Anyone following current trends in computing and information technology can tell you that big things are afoot in the world of Linux and open source software.

At the top of the list as I write this are the current activities of SCO. In case you're new to the Linux and open source worlds, let me explain the issue in a nutshell.

SCO has been alleging that Linux contains a significant amount of software code that SCO owns the copyright to. While they have not produced any proof of this publicly and won't provide any details to support their claims, they have sent threatening letters to many Linux users and have even been charging major corporations "license fees" for the code they say they own. Most in the open source community believe this practice is akin to an illegal shakedown.

However, there may be much broader implications lurking that could impact virtually every company around the world.

These implications stem from the fact that virtually every company today uses a huge amount of open source software – not even taking Linux into account. I'd be willing to wager that most company executives have literally no idea how much open source software they use. The cost to replace all this software for even a mid-sized company would easily run into millions of dollars.

One developer I asked about this recently told me that his development group had used more than 25 different open source applications and programming libraries in building the suite of Java-based applications that ran his company's ecommerce systems (and, by the way, that's likely to be about average). Can you imagine the cost of replacing these? Just purchasing and negotiating the contracts to buy these applications would be a huge cost.

Linux and the networking and security applications that many companies use are also comprised of many smaller open source applications. Again, replacement cost would be prohibitive.

Yet there are companies today that, like SCO, are plotting ways of forcing companies to pay for these applications. It's likely that the upcoming assaults on the open source "infrastructure" that is so widely used will come in the form of patent infringement lawsuits – whether valid or invalid, frivolous or real.

So what are we as developers, administrators, and managers to do? Stand by and wait for the assaults? Throw up our hands and do nothing?

Hardly. We as a community have the ability to impact this. What can we do?

First, we need to make sure that management understands the impact that open source software has on their business. Management in most companies likely has no idea that open source software is so widespread within their organizations. Many managers probably don't know what it is or don't even realize they use it – let alone realize their companies depend on it so extensively.

Second, we need to ensure that our vendors support open source software. This is especially true if our vendors own a significant number of software patents. Those vendors need to know we want them to continue to be friendly to the open source community and ensure our rights to open source software are preserved.

Third, we need to participate in the community. We need to give back. John Fowler, Software CTO at Sun Microsystems (and new member of the LinuxWorld Magazine International Advisory Board), remarked in his interview in this issue that we are all a part of a "participatory economy." His is an important reminder that open source software exists because individuals and companies donated resources to create it.

Fourth, we all need to become better open source advocates. Few have demonstrated this more clearly than our other new advisory board member Bruce Perens (also with an article in this issue). Bruce has been involved in the open source community for many years and is one of its most widely recognized advocates. He has turned being an open source advocate into a successful career and consulting practice. By being advocates for open source software, we raise awareness of its importance to our businesses.

Being an advocate doesn't always mean "selling" open source to management. Many times it just means sharing with management all the things about open source software that many of us take for granted – like that we use it everywhere, its quality is generally solid, and we don't have to pay for it. If that message gets through, then you'll have made a difference.

It's time for Linux and open source/free software to move from the back office into the boardroom. And we're the ones that need to take it there.

All it takes is a little leadership.

• Richard Stallman: The Free Software Movement *Is* Politics
• First IBM, now SGI - SCO Strikes Again
• The Powerful Economic Underpinnings of OSS