New York Times story

[Bart Decrem <bart eazel com>]

Developers of Linux Software Planning Assault on
         Microsoft


         Hoping an Alternative Suite of Applications Will Be More
         Widely Used

         By JOHN MARKOFF

              SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 13 -- A
              group of key Linux software
              developers and major computer
         manufacturers are planning to announce on
         Tuesday at a Silicon Valley computer
         conference the first effort to compete directly
         with Microsoft's Office suite of applications
         for the personal computer.

         Until now, the free Linux operating system has
         had its greatest impact in the computer server
         market, where many Internet service
         providers and World Wide Web applications
         and service companies routinely use the
         program.

         While Linux has gained ground on the PC
         desktop as an alternative to Microsoft's
         Windows operating system, which holds a
         large share of the market, it has not yet been
         used more widely by businesses and
         consumers because it has not developed the wide application
support
         enjoyed by both Windows and Apple Computer's Macintosh
operating
         system.

         That may soon change. On Tuesday, a group of Linux
organizations will
         announce the creation of the Gnome Foundation, which will have
the support
         of I.B.M., Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems and
several
         other major computer vendors.

         The foundation plans to announce a set of initiatives,
including a unified
         desktop user interface and a set of productivity programs
intended to
         compete as a free alternative to Microsoft Office.

         Gnome is a set of software standards developed by an
international group of
         programmers led by Miguel de Icaza. The Gnome software has been
gaining
         momentum in both the Linux and Unix communities as a way to
offer a
         common software development environment for programmers.

         Sun Microsystems also plans to announce that it will adopt the
Gnome
         desktop user interface for its Solaris operating system. The
move is part of
         the Linux effort to create a larger market for application
developers.

         Last month, the company announced that it was releasing the
source code
         for its StarOffice software, allowing programmers around the
world to alter
         the software and share their work.

         The announcements to be made on Tuesday underscore both the
progress
         that Linux has made toward becoming a viable alternative to
Windows and
         the challenges that remain in persuading business and consumer
computer
         users to adopt the free operating system.

                                 "What they're doing is extremely
                                 valuable," said Dan Dusnetzky, a
                                 computer industry analyst at the
                                 International Data Corporation, a
                                 market research firm. "However,
                                 there's a bigger issue that has not
been
                                 addressed yet and that is the
availability
                                 of the most popular desktop
         applications on Linux."

         While Linux currently has about a 24 percent share of the
server market,
         Microsoft's Windows has an 88 percent share of the desktop PC
         marketplace, while Apple's Macintosh has a 5 percent share.

         Linux developers say that while progress until now has been
limited, they are
         confident they can now rapidly close the gap on Microsoft.

         "By the end of the year, we will have a desktop software
operating system
         that compares favorably with Windows," said Mike Boiche,
chairman of the
         Eazel Corporation. The company, founded by former Macintosh
         programmers, has been developing software called Nautilus,
which is being
         integrated into the Gnome user interface for Linux. It is
intended to make
         Linux as simple to use as Windows or Macintosh.

         A variety of announcements intended to consolidate the momentum
for the
         Linux operating system are planned for LinuxWorld, the
conference
         scheduled to begin on Tuesday in San Jose, Calif.

         On Friday, Hewlett-Packard said that it planned to make Linux
its third
         "strategic" operating system in addition to Windows and HP-UX,
its own
         version of the Unix operating system.

         The Tuesday meeting itself will feature a keynote address by
Michael S. Dell,
         chairman of Dell Computer, and will include an announcement
from I.B.M.
         that it will make a Gnome version of Linux available on its
Thinkpad portable
         computers as a user option.

         Compaq is also planning to announce that it will make a version
of its
         hand-held iPaq computer available with the Gnome Linux
operating system
         on Tuesday.

         Henzai, a start-up manufacturer of hand-held and Internet
computing
         devices, also plans to announce its support for the Gnome
desktop software.

         Several executives who support Linux said they now felt
confident that the
         free software world will soon have a direct competitor to
Windows on the PC
         desktop.

         "A year ago, we were missing the last mile," said Nat Friedman,
president of
         Helixcode, the Cambridge, Mass., developer of Gnome and a set
of PC
         applications. "But at the end of this year my mom could install
Helix Gnome
         and Sun's StarOffice and have a total office environment."