FW: Big Blue's $40M giveaway to open source (fwd)

[David Kramer]

I wish there were more details in the article.  I supposed one could find
out more from IBM's websites.

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DDDD   David Kramer                           http://thekramers.net
DK KD
DKK D  "Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in
DK KD  their shoes.  That way, when you criticize them, you're a
DDDD   mile away and you have their shoes."                      ??

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Anyone else out there hear about this....

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     Big Blue's $40M giveaway to open source
     By Sandeep Junnarkar, News.com
     November 5, 2001 10:53 AM PT
     URL:

     IBM announced on Monday that it will donate $40 million of its
     software tools to the public domain in a move to create an
     open-source organization aimed at developers.

     An organization called Eclipse will make available some of IBM's
     software programming tools to developers to create applications
     for e-businesses and Web services. More than 150 of the leading
     open-source companies, such as Linux distributors Red Hat and
     SuSE, along with Merant, QSSL and Rational, will be part of the
     Eclipse community.

     IBM has made a strong push into the open-source sector in recent
     years. Open source and free software represent a challenge to
     Microsoft and its ubiquitous Windows operating system software
     that can cost businesses thousands of dollars a month to license.
     Open-source applications are generally considered lower-cost
     alternatives.

     "It shows IBM's commitment to open-source software," said IDC
     analyst Dan Kusnetzky. "It also shows that IBM understands that to
     reach business developers to create open-source applications, it
     has to let them adopt software tools for open source to be
     successful in major enterprises.

     "Convincing the developers inside of large organizations or the
     developers that create software for large organizations to use
     open-source tools is critical," Kusnetzky added.

     Nearly a year ago, IBM said it would plow $1 billion into
     Linux--underscoring its increasing commitment to the open-source
     operating system--across all product lines: PCs, portables,
     servers and mainframes.

     For IBM, Linux represents a single operating system that can span
     a range of disparate hardware, from wristwatches to the company's
     multimillion-dollar supercomputers. IBM also sees Linux and open
     source giving it a competitive edge for developer talent over Sun
     Microsystems and its proprietary Solaris operating system.

     By seeding the market with tools for building open-source
     software, IBM gains a large base of developers building
     applications that can run on its servers. The company could also
     benefit by offering to its customers programs built under the
     open-source development model, in which thousands of programmers
     can collaborate on writing and debugging software.

     Monday's announcement marks another step in the company's Linux
     strategy. The Eclipse-based tools run on both Linux and Windows,
     which allows developers to create a single application rather than
     going through the hassle of creating software in Windows and
     transferring it to Linux, according to IBM.

     The hope for Eclipse is that with tools that work directly on both
     operating systems, Linux developers can more easily turn to the
     more abundant software tools available for Windows, helping to
     increase the number of available Linux applications.

     IBM said that more than 1,200 individual developers from 63
     countries are participating in the Eclipse open-source community.

     Staff writer Mike Ricciuti contributed to this report.