Radio Free Linux

The fourth anniversary of the birth of the term "open source" is being marked by the reading of the Linux kernel source code on the radio.

The Open Source Initiative, which was four years old on Sunday, has been largely responsible for persuading the business community to see the relevance of non-proprietary software such as Linux.

To celebrate the date, Australian radio network Radioqualia is broadcasting a reading of the code across the world.

The reading, by a computerised voice, will also go out from other internet radio stations.

Radioqualia says the kernel has over four million lines of code. It estimates the reading will take 14,253 hours, or 594 days - not far off two years - to get through.

Open source aficionados keen to check the progress of the source code should log-on quickly however - the reading started on 3 February, so just 592 days worth of aural code to go. Browsers keen to listen in on the web should go to http://radioqualia.va.com.au/freeradiolinux/.

The stunt is just one expression of the impact the Open Source Initiative has had since its inception on 3 February 1998.

The term was coined in a series of meetings between Silicon Valley software architects in Palo Alto including Todd Anderson, Larry Augustin, John "Mad Dog" Hall, Sam Ockman and Eric Raymond.

Chris Peterson takes the credit as the man to come up with the term, which defines a way of developing and licensing software that ensures the source code is free to view, use and adapt.

Evangelists for this form of software development - the most famous example being Linux, which actually pre-dates the movement by some seven years - say it is far superior to proprietary software, because the code is open to review by anyone, who can spot flaws and suggest improvements.

Linux guru Alan Cox said the emergence of the Open Source Initiative was vital for taking the ideas from developers into businesses.

He told silicon.com: "Engineers have for many years known the right way to build systems, now the business community understands the fundamentals of the same ideas, in terms that matter to them."

He said that as far as what could be achieved by the open source community, it was still early days.

Tim O'Reilly, publisher of open source bible The Cathedral and the Bazaar, agreed the movement was important. He said: "The term 'open source' was coined to recognise that freely-redistributable software developed by individuals was already having a widespread impact."

Roger Whittaker, council member for the UK Unix Users Group, said the movement had been of the utmost importance to computing.

He said: "It's massive actually. This did a lot to make the idea of non-proprietary software acceptable to businesses.

"You only have to look at IBM's commitment to Linux to see how far this has gone."