Linus Torvalds once led a ragtag band of software geeks. Not anymore. Here's an inside look at how the unusual Linux business model increasingly threatens Microsoft.

The phenomenon that Torvalds kicked off as a student at the University of Helsinki in 1991 had long been a loosey-goosey effort, with little structure or organization. Young students and caffeine-jazzed iconoclasts wrote much of the code in their spare time, while the overtaxed Torvalds stitched in improvements almost singlehandedly.

Today, that approach is quaint history. Little understood by the outside world, the community of Linux programmers has evolved in recent years into something much more mature, organized, and efficient. Put bluntly, Linux has turned pro.

Torvalds' onetime hobby has become Linux Inc. "People thought this wouldn't work. There are just too many people and companies to hang together. But now it's clear it does work," says Mark Blowers, an analyst at market researcher Butler Group.

Not that this Inc. operates like a traditional corporation. Hardly. There's no headquarters, no CEO, and no annual report. And it's not a single company. Rather, it's a cooperative venture in which employees at about two dozen companies, along with thousands of individuals, work together to improve Linux software. The tech companies contribute sweat equity to the project, largely by paying programmers' salaries, and then make money by selling products and services around the Linux operating system.

The organization supporting Linux has matured more dramatically than most outsiders realize. While Torvalds remains at its center, he has ceded some control and accepted lots of help, thanks to some prodding from individual programmers ... and some coaxing from tech giants whose fortunes have become inextricably linked to Linux.

Linux has become the strongest rival that Microsoft has ever faced. In servers, researcher IDC predicts Linux' market share based on unit sales will rise from 24% today to 33% in 2007, compared with 59% for Windows -- essentially keeping Microsoft at its current market share for the next three years and squeezing its profit margins. That's because, for the first time, Linux is taking a bite out of Windows, not just the other alternatives, and is forcing Microsoft to offer discounts to avoid losing sales.

The lawyer for the Harvard freshman being sued by Apple Computer for publishing trade secrets about the company's products, says Apple is stifling free speech.

Terry Gross, the lawyer working free of charge for Nicholas Ciarelli, said the Apple lawsuit ignores First Amendment protections of free speech and attempts to intimidate small publishers from printing unwanted information about companies such as Apple.

"My client is angry," said Gross said, a partner at the San Francisco-based law firm of Gross & Belsky LLP, "He's a fan of Apple and can't understand why Apple is suing him."

Gross said he is preparing a motion to be filed by Feb. 2 that says the lawsuit was filed to intimidate public speech and should be dismissed. "They would not do this against the New York Times," he said.

What an amazing accomplishment you all have made. In just a little over 10 weeks, you've helped to spread the word to over 19 million people. 19,000,000! When numbers get this big, I personally have a difficult time wrapping my brain around them so I turn to some volumes I can actually imagine. Nineteen million people would fill the NFL's largest football stadium -- 200 times over. Think of that, the largest professional sports venue in the US, stacked on top of itself 200 times! It's about the total population of Australia or New York! Not that it actually helps me visualize anything but my estimate is that these downloads add up to about 90 terabytes.

Other tech sites will bore you with in-depth "technical details" and performance specs in their product analysis. At BBspot we pull back from the boring benchmarks to compare the superficialities, and we do it all on a single page. Now that Firefox is gaining ground on Internet Explorer it is time to compare the two face to face.

Microsoft leaves no doubt what their products are. If they made toilet paper it would be called Butt Wiper. Internet Explorer isn't a bad name, but it's not spectacular.

On the other end of the spectrum, the name Firefox gives no clue to what it is. Could be a car? 80s video game? Lame comic book superhero? Flaming dish at a wild game restaurant? A browser would probably be your last guess. No matter, it is a much cooler name than the utilitarian Internet Explorer.

Advantage - Firefox

f you're shopping for a new TV or personal video recorder (PVR) this year, you should know something about CableCard. At this month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, TiVo, Hewlett-Packard and others unveiled new products incorporating the technology. Most new digital television models including HDTVs now include CableCard hook-ups.

CableCard is an interface for digital TV that lets you plug your cable line directly into your TV set without the need for a set-top box. It's about the size of a thick credit card, and fits into a special slot built into digital TVs and a growing number of peripheral devices, such as a newly announced version of TiVo and HP's media "hub."

CableCard's first function--and arguably its most important--is to prevent people from stealing cable TV. Like a set-top box, it stores subscriber information and codes for unlocking and viewing scrambled digital-cable signals.

CableCard is meant to replace set-top boxes. But it does not yet replicate all set-top box functions. Notably, you can't yet use CableCard for services that require two-way interactivity, such as accessing your cable company's interactive programming guide or purchasing pay-per-view programs. Also, equipment that was made before the CableCard specification was created won't work with CableCard. That includes all current TiVo models.

Coming off one of the hottest holiday seasons for video game software sales in history, Microsoft Corp. today announced that its Xbox Live online gaming service has set a new standard with more than 1.4 million members, exceeding expectations and cementing its leadership position in the digital entertainment landscape. This additional news comes on the heels of 14 consecutive months of increased market share for Xbox, the only console to see an increase of market share in 2004.

Monthly share for Xbox has grown year-to-year every month for 14 consecutive months, climbing 11 share points to 37 percent in December. Xbox was the only platform to see year-to-year growth during the fourth quarter of 2004 and the full calendar year 2004, while Xbox competitors and the overall market declined year over year for both time periods. Xbox annual 2004 console unit market share increased an impressive 12 points compared with 2003 and ended the year with a 37 percent share. Xbox had three titles in the top 10 in December: No. 4, "Halo 2" from Microsoft Games Studios (including sales of the Limited Edition); No. 6, "Need for Speed: Underground 2" from Electronic Arts Inc.; and No. 10, "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2" from LucasArts. Xbox software sales led the way in 2004 as unit sales increased 46 percent year-over-year, and increased 55 percent (annual 2004 vs. annual 2003).

There are now more than 200 Xbox Live-enabled titles, making it the richest library of online console games available today. "Halo 2," which has sold more than 6.4 million copies worldwide since November, helped propel the service to new heights. The overall "Halo" franchise, which includes predecessor "Halo: Combat Evolved" for the PC and Xbox, has sold a collective 12.8 million copies in just three years.

The [Mac OS X] Dock ... makes a great demo. But ... the Dock is akin to a brightly-colored set of children's blocks, ideal for your first words—dog, cat, run, Spot, run—but not too effective for displaying the contents of War and Peace.

A certain class of Apple users—those who check their email once or twice a week and sometimes need to print an attached photo—may need nothing more than the Dock.

The rest of us need more powerful tools, so,
Apple, leave the Dock as the smashing demo it is, but also supply some serious, information-dense tools. You have the talent and wherewithal to make such tools as attractive as the Dock if only you will cease seeing this one single object as a complete solution.

Apple has made a few improvements to the Dock in the last three years. Items no longer jump around seemingly at random, although the size of the Dock continues to "wheeze" in and out without user control.. Items also act like buttons, so clicking anywhere within their confines will open them. Apple also quickly gave us the ability to turn off magnification, a major improvement in day-to-day usability.

Meanwhile, here are eight continuing problems with the Dock, plus a new one, a decided lack of color. Most of these are inherent, and the solution is more and varied tools. A few can be directly addressed by design tweaks.

Security firm Immunity has reported several vulnerabilities in Darwin, the Unix implementation which Apple calls the "rock-solid foundation" of Mac OS X. The vulnerabilities affect all recent versions of OS X, Immunity said in an advisory published on Wednesday.

While they won't be serious for most users, the bugs are the latest blow to OS X's reputation as being free from the security problems that plague Windows. Some security researchers have argued that reputation is unwarranted, saying Windows bugs simply get more publicity and cause more mayhem because the operating system is so widespread.

Immunity founder and chief executive Dave Aitel said the problems wouldn't be very serious for most users, because OS X isn't widely used as a server operating system. He said security experts have never considered the operating system particularly invulnerable. "Apple's never been that secure from a local perspective," he told Techworld.

In an analysis last year, security firm Secunia found that OS X doesn't stand out as particularly more secure than the competition. The operating system had a similar proportion of critical bugs to competitors such as Windows XP Professional, Red Hat Advanced Server and Suse Linux Enterprise Server, Secunia said.

It could be deja vu all over again for Apple Computer Inc..

Just one week after launching the tiny iPod Shuffle, a lightweight and much cheaper model of its market-leading digital music player, customers face a wait of two to four weeks before their order is shipped, according to the company's Web site Tuesday.

There is a two- to three-week wait for the $99 iPod Shuffle, which holds about 120 songs, while customers face a wait of three to four weeks for the $149 model, which has double the capacity, according to the Apple Web site.

Apple's co-founder and chief executive, Steve Jobs, said last week at the company's annual trade show that the new music players were on their way from factories to Apple's online store, its retail stores and third-party retailers and distributors.

Electronic Arts makes one of every four videogames sold in the world (and that's before it took The Sims online). CEO Larry Probst says he's just getting started building "the greatest entertainment company ever."

Great ideas don't always make for great businesses. Just look at Transmeta.

In early 2000, the Santa Clara start-up unveiled its plans for a power-saving computer chip amid a blizzard of hype. "If it's mobile and it has a browser, it will use a Transmeta chip," boasted company founder David Ditzel on the day of the launch.

Although the market that Transmeta helped create flourished, the company did not. This month, it all but said it was turning out the lights.

What happened?

Analysts who track Microsoft Corp. and the computer market say the Mac Mini could begin to change the competitive landscape. The computer will start at $499. It will be sold without keyboard, display or mouse, but with input ports that Apple says are designed to let most PC users continue using the keyboards, displays and mice they already own.

Even before the release of the Mac Mini, slated for later this month, Apple reported new momentum. The company said last week that it shipped more than 1 million Macs in its quarter ended Christmas Day, a 26 percent increase over the same period the previous year.

Analysts attribute that in part to an apparent "halo effect" from the soaring popularity of Apple's iPod. The dominant portable music player, which works in conjunction with both Macs and Windows PCs, has introduced many people to Apple products for the first time.

But even if Apple sells one Mac for every iPod it sells, the result would still be a drop in the bucket compared with the more than 170 million personal computers sold worldwide annually. The vast majority are Windows PCs.

Don't be surprised if the Patriots are reigning Super Bowl champs next time local fans trek to the Razor. In a near-perfect game yesterday, the devoted sons of Bill Belichick grounded the heretofore high-flying Indianapolis Colts, 20-3, advancing to the AFC Championship game in Pittsburgh next Sunday night. A win against the Steelers at Heinz Field would put the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX Feb. 6 in Jacksonville, Fla., with a chance to earn dynasty status by winning a third championship in four seasons.

"It was an awesome performance," said Belichick, a man incapable of hyperbole (think Mike Dukakis with a whistle around his neck). "The second half was certainly our best 30 minutes of football this season. To hold a team like that to 3 points, that's a good defensive effort."

Maybe the signs and the chants were a little harsh during New England's 20-3 pounding of the Colts and Manning yesterday, which punched New England's ticket to the AFC Championship game Sunday at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

"After the game you will get your ring -- suffer-ring," read one. The crowd was yelling "Cut that meat! Cut that meat!" in reference to Manning's ad campaign in which he cheers for the common folk while they're performing their jobs.

The NFL MVP was just that yesterday -- common. Manning, (27 of 42, 238 yards, 1 interception) was unable to lead his vaunted offense to the end zone, and his longest completion was 18 yards.

For the second season in a row, Manning and his teammates were eliminated from the postseason by a better-prepared and more physical team.

What transpired here yesterday was truly stunning. New England lined up against the top quarterback in the league without two of its best players in the secondary (Ty Law and Tyrone Poole) and star defensive end Richard Seymour in street clothes. The Colts lined up with a fleet of receivers (Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, and Brandon Stokley) that are known for their speed, their cunning, and their experience. And yet, the longest completion Manning threw all day was 18 yards.

The snow began about an hour before kickoff. It came in swirling sheets like white mist, and most of the sellout crowd of 68,756 stood throughout the night, huddled against the damp chill. The temperature was 25 degrees at halftime, and falling. Steam rose over both teams' huddles.

It was a frosty night in Foxboro, a night for tough-guy football, and no one plays it better than the world champion New England Patriots. They outplayed, outhit and outscored the Indianapolis Colts 20-3 on Sunday in an AFC divisional playoff game.

The Patriots extended their domination of the Colts (13-5) to six games. They have won 14 of the team's past 16 meetings, including all nine in Foxboro since 1995.

The Colts couldn't make plays, couldn't sustain drives. After scoring 49 points in a wild-card playoff victory over Denver last week, they failed to score a touchdown for the first time since a 9-6 victory at Cleveland in their 2003 season opener.

Manning was 27-for-42 for 238 yards with one interception. He is 0-7 in Foxboro.