“…Support for Linux is growing, and the hype that has
accompanied its rise to prominence is fading. Questions are
emerging as to whether it will become a serious contender in
enterprise computing. Linux is popular as a platform for Web
and e-mail servers, but it has yet to find success in corporate
data and applications or on the desktop. Those markets belong to
Unix and Windows respectively. Many software developers, such as
Red Hat, Caldera and Corel, have hitched their wagons to the Linux
star in the hope that they can crack those markets, but will they
survive the ride?”
“John Hall, executive director of the Linux promoter group Linux
International, says the introduction of Linux into a company is a
“bottom up” process, usually starting with a systems administrator
using it as a low-cost way of meeting a particular need, such as
for hosting a firewall system or e-mail server. Because of its
open-source nature, many versions of Linux are available free of
charge, making it a low-cost alternative to commercial Unix servers
or even Windows NT/2000. The shared development process also
ensures that differing versions of the operating system, called
“distributions”, are compatible.”
“Companies will buy this instead of the same thing from
Microsoft, because they realise that if some day they become
annoyed at one supplier, they can switch to another,” Hall says.
“It’s up to the supplier to provide the level of support and
service that will keep them as customers.”