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CONTENTS : >>> Back to Introduction Chapter １． Development of Liquid Crystal Displays Chapter ２． Development of Silicon on Insulators Chapter ３． Development of DNA Chips Chapter ４． Research on Linux Innovation
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Abstract Linux was born outside the market mechanism. This report reviews how Linux has driven the market mechanism and how is has become one of the major operating systems(OS). Five people including Linux originator Linus Torvalds were interviewed. A history of Linux development can be divided into three stages. In the first stage, Linux was developed by talented programmers as a community. Anyone who was interested in the OS could be a developer as well as user. They wrote programs to execute functions they wanted to use, ａｎｄ sent them to Linus Torvalds for inclusion in the source code tree of Linux. By this time, personal computers and the Internet were commonly available, and, the widespread use of these information technologies (IT) enabled such community style development. Distribution played an important role in the second stage. Linux was an attractive OS for engineers, but downloading programs from various internet sites and running the Linux system were quite difficult for ordinary people. This problem could be solved by distribution. Market capital was invested in distribution, and provided for Linux developments through this distribution. In the last stage, large IT vendors started to invest in Linux expecting Linux to be an OS for servers second only to Windows NT. Large IT vendors established a foundation, the Open Source Development Lab (OSDL), and they invested in development of new Linux programs, such as the preparation of a large server system. Recently, large IT vendors themselves established Linux development groups within their companies and joined the development as community members. However, the principle of the Linux development style, in which Linus Torvalds and his lieutenants make the final decisions, has not changed,. Unix failed because to many versions were created by many vendors. Linux has mechanisms to keep its single source code tree. The source code is open and all parties are requested through a license called the GPL to disclose new source codes when they edit or change pre-existing ones. A single source code tree is the key factor in the flowering of Linux.
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