[ Thanks to Michael
S. Mimoso for this link. ]
“Linux’s future as a dominant data center platform hinges on
several factors, none of which is any less important than its
ever-improving scalability, reliability and cost structure.
However, two very real-world issues in 2003 could affect the
operating system’s viability as the principal technology driving
enterprises by 2008: the economy and the SCO Group’s legal action
against Linux.“Decision makers fear risky investments, and right now, in some
circles, Linux may be looked upon as a risky proposition. Experts
say that Linux’s scalability improves with each incarnation of the
kernel, but it doesn’t match up to mainframe, or even Unix
scalability yet. Also, intellectual property and patent
infringement, two subjects once thought foreign to Linux and
open-source software, are suddenly tangible concerns to C-level
executives pondering a switch from a proprietary platform to
Linux.“‘It’s not hard to get Linux into an organization, but it’s
[difficult] to be the preferred data center platform. That change
happens slowly,’ said Al Gillen, research director of system
software with International Data Corp., Framingham, Mass.
‘Commitment to an architecture is a multiple decades-long
processes…'”