Digital Tipping Point: Jon Maddog Hall brings a crowd to its feet 07
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- Publication date
- 2004
- Topics
- Jon Maddog Hall, Hall, Jon Maddog, Maddog Hall, History Of Free Open Source Software, Business Models for Open Source, Porto Alegre, Brazil, Brazil
- Publisher
- DTP Crew
This is one of many short video segments which will be added to the Digital Tipping Point (DTP) archive. Thanks to Thomas King, a writer for Linux.com and LXer, for doing the rough editing for this series of interview segments!
This series of 15 video segments features Jon Maddog Hall, who has long been instrumental in guiding and promoting the development of Free Open Source Software, and in particular the operating system called GNU-Linux, sometimes called Linux for short. Among other things, Maddog secured the acquisition of a powerful commercial grade computer early on for Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel. This hardware was one of the things that allowed the Linux kernel project to gain greater visibility in the corporate user world. This was an important step in the commercial maturation of GNU and the Linux kernel project, as both projects together subsequently have become mainstream Free Open Source Software projects underlying the business operations of some of the world's largest companies. The support of major corporations is one of the forces that has allowed GNU-Linux to develop to a point where it is now visible and relevant to the average user, and might now start affecting how most people think of intellectual property and computing. So Maddog Hall was present early on to nurture the Linux kernel project across a key bridge in its development.
Specifically, this series of video segments captures a speech that was given by Maddog toward the conclusion of the FISL Conference 5 in Porto Alegre. It was a keynote speech, which means that it was heavily attended by hundreds of people, as you will see in segments 14 and 15. Maddog covers the importance of developing a thriving Free Software industry in Brazil. He gives an historical view of how the computer industry developed, a history in which he was an active participant.
Since this was such a large crowd, we could not get our camera very close to the stage, and so we had to zoom rather markedly to be able to get Maddog's face. As a result, this video is somewhat more grainy than we would like. But the audio is reasonably good, and Maddog is always a compelling speaker, storyteller, and historian, and so we are sure you will enjoy this classic Maddog talk. You will be amazed to see how Maddog connects with this crowd. Remember, this is a crowd of largely technologists, the kind of people that are (incorrectly) stereotyped as being reserved and not outgoing. But you will see in segments 14 and 15 that Maddog gets the crowd on their feet. Quite amazing. Let it not be said that the Free Open Source Software movement is merely a technological movement limited to making the best computer software. There is something else going on here.
It is worth noting that segment 02 of this series is our 1000th 5-minute video segment posted to the Internet Archive's Digital Tipping Point Video Segment. It is mostly by chance that this segment happened to be segment 02, with a small minor tweak on our part. We rough edit and upload our massive tape library in the approximate order that it was shot. Gabriella Coleman's 13th segment of her second set would have been our 1000th segment, but we feel that Gabriella would see it fitting to defer loading her 13th segment in deference to Maddog's decades of contributions to the Free Open Source Software movement, and so we temporarily bumped her out of place. Her 13th segment will be segment 1017 instead.
In segment 05 (Tape 107~007), Maddog talks about the pain of trying to make money in the computer industry, particularly the Free Open Source Software industry. He makes a plain but important point: FOSS companies must make money, a point that some people in the FOSS community overlooked, since FOSS community members are willing to put some work into improving Free Software for themselves. He says that quality assurance people in hardware vendors are overworked. These people must assure that Linux and its various distributions work on their hardware. This results in a lot of complexity, since there is a lot of testing to assure that Linux works in all of its hardware. Volume of unit sales is the key to persuading hardware vendors to install GNU-Linux on their systems.
In segment 06 (Tape 107~008). Maddog says that it takes a long time to build volume sales on hardware. But he says that GNU-Linux is growing rapidly, and he thinks that maybe 2004 or 2005 would have been "the year of Linux on the enterprise desktop." He says that it is easier to support the enterprise end user, as opposed to the home user, who is supported by members of their churches, social clubs or by family members. Maddog tells a good joke near the end of this segment about how refusing to give root passwords to end users can come back to bite computer-savvy computer users.
In segment 07 (Tape 108~001), Maddog says it is not true that IBM or HP or Novell or Sun hate Linux. Until the Linux market grows, it will be hard for hardware vendors to make larger commitments to the Linux desktop. Software vendors have other problems, namely qualification and distribution. But shelf space in retail stores is expensive, and so software vendors are hesitate to give up valuable shelf space to Linux at the time of his talk, because Linux wasn't selling enough copies to warrant taking that shelf space. He suggests that any software vendors in the audience considering selling Linux or Free Software should put that code on the same CDs as software meant to run on Microsoft Windows. Maddog switches topics, the cost of software. He quotes Bill Gates, who says that licensing fees are a small percentage of the cost of computing. But Maddog says those costs are much larger. To illustrate his point, he gives an example from computer history. He says that there was a time when the customers spent most of the money on hardware, and the customer always got the source code.
This footage is our raw rough-cut footage. It lacks transitions, music, special effectsor finish rendering. It is our "source code". Please feel free to rip, mix and burn this footage consistent with our Creative Commons license as disclosed on this page.
All of the segments in this series can be found here:
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv107_pa_19_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_003.ogg (segment 01)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv107_pa_19_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_004.ogg (segment 02)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv107_pa_19_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_005.ogg (segment 03)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv107_pa_19_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_006.ogg (segment 04)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv107_pa_19_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_007.ogg (segment 05)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv107_pa_19_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_008.ogg (segment 06)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_001.ogg (segment 07)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_002.ogg (segment 08)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_003.ogg (segment 09)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_004.ogg (segment 10)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_005.ogg (segment 11)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_006.ogg (segment 12)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_007.ogg (segment 13)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_008.ogg (segment 14)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_009.ogg (segment 15)
If you like this segment, please consider typing up a summary for it and emailing that summary to Christian Einfeldt at einfeld@gmail.com. Your work will be credited and posted on this page.
The DTP will be many, many films created by the global open source video community about how open source is changing their lives. We, the DTP crew, are submitting this footage for anyone to rip, mix, and burn under the Creative Commons Attribute - ShareAlike license. We welcome edits, transcriptions, graphics, music, and animation contributions to the film. Please send a link for any contributions to Christian Einfeldt at einfeldt at digitaltippingpoint.com.
Or, if you would like to contribute by directly transcribing this particular video segment, you can do so by going here:
http://digitaltippingpoint.com/wiki/index.php/Tape_108
and typing the audio as you hear it into the wiki. Please be sure to add the transcription for this segment under: Segment 001, Jon Maddog Hall
You can find other ways to contribute by going to our wiki front page here:
http://digitaltippingpoint.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Thanks for viewing our video!
This series of 15 video segments features Jon Maddog Hall, who has long been instrumental in guiding and promoting the development of Free Open Source Software, and in particular the operating system called GNU-Linux, sometimes called Linux for short. Among other things, Maddog secured the acquisition of a powerful commercial grade computer early on for Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel. This hardware was one of the things that allowed the Linux kernel project to gain greater visibility in the corporate user world. This was an important step in the commercial maturation of GNU and the Linux kernel project, as both projects together subsequently have become mainstream Free Open Source Software projects underlying the business operations of some of the world's largest companies. The support of major corporations is one of the forces that has allowed GNU-Linux to develop to a point where it is now visible and relevant to the average user, and might now start affecting how most people think of intellectual property and computing. So Maddog Hall was present early on to nurture the Linux kernel project across a key bridge in its development.
Specifically, this series of video segments captures a speech that was given by Maddog toward the conclusion of the FISL Conference 5 in Porto Alegre. It was a keynote speech, which means that it was heavily attended by hundreds of people, as you will see in segments 14 and 15. Maddog covers the importance of developing a thriving Free Software industry in Brazil. He gives an historical view of how the computer industry developed, a history in which he was an active participant.
Since this was such a large crowd, we could not get our camera very close to the stage, and so we had to zoom rather markedly to be able to get Maddog's face. As a result, this video is somewhat more grainy than we would like. But the audio is reasonably good, and Maddog is always a compelling speaker, storyteller, and historian, and so we are sure you will enjoy this classic Maddog talk. You will be amazed to see how Maddog connects with this crowd. Remember, this is a crowd of largely technologists, the kind of people that are (incorrectly) stereotyped as being reserved and not outgoing. But you will see in segments 14 and 15 that Maddog gets the crowd on their feet. Quite amazing. Let it not be said that the Free Open Source Software movement is merely a technological movement limited to making the best computer software. There is something else going on here.
It is worth noting that segment 02 of this series is our 1000th 5-minute video segment posted to the Internet Archive's Digital Tipping Point Video Segment. It is mostly by chance that this segment happened to be segment 02, with a small minor tweak on our part. We rough edit and upload our massive tape library in the approximate order that it was shot. Gabriella Coleman's 13th segment of her second set would have been our 1000th segment, but we feel that Gabriella would see it fitting to defer loading her 13th segment in deference to Maddog's decades of contributions to the Free Open Source Software movement, and so we temporarily bumped her out of place. Her 13th segment will be segment 1017 instead.
In segment 05 (Tape 107~007), Maddog talks about the pain of trying to make money in the computer industry, particularly the Free Open Source Software industry. He makes a plain but important point: FOSS companies must make money, a point that some people in the FOSS community overlooked, since FOSS community members are willing to put some work into improving Free Software for themselves. He says that quality assurance people in hardware vendors are overworked. These people must assure that Linux and its various distributions work on their hardware. This results in a lot of complexity, since there is a lot of testing to assure that Linux works in all of its hardware. Volume of unit sales is the key to persuading hardware vendors to install GNU-Linux on their systems.
In segment 06 (Tape 107~008). Maddog says that it takes a long time to build volume sales on hardware. But he says that GNU-Linux is growing rapidly, and he thinks that maybe 2004 or 2005 would have been "the year of Linux on the enterprise desktop." He says that it is easier to support the enterprise end user, as opposed to the home user, who is supported by members of their churches, social clubs or by family members. Maddog tells a good joke near the end of this segment about how refusing to give root passwords to end users can come back to bite computer-savvy computer users.
In segment 07 (Tape 108~001), Maddog says it is not true that IBM or HP or Novell or Sun hate Linux. Until the Linux market grows, it will be hard for hardware vendors to make larger commitments to the Linux desktop. Software vendors have other problems, namely qualification and distribution. But shelf space in retail stores is expensive, and so software vendors are hesitate to give up valuable shelf space to Linux at the time of his talk, because Linux wasn't selling enough copies to warrant taking that shelf space. He suggests that any software vendors in the audience considering selling Linux or Free Software should put that code on the same CDs as software meant to run on Microsoft Windows. Maddog switches topics, the cost of software. He quotes Bill Gates, who says that licensing fees are a small percentage of the cost of computing. But Maddog says those costs are much larger. To illustrate his point, he gives an example from computer history. He says that there was a time when the customers spent most of the money on hardware, and the customer always got the source code.
This footage is our raw rough-cut footage. It lacks transitions, music, special effectsor finish rendering. It is our "source code". Please feel free to rip, mix and burn this footage consistent with our Creative Commons license as disclosed on this page.
All of the segments in this series can be found here:
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv107_pa_19_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_003.ogg (segment 01)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv107_pa_19_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_004.ogg (segment 02)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv107_pa_19_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_005.ogg (segment 03)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv107_pa_19_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_006.ogg (segment 04)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv107_pa_19_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_007.ogg (segment 05)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv107_pa_19_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_008.ogg (segment 06)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_001.ogg (segment 07)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_002.ogg (segment 08)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_003.ogg (segment 09)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_004.ogg (segment 10)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_005.ogg (segment 11)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_006.ogg (segment 12)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_007.ogg (segment 13)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_008.ogg (segment 14)
http://www.archive.org/details/e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_009.ogg (segment 15)
If you like this segment, please consider typing up a summary for it and emailing that summary to Christian Einfeldt at einfeld@gmail.com. Your work will be credited and posted on this page.
The DTP will be many, many films created by the global open source video community about how open source is changing their lives. We, the DTP crew, are submitting this footage for anyone to rip, mix, and burn under the Creative Commons Attribute - ShareAlike license. We welcome edits, transcriptions, graphics, music, and animation contributions to the film. Please send a link for any contributions to Christian Einfeldt at einfeldt at digitaltippingpoint.com.
Or, if you would like to contribute by directly transcribing this particular video segment, you can do so by going here:
http://digitaltippingpoint.com/wiki/index.php/Tape_108
and typing the audio as you hear it into the wiki. Please be sure to add the transcription for this segment under: Segment 001, Jon Maddog Hall
You can find other ways to contribute by going to our wiki front page here:
http://digitaltippingpoint.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Thanks for viewing our video!
Credits
Please give attribution for this snip to DigitalTippingPoint.com
For credits for this segment and all segments for the DTP main film, please go to this website:
http://digitaltippingpoint.com/?q=node/12
- Contact Information
- Christian Einfeldt, einfeldt at g mail dot com
- Addeddate
- 2008-10-24 02:01:34
- Closed captioning
- no
- Color
- color
- Identifier
- e-dv108_pa_20_john_maddog_hall_brazilspeech_001.ogg
- Sound
- sound
- Year
- 2004
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