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Ian Murdock: Linux is a Process, Not a Product
securitas writes "Debian founder Ian Murdock says that Linux is a process, not a product. He also says that the product mentality 'misses the entire point of Linux and the open-source development model.' Because Linux is made up of many different components developed on independent timeframes, Murdock posits, to refer to Linux as a product is to strip it of its dynamism and closes its inherently open nature. Instead, he says that Linux should be viewed as a shared platform and infrastructure technology, and that business models should reflect that or else Linux risks becoming proprietary, closed and just another cookie-cutter piece of software."
XML is argued to be a data exchange format, not a data storage format. This article about Linux being a dynamic project has a similarity with XML. It is interesting how people now consider the dynamic nature to be the core of interest, instead of the actual tangible aspects.
US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
A product, a process, a community, a method, a team, a concept, an idea, and most importantly, many alternatives.
"Last one in is a rotten goblin!" - Kepp
I think he completely misses some of the good points of having distros unifying the various projects as a unified product but ...
His comments are good because perhaps they can open the business people up to the concept that linux in and of itself is not an OS. It is a kernel with literally thousands of projects built around it to flesh out the total package of the OS.
It is a very hard concept for people accustomed to having their OS as a single product shrink-wrapped and delivered onto them from a single company.
It has its flaws but its a very good article.
For those using linux and for that matter commercial Unix in the IT world, how many bosses actually get the projects as opposed to product conception of Linux?
ACK
...however, we can't even get most people past the notion that "Linux" isn't the name of an operating system, much less that the "product mentality" doesn't apply to everything.
Most people think that "Linux" is the name of an operating system, and most of those assume it's made by a company. The majority seem to think that "Linux" is an operating system made by Red Hat. Even one ORA book-- to wit, the one on Mastering Algorithms With C, with the pink cover-- noted that its code was tested on "Linux 8.0" (!!!).
We don't need to discuss amongst ourselves the fact that Linux isn't a product. We need to teach others-- including Gartner-Group-reading "IT Manager" types and the PHB corps-- what Linux is, and what it is not.
I have hardly ever seen a major publication (of any sort!) refer to Linux as anything except "an open-source operating system", or the like. It is not an operating system-- it is a kernel. (It is not even "open-source"-- it is "free software"! Not to wax RMSish...)
Until this changes, we cannot honestly expect anyone (outside of our own circles) to understand any of the points brought up by Mr. Murdock.
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
...I am not so sure about Linux.
I think any "product" of open development that is sufficiently successful will eventually be killed by competing anti-open interests (software companies, adjacent industries, governments, etc.)
As a result, individual products like "Linux" will probably come and go. However, the death of any open product simply means that the labor pool of the open development process will have or will soon move on to construction and maintenance of a new product which will in time, due to the superiority of the process (IMHO), again compete with proprietary interests, etc.
As such, open development is likely to evolve into a lifestyle or an ideal which leads those who embrace it or participate in it to make use of a series of "open" products over time. These types of "open products" are developed, marketed and used quite differently from products originating in the traditional marketplace and the use of "open products" comes at the expense of the traditional marketplace (to use RIAA/MPAA logic).
Thus, I tend to believe that if open development (and open content, etc. etc.) continues to grow in popularity as a philosophy and preference, there will eventually be some kind of sociocultural clash on a larger scale between the "open" and "marketplace" (i.e. closed) worlds.
I am not an economist but it seems to me that open development and traditional more closed/proprietary marketplaces represent fundamentally different economies that coexist peacefully now only because open development hasn't been large enough in the past to warrant the expense or dischord necessary to displace or destroy it. However, as more and more talent/revenue/ideas/sales/young minds are "lost" (RIAA/MPAA again) to open development, I can't help but think that this will change.
It seems to me that we are seeing the beginnings of this already with the grumbling of large interests like Microsoft about the "evils" of the GPL and open source.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
I agree. Linux is a product developed by a process. The point is that it's the process, not the product, that makes Linux special.
Umm ... yeah ... Debian ... exactly what I picture when I think of a Dynamic Constantly Moving and Developing Product.
Well, it is.
Debian is not a product. Debian Stable (currently Debian Woody) is effectively a product. But Debian is a project.
Debian Stable may only have a new release every couple of years, making it seem very stodgy and safe and conservative and slow. But the Debian project really is dynamic, constantly moving, and constantly developing. Try installing Debian Unstable, and you'll probably find it's a little more constantly moving than you want....
-Rob
What you are referring to is basically "branding." It is an old technique that companies have been using for a long time. Red Hat doesn't necessarily want to make Linux and go proprietary but they certainly would love for people to think "Red Hat" in conjunction with Linux.
Examples of branding:
Bailey's (Irish Cream)
Coke (soft drink)
Polaroid (instant camera)
It's synergrrific!
--
He makes some good points, but ultimately he is wrong in his assertion that Linux is a process. The process he's referring to is actually the process of open source development. Linux does describe something tangible beyond a collaborative process, namely a very distinct operating system kernel. There are other distinct kernels, and there are other open source projects that have everything to do with the identical process by which Linux is developed but absolutely nothing to do with Linux proper.
I have a lot of friends who use Linux, so I know all the parts about how it's open source, anyone can improve upon it, etc. I think that putting that in the realm of quality would at least cause more businesses to come around. I'm in a manufacturing plant working on outlining our quality system, and it is all about looking at a process for continually making our product better. This is exactly how Linux is made better, not just the kernel, but all the open source software for it. It's like you have a workforce of everybody who uses Linux, and they're all working to make the product better through continual revisions. You mention that to any Quality engineer in manufacturing, you've just sold him on Linux. Yeah, Microsoft releases patchs all the time. These though are coded by what, about 10% of the people out there who improve the code of Linux. This makes Linux far more robust and able to handle different situations. Then add to that the fact that these "patchs" are marketed and priced as a new OS. Once companies, and home users, start realizing this, they'll start converting. The problem is that most people don't know what Linux is, or think you have to have a computer science degree to even use it. Once Linux starts getting away from that image, and people start understanding what kernels and distributions are, that's when we'll see an end to Windows
I think a lot of people who say he misses the point, are in fact TEHMSELVES missing the point.
Linux, as a collective and generalised OS, is a process.
Debian Linux, RedHat, Slackware, etc. etc., are products. Furthermore, they're comprised of dozens of sub-products, so to speak, each with its own lifespan and schedule.
The general entity called Linux is a procedural entity, or a way of putting together a bunch of products (the kernel, the utilities, the startup scripts, etc.) such that you can make a product with them.
Now this is all fine and dandy. Unfortunately, there are two conflicting results to this:
1) By pushing Linux as a product, you're pushing specific distros which are in effect, proprietary bundles. (Source code notwithstanding, in a professional environment, a bundled distro is _treated_ as a proprietary distro--partly for good reasons!) This is damaging to Linux as a process or concept.
2) Companies don't want to run processes on their computers. They want to buy products.
3) Due to the process nature of Linux, a resulting product (say Debian) is a snapshot in time of all of the subproducts travelling along at different rates. This makes it a big pain for the vendor (and to a lesser extent, the user) to keep current in Linux. This is effectively fallout from Linux "versionitis," and there are no easy ways around it.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
This is the best descriptive model I've seen for LINUX, unfortunatly, it ignores the reality of the very real end user. Currently the LINUX end-user is a system-savvy hobbiest or professional, a minimum of one or two levels above the average computer owner (the guy or gal that's still trying to figure out emoticons in AOL-IM or get the time set on their VCR).
This isn't denigrating the average user, it just means most don't lose sleep over the slow adoption of TCP/IP v6. They have little interest in memorizing their monitor refresh rates at various resolutions when DOS (with various windowing programs) and WINDOWS both had easy ways to switch on the fly. Why bother learning the intricacies and simplicity of pipes when all they have to do is hit an icon?
Personally I think they'd be better learning how to work the silly box but the simple fact is this is no longer the era of the ALTAIR,PET/VIC-20/C-64, Apple II, Atari when the purchasers of "home computers" were assumed to have a good basic knowledge OR DESIRED SUCH. Today purchasers just want to get a letter written or look something up on the internet.
Reality says if LINUX is to go further than UNIX did we have to get past the buzz and give the users something more than nine-tenths finished. Patches have to be as easy as wintel or mac machines (forget recompiling, just run the executable) and programs need to be complete and usable as delivered, including example templates, complete help files (written in ENGLISH!), and even online help (ala the much hated though immortal clippy).
The issue is not the developers, where LINUX is now strongest. The issue is the "mom & pop" end user that want's another toaster. Steve Jobs understood that with the original Mac, Bill Gates still does, the question is when will Debian, Red Hat, Suse, etc. catch on.
It doesn't matter what you wrap your emotions around, Reality is a brick wall specifically designed to scramble eggs
I think calling linux a process is a huge mistake. Granted, its an argument of semantics, but that doesn't make it any less important.
In my mind... calling linux a process, models exactly what Open Source is. Open Source is a process... or more accurately, open source development is a process. Linux is one possible result. By calling the whole of Linux a process, muddles the lines between what open source is and what linux is. In essence, it derides any non-linux related open source process. Hope that made sense.
To me, open source development is a process.
Linux is a platform.
RedHat/Mandrake are an implementation of that platform, which was developed using that process.
To show it in different non linux terms:
Closed source development is a process.
Windows CE is a platform
PocketPC 2002 is an implementation of that platform, which was developed using that process.
In the end, calling Linux a process... well... it muddles an already confused concept! In my mind, I dont think the revolutionary concept is in any way linux, it is the way in which linux was conceived!
That is the great strenght of Linux and GNU you are perfectly free to use it as a dev platform in anyway you see fit. If your version is worth while then it will survive. It is the perfect dev platform for really advanced embeded systems. The ideal thing is to create a killer device which becomes a real product. At that point the software becomes secondary, and if you need to bow to Redmond or where ever so that your system can work then you are at a disadvantage when the company whose OS you use decides that your device is something they really have to own. Patent devices not software. Give the really inventive people freedom from rediculous constraints. GNU/Linux is the way of the future. Let MS patent every concievable system function software sequence and
and eventually new American tech will grind to a halt.
Look how long affordable 64 bit systems have taken to reach the market. This is purely the doing of IBM, Intel and Microsoft. But then again what does a home user need 64 bit for. Of course there are no applications that a MS wants to think of. The RIAA would have kittens if 24/96 recording became easy on the home computer. Also small art schools would be able to do too much. Budding digital artists using Maya and like tools would get too good too quickly. Advanced scientific tools available to all schools and teachers.
Oh hell you cannot have little people doing things that only rich guys can do.
This is the reason why high tech is going off shore, not that we are stupid just that we are stupid enought to let the major corporations control the future of tech. The real cost of advancements in computer tech has been the software. GNU/Linux has thrown a wrench in the works and eventually will open up 64 bit tech in the Orient and Europe. This will happen so fast that Microsoft, IBM, and Intel will not even know what happened. American government intervention on their behalf (like what happened with tron) will not help the giants this time. Compete or die is going to be the answer from the government in future. As so it should be.
OH THE SHAME I fell off the wagon and use sigs again!
Linux is an ecosystem, not a product.
Linux is a philosophy, not a product.
Linux is a culture, not a product.
Linux is a development methodology, not a product.
Okay, mod this "-1, Sarcastic" if you want. But I don't find the article to be particularly illuminating or useful. Linux can be viewed in many ways depending on your perspective and assumptions. Declaring that Linux is "not a product" is about as useful as saying the United States is "not a nation". Yeah, you can get some people's attention, but you're not saying much.
How about looking at the value of the "Linux way" of doing things? How about comparing the "Linux way" to other ways? Other people are trying to answer these questions, and those discussions are much more interesting to me than a simplistic "Linux is a process" label.
My curmudgeonly 2c worth....
-Thomas