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Re: Good move from IBM.



It's the story about IBM donation $40 million worth of tools..

Story - below (and thats old news - it's all over - ZDNet, C|net, Linux 
Today, Slashdot, The Register etc...)

November 5, 2001

Some I.B.M. Software Tools to Be Put in Public Domain

By STEVE LOHR

I.B.M. (news/quote) plans to announce today that it is placing $40 million of 
its software tools in the public domain as the first step toward founding an 
open-source organization for developers.

 The move is the latest step in International Business Machines (news/quote)' 
embrace of the open-source software model, in which programmers around the 
world share software code for joint development and debugging. In the last 
few years, I.B.M. has made big bets on the two major open-source projects, 
the Apache Web server and the GNU Linux operating system.

 The new open-source organization, called Eclipse, will focus on the 
programming tools used to build applications and other software. More than 
150 software companies, from Linux distributors like Red Hat and SuSE to 
applications developers like Rational and Bow Street, are lined up to join 
the Eclipse community.

 The group plans to establish a governing board later this month, to guide 
the technical standards and work of the open-source software tools community. 
I.B.M. will be one of several board members of the Eclipse organization. 

 "Somebody had to start it, but this is absolutely not an I.B.M.-controlled 
thing," said Scott Hebner, an I.B.M. software marketing executive.

 Traditionally, the standards for software development tools have been 
supplied by the companies with leading operating systems including Microsoft 
(news/quote)'s Windows, Sun Microsystems (news/quote)' Solaris or I.B.M.'s 
mainframe operating systems.

 Yet Eclipse, analysts say, is a break from the proprietary pattern, and it 
is coming at a crucial juncture for the industry. The Internet is evolving 
beyond a medium for viewing Web pages and downloading information and 
entertainment. Instead, the Internet is in effect becoming the equivalent of 
an operating system - a technology "platform," on which programs can be run 
and built.

 New software technologies like Java, the Internet programming language, and 
XML, a standard for identifying and interpreting information sent over the 
Internet, are making the evolution possible. And the transition opens the 
door to a new level of Internet use, from automating online transactions 
between companies to developing an array of personalized services for 
individuals.

 The potential new uses, made possible by software, are being called Web 
services. The industry sees Web services as an important new avenue of 
growth. Major companies including I.B.M., Microsoft and others are eager to 
develop the new business, and they are all trying to woo developers to their 
respective camps.

 "I.B.M. understands that whoever has the most developers, wins," said James 
Governor, an analyst at Illuminata, a research firm. "With Eclipse, I.B.M. is 
making a very aggressive move. It is betting that opening up the software 
tools ecosystem will work to its advantage."

 The move, to be sure, is an attempt to play to I.B.M.'s strength and away 
from its weakness. Microsoft's Windows and Sun's Solaris version of Unix are 
the leading proprietary operating systems. I.B.M. has backed Linux, whose 
code is distributed free, partly because Linux's ascent would work to the 
detriment of both Microsoft and Sun.

 I.B.M. considers it a worthwhile investment to place in the public domain 
software tools that it spent $40 million to develop, seeing the move as one 
that further undermines the leading operating system suppliers. I.B.M. wants 
to take value away from the operating system layer of software and make money 
mainly by selling specialized software applications to companies and charging 
for services - helping companies to integrate various kinds of information 
technology to make businesses more productive.

 "This clearly plays to I.B.M.'s strengths and where our customers want to 
go," said Steven A. Mills, an I.B.M. senior vice president in charge of the 
software group. "Customers do not want to be locked into one platform for 
their information technology infrastructure, and developers do not want to be 
locked into a single state of mind for development."

 The name Eclipse was chosen to suggest that the open-source approach will 
eclipse the proprietary development model.

 The software that I.B.M. is putting into Eclipse and into the public domain 
include programming tools for debugging, user interface work, editing and 
project management. The tools employ Java and XML technology, and the intent 
of Eclipse is to provide a choice of mix-and-match tools.

On Wednesday 07 November 2001 16:42 pm, guy keren wrote:
> On Wed, 7 Nov 2001, Tzahi Fadida wrote:
> > http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/05/technology/05OPEN.html
>
> please, if you send links to pages that aren't immediatly accesible (such
> as nytimes) - write a line or two about what is in there.
>
> actually - please do that even if the web page is immediatly accessible. a
> 1 line description would do alot to help filter out messages.
>
> thank you,

-- 
Hetz

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