By S. Thomas Adelstein, CPA
CFO, Bynari Systems
Dallas, TX
At the Midway Point and Beginning to
Scale
With a checklist from D. H. Brown*, the Linux Community has an
Enterprise Blueprint. Those closest to the Open Source Community
say, “It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when Linux will
reach all the functional requirements of the enterprise.” It may
seem ironical but IBM AIX 4.3.2, Compaq Tru64 UNIX 4.0F and SUN
Solaris have provided the benchmarks for the next leg of the Linux
development effort.
At the monthly UNIX Users Group of Dallas, Jon “mad dog” Hall
presented about two hundred attentive listeners with a sobering
talk about Linux. Jon Hall is the President of Linux International
and works for Compaq. He’s been one of the major advocates of Linux
since the now famous operating system went public in 1994. The
following commentary came about after his speech and a thorough
reading of the D. H. Brown report.
I’ve noticed that people often put Linux in the same category
with the UNIX operating systems (O/S). A major difference exists
because Linux is not UNIX. Linux developed from a few thousand
lines of code into a remarkable operating system. Analysts see
Linux as worthy for low-end to mid-sized server applications. In
many cases, IT departments need Linux to provide functions not
available in other systems especially with Internet protocols. I’m
one of those people.
With all the attention focused on Linux, few people realize
Linus Torvalds and his team started developing a system they and
others could afford and use on the Intel 386 processor. By chance
people began putting the source code and compiled applications on
inexpensive media. Also by chance, IT professionals deployed it in
their organizations, first experimentally now, seriously. The
original developers did not necessarily intend to develop a
commercially competitive product. The product actually found its
own way into the market.
Now, one of the most prestigious analysts in the industry has
written an analysis of the system. D. H. Brown says in their
report, ” In key application areas that employ open protocols or
well-characterized closed protocols, such as low-end or mid-range
Web serving, e-mail routing, network printing, and file serving,
Linux can provide a solution that once properly configured, is both
stable and performs adequately for at least moderate workloads.
Further, Linux’s “good enough” capabilities come at minimal cost
and do not incur significant vendor lock-in.” (From “Linux: How
Good Is IT”, Port Chester, NY, 1999)
Linux is not UNIX and it’s not a UNIX clone. The Linux design
has always allowed people to add the functionality to it. The Open
Source nature of the software allows it to become an excellent
enterprise system. The developers did not target the enterprise
during its creation of the system. That’s the serendipity of Linux
– the idea of sharing and working together and allowing others to
continue that work. Somehow that doesn’t fit a model of the world
with poverty as the context. Frankly, it fits a model where
prosperity and vision form the context.
The Linux development community shares few of the limitations
imposed by UNIX. D. H. Brown Associates, Inc. compared Linux Red
Hat and Caldera Open Linux to conventional UNIX and Microsoft NT
Server. Their assessment provided Linus Torvalds and the Linux team
with a needs analysis to add the functionality required to exceed
current enterprise systems. By telling the world what Linux didn’t
have to make it stand up to conventional UNIX, the development team
went to work immediately and have many enterprise functions already
in Beta testing.
In my opinion, Linux will move in two directions to capture the
enterprise. The Linux development team styled their O/S after UNIX
by using a similar organizational structure for files and
directories, functions and commands. Analysts consider those
similarities enough to call it a “clone”. Analysts do little
justice to Linux by considering it a clone. The UNIX style of Linux
makes it familiar enough for the very senior technical people in
companies to deploy it without having to take training on a new
OS.
The significance of D. H. Brown’s findings allow us to
understand how the Linux community can exceed the thresh holds of
performance of enterprise systems. While IBM AIX rates as the best
among enterprise system, it only ranks as very good, not excellent.
None of the conventional O/S platforms ranks excellent.
That’s how an enterprise enhanced Linux begins to crowd other
O/S platforms out of the way. Linux developers tend to produce a
higher quality of application than conventional ones. Many reasons
exist for this fact. Trying to understand why doesn’t make sense to
people who don’t absolutely love technology. Suffice it to say
their desire to exceed the present functionality of similar
products and make themselves more valuable in the market place
motivates many.
As the D.H. Brown reports breaks, people within the Linux
community see some serious irony. Commercial packagers of Linux and
ISVs have looked at Linux more in terms of a desktop to compete
with Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh. Numerous development
projects exist for this purpose. Projects such as KDE and GNOME
complete favorably with other desktop interfaces in the market. In
addition, computer users express excitement about Linux.
Distribution channels exist for the product and it works on most
computers even ones considered heretofore obsolete.
So what can we conclude? First, since Linux fits nicely between
the desktop and the large-scale operating systems, it’s really
gotten its foot in the door. I suggest it will penetrate into both
ends of the OS product market as its development continues. People
want a seamless operating system that fits the end user that only
wants e-mail, a wordprocessor and some sort of personal information
management system. The people who run the enterprise want
performance and freedom from all those rights management issues
that come with licensing. Linux provides them both.
For my computer systems to work together, I need to use
computers using the same protocols. Who believes that using a
client on the desktop with a different protocol than the servers
that run my network makes sense? Unwittingly, the solution appears
within reach.
*D.H. Brown Associates, Inc. (DHBA) is
a leading research and consulting firm that provides strategic
analysis, assessment, and evaluation of technologies, products, and
market trends in the Information Industry. DHBA concentrates on
thoroughly understanding and continuously updating its knowledge of
the core technologies and trends underlying current and future
products. http://www.dhbrown.com
A copy of their report can be downloaded in
pfd format from their web site.