Linux desktop driver woes: Laying blame, lobbying, coping, Oct 21, 2006

... many hardware vendors only make their devices play well with Microsoft products. They consider Linux an insignificant revenue generator and have little awareness of or interest in the problems they cause users

Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) started as a telecommunications infrastructure building block, but its strong availability, scalability and service response features are driving its adoption in corporate IT environments

I've written a lot of device drivers in my life. More than almost anybody else, I think. And the thing you find is that there's always some new device that needs a device driver.

Desktop sales played a big role in Hewlett-Packard's recent news-making profit gains. In the future, Linux will figure prominently in HP desktops, says Christine Martino, vice president of HP's Open Source and Linux Organization. She's not predicting an overthrow of Windows desktops anytime soon, though.

Microsoft may not make flawless software, but its proprietary strategy is hard to fault. In particular, Microsoft has mastered desktop lock-in, undermining users' confidence in any alternatives and creating a slew of minor difficulties that irritate those who do switch.

In this interview, [Thomas] Carey explains why SCO has no case, predicts the open source legal fields of battle for 2006 and discusses SCO's claims against Novell.

Linux's record for reliability may be the polar opposite of what critics consider the crash-a-day life of Windows. Yet, the fact that Linux crashes are rare means that an unexpected outage throws many IT administrators in unmapped territory. Learning the proper steps to prevent such crashes can help Linux admins avoid many headaches over the long term.

Terpstra responds to readers' reactions in this three-part interview. In part one, he elaborates on the Microsoft "conspiracy", denies claims that he's flinging FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) and describes how consumer Linux adoption affects IT managers and corporate desktop environments

If the big names in Linux and open source are the shakers, then the movers are the unknown people in the trenches -- the IT shops. It's IT managers who convinced their companies to use Linux, made it work and now put open source software in the corporate IT fast lane.

...companies can control their own destinies more finely by using Linux. When you use Windows, you get whatever version of Windows was shipping when you bought the PC.

Jeff Squyres had used Linux to quell chaos in a high-performance computing lab, so he had no qualms about wielding that weapon again in his volunteer IT job.

In this interview, Terpstra shoots down some pernicious misunderstandings about Linux and open source and explains how IT organizations often end up shunning their IT planning duties. Terpstra also explains why he believes users and IT pros could lose their jobs by sticking with familiar applications.

Linux is an enterprise player, and customer demand will force Microsoft to make its products interoperate with Linux, says Stuart Cohen, CEO of Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), an organization that fosters the development and adoption of Linux.

The Linux movement is thriving, but its goal should be peaceful coexistence with, not the annihilation of, Microsoft Windows, said Bill Weinberg, open source architecture specialist and Linux evangelist for Open Source Development Labs (OSDL).

If a Windows administrator looks in a crystal ball, he'll probably see a Linux server entering his data center; that is, if he's not sitting next to a Linux box already.

Virtualization is creating a buzz in the IT industry today, but that buzz fizzles when virtualization on Linux clusters is mentioned. That's a shame, says Beowulf Project co-founder Donald Becker, because clusters offer a no-clutter virtualization option.

Ease of use and no cost put the open source PHP Web scripting language on the map for developers. Now, the scalability and XML and Web services support of recently released PHP 5.0 puts it on the enterprise map, says Doron Gerstel, CEO of Zend Technologies, a PHP technologies services company.

Linux in the enterprise has won the credibility game, if you use the agenda for LinuxWorld Boston 2005 as an indicator.

Looking for the next step in moving more enterprise applications to Linux? Then, step lively and implement Linux-friendly and/or open source application servers, said Terence Sherlock, Hewlett-Packard strategic technical director.

If Hummers and stock options are your career goals, then being an open source engineer may not be your calling. Then again, a job in open source software (OSS) development can provide meaningful work and a good living, said OS community leaders, including Linux creator Linus Torvalds