The Linux Desktop’s Next Challenge: Layer 8

“Linux has a scalable footprint that has always been the
Achillies heel in the Windows model, robust application support for
the programs that people want to use and the ability to connect
seamlessly and easily (for the most part) to most of the services
that people want to use.

“However, today I want to talk not about individual desktops,
but the view from the enterprise. Not a dozen or so machines in a
purpose built environment but thousands of machines in a true
heterogeneous environment where ease of use, manageability, and
program operations are essential and saying Let’s migrate to Linux
takes on a whole new level of complexity and challenge.

“Let me start with a story. About two years ago, I interviewed
for a job with a federal agency (for those outside the United
States, let me give you some background. The U.S. government is
divided up into three branches: Legislative (Congress), Judicial
(the Courts, like the Supreme Court) and Executive (everything
else). The branches of the Executive, often referred Cabinet level,
are also called Departments, like Department of Defense or
Department of Homeland Security. These departments generally have
subunits, usually called agencies but not always, with in them,
such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or the United
States Secret Service). I am interviewing with a contractor who has
a job at Agency P, a sub to Department C. The contract was a review
and validation of the desktop operating system being used by Agency
P to do its day-to-day work. Its current platform at the time was
Windows XP and Microsoft Vista had just been released. I was being
interviewed to be the lead architect on the project.”

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