| DesktopLinux.com interviews theKompany CEO Shawn Gordon |
Rick Lehrbaum (Jan. 7, 2002)
According to its website, the goal of theKompany is "to provide developers with powerful, easy-to-use tools for creating equally powerful and useful software for the world's leading open-source operating system, Linux -- and thereby ensure the long-term success of Linux." But theKompany has lately expanded beyond providing tools to Linux application developers, and has begun offering applications targeting end users of Linux on the Desktop -- such as Kapital, a personal finance manager for KDE and Linux, and through a relationship with HancomLinux (Seoul, Korea) is promoting and supporting Hancom's flagship product, HancomOffice for Linux in the U.S. To find out more about theKompany and its plans for supporting Linux on the corporate and home Desktop, DesktopLinux.com founder and executive editor Rick Lehrbaum spoke with theKompany President and Founder, Shawn Gordon. Here's what Lehrbaum learned . . .
RL: What is your vision of the future of Desktop Linux?
Gordon: I've been saying since we started in mid-1999 that we were one MS Windows upgrade away from a major paradigm shift, and Windows XP is going to be a big help for us. A recent article in Computer Weekly Magazine, stated that all new and where possible existing British Government projects must be based on Open Source Software. Also, it went on to say that if proprietary products have to be used then the time between upgrades is to be increased from 2 years to 4 years. The EU is looking at dropping Microsoft altogether from the vendor list in view of its anti-trust proceeding. Therefore, I would say Linux on the Desktop is on the increase at this moment at least in the UK and Europe.
With that said, I think you have to distinguish between home desktop and "corporate" desktop (for want of a better term); the latter splits into "general purpose" and "bespoke" . . . - Home desktop depends on what the box-shifters do. When John Doe can go into his computer store and by a Linux computer, then it will happen.
- Corporate general purpose depends on how "sexy" it is. It's dictated by management types who just follow the latest buzz words and hype. If they aren't reading about it in their copy of CIO magazine, then they don't know about it.
- Bespoke is the interesting one. What I mean is basically dedicated workstation-type desktops, where the user is trained (to some degree anyway) to use a fixed set of applications (or in the case of something like Rekall, an implementation on an application). This is the one where financial and functional considerations matter (e.g., Hillhouse Hammond, a high-street insurance chain, recently switched all point-of-sale stuff from Windows to Linux, and reduced their support stuff requirement from 500 to 50).
RL: Looking into your crystall ball, what percent of desktop users do you think will use Linux -- and when?
Gordon: I can't give you a percentage -- if I could, then I would update my business plan -- but I think 2002 and 2003 are going to see the paradigm shift really start to kick in.
RL: What do you like most about Linux? Least?
Gordon: What I like most are the security, stability, and customizability.
What I don't like about it mostly has to do with the distributions and how different they are from vendor-to-vendor and release-to-release that causes packaging nightmares if you are using something like KDE.
RL: What are your thoughts about KDE and (or vs.) GNOME?
Gordon: When I started theKompany, we were going to support both (remember this was KDE 1). After researching it I found that GUI programming in C (which Gnome does) really wasn't that great. Even after that decision we were going to support Gnome for some things. For example, Kapital originally had a flexible UI so that we could run natively in Gnome or KDE. But they both became such moving targets, and KDE was working out better, so we went that way. At this point we don't use or support Gnome for anything, which is not to say that our applications won't run under Gnome, because as long as the libraries are there, they will. We just don't support it explicitely.
RL: Briefly (!), what is your philosophy with respect to open source software (both GPL and other)? (you and your company have in the past been criticized for being into proprietary software)
Gordon: I'd love it if we could open-source everything and still make a living, but that just does not seem to be possible at the moment. RMS's (Richard M. Stallman's) vision -- source is free, make money from support -- is great, but currently impossible overall. There is also the issue that I cannot see some software ever being open source, because nobody will want to write it: for example, nobody will do an open source FADEC ("fully autonomous digital engine controller"), which is what keeps a modern jet engine working.
I can't see any difference between earning a living selling proprietary software (and doing open source on the back of it) and, say, selling washing machines (and doing open source on the back of it). In both cases you are making a living that allows you to survive and then do open source work because you like to.
So our compromise is to give the source code to customers so that their investment is protected, and we don't allow them to distribute it, so our investment is protected. Our license also has a clause that if we discontinue the product then it reverts to the GPL after a year.
RL: What is necessary for Desktop Linux to become a success? (and how would you define that success?)
Gordon: It's a success if people can make a living from it (over the whole spectrum -- support, selling complete systems, etc). Nothing is especially necessary. Just about everything that could make it a success exist, although they may need improving and polishing. What is most needed is for enough managers to realize that Microsoft is not a good option. But the old management adage -- "the best decision is no decision" (because if you don't make a decision then you can't be blamed for it) -- is so entrenched.
For a good analysis of management motivation in general, see JK Galbraith "The New Industrial Estate", which just as valid today as when it was written about 40 years ago. Most management, whatever they say, is not primarily motivated by profit, but by survival, which translates to inertia. Remember, 20 years ago they were saying nobody ever got fired for buying IBM; that translates to Microsoft today. There is little incentive for risk taking; believe me, I worked in Corporate America for about 20 years.
RL: Please tell us a little about theKompany, including its history, management, and future plans.
Gordon: We incorporated in August 1999 after I spent almost a year thinking about it and researching it. It was my idea to create a specific product (which we still haven't gotten around to) and grow from there. We've modified and matured our vision over the last 2+ years and now we look at the Linux ecosystem and how to more rapidly grow it and grow with it.
Basically you've got developers and users: developers want to have users and users want to have applications, so we have to have a certain basic mix to attract both of them. That's not to say Linux doesn't have a huge developer base, but is anyone writing an apparel management system for Linux? I'm talking about things like that, and vertical market applications. We are trying to provide the basis to attract both developers and users at the same time and our product releases for the next couple of years are going to reflect that. They are also going to reflect what we've learned in the many years of being at the corporate end using software and understanding how software is used.
I'm the founder and the financier (of theKompany), and I'm basically all of the executives at the moment. We've got an interim CFO (Jim Kelly), who helped us get started and was a huge motivation in taking the risk to do this originally; he is a seasoned CFO and a CPA and has worked for several major corporations and is an all around great guy. We are pretty much focused on development -- this calendar year will see some more corporate infrastructure put into place.
RL: What is the relationship between theKompany and Hancom?
Gordon: Basically it's a strategic partnership. I was looking at the advances they were making with their office suite and realized that we had applications that perfectly rounded it out and made a real powerhouse that could realistically compete with MS Office and Star Office. So I proposed to them that we make a joint office suite similar to what Borland and Word Perfect did many moons ago.
Hancom decided to take it a step further, and appointed me CEO of their US Division. For the most part, my job doesn't change a lot. I still have to finish our applications; it's just that there are versions in the Hancom suite as well. We've also got to test the Hancom applications and look at global interoperability and other things like that. I've got a staff here locally to support Hancom for finance, marketing, sales, and such. I think people are really going to like this thing when they see it.
RL: What else would you like to communicate to the Desktop Linux community?
Gordon: That we don't "take open source projects and close them". This is prohibited by the (L)GPL, and we just don't do that. I don't know who starts these rumors or who perpetuates them. We have situations, especially in the case of Quanta+, where the authors came to us and asked us to take them on, and we did; they then created a new version of their application called Quanta Gold, and we are selling that with our restricted source license. We *never* go around stealing code.
RL: What advice do you have for me in my efforts to make DesktopLinux.com successful?
Gordon: Promote Linux on the desktop (sorry, obvious really). I think one thing that has to be done is to point to cases where Linux has been adopted successfully. Actually, I'd even point to cases where it was not successful, because: (a) if it is more often not successful then we won't get anywhere ever; and (b) it provides some balance. One of the big problems with Microsoft is they say "Windows is always the right choice" which is clearly not true; but then "Linux is always the right choice" is also not true. Use the right tool for the job; don't change your spark plugs with a hammer.
RL: Thank you very much, and best of luck with your company and its products!
Talk back! Do you have comments or questions on this story? talkback here.
(Click here for further information)
|
|
|
Approaching the Linux Desktop
The purpose of this paper is to help organizations evaluate the Linux desktop against their own enterprise needs and discover what benefits the Linux desktop might bring to their organizations.
Migrating To Linux: Application Challenges and Solutions
Several solutions exist to help organizations migrate in an orderly fashion from Windows to Linux desktops. This paper establishes the characteristics of an ideal cross-platform solution and reviews these alternatives in light of this ideal standard. The paper takes a closer look at the pros and cons of various solutions and outlines the business benefits that can be achieved.
Linux Advantages: Publicly Available Information on Linux Software
This paper offers a brief summary of readily-available Linux information to help businesses sort out this widely misunderstood operating system.
Top 5 Strategies for Managing Linux
Despite continuous evolution in the manageability of Linux, a 2006 survey cited manageability concerns as a top reason why organizations are hesitating to adopt Linux. Levanta believes Linux can be as manageable, if not more so, than other operating systems by following key strategies. These strategic recommendations were developed from experiences in numerous customer environments, both large and small.
Why Choose Novell for Linux?
This paper outlines the benefits of switching to the Linux platform and choosing Novell as a high-performance, enterprise solution.
Enterprise Linux Selection Guide
Considering moving your enterprise to the Linux operating system? Since there are so many similar versions, choosing the right one can be tough. This paper offers a clear process to help you make an informed decision and get the features, support, and cost that are right for your business and technical needs.
Overcoming Challenges in Managing Linux
Levanta has created a new administration model with innovative technology that breaks down the barriers to making the most of Linux systems. This paper will provide an in-depth look at the workings of Levanta’s product, the first Linux appliance of its kind.
SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 for Retail Businesses
Discover why major retailers have switched to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop in the back office. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 is a low-cost desktop that offers a complete set of productivity applications and interoperates seamlessly with the other Windows, Macintosh and UNIX desktops in your store.
Moving to a Linux Desktop
Migrating from Windows to Linux on the desktop can be a substantial undertaking because it has the potential for touching -- and perhaps disrupting -- every user in your organization. Unlike a data center (server and infrastructure) migration that is largely transparent to users, the cultural and administrative transitions and environment readiness required to support a Linux desktop migration are extensive.
Seven Good Reasons to Exchange Exchange
This paper describes seven compelling reasons why you should switch from Exchange to Scalix.
|
|
|
|
|
news feed