“Many would argue that Linux is the operating system of the
internet. Whether you subscribe to this view or not, there is
certainly a lot of it out there driving Web sites and eCommerce
systems. In a remarkably frank speech at the European Linux
Conference, however, Larry Augustin, president and chief executive
officer of VA Linux Systems, indicated that the open source
operating system is still not readily accepted in the corporate
environment. He is reported to have said, “The ‘open’ model of
Linux — which is widely considered to be its strength — can also
hinder its acceptance in some cases”.”
“Augustin spoke about many corporate users being put off by the
knowledge that the code is constantly being developed. “They don’t
like that fact that there are three kernel releases a week on the
Internet”, he said. He went on to reiterate the strengths of the
open source development model and the value of users being able to
communicate directly with developers for rapid implementation of
changes. But he also cited problems with developers in end-user
environments sometimes getting side-tracked, spending too much time
tweaking the Linux platform when they should be cutting application
code.”
“If Linux is going to make it to behind that glass wall then
it will be piggy backing on vendors such as IBM under the
reassuring umbrella of corporate support and maintenance
agreements. Maybe the first live implementation of Linux on the
mainframe will be the turning point.”