Atkins finally shed in a good light!

[slimndown]

I got this email for computer techies and the title caught my eye. Unfortunately, it really ISN'T about the diet but I thought it was pretty cool that they gave Atkin's diet the credit for being healthy that it really deserves.










Novell Goes on the Atkins Diet

by Kevin Carmony
August 3rd, 2006

It was reported this week that Novell has banned all proprietary software from their Linux offerings. To me, this would be a bit like McDonalds announcing it will adopt an Atkins-only menu, selling only healthy, low-carb salads, and dropping fries, shakes, and the Big Mac as we know it. (For those of you not familiar, the Atkins Diet is based on drastically decreasing carbohydrates in one's diet.) It might be a noble thing for McDonalds to only sell healthy items, but they would likely see a big decrease in customers. Most consumers want more balance in their menu choices, not less. Limiting choice, especially the most popular ones, is usually a bad idea.

Most consumers want

a well-balanced
"software diet."

Open source Linux software is like health food -- it's great for you, but can take some time getting used to. The majority of consumers are addicted to foods high in sugars and carbohydrates and don't want to completely give up on tasty items they're used to and move to a completely sugar-free, carb-free diet. Likewise, most people are accustomed to doing things with their computer, like playing DVDs and listening to their iPods. The Atkins Diet is so one-sided and rigid, that many health care professionals have voiced concern with its lack of balance. Most dietitians advocate eating a healthy, well-balanced diet, with a mix of protein, carbohydrates, and fats in moderation.

By completely removing all proprietary software from their core offerings, Novell is asking all their customers to go on an Atkins-like, proprietary-free diet. Again, noble, but I think asking people to completely give up on all the drivers, codecs and software that make their computers operate in the way they've come to expect over the last 20 years is simply too radical of an approach for most. Sure, there are those who only get a salad at McDonalds, just like there are those who only run FOSS (Free Open Source Software) on their computers, but they are in the minority today. I have been involved with Linux for over five years now, and I can count on one hand the people I've met who do not have at least some closed-sourced, proprietary software on their computer. Even the most vocal advocates of FOSS, when I dig deeper, sheepishly admit to running Flash, Java, MP3, Adobe Acrobat, and so on. It's just too hard for most people right now to replace all the software and drivers they've become accustomed to with FOSS.


Don't get me wrong, I love and prefer open source software, and pretty much everything Linspire produces is open sourced, but I don't believe the way to bring more users and developers to open source is by limiting their choices and completely cutting them off from their old, familiar world, at least not until there are viable open source solutions available. This isn't about supporting closed, proprietary software, it's about interoperating with it in the real world until viable open source options exist. If Linux closes itself off from working with the existing desktop computing ecosystem, it will have a very difficult time expanding beyond its very small presence on the desktop.


Novell said they will still make some of these proprietary pieces available via download, but why force all users to jump through those hoops? I believe software should be getting easier to use, more turn-key, not less. Imagine buying a new car and the dealer tells you, just before you drive off, "Oh, by the way, if you want to play CDs, listen to the radio, use the air conditioner, and get the best fuel mileage with your new car, you'll need to take this box of parts home with you and install them." Most people expect their computers to work fully from the moment they turn them on. (See what I mean here.)

Linspire, and the new Freespire project, advocate a healthy, balanced "software diet." Linspire and Freespire are 99% free of those "unhealthy" proprietary pieces, but have just enough of the needed 3rd-party software to support MP3, Java, Flash, Real, Windows Media, QuickTime, ATI, nVidia, WiFi cards, Modems, etc. For those who want a purely healthy experience with their software diet, Freespire offers The OSS Edition, which, like Novell's offerings now, is completely free of any proprietary software. The difference being, Freespire also offers a version which includes necessary proprietary pieces to provide a turn-key experience for those who prefer things to just work.

I certainly believe the GPL must be followed and respected, and Linspire mixes in the proprietary pieces in the necessary way to bring both worlds together. Even Linus Torvalds, one of the fathers of the GNU/Linux, seems to also believe that open source can't completely cut itself off from all proprietary software. Linspire will continue to find ways to have GPL open source software interoperate with proprietary code, if and when a user so chooses. I'm not interested in moving from one controlling monopoly to another equally-limiting option. As Pete Townsend and The Who so aptly put it in Won't Get Fooled Again, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." Thanks, but no thanks.

If what it takes to make Linux easy to use, and interoperate with the rest of the computer world (codecs, hardware drivers, etc.) will forever be viewed as somehow wrong and evil, then I will go today and buy a Mac, find a new job, and tell my friends that Linux doesn't stand a chance, because I believe it wouldn't. After five years of doing this, desktop Linux still has a lot of shortcomings , which we're working hard at overcoming. However, if Linux insists on tying one hand behind its back before entering the ring, my money is on Microsoft.

Regardless of what software diet you want to be on, it should be your choice, not mine, Microsoft's or anyone else's.

- Kevin Carmony