A few days ago, on this blog, I posed the question "What is LINKA?" I wrote that immediately after sending an e-mail to Linus Torvalds, the inventor (and key maintainer) of Linux, about an idea I had. I have not received a response from Linus (for whatever reason; though I have, on other occassions, received responses to other high-powered individuals to whom I've written). Because I believe in the idea I posed in the message I sent to Linus, and because the idea revolves around the support and efforts of the worldwide online community, I am going to publish the message now and I invite anyone and everyone to respond in any and which way he or she pleases. I think it's a good- though clearly big and vague- idea.

Here's what I sent Linus:

Linus,

We are now at a critical pivot point on the timeline of computing history. The balance of power between open source and user-centric computing, versus closed and proprietary, Microsoft-centric computing can be shifted.

To make this happen, we need a compelling reason to shake up the world of software as we know it and make the benefits of open source, user-centric computing immediately available and easily recognizable to everyone. What we need, in other words, is a killer application.

Word processing and spreadsheets were the killer applications that initially brought PCs from novelties to practical tools. Graphical page layout programs, WYSIWYG editing, ease of use, and media manipulation were the killer apps that brought graphical computing to the fore. The World Wide Web and e-mail were the Internet’s killer apps.

Linux needs a killer app.

Linux needs a killer app, and the stage is set for circumstances to combine to enable Linux and the community that surrounds it to create a killer app that has more benefit to society than anything that has come before.

The Linux Killer App- LINKA- will not be a typical piece of software. This is not simply a clever program or a cool new thing. Rather, LINKA will be something that recognizes the unique benefits that Linux and open source offer over Microsoft’s products, and- even more important- taps into the worldwide community of all kinds of people that use Linux in all kinds of environments on all kinds of hardware.

I don’t know what LINKA will be yet, but imagine this: A killer app, something tremendous, that takes advantage of everything Linux is that Windows is not, that harnesses the power of a networked world and allows all kinds of people to participate. Something so revolutionary in concept that grandparents will want to install Linux on their computers so they can be a part of it, computer geeks and hackers are drawn to it, corporations and governments see a reason to participate.

LINKA needs to be simple to use and provide an immediate, fun, and empowering result for the user. It needs to benefit from the fact that a tremendous amount of resources for its own development and implementation will be made available to it- namely, the computing resources of everyone involved.

At this point in time, LINKA exists only as an answer to a question that has not been asked yet. What is LINKA? What problem does the world need solved? How can an army of millions of computers, all running the same OS on different hardware, help solve it and provide an immediate benefit to the user?

Linus, I have been inspired by the way that Linux is changing the world. The key to its success so far has been its openness and usefulness for those who need a great OS for free that they can do whatever they want with. How can we take the powerful forces that have made Linux such a success within a subset of all computer users and apply them to all computer users- and to people who have never had a reason to use a computer before?

I don’t know the answer off the top of my head, and I don’t expect you do either. Arriving at the answer is part of the process, and will require the thoughts and collaboration of many inspired people. I am writing to you to express my firm belief that now is the time to ask, “What is LINKA?” And to be prepared to listen to the answers, because they will come in.

And from there, the project takes off.

I would love to know your thoughts on this topic. If you are interested in the idea of “blessing” this project- of pointing people to a web site, for example, or contributing your own ideas- I would be thrilled.

Mostly, however, I wanted to write to you and share my sense of inspiration. Millions of people across the globe, so many and yet so connected, are surely destined to create something wonderful.

-Jeff Solomon

ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS?