Surely you have heard about Linux. Anyone who has anything to do with computing, or is interested in contemporary events would have. You would even know that Linux had its beginnings in the efforts of a Finnish University student who goes by the name of Linus Thorvalds, and that thousands of developers across the globe have contributed to its growth and evolution. You would also know by now that Linux is free and that its source code is available to anyone who wants it. And if you have been a regular reader of PC Quest, you have had more than a fair chance to get your hands dirty with Linux. After all, this is the fourth time we are bringing Linux to you on our CD-ROM.

So again, what’s Linux? Is it any different from other operating systems? And more importantly, what is it about Linux that’s making it so popular and making it grow so fast?

Many are apt to say, without thinking twice, that the increasing acceptance of Linux is because it doesn’t cost you much. Sure! The fact that Linux is free has made it easier to distribute—like we do every year. But that’s hardly the prime reason for its success. Let’s take an example. There are a million free mail newsletters out there. Do you subscribe to all of them just because they are free? A good number of free newsletters, printed on high-quality paper in attractive colors would be arriving on your desk every month. How many of them do you even bother to flip through? Obviously, the cost has nothing to do much with the Linux momentum that we are witnessing today.

To understand Linux’s success, first we need to understand the Linux model of operation, and how it has evolved.

First, there’s no single owner for Linux. Linux is the combined effort of many a thousand programmers. But then so is Windows, and NetWare, and Mac OS and Delphi, and VB, and any other software that you may care to add to the list. But there’s one very significant difference. In the case of Linux, you have clear ownership of what you have created, enhanced, or even corrected. There’s no umbrella brand name that hides your contribution. And you don’t have to resort to Easter eggs to tell the world that you exist as individuals hidden away by the brand. Your name is up there, clearly visible for all to see. This acknowledgement—and even idolization—of individual contribution has acted as a very powerful motivator for programmers to contribute their very best to the Linux effort.

The second cornerstone of the Linux effort has been the peer review, that not only the software but the source code itself is subjected to. It’s one thing to put out betas for evaluation and feedback. It’s an altogether different ball game to put the code itself out for evaluation and correction. Companies regularly put out early versions of their binaries as betas for feedback (and of course, for the publicity). The feedback, in this case, is at best limited to what problems were encountered.

In the case of Open Source software, the feedback doesn’t end there. It goes beyond, to improve the code, as the reviewer has access to the original code and can work on actually improving the software. The starkest example of this is perhaps the Mozilla effort of Netscape. For those who don’t already know the story, Netscape opened up the source code of Navigator in March last year. One of the objectives of this opening up was to refine the layout engine (the part of the software that actually renders in the browser the text and graphics that you see in a Web page) of Communicator 4, and then develop a new layout engine. The end result was not quite what Netscape had expected. Halfway through, the "volunteer developers" had abandoned the revision effort, and instead came up with Gecko, a smarter, compact layout engine. Shocking? Before you pass harsh judgement, think of the advantages you get as the user—a better, smarter, more compact product.