Linux Gaining Ground
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Case Details:
Case Code : BSTR042
Case Length : 17 Pages
Period : 1990 - 2003
Organization : IBM - Linux Technology Center, Microsoft
Pub Date : 2003
Teaching Note :Not Available
Countries : ---
Industry : Software
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This case study was compiled from published sources, and is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion. It is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. Nor is it a primary information source.
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Open Source Movement Gaining Ground
Initially, in the computing industry, consumers were given programs that included the hardware and source code. The programmers were happy to share their source code and add the improvements made to the source code by others. However, the functioning of the industry changed in the 1970s, with firms like Microsoft withholding the source code, thus making the software an element of proprietary business.
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Microsoft started selling its products without disclosing the source code. In the 1970s, the computing world was dominated by one operating system - Disk Operating System (DOS),6 though there was also another operating system provided by Bell Labs - Unix.7 Initially, Bell Labs allowed the source code of Unix to be taught in universities, but later on it guarded it closely. In 1983, Microsoft introduced its revolutionary operating system - Windows, which changed the face of the computing world (Refer Exhibit III). Windows provided a graphical user interface -(GUI) operating environment for users, enabling them to run applications that used bitmap displays and mouse pointing devices. Microsoft's Windows source code was a closely guarded secret.
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Selling Windows through an excellent marketing strategy, Microsoft was able to lock in customers to its operating system.
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The new style of software business was opposed by software enthusiasts and hackers, who felt that proprietary software would result in less cooperation and slower growth in the industry. This led to the free software movement in early 1980s. In 1984, Richard Stallman (Stallman), former programmer at MIT's artificial intelligence lab, developed GNU software as an open source version of Unix. GNU software became workable in 1985. In order to prevent GNU software from turning into proprietary software, Stallman proposed a 'Copyleft' concept as opposed to copyright. According to the concept of 'Copyleft', developers could do whatever they wanted with the programs; even sell their own versions, as long as they made the source code available... |
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