The day the penguin came to town

- by Thomas Caldwell -

Tokyo's first major Linux exhibition, LinuxWorld 99 Tokyo, drove home the fact that the Japanese business community is tremendously excited about the operating system that technically costs nothing to use and can be sold by anyone. According to show organizers, more than 9,500 people showed up for the two-day event held in mid-March, although some exhibitors thought that number was a bit conservative. Lectures held during the event sold out several weeks in advance. The exhibition area, relatively small compared to similar events, was mobbed to the point of almost becoming a concern for the fire inspector. Location had something to do with the high turnout. The event was held at the glass-intensive and expensive-to-maintain Tokyo International Forum, newly built halfway between JR Tokyo and Yurakucho stations. The mobs of Japanese business executives present during the show, clad in traditional blue suits and carrying briefcases, was quite a contrast with the decidedly more relaxed garb of many Linux users, mostly consisting of jeans, t-shirts, and assorted caps and backpacks. However, it was obvious to all that the suits significantly outnumbered the T-shirts; a clear sign that Linux has found acceptance within the Japanese business world. One of those attending the show didnÕt fall into either the suit or nerd fashion category. He wore, well, a sort of hybrid outfit. Red Hat CEO Bob Young came clad in a business suit, red socks and, to be expected, red baseball cap. The man who heads up one of the world's leading Linux distributors delivered the keynote address to a packed auditorium of very attentive listeners. Mobbed by photographers and TV cameras, Young was obviously amazed and somewhat bewildered at the celebrity-like status he was receiving during his first trip to Japan, and he grinned continuously as he talked about the history of his company and what the future holds in store for the OS that animates it. During a press conference held at the show, Young made the prediction that, someday, the Linux operating system would outdo whatever Microsoft was peddling. Although seemingly a tall order, all the signs were there that Linux will be taking the Japanese market by storm. During the week of the show, several major Japanese hardware and software makers publicly threw their support behind Linux. Among them were industry giants NEC and Fujitsu. Fujitsu plans to port its popular System Walker network management software to Linux and may even start selling a Linux-based server system. As of press time, NEC was still keeping its plans secret, but some reports say the company will also start selling a Linux-based server product in the near future. Major software companies were represented at the show alongside many of the smaller start-ups. Among them was Oracle, who seemed to be attracting the most attention as far as Linux applications went. The two big distributors of Linux on the scene were Red Hat, currently distributed in Japan by Laser 5 in Akihabara, and Pacific HiTechÕs TurboLinux, which the company distributes by itself. The coming Japan showdown between Turbo and Red Hat - predicted by some industry watchers - was one of the hot topics on and off the show floor (for details on these two companies and their plans for Japan, see last monthÕs CJ - Ed.). Although many believe the Japanese business community's embrace of Linux is the best thing that can happen to the OS in this country, others think it is an abomination. Some Linux users were livid that Linux was getting so commercial. Although people with such views are in the small minority, the semi-militant attitude of some long-time Linux users is reminiscent of the early 1990s when the Internet was being taken over by commercial interests. At that time, Japanese academics opposed to businesses making use of what until then had been their private little world resorted to all sorts of bizarre moves, including mailing razor blades to colleagues who sold out to the capitalists (a subtle way of asking someone to commit suicide). Fortunately, no one's resorting to that sort of nonsense with Linux. However, most long-term users do admit that there is a bit of culture shock to deal with now that the OS is the latest craze to hit the mainstream world of computers and cyberspace. Jim Tittsler, one of the founders of the Tokyo Linux Users Group (TLUG), was somewhat philosophical about all the attention Linux is getting. "It is interesting that there are so many commercial enterprises interested in Linux now," he told CJ while visiting some of the exhibits at the show. "The number of suits compared to the number of T-shirts has changed in just a couple of years." Tittsler went on to point out that everyone in the Japanese Linux community is going to have to get used to the idea that it's not just for hackers anymore. "The fact that this conference is being held in this forum, rather than in a basement somewhere, is quite a switch for Linux." For more, access TLUG at http://tlug. linux.or.jp. Back to the table of contents