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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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<H1><font color="maroon">Linux for small players? Compaq sees important market opportunities ahead</font></H1>
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<H4>By <a href="mailto:frc@linux.com.br">Fernando Ribeiro Corrêa</a></BR>
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This and other interviews are on the
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<A HREF="http://www.olinux.com.br/interviews/17/en">OLinux site</A></H4>
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<P> <b>OLinux: Tell about your career: college, jobs, personal life (age,
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birthplace)</b>
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<P> <b>Russel Pavlicek</b>: I was born and raised in New York state in the US. I grew up in a town called Ossining that is known for a few things, including Sing Sing Prison
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(a favorite reference in American gangster films in the 1940's), Peter
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Falk (who played Lieutenant Columbo in the long-running US TV series of
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the same name), and Martha Quinn (who was one of the original VJ's on
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MTV). I received a Bachelor's Degree from Trinity College in Hartford,
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Connecticut.
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<P> I joined the consulting team at Digital Equipment Corporation in 1987 and
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remained in place through the acquisition by Compaq. I now live in
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Maryland with my wife (Maryann) and children (Stephanie and Christopher)
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and numerous pets. We have hosted numerous exchange students over the
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past few years, including students from France, Italy, and Brazil.
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Professionally, I spent years as a VMS consultant for Digital. I had
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little Unix experience or interest. In 1995, I had the need to develop
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some Unix skills. I came across Linux (Yggdrasil Plug-and-Play, Fall 1994
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edition, for those who care about such things) and started using it for
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training purposes. Within 2 years, it became my preferred desktop system.
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<P> <b>OLinux: You told us that you are writing a book. What is the subject of this
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work? Have you published any other books? Don't forget to ship us a
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copy, ok ?:)</b>
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<P> <b>Russel Pavlicek</b>: The book is entitled "Open Source Software Development: Adding Clarity to
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Chaos." It is meant to give people outside of the Open Source world an
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introduction to Open Source development and the people behind it. It
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should be useful for many people who use Open Source software, but do not
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necessarily understand why the community behaves like it does. I think it
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will also have value for people within the movement who know how the
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movement works but have not spent that much time considering why it works
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the way it does.
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This is my first book. And, yes, I've asked the publisher to send you a
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copy.
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<P> <b>OLinux: What's your position at Compaq?</b>
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<P> <b>Russel Pavlicek</b>: My current job is to help build up our Linux consulting expertise
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worldwide. Compaq recognizes the potential opportunity we have in the
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Linux consulting arena and is working to prepare our workforce. I am also
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a frequent speaker at Linux and Open Source trade shows and technical
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conferences, as well as an occasional author of articles for various Linux
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websites. The two topics I speak about the most are Linux Advocacy and a
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perspective on understanding the Open Source movement called, "Welcome to
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the Insane Asylum."
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<P> My speaking schedule and bibliography can be found at
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<A HREF="http://www.erols.com/pavlicek/">http://www.erols.com/pavlicek/</A>
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<P> <b>OLinux: Do all Compaq's systems run the Linux OS? Can you list or indicate a
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url where our users can find detailed technical information about those
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products/drives/patches?</b>
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<P> <b>Russel Pavlicek</b>: Almost all Alpha systems and Proliant systems can run Linux. A few of the
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very early Alpha boxes used a bus called Turbochannel which is not yet
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supported on Linux (NetBSD apparently works, though). But just about
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everything else works. Some options (some video cards, for example) do not
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have drivers, but there are other supported options that can be used
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instead.
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<P> Compaq's main Linux website can be found at
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<A HREF="http://www.compaq.com/linux">http://www.compaq.com/linux</A>
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<P> We host a site about Linux on handheld units (including the iPaq H3600)
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at
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<A HREF="http://www.handhelds.org/">http://www.handhelds.org/</A>.
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<P> That site includes links to information about Linux on both Alpha systems
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and Proliant servers. In addition to this, there is good information
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about Linux on Alpha at the following non-Compaq sites:
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<A HREF="http://www.alphalinux.org/">Alpha Linux information</A>,
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<A HREF="http://www.iol.unh.edu/linux/alpha/development/">
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peer-to-peer support</A>.
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<P> <b>OLinux: What is Compaq's marketing strategy for Linux?</b>
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<P> <b>Russel Pavlicek</b>: Compaq sees room for many operating systems solutions in today's computing
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environment. Some customers want Tru64 Unix or OpenVMS. Others want
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Linux. And others want Windows 2000 or Windows 98. Compaq tries to meet
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the needs of customers across the board.
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<P> Compaq sees Linux being very important in a number of markets today. It
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is a key component for customers needing low cost but highly effective
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webservers. It is absolutely critical in the high performance technical
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computing arena, thanks to the excellent price performance value of
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Beowulf clusters. Linux is also making excellent progress in the handheld
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market (we recently released information on how to load Linux on the
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latest of our iPaq handheld units).
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<P> <b>OLinux: What are Compaq's key alliances & investments with Linux companies and organizations to support this platform?</b>
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<P> <b>Russel Pavlicek</b>: Compaq has partnerships with a number of key Linux companies including Red
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Hat, SuSE, TurboLinux, and Linuxcare. We are the only top tier solutions
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company that can claim to be an original member of Linux International.
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<P> Compaq realizes that we must work with the community, and we are doing
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just that.
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<P> <b>OLinux: How does Compaq analyze Linux growth for past few years? Is it
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consistent growth in your opinion? To what extent does Compaq want Linux
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to succeed as an alternative operating system on the server and desktop?</b>
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<P> <b>Russel Pavlicek</b>: From my personal perspective, the growth of Linux over the past few years
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has been nothing but spectacular. I started using Linux in 1995 and
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actively tracking the Linux community in 1997. By the beginning of 1997,
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I was entirely convinced that there was a viable industry growing out of
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the Linux community.
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<P> I attended the Atlanta Linux Showcase in 1997. It was held on a weekend
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with about 500 attendees and about 20 vendors on the expo floor. Even
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though it was a trivial show by computer industry standards, I walked away
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from the show totally energized. I knew without a doubt that Linux was
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going to be big -- very big. There was enthusiasm and passion I had not
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seen in years coming from the attendees. The reports of the new work in
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progress was exciting. None of the industry analysts were paying
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attention to Linux, but I could see that something of significance was
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happening here.
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<P> In 1997 I began suggesting to coworkers that we should be developing a
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Linux strategy. There was a fairly small group of us who understood what
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was going on, but before too long it became apparent to everyone that
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Linux was not just a hacker's project. It was turning into an exciting
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operating system.
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<P> Today, we have an Linux Program Office focused on the success of Linux
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on Compaq's platforms. There are many people working hard to make sure
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that Linux works well on both our Proliant systems and Alpha systems.
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We have had engineers working on Linux Alpha since 1994.
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<P> <b>OLinux: What is your role representing Compaq for Linux International? How
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does Compaq support the project? Are there any special funds direct to
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li.org?</b>
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<P> <b>Russel Pavlicek</b>: I just recently took the position of Compaq's representative to Linux
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International. I am still getting acclimated to the task. Jon "maddog"
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Hall had been our representative for years until his departure last year
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to become the full-time Executive Director of Linux International.
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<P> <b>OLinux: In you opinion, how much has the Linux/OS community has grown and how
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do you see its future?</b>
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<P> <b>Russel Pavlicek</b>: Since 1997, when I first joined the community, it has changed in many ways
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and stayed the same in others. Obviously, the number of people using
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Linux these days has grown dramatically. The community used to be almost
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exclusively programmers, but that is no longer true. In my experience,
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the average Linux user still has some technical background, but most are
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not actively contributing code to the community. I am active in a local
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Linux User Group and there are a number of people involved in the
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community these days who are technical, but not working on projects. The
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community is changing from primarily code hackers to technical users.
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<P> The number of non-technical users has grown significantly, as well. Even
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my wife and daughter, who are not technical people at all, use Linux on a
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daily basis without problem. This is the growing frontier.
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<P> <b>OLinux: What are the main internet technologies that you consider extremely
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interesting or relevant advance for technology information?</b>
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<P> <b>Russel Pavlicek</b>: I think clustering technologies will be critical on the server side in the
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near term. There are many things in development and more things planned,
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but a full, rich clustering solution will be a key development for Linux
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when it arrives.
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Linux on handheld and embedded processors will be vitally important in the
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near future, I believe. That is why I am proud to see that our people
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have worked so hard to port Linux to our new iPaq handheld.
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Also, system installation procedures have come a long way in the past five
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years, but we need to continue on to make installation incredibly simple.
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This is especially true on laptops.
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<H5 ALIGN=center>
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Copyright © 2000, Fernando Ribeiro Corrêa<BR>
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Published in Issue 56 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, August 2000</H5>
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