposing per-system licensing, Caldera is challenging that
    practice, and, in the process, raising some interesting issues. We'll
    look at Caldera's licensing from two angles; the next article goes
    into why Caldera is taking this path, and the following will examine
    whether members of the free software community are right to criticize
    the company.
    
    Why is Caldera doing this? Given that a move of this sort is
    guaranteed to provoke criticism from the free software community, what
    could have inspired Caldera to go with per-system licensing? We talked
    with John Harker, Caldera's vice president of server product
    management, and asked him that question.
    
    In general terms, Caldera is trying to do two things:
      * Expand the Linux market to a new class of users, and
      * Actually make some money for a change.
        
    Both of these, of course, are reasonable goals.
    
    The folks at Caldera have made the observation that Linux has been
    most successful in situations where it can be made to do something
    right out of the box. Tasks like running web or file servers, for
    example. In situations where integration of tools is required,
    adoption of Linux has been slower.
    
    Caldera's purpose is to make a version of Linux that works "out of the
    box" in a wider range of situations, and to help others do the same.
    The company has a particular focus on independent system vendors who
    integrate the operating system with some other, task-specific software
    and resell the result. Those vendors want an operating system that
    "just works." Something that is stable, lacking bleeding-edge
    software, has a development roadmap, and will be supported by its
    vendor for a long time. In other words, these people want something
    that "looks more like a traditional operating system." Caldera will be
    trying to provide that system for these vendors.
    
    So the company's target is not, in general, the current set of Linux
    users. Caldera is thus not afraid of losing customers as a result of
    the new licensing. As Mr. Harker put it, Caldera may lose a number of
    "users," but the company does not expect its paying customers to go
    elsewhere. And, in fact, it expects to attract quite a few more of
    them through the new features in this distribution.
    
    Thus, according to Caldera, the company remains committed to Linux and
    free software, and it wants to continue to see them succeed. It's just
    taking a different path to make that happen. Meanwhile Caldera
    continues to support free software projects (including XFree86 and
    KDE). They are also, according to Mr. Harker, looking at whether there
    are any interesting parts of SCO Unix that could maybe be released
    under an open source license, and would appreciate input from the
    community on that topic. Interestingly, Linux has progressed far
    enough that, it would seem, traditional Unix systems have little to
    offer in the way of additions.
    
    Caldera has chosen a path that is unproven, to say the least. But
    then, that could be said of almost every Linux company. But it is a
    path that remains based in Linux, and is not the complete departure
    that some people have made it out to be. Whether it succeeds or not
    depends on whether the company can find customers who agree with its
    vision of what is needed.
    
    Should Caldera be taking this path? Needless to say, per-system
    licensing has [48]drawn some criticism. Some pretty severe things have
    been said about this business approach and Caldera's position in the
    free software community. Much of the energy that has gone into that
    criticism might have been better expended elsewhere, however.
    
    There is no evidence that Caldera is violating the license of any free
    software package that it is including in its distribution. Source for
    free software packaged by Caldera is available - it's included in the
    box. Caldera is not attempting to restrict the redistribution of the
    free software it uses; instead, it is restricting a compilation which
    includes a fair number of proprietary packages. These packages,
    including Volution, JBuilder, and Forte, do not allow unlimited
    copying. So a distribution which includes them can not allow copying
    either.
    
    Caldera's reliance on proprietary software is neither new nor
    surprising. A mix of proprietary and free packages has always been
    part of the company's plans. This plan has always implied restrictions
    on copying; it is, perhaps, a bit late to criticise Caldera at this
    point.
    
    There are, in fact, a couple of good aspects to Caldera's techniques.
    Here's why free software advocates should be glad that Caldera is
    taking this approach:
      * Caldera is showing that a business model that mixes free and
        proprietary software can be executed in a way that does not
        violate the GPL or any other free software license. The company is
        demonstrating a way of exercising the freedoms that come with free
        software. And, despite the fears being spread by a certain large
        software company, Caldera is not losing rights to its intellectual
        property in the process.
      * Caldera is also demonstrating the great strength Linux has in the
        form of its many distributions. No doubt many Caldera users will
        conclude that they do not like the new licensing. Every one of
        those users has the option of switching to a new vendor without
        abandoning Linux.
        
    It would be difficult to overemphasize that second point. History is
    full of captive IBM, DEC, CDC, etc. shops which found themselves in a
    difficult position when their vendors failed them. No Linux shop need
    ever fear that fate. Transitioning to a new distribution is not
    without its challenges, but those challenges are miniscule even
    compared to switching between proprietary Unix variants. Any Caldera
    user who is unhappy with the new licensing will find several other,
    well-engineered, well-supported distributions waiting.
    
    So Caldera is causing little, if any, harm with this approach. In the
    best (for Caldera) scenario, it will have found a way to add value to
    Linux that suits its customers, and the company will flourish.
    Otherwise, its users will make their feelings clear by voting with
    their feet for one of the many alternatives. Either way, we're seeing
    a demonstration of the freedoms that come with free software.
    
    The end of the Alpha. Compaq this week [49]announced a new deal with
    Intel. The end result will likely be the end of the Alpha processor
    architecture, and a reduction of choices for Linux users.
    
    The details: Compaq will be moving away from the Alpha processor,
    which it picked up as part of its acquisition of Digital Equipment
    Corporation a few years ago. In the future, Compaq expects to use the
    Itanium processor for all of its 64-bit servers. Much of the Alpha
    technology, and staff that goes along with it, will be transfered to
    Intel. This isn't happening right away, of course; Compaq is trying to
    give advance warning to its Alpha customers. Thus, for example, the
    goal of having all Compaq 64-bit servers using Itanium isn't to be met
    until 2004. In the mean time, new Alpha-based servers and a new
    generation of Alpha processors will be forthcoming.
    
    Of course, Compaq isn't the only company working with the Alpha
    processor; most of them are made by Samsung, and an important partner
    is [50]API Networks. We talked with a couple of managers at API (Guy
    Ludden, senior marketing manager and Tom Morris, director of product
    strategy) about API's plans for the Alpha. API sees no real impact in
    the short term (the next couple of years), but they acknowledge that
    there is little chance of the Alpha living on after Compaq loses
    interest.
    
    The more cynical among us have been heard to mutter that the Alpha
    will live on in the form of new Itanium processors that actually work.
    But we can't speak to that. In truth, the Alpha appears to be dead.
    
    The Alpha processor is important to Linux historically, of course.
    [51]Way back in the beginning, Linus didn't think that Linux would
    ever run on anything other than the 386:
    
      I'd say that porting is impossible. It's mostly in C, but most
      people wouldn't call what I write C. It uses every conceivable
      feature of the 386 I could find, as it was also a project to teach
      me about the 386.
      
    Now, of course, Linux is one of the most portable (and ported)
    operating systems available. That change came about when Jon 'maddog'
    Hall, then working at DEC, got an Alpha-based system delivered to
    Linus in 1994.
    
    Since then, Linux has been ported to numerous systems, but the Alpha
    has retained a strong following. It remains the processor of choice
    for people building high-end clusters, and for anybody with serious
    processing requirements in general. Many users will be sad to see it
    go.
    
    What is truly unfortunate, though, is the reduction in choices for all
    Linux users. The end of the Alpha takes us a little closer to a world
    completely dominated by a single processor architecture. And that, of
    course, can not possibly be good for anybody.
    
    Next week's LWN.net weekly edition will come out on Wednesday, July 4,
    so that we can enjoy the U.S. Independence Day holiday. We'll return
    to our normal schedule the following week.
    
    Inside this week's Linux Weekly News:
      * [52]Security: Samba remote root exploit, new vulnerabilities in
        pmpost, ePerl, w3m, cfingerd, ntping and more.
      * [53]Kernel: 2.5 is coming; kbuild transition; a couple of
        approaches to memory management improvements.
      * [54]Distributions: OpenLinux Workstation 3.1, LNX-BBC, many Red
        Hat updates.
      * [55]On the Desktop: Office options, chess interfaces and new games
      * [56]Development: Linux Clusters, embedded contest, net monitoring
        tools, Gnome Basic (GB), debugging Perl, Python 2.0.1, Kawa.
      * [57]Commerce: VA Linux Systems bails out of the hardware business;
        IPOs in the news.
      * [58]History: Software wars map; The Magic Caldron, Hard Hat and
        KRUD; MySQL goes GPL.
      * [59]Letters: 'On the desktop' critics reconsider; shared library
        dependencies.
        
    ...plus the usual array of reports, updates, and announcements.
    
    This Week's LWN was brought to you by:
      * [60]Jonathan Corbet, Executive Editor
      * [61]Elizabeth O. Coolbaugh, Managing Editor
      * [62]Michael J. Hammel, Senior Editor
        
    June 28, 2001
    
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    [66]Eklektix, Inc. Linux powered! Copyright Л 2001 [67]Eklektix, Inc.,
    all rights reserved
    Linux (R) is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds
 
 References
 
    1. http://lwn.net/
    2. http://ads.tucows.com/click.ng/pageid=001-012-132-000-000-001-000-000-012
    3. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/security.php3
    4. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/kernel.php3
    5. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/dists.php3
    6. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/desktop.php3
    7. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/devel.php3
    8. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/commerce.php3
    9. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/press.php3
   10. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/announce.php3
   11. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/history.php3
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   13. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/bigpage.php3
   14. http://lwn.net/daily/
   15. http://linuxcalendar.com/
   16. http://lwn.net/stocks/
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   18. http://lwn.net/Gallery/
   19. http://lwn.net/archives/
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   22. http://linux.tucows.com/
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   24. http://unixthemes.tucows.com/
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   31. http://lwn.net/2001/features/LarryWall/
   32. http://lwn.net/2001/features/Momjian/
   33. http://lwn.net/2000/features/Timeline/
   34. http://lwn.net/2000/features/ESR/
   35. http://lwn.net/2000/features/Comdex/index.php3
   36. http://lwn.net/2000/features/Comdex/RansomLove.php3
   37. http://lwn.net/2000/features/Guido.php3
   38. http://lwn.net/2000/features/PaulEveritt.php3
   39. http://lwn.net/2000/features/ESC/
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   41. http://lwn.net/2000/features/OLS/
   42. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/
   43. http://lwn.net/2001/0621/
   44. http://www.caldera.com/products/workstation/
   45. http://www.caldera.com/products/server/
   46. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/dists.php3
   47. http://www.caldera.com/images/pdf/workstation/RevGuide_OL_W.02.2.PDF
   48. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/06/25/1939235&mode=thread
   49. http://www.compaq.com/newsroom/pr/2001/pr2001062501.html
   50. http://www.alpha-processor.com/
   51. http://www.educ.umu.se/~bjorn/linux/misc/linux-history.html
   52. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/security.php3
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   55. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/desktop.php3
   56. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/devel.php3
   57. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/commerce.php3
   58. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/history.php3
   59. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/letters.php3
   60. mailto:lwn@lwn.net
   61. mailto:lwn@lwn.net
   62. mailto:lwn@lwn.net
   63. http://ads.tucows.com/click.ng/buttonpos=lwnbutton125top
   64. http://ads.tucows.com/click.ng/buttonpos=125-001-016
   65. http://lwn.net/2001/0628/security.php3
   66. http://www.eklektix.com/
   67. http://www.eklektix.com/
 
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