Linux revelation-the maintainer of Linux

Article Title: Linux revelation-a trustworthy person in Linux. Linux is a technology channel of the IT lab in China. Includes basic categories such as desktop applications, Linux system management, kernel research, embedded systems, and open source.

　　Introduction

Once upon a time, the advocates of free software had the impression that, like GNU, the fierce Niuling, it was a group of long-horned rebels, waving an angry fist in the street where they piled up to symbolize freedom. However, with the development of Linux, the Free Software camp has been divided, and some of the backbone forces have formed an open source code organization to try to give a new interpretation of the Free Software spirit.

At the same time, some vendors began to realize the commercial application prospects of Linux, including RedHat, S. u. s.E and other companies have successfully marked Linux with different trademarks to carry out commercial operations, which is very similar to the commercialization process of the early UNIX version. Recently, Intel and Netscape have bought part of their RedHat shares and used capital injection to express their acceptance of their Linux commercialization model, stallman, the founder of the idea of free software, angered the RedHat as the parasite of free software.

Obviously, Linux and its representative free software are facing a choice: whether to continue to adhere to the spirit of freedom and the commercial environment, or to stick to the principle of open source code. Currently, the principle of open source code seems more realistic and has begun to be accepted by the commercial software community. This change marks that the age of thought pioneers and evangelists has passed. What is needed now is the watcher and picker in the Linux wheat field. They are always concerned about the "Growth" of Linux ", provide corresponding products and technical services, so as to build a bridge of communication between the principles of business and free opening.

Nearly 10 million user groups are notable for Linux. However, before Linux becomes a mainstream product that can rival the operating systems such as NT, NetWare, and UNIX, there is still a long way to go. Now, jumping out of the circle of Technology enthusiasts and entering the information architecture of large enterprises, this is the most urgent objective of Linux. In this sense, Linux must be commercialized. One of the problems of Linux promotion in China is to explore the economic significance of Linux for software enterprises and even the software industry, and focus on exploring its commercial value. As long as it is driven by commercial interests, enterprises will voluntarily intervene in Linux and act as the maintainer of Linux.

　　Churches and markets

As we know, the joining of many developers is an important guarantee for the vitality of the operating system. Therefore, developers should be part of the Linux maintainer. The open development mode based on open source code in Linux attracts a large number of developers.

The traditional idea of software engineering is to divide and layer a complex software system to reduce the difficulty of a single development process, in addition, the implementation should follow the principles of precisely defining the development objectives and scope, organizing competent development teams, and strictly controlling the process. The BUG is considered an unexpected situation in the development process, and requires strict isolation measures to reduce the transmission of bugs. It should be said that the vast majority of software developers are followers of this software development method.

However, the emergence of Linux poses a challenge to the traditional idea of software engineering. It is also to pursue the stability goal of complex systems. The strategy used by Linux is to expand the scope of developers, the guiding ideology behind it is that a BUG is like a shadow and only appears in the corners of the sun. Therefore, software development should adopt open source code as a means, attract as many developers as possible to participate in peering ). Under the control of the Development Coordinator, the release, feedback, and update processes of the new version of open source software are completely open.

The economic significance of these two software development models is that they form different software industry structures. For example, starting from the idea of traditional software engineering, the current secondary development system of the software industry will be extended, that is, the underlying software developers provide limited software development interfaces for users on the previous layer, however, the source code of the software is closed. With the development of technology, in theory, application-layer software developers only need to construct the corresponding user interface according to user requirements, and select and "Assemble" the underlying software components. To offend the gods, this kind of organizational structure is a bit like a church. The basic software is like a Bible, and its final interpretation right is completely in the hands of the bottom-layer software developers in the secondary development system, application software developers and users are only objects of preaching, and at most they are equivalent to the choir in the church. Obviously, there are great differences between developers at different software levels in terms of software control power.

If the underlying software and application software developers are both in China, the software industry's organizational structure is understandable. At least the secondary development system is of great value in improving the software production efficiency; however, if the underlying software developer comes from abroad, the problem may be different. Completely adopting a secondary development system will make the basis of the domestic software industry too weak, and foreign vendors may exploit the market rights they possess, control and influence the development direction of the domestic software industry. In recent years, some foreign manufacturers have passed their increasingly outstanding certification of developers' organization work, targeted selection of partners, so as to change the competitive landscape in the domestic market in a subtle way.

In the end, if there is no restriction, application software developers may become "helpers" of underlying software developers, which not only makes application software development enterprises lose the initiative in the market, it will directly affect their immediate interests. From the vertical market perspective, the distribution of benefits between the underlying and application-layer software developers is unbalanced, and the technical value-added of the underlying software is higher, which poses a potential risk, just like the current situation of domestic PC hardware manufacturers, if the manufacturers only do some work similar to CKD assembly or SKD assembly, the performance of enterprises in the rapid development of the market is still acceptable, however, as long as the market is saturated, the disadvantages of enterprises' low technical content will inevitably be revealed.

Relatively speaking, opening source code of underlying software can avoid over-concentration of technologies, markets, and resources. Although the level of software enterprises is still uneven, it will not easily lead to the absolute monopoly of the market, this software industry organization method is also called the market type. It should be said that there are no absolute advantages or disadvantages between the two software industrial organization methods, but in a specific domestic environment, because too many basic software products are missing from the packaging box, that is, "Made in USA", and a feature of Linux is ignored, that is, it adopts the market development mode and is still "Made in Internet ". Therefore, starting from the software development model, paying attention to the current situation of the domestic software industry is another inspiration from Linux.

[1] [2] [3] Next page