Puffins guide HP on Linux trail

The two camps have little in common: Caccamo, 38 years old, is a straight-laced HP (NYSE:HWP) marketing strategist and a father of two. When not at their daytime programming jobs, Beard, 26, and deVries, 25, both single, work on their computers or cruise downtown Ottawa clubs with their pals. Nonetheless, the three men have teamed up in a project that could create a new model for technology deal-making and software development. And in the process, they might be building the infrastructure of a new computing world -- one not dominated by Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT).

With Caccamo as point man, HP is helping Beard, deVries and some of their friends -- a loosely knit band called the Puffin Group -- adapt an operating system known as Linux to work on HP computers. In doing so, the Palo Alto, Calif., company is giving the Puffins free hardware, numerous HP internal documents, virtually unlimited access to key company engineers, but not one red cent in cash.

New brand of capitalism
The arrangement between the $50 billion HP and the shoestring Puffin Group is a marriage between the stodgy world of big computer companies and a form of capitalism being hatched by Linux zealots around the globe.

The software itself is the brainchild of Linus Torvalds, a 29-year-old Finn who started developing Linux in 1991 as a college student, because he wanted a powerful operating system to run his personal computer. By asking for help on the then-fledgling Internet, Torvalds, now employed by a Silicon Valley start-up, got others involved in the project, which he still oversees.

Today, Linux's contributors number in the thousands. They can make improvements or add new features because the software's source code -- or blueprint -- is freely available. This global network of developers has made Linux fast, resistant to crashes and open for inspection and endless enhancement. That's why fans, like Beard and deVries, say the world would be a better place with Linux -- rather than Microsoft's flagship Windows NT operating system -- on every desktop.

Breaking away from MS
For their part, big computer companies see Linux as a way to even things up with Microsoft, the Redmond, Wash., software giant, and are joining the bandwagon. Already, IBM Corp. (NYSE:IBM), Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq:ORCL), Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE:CPQ) and Silicon Graphics Inc. (NYSE:SGI), among others, have joined H-P in announcing support for the software.

"The big computer industry battle of the future will be waged between Linux and Windows NT," says Rob Pike, a researcher at Lucent Technologies Inc.'s Bell Labs unit.

But while Linux is free, the Linux movement is scarcely opposed to profit. Donald Becker, 33, was a key developer on Beowulf, a NASA research project that used Linux to tie scores of PCs into a single supercomputer. Now, Becker has founded Scyld Computing Services LLC, Columbia, Md., to spread the technology. "It's not communism," says Becker. "There has to be some money there."

Labor of love
Beard and deVries say they have worked on Linux for years without pay, largely because they enjoy tough technical challenges. But they also know it makes them more hirable. "It isn't totally altruistic," says Beard. Indeed, the Puffin Group hopes to become one day a for-profit consulting operation.

But personal gain was the last thing on anyone's mind when the Puffin HP project began last October at a Linux convention in Atlanta. Over pizza, the Puffins -- named after a big-billed sea bird, in tribute to Linux's official mascot, the penguin -- discussed their next venture. They seized on HP's PA-RISC line of computers, which are widely used in business and engineering but hadn't inspired a Linux adaptation. No one in the group actually used the machines; that wasn't the point. "We dove into it because it hadn't been done," says Beard.

He and deVries figured the HP project would take a year or two of work. They announced the endeavor to Linux groups on the Internet and promptly got many offers of help, including some from HP engineers volunteering nights and weekends.

Largely shooting in the dark, Beard sent an electronic message to an HP official he saw named on the company's Web site. He got no response. Since the Puffin team had always assumed it would be working without any official help from HP, the silence didn't seem a setback.

What Beard didn't know was that for months HP had been watching the Linux groundswell and had been grappling for a response. But it was in a quandary. The software could be considered a rival to HP's own HP-UX operating system; both are based on the widely used Unix system. Linux might also gum up HP's increasingly close ties to Microsoft.

Different culture
Caccamo, who works at HP's business-computer division in Cupertino, Calif., early last summer was directed to draw up a concerted HP response to Linux. He decided to immerse himself in the freewheeling Linux culture, which HP found hard to fathom. For example, while Torvalds oversees Linux, he draws on an inner circle of advisers who have nearly the same standing as he does in the Linux community. They debate technical questions in public Internet postings and in steady streams of private e-mail.

Different culture
Caccamo, who works at HP's business-computer division in Cupertino, Calif., early last summer was directed to draw up a concerted HP response to Linux. He decided to immerse himself in the freewheeling Linux culture, which HP found hard to fathom. For example, while Torvalds oversees Linux, he draws on an inner circle of advisers who have nearly the same standing as he does in the Linux community. They debate technical questions in public Internet postings and in steady streams of private e-mail.

One such Linux high priest is Alan Cox, a programmer in Wales who is widely regarded as a potential heir to Torvalds. Cox keeps a picture of himself on his Web site; his abundant hair and beard recall the rock group ZZ Top. His electronic diary is widely read among the Linux faithful.

Caccamo initially was wary. "I thought these guys should get a life," he says. "But then I started reading the diary, and I got hooked." He now keeps Cox's photo in his cubicle, telling visitors the picture is of his "spiritual adviser."

Caccamo also learned about political correctness, Linux-style. "You're never supposed to say you are developing a new 'version' of Linux," he says, since that would suggest an attempt to take control of the software. "It's not a 'version.' It's Linux."

One day last month, when a news story used the "v-word" to describe an HP Linux effort, Caccamo got even more insight into the Linux world. Logging onto Slashdot, a Web site popular with Linux aficionados, Caccamo saw HP getting "flamed." In truth, HP was slightly intimidated by Linux, and was taking baby steps into a vaguely scary new world. But on Slashdot, the company was being accused of masterminding a diabolical plot for control.

Slowly, Caccamo became known inside HP as a Linux ambassador. His background in the business side gave him credibility with senior managers, and he tried to stress practical benefits over philosophy in selling the technology. "I'm not a zealot," he says. In fact, he has never used Linux.

Daunting tasks
The company, however, began inching toward Linux. It decided to adapt the software to run on the coming Merced family of chips it is developing jointly with Intel Corp. But there were some tasks HP wasn't sure it could afford to take on, including making Linux run on its existing PA-RISC machines. Such a project could tie up a handful of engineers for a year or more.

Then one day early this year, Caccamo heard about the Puffin Group, and checked out its Web site. He was surprised by what he saw; the group was announcing an endeavor that HP itself wasn't sure it had the resources to undertake.

He sent the Puffins an e-mail message, and then called them to introduce himself. He said HP might want to help.

When they heard of HP's interest, the Puffins initially worried that the company might lose interest in the project after a short time. But the pair decided that if they had a chance, they would work with HP, requesting some free computers, as well as the hardware's documentation.

Asking for money, though, was never in the cards. "We were going to do this anyway," says Beard.

Working with the Puffins still presented some risks for the company. One concern was that HP's competitors might portray an HP move toward Linux as evidence of the company's lack of support for its own Unix-based system. The company quickly decided to go forward, however, and Caccamo called Beard with the news.

The Puffins celebrated with vodka martinis. They also relayed word of HP's decision to other key Linux developers via a secret Internet Relay Chat channel many of them are logged into during the day.

"It was great news for the Linux community," says Beard. "Even without HP, we could have found out everything we needed to, just by hacking the hardware bit by bit. But with HP helping us, a problem that could have taken a month to solve will take 30 seconds."

Industry support
Days later, Caccamo got a strong signal that HP's support of Linux wouldn't upset its clients. When an HP official told a meeting of big customers in Silicon Valley that the company would sharply expand such support, the audience of several hundred rose in a standing ovation.

Over the next few weeks, in a succession of e-mail messages and phone calls, the three men worked out the details of their project. Last month, for example, Caccamo set up a conference call between the Puffins and some top HP software engineers.

The Puffins used their mastery of the Internet to wow their new corporate sponsor. One day, Caccamo sent the Puffins an e-mail message suggesting they enlist Cox's help. He was startled to get a reply a few minutes later saying that Cox had joined the team. What Caccamo didn't know was that the Puffins were in almost constant contact with Cox on their private Internet back channel, and had already raised the issue with him.

Caccamo finally met the two Puffins on March 1 when he flew them out, at HP's expense, to a big Linux trade show in Silicon Valley. The two arrived at lunchtime in a hotel suite rented by HP. Caccamo shook their hands, and joked about finally meeting "the world-famous Puffin Group." They sat around a conference table, all attired in a sort of Gap casual; Caccamo gave them an update on his efforts to get them additional machines and guidebooks. "Tell us what you need," he said to the pair.

deVries warned Caccamo that some of the company's hardware investment in the project would be for naught. "You'll ship a box to some people, but they will never produce a line of code," he said. "But you'll also get a lot of valuable stuff from people who just show up out of the blue."

After a half-hour of chit chat, the trio stood and toasted their undertaking with Evian water. Beard and deVries presented Caccamo with a present, a puffin Beanie Baby.

The alliance with HP has made the Puffins the talk of the Linux community; it has also brought them to the attention of many other companies. Caccamo, in fact, discovered the Puffins' new stature as Linux superstars when, at the end of the meeting, he told the two men he wanted to meet with them again later in the week.

deVries flipped through the pages of his scheduler. "Well, you're going to have to book something now," he said. "We're getting kind of busy."