Don't be afraid: Linux is good for you, Jul 31, 2003

Now, many executives face big Linux investment decisions. This is not always easy. Linux has inspired myths of fear, uncertainty and doubt. Myths often contain a kernel of truth. Let's take a look.

Myth: The SCO lawsuit has put Linux under a cloud.

Reality: SCO Group, a Utah company that owns some Unix intellectual property, sued IBM in March on the basis that Big Blue transferred this property to Linux. Two months later, SCO threatened to go after business users too. Customers aren't buying it. Internet Week, a trade publication, surveyed 2,172 readers, and 91 per cent said the lawsuit will have no effect on their plans.

The Japanese unit of IBM said it has received a contract to build the world's largest Linux-based supercomputer, which would be based on Advanced Micro Devices Inc's next-generation Opteron chip.

Is SCO breaking the law? Con Zymaris explains the Open Source Victoria complaint in Australia and offers advice for reporting SCO to the correct regulatory agency in your country.

Microsoft also is dissecting what makes Linux tick in its own Enterprise Engineering Center (EEC). The EEC is focused primarily on helping Microsoft customers with deployments of new Microsoft software. But Microsoft also has built a simulated Linux environment at the EEC, Taylor says, where Microsoft developers can experiment with open-source operating systems, firewalls, scripting environments and the like.

"It was a great learning experience for us," Taylor says. And the lab is helping Microsoft analyze areas where open source is weak and where Microsoft should redouble its efforts—such as in single-sign-on technology, Taylor says.

SCO is making headlines because it has pulled off an unusual feat: It has made nearly everyone in tech, and nearly every corporation that buys technology, spitting-nails mad at it. I say nearly everyone because Microsoft likes SCO the way the U.S. liked Saddam back when Iraq was at war with Iran. The enemy of my enemy is my friend — that kind of thing.

Proclamations of Linux's commercial success are frequently punctuated with statements about how some analyst firm has found that sales have grown faster than has any operating system since 1999, or that Linux server shipments make it the second most popular operating system for servers.

To me, this kind of "Linux as product" mentality misses the entire point of Linux and the open-source development model that created it.

Linux is not a product. Rather, Linux is a collection of software components, individually crafted by thousands of independent hands around the world, with each component changing and evolving on its own independent timetable.

Webmaster's note: Mastering Red Hat 9 is currently Linux Online's featured book

What advice do you have for people that are considering switching to Linux?

Start small and experiment. There are several simple ways to start with Linux. If you don't have a spare computer, you can start with a dual-boot with Microsoft Windows. You can install Linux inside a VMWare machine. With the Knoppix distribution, you can even try Linux from your CD.

It's OK to start your journey from the GUI. If you're a regular user, open your documents and spreadsheets in one of the Linux Office suites. Check out your graphics in The GIMP. Download the games that you desire. In most cases, you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results. And then you can count all the money that you're saving.

If you want to participate as an administrator in the coming Linux boom, experiment with the graphical Red Hat system administration tools. See what these tools do to your configuration files. This can help you learn the basics of Linux administration quickly. But remember, these are just basics. You can do so much more when you edit a configuration file directly. Linux administrators do need to learn to work at the command line interface.

Maria C. Winslow, 37, started her Raleigh business, Open Source Migrations (the Web site is www.windows-linux.com) last year when she saw that open-source software -- Linux and related software applications -- had matured to the point that it could offer a viable, money-saving option to cash-strapped organizations and businesses. Winslow, a programmer by training, works with a team of contractors who act as consultants to customers interested in making the switch to open source -- which is cheap, even free -- software. Connect's Christina Dyrness talked to Winslow, who lives in Chapel Hill with her husband and 3-year-old daughter, Zoe, about the challenges of her businesses and the changing perceptions of open-source software. What follows is an edited transcript of their conversation.

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