Following in the steps of Netscape, beleaguered Canadian software developer Corel Computer Inc. said it will release the source code it develops for its new NetWinder Linux Computer, which runs the Linux operating system. The company also said it plans to port all its applications, including WordPerfect, to the Linux operating system.
NetWinder is a network computer based on Red Hat Linux, a popular distribution of the GNU/Linux open source operating system. Its code will be available for peer review and evaluation soon, the company said.
The computer was demonstrated last night for members of the Ottawa Carleton Linux Users Group (OCLUG) in Ottawa, Ontario by Corel executives Michael Cowpland and Eid Eid. Spectators came away impressed.
"Corel, a mainstream corporate entity with no special ties to open-source hacker culture, has completely accepted the logic of open source," said Eric S. Raymond, whose "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" essay helped spur Netscape into freeing the source code of its Communicator browser.
"The combination of [Corel's source code release and planned Linux support], plus this new piece of hardware, will present a tremendous networking, desktop package that will be irresistable for a lot of business environments, on both a cost and technology basis," said Dave Neil, founder of OCLUG.
Originally conceived as a Java thin-client Network Computer, Corel's NetWinder Linux Computer is really a full-featured desktop machine. All of the software Corel writes to power the machine will be "copylefted" -- meaning the owner retains copyright of a work, but then gives away the restrictions forbidding distribution or modificiation of the work -- under the GNU General Public License. Other software included with the machine will be the X Window System and a number of GNU tools, including the GNU Image Manipulation Program or GIMP, a full-featured Photoshop-like imaging program.
Designed around Digital's StrongARM microprocesser, the NCs are very fast but require extremely little voltage. Corel spokesman Oliver Bendzsa reported that hardware hackers who demonstrated the unit got it running with only a 9-volt battery.
Linux users were delighted by Corel's move.
"Corel's adoption of the open source model, using our fully GPL'd Red Hat Linux distribution as the base OS for their machine, means that they can rope in their full user and developer community to help them advance their technology -- without incurring the cost directly themselves," said Bob Young, president of Red Hat Software.
"The economic benefit to the developers who will help with the project is simply that they, too, get to use the more reliable, more advanced tools they help build -- without losing control of the tools they've helped develop to Corel, or Red Hat, or anyone else," Young said.
Other stock features in the NC include 32MB of RAM, 16-bit sound with built-in speaker and microphone, dual Ethernet interfaces and NTSC video. The company also sells video cameras for the unit.
Bendzsa said that the machine will sell for around US$800 to $1,200, without a monitor.
"They put the right things in [the NC], and it will solve a lot of problems for a lot of people," said Russell Nelson, president of Crynwr Software, an open-source software-support and development company. Nelson noted that with its built-in telecommunications features, including a phone handset jack, it will be possible to build a free software PBX system around these boxes to power small offices, as well as handling all the other business tasks that require a computer.
"It is a network computer that runs Java, but make no mistake about it -- you can buy one of these things and run it by itself," he said.
Many hardware vendors openly embrace free software -- including Mylex Corporation and Best Power, Inc. -- and there are dozens of companies that sell complete systems with free software installed. But this is the first time an OEM vendor has built a system specifically based around it.
"They're a perfect example of what I call the 'widget frosting' model for open-source success," Raymond said. "A hardware outfit for which software development is nothing but a cost center that begs to be outsourced to the Internet community as much as possible."
Corel's Bendzsa explained that feedback from customers and industry partners was the genesis of this cutting-edge operating system.
"We want to be perceived as a technology leader, and things like Linux are pretty cool technologies," he said. "So let's be a leader and a participant in this field, and see what comes out."
