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On Aug. 25, 1991 a 21-year-old Finnish student at the University of Helsinki began his post with \u201cHello everybody out there using minix \u2014 I’m doing a (free) operating system\u2026\u00a0 \u201d<\/em>\u00a0 In the weeks that followed, Linus Torvalds would go on to write the Linux kernel, the defining component of software operating system distribution that would be ported to more platforms than any other operating system.<\/p>\nHe never suspected he had begun a revolution, the end of which may well move well beyond the tech industry.<\/p>\n
Pablo Picasso once said, <\/em>\u201cEvery act of creation is first an act of destruction.\u201d When Torvalds posted the source code from his very first Linux kernel on the Internet and made it freely available for anyone to download, he broke the corporate software development model of his time.\u00a0 Then he did something even more amazing: he invited other programmers to modify and improve on his code.\u00a0 So, community-based technology was born.\\<\/p>\n Back in 1983, Richard Stallman already begun his GNU project and two years later he started the Free Software Foundation.\u00a0 In 1989 he then wrote the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL).\u00a0 After Torvalds published version 0.99 using the GNU GPL, GNU components were integrated with Linux and it became a fully functional and free operating system. Torvalds later admitted, “Making Linux GPL’d was definitely the best thing I ever did.”<\/p>\n Many of today\u2019s most promising new enterprise technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (Google\u2019s Tensorflow), Containers (Docker Swarm and Kubernetes), Big Data (Apache Spark, Akka and Apache Kafka) are based on free, open-source technology. \u00a0Open-source software licenses give developers and users freedoms they would not otherwise have.\u00a0 Its source code is freely available to anyone.\u00a0 Therefore, it can be modified and distributed without requiring attribution, payment or anything owed to the original creator.<\/p>\n Commenting on open source\u2019s wide acceptance within today\u2019s computer industry, Dr. Ronald D. Eaglin Chair of Daytona State\u2019s School of Engineering Technology, says, \u201cIt\u2019s all open source now.\u00a0 I build all my classes on open source software.\u201d<\/p>\n Eaglin believes that although there will always be room for proprietary software, open source will continue to dominate because it offers practically unlimited support from the developer community and the fact that the software itself is free. The combination of better support and price is hard to beat.<\/p>\n Speaking of, \u201cEvery act of creation is first an act of destruction,\u201d in 2004, a team of a thousand Apple employees began to work on the highly confidential \u201cProject Purple,\u201d with the idea of putting entertainment content on phones.<\/p>\n Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone to the public on Jan. 9, 2007 and mobile technology came of age. With GPS, threaded messages, Internet access, selfies, and a slew a new possibilities, the phone call and the iPod were on their way out.<\/p>\n Since then, technologies that enable voice and data services via cellular connectivity put devices more powerful than supercomputers were a few years ago in the hands of billions of people.\u00a0 The implications of having billions of minds connected by the Internet cannot yet be fully grasped.\u00a0 Yet, millions them are developers.\u00a0 They code all over the planet.\u00a0 They are making a difference.<\/p>\n The software industry has realized that small groups of individuals, working in collaboration over the Internet can create products that rival and often surpass those of giant corporations.\u00a0Microsoft is planning to open its proprietary SQL Server to Linux and Docker users this year in order to increase its competitive edge.\u00a0 This reflects a radical change from the corporation\u2019s position 15 years ago.<\/p>\n In a June 2001 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, then CEO Steve Ballmer said, \u201cLinux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches.\u201d<\/p>\n To embrace something new that works better usually requires letting go of something old.\u00a0 Key players like Microsoft and Apple have realized that the ability to collaborate, once a competitive advantage, today has become a necessity.<\/p>\n Long-term success is never an accident.\u00a0 Open source communities are not unrestricted entities with members making changes at will.\u00a0 In some cases, the companies that created the original versions accept patches, revisions and improvements they consider beneficial and provide a clear vision for where they think the technology should go.<\/p>\n Every act of creation is first an act of destruction, even for non-geeks. Open source is one of the most significant cultural developments of the last decades.<\/p>\n At its core, it is a model for innovation driven by cooperative competition toward a common ever developing and expanding goal.<\/p>\n Open source is not centered on protection of intellectual property, but on a community\u2019s collective belief in synergy \u2014 the combined effort of individual contributions is far greater than the sum of its parts. It changed the software industry.<\/p>\n It reduced costs. It birthed innovation.<\/p>\n Under the right conditions, it can work in other industries that require lower cost and greater innovation.\u00a0 The future of enterprise may well reside in proprietary businesses built on top of communal technologies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Louis Arias In Motion Staff Writer On Aug. 25, 1991 a 21-year-old Finnish student at the University of Helsinki began his post with \u201cHello everybody out there using minix \u2014 I’m doing a (free) operating system\u2026\u00a0 \u201d\u00a0 In the weeks that followed, Linus Torvalds would go on to write the Continue reading Tech Corner: Open Source breaking business-as-usual<\/span>![\"Tux,](\"http:\/\/www.daytonastateinmotion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/N-TechColumnArt-250x300.png\")