low graphics version | feedback | help
| Front Page World UK UK Politics Business |
| Sci/Tech |
| Health Education Sport Entertainment Talking Point In Depth Audio/Video |
Free software taking on Microsoft
 Bill Gates: Playing down threat from Linux |
By Toby Murcott of BBC Science
The software giant Microsoft is waiting to see what sanctions it will face following the ruling that the company had abused its monopoly position.
But Microsoft is also facing another challenge in the battle for control of the internet. It comes from a rival software program called Linux.
| Linux facts |
 | Kernel-based, multitasking operating system |
| Developed by Linus Torvalds, University of Helsinki in 1991 |
| Distributed as open source |
| 8m users (Red Hat estimates, March 1998) |
But the picture is very different when you examine the hidden part of the internet, the server computers. These store the information and connect together to form the global network that is the internet.
Increasingly popular
The increasingly popular software used to run the servers is a system called Linux and it is free.
Originally created by programmer Linus Torvalds, Linux is now running millions of computers and is gaining a reputation as the powerhouse of the internet.
The secret of its success, claim Linux enthusiasts, is the fact it is "open source software". This means that its computer code is freely available to anyone, and anyone can add to it, in complete contrast to Microsoft which keeps its software code secret.
The result of this open source approach is that there are thousands of Linux programmers, both amateur and professional, who have ironed out the bugs in the software making it very reliable.
What's more, the Linux community is forever improving it and the results are, like the original product, free.
Linux is unlikely to be a serious challenge to Microsoft yet, but more and more commercial companies are choosing it in preference to the Microsoft alternative.
Bill Gates, Microsoft's' chairman, has played down the threat from Linux but a number of analysts believe this is a sign that he is worried and feels threatened by a free system created by a student as a hobby.
 |
 E-mail this story to a friend |
|
Links to more Sci/Tech stories
| Search BBC News Online | |
|  Advanced search options | |
| |
 | |
 | |
| |
 | BBC RADIO NEWS |
| |
| |
 | BBC ONE TV NEWS |
| |
| |
| WORLD NEWS SUMMARY |
| |
| |
| |
| |
 | PROGRAMMES GUIDE |
| |
See also: | |
| |
 | 29 Jan 99 | Sci/Tech |
| The odyssey of Open Source software |
| |
| 28 Oct 98 | Sci/Tech |
| Hats off to Linux! |
| |
| 21 May 99 | Sci/Tech |
| Rewriting the Web |
| |
| 20 May 99 | Sci/Tech |
| Gnome is no Windows dwarf |
| |
| |
Internet links: | |
| |
| The Amaya browser |
| |
| Third Voice |
| |
| Open Sources book |
| |
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites | |
Links to other Sci/Tech stories are at the foot of the page.
