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<TITLE>The Future of Linux: Audience Q&A I</TITLE>
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<LINK REV="made" HREF="mailto:newt@pobox.com">
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<!-- Copyright (c) 1998 Greg Roelofs. -->
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<BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000ff" VLINK="#7700ff"
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<IMG WIDTH=165 HEIGHT=76 BORDER=0
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ALIGN="right" SRC="./gx/roelofs/linux-dont-fear.jpg" ALT="[Don't Fear the Penguins.]"></A>
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<H1 ALIGN="center"> The Future of Linux </H1>
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<H3 ALIGN="center"> 14 July 1998 </H3>
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<BR CLEAR="all">
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<HR>
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<P>
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<H3> Selected Audience Questions and Answers </H3>
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These are somewhat paraphrased, either because I couldn't hear the exact
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question or couldn't write fast enough.
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<P>
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<I>I've got 1000 Suns used for CAD and would like to start moving to Linux,
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but I have to have high-end CAD support. When can I expect it?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Larry Augustin</B> mentioned a recent (June 1998?) <A HREF=
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"http://www.dac.com/">Design Automation Conference</A> in which the
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500-member audience was asked if they would like to see Linux ports
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of Cadence tools, Synopsys, etc. ``Everyone in the
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audience raised their hands.'' He noted that the vendors seemed
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surprised and emphasized that Linux users have to let them know that
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Linux ports are wanted.
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>What can an average person gain by installing Linux?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI>I'm not sure who answered this, but the response was basically, ``more
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stability'' <FONT COLOR="#006600">[<I>to which I would add, ``way more
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performance''</I>]</FONT>. I think he also related a horror story about
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trying to guide his mother (the 75-year-old?) through a Win95 reinstall,
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all via a trans-Atlantic phone call. This led nicely into the next
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question...
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>Why isn't Linux appropriate for your 75-year-old mother? If she can do
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complex recipes, why not Linux?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI>One of the panelists (Jeremy?) won a round of applause: ``My mother
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<I>is</I> running Linux and did a Red Hat upgrade over the phone.''
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>Intel wants to support Linux, but what about Intel's non-disclosure
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agreement on Merced (IA-64) and the proprietary
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<FONT COLOR="#006600">[encumbered]</FONT> I2O spec?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Sunil Saxena</B> mentioned that there are already preliminary
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discussions underway regarding Merced, but he agreed that it's a problem
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and had no further comment for now. (I think Michael Masterson
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mentioned that Intel gave them the choice of a marketing guy, a lawyer
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or an engineer; they chose the latter.)
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<LI><B>Linus Torvalds</B> flatly stated, ``Don't worry about Merced'' and
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``It's a done deal--just a question of time.'' He said the kernel would
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be no problem; the development tools will be tricky, but that just
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means the Linux port will show up maybe two months after Merced is
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released. He noted that most other vendors (especially Microsoft) still
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have to deal with 64-bit issues, which is a much bigger problem; Linux
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has had 64-bit support for a couple of years now
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<FONT COLOR="#006600">[<I>on Alpha AXP; a 64-bit UltraSPARC port
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(``UltraPenguin'') is not too far behind and, in fact, was available to
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developers long before any 64-bit Solaris 2.7 betas showed up</I>]</FONT>.
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>Is there any plan to guide the GUI and/or widget set for Linux?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Robert Hart</B> noted that Red Hat is helping the GNOME (GUI)
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project and also supporting work on the GTK widget set, but more via
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``resource allocation,'' not so much guidance, per se. There's also
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KDE (a nice-looking GUI based on the non-free Qt widget set; version 1.0
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was just released this week).
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<LI>Jeremy may have noted that one of the strengths of Linux is its freedom
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of choice; users aren't locked into one relatively limited (and ugly?)
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``look and feel'' and can even switch between several on the fly.
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</UL>
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<P>
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<I>What are the differences between Linux and FreeBSD?</I>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Linus Torvalds</B> answered first, noting that the differences aren't
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all that big--mostly a matter of design philosophy and ``time to market.''
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FreeBSD is based on BSD, which is a stable, proven base (and its
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supporters view that as a strength). On the other hand, Linux has the
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advantage that it was able to ``throw out the crap''--for example, some
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things no longer make sense on modern hardware. Also, ``I get to call
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the shots in the Linux kernel, and very few people have the balls to
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complain. <FONT COLOR="#006600">[<I>considerable laughter</I>]</FONT>
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There's no committee--I just say, `Let's do it,' and it's done.''
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FreeBSD, of course, is largely guided by the consensus of a group of
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people; moreover, none of the original BSD crowd is currently developing
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it.
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<LI><B>Jeremy Allison</B> noted that FreeBSD can run Linux apps.
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<LI><B>Larry Augustin</B> said that he was an old BSD guy; he switched
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to Linux because it felt much faster and lighter, and its development
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pace was much more rapid. FreeBSD's SMP support, for example, is ``still
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very early. (That's being generous.)'' So one might as well learn Linux.
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</UL>
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<P>
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<HR>
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Click here to return to the <A HREF="roelofs.html">main <I>Future of
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Linux</I> page</A>.<BR>
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<HR>
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<I>Last modified 20 July 1998 by
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<A HREF="mailto:newt@pobox.com">newt@pobox.com</A> , you betcha.</I>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE="-1">
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Copyright © 1998 Greg Roelofs.
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</FONT>
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