Linus, Transmeta, Proprietary Code and Metcalfe

smeng58 writes "InfoWorld's Bob Metcalfe asks why, if Linus Torvalds is truly a believer in Open Source, Transmeta Corp. has seen fit to make Crusoe, or at least its VLIW "code morphing", proprietary. The column goes on to say that, since the processor will run Windows code, there must be some thing wrong with Linux. Sad when a computer pundit appears not understand what x86 code is. "

Comments

Re:Bob Metcalfe joins the tabloid press

[Surazal]

Now lets be facing it, Bob Metcalfe is not a stupid man.

An alternative way of putting all this into perspective is that Bob here has done a great service to Open Source and Linux by making its detractors look like a bunch of stark-raving lunatics, primarily because Bob writes like one.

Bob fails to see the point of course, obviated by his constant references to "Open Sores". The guy has gone down to being nothing more than the equivalent of a USENET troll. He still has a slightly better reputation than your average /. troll, but barely. I expect this to change soon, and not necessarily for the better.

Bob, if you're listening, give up the journalism gig. You're no good at it. Your ideas might be considered good points if you didn't write like such an idiot. However, you are a smart guy and all. There's gotta be something more worthwhile for you to do!

Re:Compatibility and microcode

[Bruce Perens]

Yes, but the instruction set I write might not be related to the PPC, ARM, or 68k. It might be something new entirely. Why not go through all of the operations GCC generates at its processor-independent level and write instructions that implement those operations most optimally?

Regarding the 2 years to write a bios, I'd imagine the code morphing and bootstrapping an instruction set onto the CPU is in there, but still it sounds like a long time.

Thanks

Bruce

What happened to Bob Metcalfe?

[Bruce Perens]

Bob Metcalfe used to be a good guy. When I first started doing business with 3com back in the VAX 780 days, Bob was returning my calls to their customer service phone line. Bob's made Billions on 3com and the Ethernet and should not have reason to feel bitter. But he keeps putting out this bitter, hurtful, and poorly informed stuff. There's little to criticize on a technical level in this piece because it is so obviously sour grapes, and for Mr. Billionare to pick on little Linus Torvalds with his old car and rented home just doesn't seem right. For Bob to pose as a "journalist" is sort of silly if he's never going to take the trouble to learn much of journalism, and instead settle for being just another crumudgeon.

What we want from Transmeta is a microinstruction set description. Period. We don't ask hardware manufacturers for their chip masks - what we ask them for is full documentation of how to use the hardware from our operating system. Frankly, we can do our own "code morphing" given an instruction set description and a patent license that goes with the chip. And it's not even clear that we'd need to do code morphing from something like the x86 - I think we'd be much more interested in designing our own instruction sets to work optimally for Linux.

Thanks

Bruce

why he writes this stuff...

[kevin lyda]

it's not well known, but bob metcalfe runs the mail server performance under load benchmarks in conjunction with slashdot. it's a simple formula:

let p be the number of posts in 4 hours on this story
let P be the number of posts in 4 hours on all stories
let t be the average time for mail delivery during that period
let T be the average response time normally.

let r be p/P*10 - the rating of the story
let d be t/T - the amount of degredation

so for a /. story magnitude r, the mail server responds in d times the normal amount of time.

Yes, /.ers, Bob Metcalf Does Make Sense

[shambler snack]

"InfoWorld's Bob Metcalfe asks why, if Linus Torvalds is truly a believer in Open Source, Transmeta Corp. has seen fit to make Crusoe, or at least its VLIW "code morphing", proprietary. The column goes on to say that, since the processor will run Windows code, there must be some thing wrong with Linux. Sad when a computer pundit appears not understand what x86 code is."

I think that Bob Metcalfe has a strong grasp of x86 code. Code morphing, in and of itself, is nothing new and is a part of both Intel's and AMD's advanced processors. If I'm not mistaken I believe AMD refers to the product of converting x86 opcodes as RISCops, in which the internal machine is very RISCy. This code morphing is hardware based, and is limited to one instruction set (x86) being morphed to the internal RISC opcodes. Transmeta's value added is that they exposed and optimized the hardware layer hidden in the Intel and AMD processors in such a way that it become possible to emulate nearly any current processor instruction set.

No, I support Metcalfe's pointing out the strong smell of hypocrisy surrounding certain actions by some in the Open Source community. Let's go over some of Metcalf's points:

• "So what I want to know is, if open-source software is so cool, and if Torvalds "gets it," why isn't Crusoe open source? For a start, why aren't the Crusoe chip's mask sources published for modification and manufacture by anyone?"
  
  SUN Microsystem's own website (http://www.sun.com/microelectronics/communitysour ce) contains links to open Community Source Licensing to its picoJava and SPARC V8 processor cores. If SUN can do it "imperfectly" under SCSL, then why can't Transmeta show how it should be done with a hardware-centric version of the GPL?
  
  
• "And yes, Mobile Linux is open source, but not the "code morphing" software Torvalds helped write. Transmeta has taken the phrase Code Morphing as its proprietary trademark. And what the code does, according to Transmeta, has been ... patented."
  
  Yep, there's that ugly serpent in the Open Source Garden, software patents. How many articles have been published, and how many flames delivered, to the "clueless" individuals who would dare to tie up innovation and hamstring the inevitable march to victory of the Open Source Movement?
  
  
• "Worse, Crusoe is touted for running Intel X86 software, and in particular, Microsoft Windows. Doesn't the open-source community say Windows is beneath contempt?"
  
  What more can I say? Intel comes out and shows Linux ported and running, first on Itanium emulation, and later on Itanium silicon. Further, the Trillium group, to great fanfare, releases the kernel source. Notice that Windows NT wasn't anywhere around, because Windows NT, being "beneath contempt", wasn't worth the effort to port and show running at the various Itanium showings.
  

Linux Torvalds may not have intended this, but he has taken situational ethics to new ground with his employment at, and tacit support of, Transmeta. It's all very good to want a return on investment, especially in the hideously expensive task of designing microprocessors, but if you're going to hold a belief, then you need to live that belief, regardless of the consequences. If the Open Source movement and philosophy are strong enough that companies such as Red Hat, SuSe, TurboLinux, VA Linux, and others are willing to build a business around it, then Transmeta, with Open Source's icon as an employee, should be out in front of everbody else. Instead, they cynically use Linus to garner interest and at the same time to shield themselves from criticisms of the company's behaviors.

Re:Bob Metcalfe joins the tabloid press

[Surak]

I disagree that open source is necessarily communist. Many others including myself and most notably Eric Raymond, have asserted that Open Source is really more Libertarian than communist.

One of the key issues in this difference is ownership. Take the WordNet definition:

1. a form of socialism that abolishes private ownership

On the other hand, the Open Source community does have the concept of ownership. Check out this excerpt from Homesteading the Noosphere: there definitely is a strong sense of ownership within the community.

Plus, in general, the Open Source community is tolerant of capitalism. Companies like Red Hat, VA, and Transmeta are cheered on, despite their obvious capitalist nature. Yes, it is expected that these companies will give back to the Open Source community, but the idea of making money on Open Source software is encouraged rather than discouraged, as it would be in a a truly communist society.

Mecalfe, you take the short bus to work, don't you

[mindstrm]

1) Linus doesn't control Transmeta. He is an employee.
2) Linux runs on Transmeta processors just fine.
3) Linus is not 'now in control' of Linux. He has final say on kernel builds, anyone who wants to could maintain their own branch of kernel development, but the fact is, the core kernel developers *like* having linus maintain the tree. In other words linus 'controls' it because nobody else wants the job, which in the OSS world, translates to nobody thinks they can do it better.

4) comparing this to animal farm really stinks. If what you say made any sense, I would say it's insightful.. but your article is just full of inaccuracies. VA bought slashdot? Yes.. and taco & hemos made *SURE* that they had *complete* editorial control over slashdot. THEY decide what happens to it, not VA, VA just gets to say that they own it. It adds percieved value, which is very important for a publicly traded company.

*LOTS* of OSS developers have real jobs, for real companies who do some proprietary software work.. why don't you go tear a strip out of them?
As for windows being replaced..you are exactly right. Anyone is free to develop something better. And where does our anger come from, Bob? Those of us who are *very* informed, find that Linux (or indeed, any unix) is MUCH better, in many circumstances, as a server platform than Windows. Our anger stems from the fact that we have this fucking WALL that MS built that stops us from using it.. our managers question us, make us look like zealouts, and have managed to turn the whole NT -vs- Unix game into a political one, not based in reality at all.
So get back on your bus and go back to the institute.

Ulterior Motive?

[thales]

Try Clickbait. It's related to Flamebait, but instead of replies he's after hits for IDG. The formula, Trash something, wait for links on news sites that people actually read, and watch the hitmeter go crazy. Then tell the advertisers "Metcalfe's coloum got XXXXX hits last week, Want an ad for next week?"

Metcalfe has a beef, and a point

[Hobbex]

I think it is more or less clear by now that Metcalf has a beef with the whole open source concept and ideals. It seems strange for someone who is, or at least was, a brilliant inventor, but when you consider his personal history it does make some sort of sense. Metcalfe made a brilliant invention, started a company around it, was forced out of the company by the resident corporate baffoons, and has since been marginalized to a nothing collumist in some god forsaken magazine where he can only get attention by trolling away.

Given that, one can understand why he carries a grudge against the open source ideals of giving away you inventions rather than trying to capitalize on them, and people like Linus in particular. Linus (and the likes of Tim Bereners Lee) is a living reminder that he could have chosen another route for his invention, one where he would not have been forced out by a bunch of idiot beaurocrats, and could still be a respected senior hacker rather than a senile Anonymous Coward wannabee.

That said, I do think he has a point about this. He seems to forget that Torvalds works at Transmeta but doesn't own it (just like the rest of the press, really), and his statement that Transmeta shouldn't hype Windows performance is ludicrous. They have to sell the damn chip, and they obviously prefer Linux to Windows or they would have worked with MS to get CE on Crusoe portals (oops, I mean make them Windows Powered). But, I would still like to hear Linus' opinion on the fact that Transmeta, cool product or not, obviously don't endorse openness at all. They are keeping the code to their chip completely closed, and they have even patented the software.

Personally, I would think long and hard before working for a company like that if I could pick and choose like Linus can. The fact that it doesn't seem to bother Linus at all _is_ a thorn in the side of the honesty and clarity of his motives, as much as I hate to say it. I would never raise myself to the level of judging Linus, there are few people alive today for whom I have as much respect, but I have to admit that I can't help but wonder what makes the two legged house dwellers at Transmeta different from those and Sun and Microsoft.

-
We cannot reason ourselves out of our basic irrationality. All we can do is learn the art of being irrational in a reasonable way.

Stallman believes in the right to privacy of code

[divec]

RMS believes people should be able to keep their code private. (And also other knowledge)

He, and the FSF, just believe that you shouldn't be able to prevent others from sharing the code that you give them, or to not provide someone with source code if you expect them to be able to run your binaries.

RMS must be the most misquoted hacker of all time. His, and the FSF's, position are made quite clear in about 3 pages of text here, yet people seem to continually misunderstand.

Re:Bob Metcalfe joins the tabloid press

[mochaone]

Metcalfe seems to think people take him seriously. He is very wrong. Metcalfe is the same buffoon who thinks Linux is flawed because it is "based on 30 year old technology". He of course was referring to Unix. If we were to apply Metcalfe's line of reasoning to other areas, we should not be using the telephone, automobile, radio, tv, etc. because they are all based on ancient technologies as well.

Metcalfe seems to have an ulterior motive. I don't know what it is yet but I don't think even he believes the crap that he so frequently spews. At any rate, since Metcalfe is 30 years removed from doing anything significant, I propose that he is flawed and as such should be put out to pasture.

Bob Metcalfe joins the tabloid press

[JamesSharman]

I really have to admit I was expecting an article along these lines to come out sooner or later. For those who haven't read the article it likens Linus going along with a closed source windows targeting system to the pigs in the Orwell's 'Animal Farm' slowly becoming what the revolution supposedly toppled.

Linus (like most of us) is a true supporter of open source and everything it stands for, he (also like most of us) is a realist who realizes the world isn't what we would like it to be. Linus makes very little out of linux and contrary to what the article states does not really 'control' it. The article makes stupid statements like the following:

"So just to keep Torvalds honest, I'm thinking that Crusoe chips, which are mostly software, should be open source and basically free."

Now lets be facing it, Bob Metcalfe is not a stupid man. He knows as well as you and I that Linus does not own or control Transmeta, the very suggestion that a commercial company should give away it's prized possession for free goes against every principle of the free market. It's also completely silly to suggest that should be done just because one Linus Torvalds is currently employed there.

If I had any choice in the matter, every thing I write would be free and open source, my mortgage would magically pay itself and the world would be free of hunger and poverty. However since reality requires me to get a job I chose to get a job that interested me. For the last 5 years I've been working as a 3D programmer in the games industry, now would Bob suggest that SCI (my previous employer) should open source Carmageddon2 just because an employee (me) who is an open source advocate played a small role in it's development. I expect Linus took a job with Transmeta for the same reasons, because it looked like a fun and interesting thing to do. Transmeta employed linus because he is a damned good programmer, of course the fact he is the man behind linux was never going to hurt.

The article goes to the depths of saying

"But with Torvalds saying some animals are more equal than others, why is the sanctimonious open-source press still cheering him on? Are the likes of Slashdot.org, just gobbled by VA Linux, also porking out in Orwell's farmhouse?"

This man is just trying to start an argument. Linus has done a vast amount of good for the open source community, should we really be attacking him for being involved in a closed source project for his current employer?

All in all this is Bob Metcalfe doing the 'tabloid thang' and trying to attack the open source community in the lowest possible way