Open source code gets boost with UK conference

A meeting to discuss the future of open source code software - such as the Linux operating system - is to be held in January in the UK.

The discussions could shake up the entire IT industry, according to its organiser and founder of Netprojects, Eddie Bleasdale. "The purpose of this meeting is to get people to understand that open source has to be taken seriously - its going to transform the way software is engineered," said Bleasdale.

The meeting will include the UK-based Unix User group and computer system researchers, the UK Computer Measurement Group. Bleasdale also confirmed that Eric Raymond the author of the influential essay, 'The Cathedral & the Bazaar' will be a keynote speaker.

Bleasdale was eager to add: "We're not launching this effort as an attack on Microsoft's Windows NT. We will be showing users how to work with open source software on top of their initial investments into Unix or NT and then eventually migrate easily."

However, he added that Linux - when compared to NT and commercial versions of Unix - is "a far superior computing environment".

He justified his claims by saying that Linux, because it has been developed over the Internet, is much better. "You simply can't have a virus using Linux - just because of the way it was developed," he said.