We had the technology in the mid 70s, but ...
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I worked for Billings Energy / Billings Computer during the mid to late 70s. At that time we modified Dodge Omni vehicles to run on both gasoline and hydrogen. The company developed special fuel tanks that were safer than normal gasoline tanks (tested by the DOT). The vehicles had every bit as much power as the gas only powered ones. They ran cleaner, etc. The problems (as I see it) were caused by mans greed. As there were virtually no hydrocarbons to ruin the engines they would last a very long time. Detroit, in my opinion, did not want this. Also, what would the oi companies do if they only had to supply oil to be used as a lubricant or for the production of other petro-chemical products. I imagine they would not be as profitable as they are now. Another problem wsa that Roger Billings held all the patents surrounding this technology. Now that over twenty-five years have passed others can utilize the technology without paying royalties. I believe we could have the clean alternatives we need for our environment and also break the dependencies we have on the oil producing nations if we would again use the technology that has already been proved. It would be nice to (as we did back then) fill a tank in your garage with plain water, plug it into an electical source, and refuel your vehicle overnight. It would be even better if we had hyrdogen fueling stations, as they do in some countries in Europe, instead of gas stations. Even better would be if we could do more research on hyrdogen fusion. I believe back in the 70s we had taked about producing hydrogen for around two to three cents per gallon of gas equivalent if this technology were perfected. In the end the whole world would benefit, not just the few who were too greedy to allow the technology to move ahead. If government truely would get behind this and not just give it lip service I believe we could see things come together within a couple of years. Sorry for the rant; I just think of where we were with this and wish things could have been different.
As I have read through the posts I hear two things. People are upset because they didn't get in on the IPO and Caldera Systems is just another distro. that doesn't really matter to the Linux world.
I've been involved and contributing to Linux since it first came out in 1991. I never did care to put my name into the CREDITS file. I tried to get in on RHAT and LNUX but was not able to. I'll try to get in on CALD too. If I do great but if I don't I still wish them well.
Caldera, and now Caldera Systems, has done a lot for Linux over the years. Even though I don't work for them now, I did in the past.
Caldera has not been a company to blow its own horn, as have many of the others. The engineers who have worked at Caldera have made contributions, some very major, but they do so without seeking the spotlight as some in the community have done. They have worked because they want to see Linux succeed as much as anyone else in the community.
So what has Caldera done that others may not be aware of? With the benevolent backing (tens if not hundreds of millions) from Ray Noorda they have gone into areas that others did not to enable technologies that all of you have benefited from. How many of you use Netscape on Linux? Caldera paid for the privilege of porting the Netscape client and server products to Linux that you all use. They funded Star Division to port Star Office to Linux. How many of you use this product? They have worked deals with Sun to help with Java and Wabi (dead now but did allow for 16 bit windows apps. to run on Linux). They paid for and helped technically to get the original Word Perfect onto Linux. They helped bring Netware technology to Linux. They couldn't openly distribute this technology because of license terms with Novel, but never the less they helped tie these OS's together and make the world a closer place in which to compute. Linus has said for some time that Linux needs apps. to become successful. Caldera has worked with and paid many ISV's to see this happen.
Caldera has always supported the trade shows and organizations such as Linux International and the LSB.
Caldera stayed away from the bleeding edge of the Linux technology and worked more on putting out a release considered more stable for commercial use. Hackers for the most part may prefer the later versions of everything, but business was concerned about having stability so Caldera looked to fill that niche.
Caldera put together formal processes to produce a "Self Hosted" product. I don't know how many of you have ever had a problem getting source and having it recompile on the distribution of your choice, but any source Caldera distributed with their release was verified to be "makable" by the customer if they desired to rebuild it. I don't know of any other distribution which did this, at least until possible this last year.
I would hope that even if I don't make anything from the CALD IPO that they will do well. I for one would like to see Caldera and Ray Noorda get something back for all they have done to promote Linux and help it progress. I trust they will use the funds they receive to further promote Linux.
I also hope we can always have many choices in distributions and not have the market slimmed down to one choice. We all know what having a single choice can do!
Just wondering if anyone has checked to see if Microsoft may be helping the DVD CCA though direct or indirect funding? Where they have DVD's playing in their environment it may be they would like to stop Linux from having it available.
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I worked for Billings Energy / Billings Computer during the mid to late 70s. At that time we modified Dodge Omni vehicles to run on both gasoline and hydrogen. The company developed special fuel tanks that were safer than normal gasoline tanks (tested by the DOT). The vehicles had every bit as much power as the gas only powered ones. They ran cleaner, etc. The problems (as I see it) were caused by mans greed. As there were virtually no hydrocarbons to ruin the engines they would last a very long time. Detroit, in my opinion, did not want this. Also, what would the oi companies do if they only had to supply oil to be used as a lubricant or for the production of other petro-chemical products. I imagine they would not be as profitable as they are now.
Another problem wsa that Roger Billings held all the patents surrounding this technology. Now that over twenty-five years have passed others can utilize the technology without paying royalties.
I believe we could have the clean alternatives we need for our environment and also break the dependencies we have on the oil producing nations if we would again use the technology that has already been proved. It would be nice to (as we did back then) fill a tank in your garage with plain water, plug it into an electical source, and refuel your vehicle overnight. It would be even better if we had hyrdogen fueling stations, as they do in some countries in Europe, instead of gas stations. Even better would be if we could do more research on hyrdogen fusion. I believe back in the 70s we had taked about producing hydrogen for around two to three cents per gallon of gas equivalent if this technology were perfected.
In the end the whole world would benefit, not just the few who were too greedy to allow the technology to move ahead. If government truely would get behind this and not just give it lip service I believe we could see things come together within a couple of years.
Sorry for the rant; I just think of where we were with this and wish things could have been different.
As I have read through the posts I hear two things. People are upset because they didn't get in on the IPO and Caldera Systems is just another distro. that doesn't really matter to the Linux world.
I've been involved and contributing to Linux since it first came out in 1991. I never did care to put my name into the CREDITS file. I tried to get in on RHAT and LNUX but was not able to. I'll try to get in on CALD too. If I do great but if I don't I still wish them well.
Caldera, and now Caldera Systems, has done a lot for Linux over the years. Even though I don't work for them now, I did in the past.
Caldera has not been a company to blow its own horn, as have many of the others. The engineers who have worked at Caldera have made contributions, some very major, but they do so without seeking the spotlight as some in the community have done. They have worked because they want to see Linux succeed as much as anyone else in the community.
So what has Caldera done that others may not be aware of? With the benevolent backing (tens if not hundreds of millions) from Ray Noorda they have gone into areas that others did not to enable technologies that all of you have benefited from. How many of you use Netscape on Linux? Caldera paid for the privilege of porting the Netscape client and server products to Linux that you all use. They funded Star Division to port Star Office to Linux. How many of you use this product? They have worked deals with Sun to help with Java and Wabi (dead now but did allow for 16 bit windows apps. to run on Linux). They paid for and helped technically to get the original Word Perfect onto Linux. They helped bring Netware technology to Linux. They couldn't openly distribute this technology because of license terms with Novel, but never the less they helped tie these OS's together and make the world a closer place in which to compute. Linus has said for some time that Linux needs apps. to become successful. Caldera has worked with and paid many ISV's to see this happen.
Caldera has always supported the trade shows and organizations such as Linux International and the LSB.
Caldera stayed away from the bleeding edge of the Linux technology and worked more on putting out a release considered more stable for commercial use. Hackers for the most part may prefer the later versions of everything, but business was concerned about having stability so Caldera looked to fill that niche.
Caldera put together formal processes to produce a "Self Hosted" product. I don't know how many of you have ever had a problem getting source and having it recompile on the distribution of your choice, but any source Caldera distributed with their release was verified to be "makable" by the customer if they desired to rebuild it. I don't know of any other distribution which did this, at least until possible this last year.
I would hope that even if I don't make anything from the CALD IPO that they will do well. I for one would like to see Caldera and Ray Noorda get something back for all they have done to promote Linux and help it progress. I trust they will use the funds they receive to further promote Linux.
I also hope we can always have many choices in distributions and not have the market slimmed down to one choice. We all know what having a single choice can do!
Long Live Linux
Just wondering if anyone has checked to see if Microsoft may be helping the DVD CCA though direct or indirect funding? Where they have DVD's playing in their environment it may be they would like to stop Linux from having it available.