Choice in the Age of Giants

Probably the most stirring participation at IT.com, Bangalore's mega IT show early November involved Linux. That pavilion brought together protagonists of the rebel OS from across the count5ry. Thousands have given their time to developing this OS, perhaps for the

avid-Goliath flavor of this battle with Microsoft Windows.

But corporates, not given to charitable rooting for the underdog, have also taken to Linux strongly. They talk of stability and cost, but the penguin is important to them because it represents choice. Perhaps the only choice of platform that will be available to them because it represents choice. Perhaps the only choice of platform that will be available to them, as Microsoft almost completely dominates the software world. In a homogenous world, there's no alternative, no negotiation, and far less motivation for Microsoft itself to improve its products. That's why you need choice. You need Linux, and Oracle, and Lotus, and the struggling others.

In the same week, Transmeta, the company that Linux creator Linux Torvalds now woks for, had a setback. Its Crusoe processor, which promised near-Intel performance with greatly increased battery life for portables, was dropped by IBM and Compaq. Each concluded that the battery life gain was not big enough for the 'risk'. This was not about performance an architecture. The risk was really about going against Intel.

That could have sounded the death-knell for Transmeta. But at least four other vendors, including Sony, did announce Crusoe-based products. And clearly, the chip, which promises to run cool at very low power, fills a need that the competition-free Intel has not addresses. For the Silicon Valley upstart's IPO (after IBM's and Compaq's announcements) was very healthy indeed, giving Transmeta an instant market cap of nearly $ 6 billion.

This is the age of giants. Even if you dismantle or weaken monopolies such as VSNL, market forces tend to favor the survival of the big. AOL's dominance has already caused worries about the decreasing amount of choice of North American ISPs. In India, Bharti Airtel's growth through acquisitions may lead to more efficient and profitable cellular operations, but customers have already begun to encounter service level declines and failures to complete calls.

Everywhere you look, there are giants getting bigger: through buyouts, mergers, and acquisitions. Will this lead to the frightening scenario of a world without choice for the consumer?

You'd better hope not. We desperately need choice: for innovation, for negotiation, for better products. Take away choice, and it's worse than a seller's market.

That's big reason why Linux, Transmeta, and all those upstart startups are so important for the future of this information society.