By Jacqueline Emigh
Linux Today Writer
All the big vendors in the Linux arena are packing up to head
for San Francisco next week, with Oracle one of the biggest. Today
they’ve detailed some of their plans for the LinuxWorld Expo.
Specifically, Oracle will launch a Web-based center for Linux
application developers working with the Perl, PHP, and Python
programming languages. The site will initially provide sample
source code for Perl only. PHP and Python code will be added later,
in that order.
Meanwhile, internally, Oracle is now in recruitment mode for
more “Linux gurus,” said Oracle’s Wim Coekaerts.
The upcoming new section of the Oracle Web site underscores
“Oracle’s commitment to Linux ,” according to Coekaerts, Oracle’s
newly appointed director of Linux engineering.
Perl, PHP and Python are all popular with Linux application
programmers, Coekaerts noted. “We’re already shipping Perl,” he
pointed out. “We include Oraperl in Oracle Enterprise Manager.”
Over the past year, Oracle has substantially beefed up its
internal Linux development arm, according to the company. Coekaerts
indicated that he couldn’t provide the names of any new hires or
the numbers of Linux developers currently on staff.
Oracle, though, continues to be interested in recruiting “Linux
gurus,” particularly from the Linux community in the San Francisco
Bay Area, he said. “Aside from Linus (Torvalds)–who gets lots of
mail and is always very busy–the main Linux guys are at Red Hat
and SuSE. They do the same type of work there that we do here.
We’re all part of the same community. We do a lot of things
together outside of work, too–like going to the movies and out for
dinner.”
Oracle’s attendance at next week’s LinuxWorld will also
“reiterate our commitment to Linux,” according to Coekaerts.
“Oracle doesn’t tend to go to many non-Oracle trade shows.” Oracle
has been exhibiting at Linux shows ever since 1999, however.
“We won’t be announcing any new apps next week. All our
(existing) products already run on Linux,” Coekaerts
maintained.
Coekaerts declined comment on what role PeopleSoft’s and JD
Edwards’ Linux activities might be playing in Oracle’s intentions
to acquire PeopleSoft.
Also at LinuxWorld next week, Charles (Chuck) Rozwat, executive
VP of Oracle’s Server Technologies Division, will deliver one of
the keynotes. On the show floor, Oracle plans to demo its rackmount
clustering system. “We’re running this internally, too,” Coekaerts
said.
Elsewhere in the Oracle booth, Oracle partner PyX will display
its iSCSI products. Ximian will show the use of its Evolution
client with Oracle Collaboration Suite, including Oracle’s IMAP
server and calendaring software.
“Oracle is clearly being recognized as an important component of
Linux,” Coekaerts contended, citing a recent Linux kernel
developers conference as proof. “What struck me as really cool was
that everyone (there) kept saying, ‘We need to make sure this works
with Oracle.'”
Coekaerts also declined to name any competitors to Oracle in the
Linux arena. Oracle, however, is not particpating in the IBM-led
Eclipse Project, he acknowledged. “We have our own IDE (integrated
development environment) for Linux. It’s called JDeveloper, and
it’s designed to work with JSPs (JavaServer Pages).”
Coekaerts expects Oracle’s new Web-based development center to
start being accessible through Oracle Technology Network (OTN) on
Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, at
http://otn.oracle.com. Beyond actual sample code for Perl, Oracle
will post timelines next week for adding PHP and Python code.
“There’s a large community using PHP to build Web sites, and PHP
is already included in most Linux distributions. If you go to
PHP.net, for example, you’ll see (sample) code for a few Oracle
functions,” Coekaerts said. “We’ll follow on with Python
later.”