Free for All | Page 9

king.
Over the years, the same sad ending has befallen many communes, utopian visions, and
hypnotic vibes. Freedom is great. It allows brilliant inventors to work independently of
the wheels of power. But capital is another powerful beast that drives innovation. The
great communes often failed because they never converted their hard work into money,
making it difficult for them to save and invest. Giving things away may be, like, really
groovy, but it doesn't build a nest egg.
Right now, the free software movement stands at a crucial moment in its history. In the
past, a culture of giving and wide-open sharing let thousands of programmers build a
great operating system that was, in many ways, better than anything coming from the best
companies. Many folks began working on Linux, FreeBSD, and thousands of other
projects as hobbies, but now they're waking up to find IBM, HewlettPackard, Apple, and
all the other big boys pounding on their door. If the kids could create something as nice
as Linux, everyone began to wonder whether these kids really had enough good stuff to
go the distance and last nine innings against the greatest power hitters around.
Perhaps the free software movement will just grow faster and better as more people hop
on board. More users mean more eyes looking for bugs. More users mean more
programmers writing new source code for new features. More is better.
On the other hand, sharing may be neat, but can it beat the power of capital? Microsoft's
employees may be just serfs motivated by the dream that someday their meager stock
options will be worth enough to retire upon, but they have a huge pile of cash driving
them forward. This capital can be shifted very quickly. If Bill Gates wants 1,000
programmers to create something, he can wave his hand. If he wants to buy 1,000
computers, it takes him a second. That's the power of capital.
Linus Torvalds may be on the cover of magazines, but he can't do anything with the wave
of a hand. He must charm and cajole the thousands of folks on the Linux mailing list to

make a change. Many of the free software projects may generate great code, but they
have to beg for computers. The programmers might even surprise him and come up with
an even better solution. They've done it in the past. But no money means that no one has
to do what anyone says.
In the past, the free software movement was like the movies in which Mickey Rooney
and Judy Garland put on a great show in the barn. That part won't change. Cool kids with
a dream will still be spinning up great programs that will be wonderful gifts for the
world.
But shows that are charming and fresh in a barn can become thin and weak on a big stage
on Broadway. The glitches and raw functionality of Linux and free software don't seem
too bad if you know that they're built by kids in their spare time. Building real tools for
real companies, moms, police stations, and serious users everywhere is another matter.
Everyone may be hoping that sharing, caring, and curiosity are enough, but no one knows
for certain. Maybe capital will end up winning. Maybe it won't. It's freedom versus
assurance; it's wide-open sharing versus stock options; it's cooperation versus
intimidation; it's the geeks versus the suits, all in one knockdown, hack-till-you-drop,
winner-take-everything fight.
4. LISTS --------
While Alan Cox was sleeping late and Microsoft was putting Richard Schmalensee on
the stand, the rest of the open source software world was tackling their own problems.
Some were just getting up, others were in the middle of their day, and still others were
just going to sleep. This is not just because the open source hackers like to work at odd
times around the clock. Some do. But they also live around the globe in all of the
different time zones. The sun never sets on the open source empire.
On January 14, 1999, for instance, Peter Jeremy, an Australian, announced that he had
just discovered a potential Y2K problem in the control software in the central database
that helped maintain the FreeBSD source code. He announced this by posting a note to a
mailing list that forwarded the message to many other FreeBSD users. The problem was
that the software simply appended the two characters "19" to the front of the year. When
the new millennium came about a year later, the software would start writing the new
date as "19100." Oops. The problem was largely cosmetic because it only occurred in
some of the support software used by the system.
FreeBSD is a close cousin to the Linux kernel and one that predates it in some ways.