As a journalist at Computerworld Australia:
Carsten Haitzler, who is perhaps better known by his alias, Rasterman, has been the lead developer for the open source desktop shell Enlightenment for the past 10 years. Since attaining a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of New South Wales in 1997, Haitzler has built a career around his interest in graphics software, and has worked as a core developer at Red Hat and an engineer at VA Linux Systems in the U.S. and Japan.
Now an independent open source developer based in Tokyo, Haitzler will be returning to Sydney next week to speak about the bulking up and slowing down of open source desktops at linux.conf.au. Before the conference, Haitzler speaks with Liz Tay about operating systems, his career, and his decidedly non-political approach to open source.
How did you get involved in open source programming? What aspects of programming and open source software interest you most?
Unlike some, I didn't get involved for its politics or its ideals. It was there and appealed to my sense of convenience. If I have code I depend on - I like to be able to see it, poke it and fiddle with it if need be. I release my own code under a very liberal license (BSD) because I don't much care what happens to it. I only ever started releasing code as source because it was the only sane way to distribute it for UNIX systems, and I had enough people ask for it.
In the brief on your linux.conf.au 2007 presentation, "Desktops on a diet", you raise the issue of having operating system components that consume too many resources to compete with Windows and Mac OS. What are the risks of sacrificing efficiency for popularity?
You alienate users because many people simply cannot (sanely) or will not use the software because they can't afford a system capable enough to run it. It also is environmentally unfriendly as more cumulative electricity, components and faster "buy then throw out the old PC" cycling needs to happen just to run a desktop system that could be better. It's not about popularity - it's about bothering to do something efficiently and planning ahead as to what you will do and not assuming everyone has a big beefy machine like you, the developer, does.
What, in your opinion, are the main functions of an operating system?
To get you to a point where you can store and retrieve data (files), install (and un-install) more software, these days communicate over a network, and launch and manage programs. In my opinion Web browsers, email applications, pain programs, etc. are not part of an OS - they are add-on applications. The OS should just get you to the stage where you can install and choose such applications.
Are you accusing GNOME and KDE of selling out by giving up on open source ideals and conforming to a business model, and if so, why?
I never accused them of anything to do with giving up open source ideals. I am pointing out that in the race to try and mimic as much functionality as possible they forgot to "do it right" and pay attention to efficiency in both design and implementation. They have done a great job of implementing code - but it can be done better.
What is your opinion on the Open Source community as it is? Do you think that Linux businesses are focussing too much on business? What is the problem with this?
I don't really hold much of an opinion on the 'open source community'. I keep out of politics.
What were your reasons for leaving RedHat in 1999, and where did you go from there?
I left for several reasons. One was location of the company; another was the attitude of people I worked with towards the 'community' who ultimately ended up becoming their bread and butter.
After Red Hat I went to what was at the time VA Research, and then became VA Linux Systems then VA Software. I worked for that 'VA' for about 2.5 years until they basically decided to cease being in the Linux business; they became a Web properties business and SourceForge.
I worked at a small embedded software maker in Sydney (FST) for about 2.5 years then worked for a separate company that was the result of a partnership of VA Linux Systems in the USA and investors in Japan - VA Japan. VA Japan happened to continue doing some of what VA in the USA did, but are essentially an entirely different company simply inheriting the name from the initial partnership, that is divorced of the business of VA USA, beyond being a reseller of SourceForge and OSDN in Japan. I was there for about 2.5 years and have since moved on to another unrelated firm in Japan.
VA in the USA were offering a much more friendly view towards open source and its user base than Red Hat had [and] in a much better location with a salary that was better. Do not confuse me leaving Red Hat with some major political move. It ended up much more political and personal with the way they treated me on my departure, which was to say, not very nice.
What are you currently working on?
E17 [Enlightenment version 0.17] mostly - and of course on the libraries under that. That's enough for me. I don't have time to do any more than that as it's just a part-time hobby and not something anyone pays me to do.
Can you tell us a little about Enlightenment?
Oh dear. I'll keep it short and the details can all be gotten from Enlightenment.org. It's a window manager for X. It runs on Linux, BSD and Solaris, and the next release (when it comes out) will be heading towards the domain of XFCE - i.e. a very light-weight desktop environment (desktop shell) where it provides all the basics you need to run your apps, find and manage your files, and otherwise manage your system.
It is focused on efficiency, speed, beauty, extensibility and delivers in all departments with extremely modest CPU requirements. Under that hood is a set of libraries that can be used to create multimedia applications such as media centres and more, with ease and speed.
What do you think the future looks like for open source operating systems?
I still think Linux is strong on the server - but on the desktop it's weak, and remains so. Do you see Linux desktop adoption by the boatful anywhere? Beyond niche markets it has yet to gain any traction with OEM's and it's a vicious cycle - if users don't want it, OEM's won't ship it. Users won't want it until OEM's ship it.
There are parts of the world where Linux is making inroads on the desktop - but year after year, 'this is the year of the Linux desktop', and it basically hasn't happened. I would love it to - don't get me wrong, but it isn't about how many people use Linux on a desktop, it's about how much money uses Linux on the desktop.
The more purchasing power uses it, the more power Linux has in that domain. It has that on the server. It has made massive gains in the embedded market and it staking over parts of "specific purpose devices and software" by storm.
What does open source mean to you?
If I need the code for what I use, code on/with, it's there for me to poke at and see how it twitches without having to always infer it simply by its behaviour or documentation (which is almost always inadequate for any piece of software from any source, be it open, or closed).
How do you feel about returning to the University of New South Wales to speak at linux.conf.au, having graduated from the same university 10 years ago?
I'm wondering what new buildings they have erected and/or torn down since I last saw it :)
For more information on LCA 2007, go to http://lca2007.linux.org.au/
