Migrate with Me

Tux (aka, the Penguin) has more to come up against than the
cost-conscious CIO. What is clear-Linux is no more competing

against just Windows-Linux is competing against Unix
systems such as SCO Unix, Sun's Solaris, HP UX and IBM AIX, for a piece of the
Indian enterprise, but it is also learning to work with the opposition in style.

The above companies have been hugely supportive of the open
source movement and have contributed to Linux, but they have also gone all out
to promote the Unix affinity of the enterprise, all the while giving Windows a
run for its money. And, all the while, actively helping to migrate Unix
workloads to Linux, whenever the demand arose. It does make sense to concentrate
some of your innovation efforts around the open source model and still cater to
pent-up Linux demand, which is showing its first signs of emergence.

“Today, upgrades and support in open source environments are no more difficult” Ashit J Panjwani, National Manager  (Alliance & Marketing) Onward NovellIndia

When Sun debuted its Solaris 10 recently, through a paid
subscription model, a la RedHat, the attempt was to beat Linux at its own game.
Why would anybody go for Linux-paid or free-from a diasporic developer base,
when a validated version of Unix is available free, asked Sun. Time will tell.
However, right now, CIOs think that the growing developer support for Linux is
still in its favour and the cheaper costs of moving Unix workloads to Linux
cannot be discounted even in the short run. "The open source market, in
general, whether Apache or Linux, is on the upswing, and even Microsoft cannot
deny that. Look at the $48 bare-bones version of Windows XP, which they have
introduced in some Asian markets. It's a good attempt to stem Linux adoptions
at the source in emerging Asian markets," says the CIO of a manufacturing
firm.

The open spirit is catching on on the IP side too. IBM has
announced plans to make 500 of its software patents freely available to anyone
working on open source projects, like Linux, on which programmers can
collaborate and share code-a clear shift away from traditional copyright
shielding, trademark and trade-secret laws. It is estimated that IBM collected
$1 bn, or more, from licensing its 3,248 patents in 2004.

"Open standards are today a key component of the IT
infrastructure plan and Linux is a good front-end for open standards," says
Jyothi Satyanathan, IBM's Linux Business Manager, ASEAN/South Asia. This,
justifying the move on the part of the larger systems integrators and vendors to
organize reliable support for Linux. "Ongoing support with top Linux apps
vendors will be a key driver to building a base of reference able Linux users
who will be the best ambassadors for open standards."

Open source paths

You 'Google' a lot and still think you are not a Linux user-you are,
at least every time you ferret out information (often, over Bill Gates'
Internet Explorer) using one of Google's 100,000 Linux Web servers. And, on
the systems side, expect the much-lamented lacuna in services and fragmented
Layer 3 level support to be removed with concerted efforts from companies like
SlashSupport. Increasingly, on offer from companies like SlashSupport, RedHat
and Onward Novell will be comprehensive OSS technical support, remote monitoring
and capacity planning and systems maintenance for enterprise Linux customers.
This is a novel effort to provide the missing last-mile 'service' link for
end users and will be aimed at enhancing the convenience offered by distributors
like Debian, Mandrake, Turbolinux, Caldera, Corel and Slackware. Says Shiva
Ramani, CEO, SlashSupport, "Linux installations are rapidly reaching the
critical momentum stage, at which all businesses in India, government or
enterprise, will seek the open standards advantage-in phase one, on the server
side, and gradually in phase two, among desktops."

According to industry sources, Linux is estimated to have
grown by 70% in the server segment in India, while Windows grew at 40%. The
overall Linux marketplace for server and PC hardware and packaged software on
Linux, will widen from $11 bn today to reach $35.7 bn by 2008, with a
marketshare of about 35%.

Linux: CIO Adoption Guidelines - Do a landscape study. - Pilot studies can help administrators gain confidence. Start on edge servers like print file/firewall, Web servers in the first phase. - Move to the enterprise segment. Remember that Linux is not the solution for every problem and hence choose the right fit solutions. - On the skills side, get your UNIX skilled people retrained, as they will find it very easy to acquire Linux skills. Send necessary NT skilled people for a certification class (it makes sense to migrate NT 4.0 servers to Linux as they would need migration to Windows 2004/XP anyway, as the newer Intel processors do not support these apps). - Choosing Linux also gives an opportunity to consolidate multiple applications on one large server. Give this a thought since there are good TCO gains in doing so. - On the client side, Linux vendors promise immediate cost savings by moving from Windows to Linux and Open Office for at least 80% of users. The key consideration would be compatibility of enterprise application clients currently deployed. Here again, Java/JSP-based apps do not have a problem. ". NET" and ASP-based clients will need some migration. Discuss this with your application vendor. 'Washing powder': Boxes of 'Linux' are stacked up in a supermarket. Linux Vollwaschmittel (German for 'washing powder') is a brand of washing powder made by Rösch. It is popular in German-speaking countries. Some people have criticized the brand for using the word Linux. However, since it does not use the trademark as a technology term, it has so far been immune to legal action from Linus Torvalds, trademark holder of the Linux kernel.

Open source has spread its wings through Unix (still the
original 'open system' before it was commercialized); Apache, MySQL and Java
taking on key roles in the banking and insurance sectors. Insurance firm Birla
Sun Life, which has standardized its LIC policy administration system on Oracle's
DB2, and piloted by Unix servers, it manages its Web-based customer interface on
Java apps, according to M C Raisinghani, vice-president -Technology, Birla Sun
Life.

On the desktop front, where Microsoft is dominant, Linux
faces much higher barriers than in the server market, where Linux's similarity
to well-established Unix makes it a natural fit. But, particularly in Asia,
Linux is catching on, as evidenced by Microsoft lowering Windows 'blinds'
(read prices) in several emerging markets.

In fact, worldwide, it is well known that competition from
open source technologies has prompted Microsoft to offer hefty discounts on
Windows. This explains why it is difficult to really calculate how much people
spend on Microsoft products.

Nonetheless, Brazil and India, the two leading open source
adopters, have similar arguments to make-both are developing countries where
mere 10-20% of the population have computers at home, and where debt-laden
governments are the leading computer buyers. China, France, Germany, Japan and
South Korea also are pursuing open-source alternatives. Computer giant
Hewlett-Packard is currently shipping computers equipped with Linux to China and
India, though thousands of pirated Windows copies continue to replace Linux OS
as PCs reach many home users.

Vendor roads

Red Hat and Novell are segmenting the Linux market by expanding their
enterprise products. With the recent expansion and differentiation of their
enterprise product lines with mid-tier server and workstation products,
companies like Red Hat and Novell are also attempting to increase their
installed base and effect a change in market perceptions. The message is clear:
Linux is more than ready to go, and moving Unix workloads to Linux, on Intel,
can result in tremendous cost savings. In addition, Unix systems management
expertise, which is widely available in India, can easily be leveraged in a
Linux environment, considering the fact that Linux is operationally similar to
Unix.

Linux vendors are recognizing the fact that medium-large and
large enterprises require processes and procedures that limit the risk of
introducing changes to a running production environment. Rigorous and careful
integration and testing by the likes of IBM, HP, RedHat and Novell will continue
to be as necessary in the Linux environment as they are in other OS
environments.

Linux in Enterprise

Also, consider the innovations on hardware configurations.
Mainframe Linux, for example, is evolving into a key Linux migration plan for
CIOs through server consolidation. This typically involves replacing dozens or
even hundreds of separate Intel-based Linux or Windows servers with a partition
on the mainframe that dedicates a single processor, memory and other system
sources to running Linux. The attraction of Linux on the mainframe isn't so
much the low cost of licensing Linux or the fact that users can modify it and
rely on a community of developers to fix bugs, users say. Instead, the big draw
is the ability to combine Linux with the mainframe's proven reliability, speed
and management tools to drive down the cost of running critical applications.

Mainstream Linux is a concept still divorced from pedestrian
mail server management implementations. But, with upcoming attractions like
Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, CIOs could have new reasons to be
confident that they'll get quality Linux support from application vendors as
much as they do from the large server vendors and systems integrators.

Invested interests

Fifty four percent of CIOs worldwide believe that open source will be their
predominant technology by 2007. But in the case of Linux, there is still no
unanimous agreement on the cost benefits of outright adoptions, where CIOs feel
one size does not fit all. However, many do agree that applications built from
freely available open source code have to come with a maintenance cost factored
in, from a specialized Linux vendor. "Overall Linux system integration
management is better handled by experienced vendors, but factors like drivers
for Linux, database software management, data migration and language issues for
link applications like JDBC, JSP and PHP will have to be handled by the
specialists like RedHat and Novell," says one Linux administrator, pointing
out that Oracle's support continues to be crucial.

Drawing a fine Linux Linus Torvalds, supposedly, had a "fixation for flightless, fat waterfowl" and claims to have contracted "penguinitis" after being gently nibbled by a penguin: "Penguinitis makes you stay awake at nights just thinking about penguins and feeling great love towards them." Torvalds' supposed illness is of course a joke, but, he really was bitten by a little penguin, on a visit to Canberra (click http://www.linux.org.au/org/penguin.phtml). Torvalds was looking for something fun and sympathetic to associate with Linux, and a slightly fat penguin sitting down after having had a great meal, perfectly fit the bill. April 1991 Linus Torvalds, then 21, starts working on some simple ideas for an operating-system. He starts with a task-switcher in 386-assembly and a terminal-driver. August 25, 1991 Linus posts to newsgroup comp.os.minix: <1> "I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like GNU) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since April, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things). I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that I'll get something practical within a few months <...> Yes - it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs. It is NOT portable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(. <...> It's mostly in C, but most people wouldn't call what I write C. It uses every conceivable feature of the 386 I could find, as it was also a project to teach me about the 386. As already mentioned, it uses a MMU, for both paging (not to disk yet) and segmentation. It's the segmentation that makes it REALLY 386 dependent (every task has a 64Mb segment for code & data - max 64 tasks in 4Gb. Anybody who needs more than 64Mb/task - tough cookies). <...> Some of my "C"-files (specifically mm.c) are almost as much assembler as C. <...> Unlike minix, I also happen to LIKE interrupts, so interrupts are handled without trying to hide the reason behind them" September 1991 Linux version 0.01 released with 10,239 lines of code.

In the workstation space, while many SMB customers are
transitioning to Windows 2000 and Windows XP, Linux has achieved a measurable
presence; however, feature set and applications remain the greatest adoption
barriers. Analysts expect Linux will start to be used in niche deployments in
replacement of traditional workstations

Damn Small Linux, huh? Look ma, no hard drive. Knoppix, also called DSL (Damn Small Linux) by experts, is a Linux distribution live CD. Knoppix is a Debian Linux distribution running on a CD drive without using the hard drive or installing any files onto the hard drive. Knoppix was developed by GNU/Linux consultant Klaus Knopper. The popularity of Knoppix is due to many factors. Its extensive hardware detection allows the majority of systems to boot straight into a graphical environment, without the need for manual configuration. It connects automatically to most kinds of networks, and includes software, both for use as a computer system (notably web browsers, OpenOffice.org, and the GIMP) and for system repair. The complete graphical environment and networking, make it much more comfortable than the previous generation of boot floppies for system administrators, repairing systems whose hard drives won't boot. Knoppix has more than 900 software packages included. Up to 2 gigabytes can be stored on the CD in compressed form. When a program is used, it is decompressed into a RAM drive. Knoppix recommends at least 128 MB of RAM in order to accommodate this RAM drive. Knoppix 3.7 was released on December 9, 2004, and features KDE 3.3.1, Linux kernel versions 2.4.27 and 2.6.9, OpenOffice.org 1.1.3, The GIMP 2.0.6 and improved hardware detection. Knoppix does not require a hard drive installation; the system can boot from a single 700 MB compact disc. One needs a bootable CD or DVD-ROM drive to start Knoppix from a CD. It may be necessary to enter the BIOS setup and select the CD drive before the hard drive or floppy drive in the boot order. Insert the CD and restart the computer. 'Knoppix' Screenshot of Knoppix 3.6 running Konqueror browser and shell program Netris

Where security issues are concerned, computers are often
hacked due to patches not applied or improper configurations and maintenance,
says network administrator Ramesh Mathew. All operating systems have these
security issues. The truth is: as with your Internet browser, there is no
operating system which is free of loopholes, though there have been several
efforts to design an operating system that is completely free of security
vulnerabilities. Fat chance. "Ideally, Windows, with all of its lines of
code, should have the most security-related issues. And, it does, simply because
it's still the most widely used OS. However, that doesn't mean that Windows
will be the least secure operating system in practice," Mathew adds.

Growing OSS support and diversity of offerings is making
things easier for the enterprise, says Ashit J. Panjwani, National Manager
(Alliance & Marketing) Onward Novell India. "Even Unix saw a high
degree of fragmentation when it started off commercially. But today, upgrades
and support in open source environments are no more difficult," Panjwani
says, citing the dynamic nature of the developer community. "A Linux apps
management solution like ZenWorks for Netware and Linux, makes updates to the
Linux as well as Netware kernels very easy to monitor."

Moreover, mission-critical app deployment differs in density
across locations and on a need-to-use basis in different enterprises. But open
source is at the centre of many an enterprise, Linux is still finding its way
from the periphery-the race to tailor perfect 'fits' to the Penguin's
coat continues on the support side, so does open source appeals to organizations
to not get "locked in" to any proprietary technology. Amidst the
hoopla and the action, a safe answer to who will win the Windows vs open source
war continues to be, "It depends." In an ideal environment, some
operating systems are fundamentally cheaper and more secure. Now, welcome to the
real world-here, the most secure and cheap OS will be the one that people know
how to best secure, and derive maximum operational benefit. Herein, we are well
on our way.

Ravi Menon
in Bangalore