Linux Gains Windows Muscle

Of all the accusations Microsoft has levelled over the years against open source, perhaps the least contentious is that it lacks the tight integration offered by Microsoft's own products. As Nick McGrath, director of platform strategy for Microsoft in the United Kingdom, puts it: "One of the problems I've seen with open source software is it doesn't take on board some of the issues that customers have around interoperability and integration. Open source projects tend to offer a very specific point solution."

That may have been largely true in the past, but one of the most important recent developments in the open source world is the rise of integrated open source enterprise stacks. Many run on Windows, too, so they offer the Microsoft IT community a range of interesting -- and free -- alternatives to traditional solutions.

Microsoft understood earlier than most the power of offering stacks as defining elements of a wider software ecosystem. McGrath says that it was "largely a standardization on a common platform that's really helped to build the ecosystem over time." Network effects mean that a single, large ecosystem is much richer than a collection of many smaller ones, as was the case in the 1980s and early 1990s when the main enterprise operating system, namely Unix, was fragmented into numerous, slightly incompatible flavors.

The rise of the GNU/Linux (the term insisted upon by the Free Software Foundation, as the Linux kernel itself layers a number of GNU tools on top of it) operating system in the mid-1990s potentially created another major ecosystem, but one of free software's greatest strengths proved to be something of a weakness too. "One of the key things about open source software is it enables individuals the freedom to develop their application in any direction that they choose," McGrath notes. "They don't necessarily have to think about the specific requirements of an individual customer or indeed a whole host of customers. A lot of open source projects are produced by people who just wanted to solve a problem that they themselves had, or collectively had with another group of people."

The result of this unfettered creativity was a rich patchwork of software that sometimes covered business's real-world needs inconsistently or only partially.

Bob Young, co-founder of one of the first and most successful open source companies, Red Hat Inc., worried about this as far back as the late 1990s. "The success of operating system platforms has relatively little to do with the guys selling the operating system, and a great deal to do with the success in building out an ecosystem around that operating system," he explained in 2000. "Microsoft might be the most profitable supplier in the Windows marketplace, but they earn a small share of the total revenue of that industry. The reason you can get almost anything done with a Windows-based computer is because there's some vendor out there who can help you do it." As a result, he said, "What we recognized was that we had to build out this ecosystem."

LAMP Illuminates a Solution
Red Hat's efforts at the time concentrated mostly on persuading leading companies like IBM Corp. and Oracle Corp. to take GNU/Linux seriously-work that eventually paid off with ports of major proprietary enterprise products to that platform. The first purely open source ecosystem, albeit on a small scale, coalesced around what became known as the LAMP stack, whose name derives from its four components: the GNU/Linux operating system, the Apache Web server (still the most widely used on the public Web, even today), the MySQL database and a scripting language (PHP, Python or Perl).

Together, they formed the first integrated open source stack that offered a business solution in the same way that Microsoft's software bundles did. The power of that combination can be judged from the fact that almost a decade after the acronym was coined in 1998, the LAMP stack remains widely used for building sophisticated Web sites quickly and cheaply. As MySQL's Executive Vice President of Products Zack Urlocker notes: "Among Web 2.0 companies, start-ups and SaaS [Software as a Service] companies, it's probably 90 percent LAMP." Big names running the stack include Wikipedia, Flickr, Digg.com and Technorati Inc.

While LAMP offered an example of how successfully integrated open source solutions could be, others were tackling the issue of how to tame free software's tendency to create multiple, uncoordinated solutions to a problem by helping to define a common platform and hence promote the creation of a larger, richer open source ecosystem.

For example, the Linux Foundation, which is the organization that pays Linus Torvalds for his work on the Linux kernel, has been working for some years on a major project called the Linux Standard Base (LSB). Unlike Microsoft's controlled releases of the Windows stack, there are no official versions of GNU/Linux; instead, the free operating system appears as part of "distributions," variegated collections of software that can be put together by anyone. This freedom has led to a great diversity -- there are currently hundreds of specialized "distros" available, with more appearing each week -- but also subtle incompatibilities that are the bane of application development.

Dan Kohn, COO of the Linux Foundation, explains how his organization solves this problem: "The Linux Standard Base is about finding the common subset that all of the major distributions are making available and standardizing that, so that applications providers can rely on it. The idea is that any [LSB-]certified Linux application will run correctly on any [LSB-]certified Linux distribution."

Vendors Band Together
Just as the Linux Foundation seeks to recapitulate Microsoft's success in spawning an ecosystem centered on the operating system, the Eclipse Foundation aims to do the same for the development platform. Mike Milinkovich, the executive director of Eclipse, sketches in the background. "Eclipse first came upon the public scene in November 2001, when IBM contributed what was estimated to be $40 million of code to the open source community. The goal that IBM had in creating Eclipse.org was to create for Java a tool and an ecosystem [that] could compete in terms of size and scope and gravity with what Microsoft had done with Visual Studio," he says.

The main architect of the ecosystem idea, Skip McGaughey, currently director of ecosystem at Eclipse, explains its origins. "Our customers were telling us that they were tired of trying to integrate the tools themselves. This led us to the idea of nurturing and promoting an ecosystem at the same time as creating the technology," since interoperability is a defining feature of such an approach.

IBM soon realized that its stewardship of Eclipse was a barrier to its competitors joining: They "perceived it as an IBM-led, IBM-controlled project, even though it was available under an open source license," Milinkovich explains. IBM then decided to take the next step, and the Eclipse Foundation was created as a separate legal entity, he says.

Independence brought with it a big advantage.

"Microsoft has built up around Visual Studio and .NET a very vibrant and powerful ecosystem," Milinkovich says. "The difference is that our motivations truly are pure. My job, and the job of people at the Eclipse Foundation, is not to make money for our shareholders the way that any for-profit company has to act. We're here to help grow the ecosystem in a vendor-neutral, even-keeled kind of way."

Consequently, Eclipse has blossomed. Milinkovich points out that when the foundation was first created it had 50 members, and now it's up to 155 member organizations. Similarly, the number of projects has grown from approximately a dozen to around 70.

As successful as both the Linux and Eclipse Foundations have been, neither addresses a pressing concern for enterprises: the lack of easy interoperability among open source applications. The first attempts to deal with this issue came from companies that put together integrated open source bundles that solved particular business problems. The pioneer here was SpikeSource Inc., which has crafted pre-built collections of "SpikeIgnited" open source stacks that provide complete business intelligence, enterprise content management, collaboration, e-mail, CRM and Web content-management solutions, and has done so in a form that's easy to install, manage and update.

As Tom Callway, marketing director at Sirius Corp., one of the leading European proponents of the approach, puts it: The application stack "allows us to get away from the idea that open source projects are a disparate, disorganized rabble with little to offer the enterprise." Moreover, Sirius's CEO, Mark Taylor, points out that the existence of stacks is having a positive effect on the way enterprise open source is being written: "We're now seeing most of the enterprise-class open source world become conscious of the stack idea, and ensure that their project plays nicely with its neighbors in the stack."

Perhaps the best proof of this new sense of collective responsibility is the formation in February 2007 of the Open Solutions Alliance (OSA). As Dominic Sartorio, president of the OSA, explains: "There's been a lot of commercial open source companies that have focused on business applications emerging over the last two or three years. I think it's a natural evolution of open source: It started with the operating system and developer tools, and has gradually been moving up the stack. All of us [at the OSA] emerged basically as vendors of point solutions. What all of us have independently found is that our target customers want not just point solutions -- they need to combine them in some way or they may need to integrate [them] into some existing infrastructure."

The OSA is a non-profit organization, like Eclipse in that it too does not resell any company's products, Sartorio emphasises. "We're a trade association where we focus on solving common issues." The organization's focus on vendor-neutral solutions designed to create a level playing field and lower barriers to entry brings important benefits. "If the ecosystem makes it easy to start a company, easy to start selling a solution, easy to start finding customers, we're going to have a very competitive market," observes Brian Behlendorf, co-founder of the Apache Web Server Project.

Two early OSA projects include creating a common customer view and providing single sign-on facilities across compliant applications. Sartorio notes: "We fully expect some of the interoperability challenges we have will take into account having legacy software. Single sign-on is one of those we're looking at, where we're contemplating [that the user] may have some proprietary bits but [they'll] still want single sign-on to work across it." This isn't the only place where the two ecosystems of Microsoft and open source are starting to overlap.

Part of the Stack
Already, open source applications are widely used running on top of Windows. Alongside the LAMP stack, there's also Windows+AMP (WAMP). Although over 40 percent of MySQL's downloads are for GNU/Linux, around 30 percent are for the Windows platform. As Urlocker explains: "People often develop on Windows and deploy on Linux." The popularity of Eclipse among Windows users is even greater: "[We've found that] 87 percent of our downloads are for Windows, and Linux is 9 percent," Milinkovich says. Eclipse is "very much part of the broader Windows ecosystem," he emphasizes.

Now, the open source enterprise stacks are starting to appear on Windows. In May of this year, SpikeSource announced that it plans to work together with Microsoft to certify all of SpikeSource's SpikeIgnited solutions on the Microsoft Windows platform. Bill Hilf, general manager of platform strategy at Microsoft, probably had this collaboration in mind when he wrote on his blog the day before the SpikeSource announcement: "We want to grow the software ecosystem, including open source software, as it relates to Microsoft software." Clearly, this is an area where Microsoft and the open source world have a common interest. As Eclipse's McGaughey notes: "In a healthy ecosystem, everyone gains."

Source :http://redmondmag.com/

Troubleshooting Linux Audio, Part 1

I have a friend who has had nothing but nightmares result from his attempts at setting up the fabled low-latency high-performance Linux audio system. In sympathy with his plight I present here a primer in three parts for troubleshooting common and uncommon problems with the Linux sound system. Parts 1 & 2 will present programs used to analyze and configure your audio setup. Part 3 will list the most frequently encountered problems along with their suggested solutions.

This week, Part 1 introduces some useful system analysis tools and utilities with graphic user interfaces.

First Steps

The Linux audio system is a complex beast, and ALSA is its beating heart. Well, it's supposed to be, but what do you do when it's not beating ?

First, consider the critical parts of a typical computer sound system. Three main stages exist for possible malfunction :

1. Connections between soundcard and external equipment.
2. The soundcard and its configuration.
3. Your system software configuration.

Stage 1 should be checked for proper connections, power status, cable integrity, and other hardware aspects. Consumer-grade sound devices usually provide poor-quality connectors, though some cards from Creative include more durable connection points on their "Live Drive" control panels. If your external equipment includes an amplifier or powered speakers, be sure the power is turned on (and double-check those flimsy connectors between speakers). Cords and cables can be damaged easily, causing static-like noise and other discontinuities in the sound, and their connectors should be solidly attached. You don't need to buy cables with gold-plated hardware, but you should avoid cheap cords with molded plastic connectors. Remember, your audio system is a chain of parts, and like any chain it's only as strong as its links. Avoid weak links.

The soundcard itself may cause audio problems if it is not seated completely in its slot. It may also be a noise source if placed next to certain video or network cards. I'll discuss card and system configuration details later in this article, but first I have some advice to help you avoid some predictable problems.

Doing It Right The First Time

I can't over-emphasize the need to do your homework before purchasing hardware for audio with Linux. If you're coming from Windows into the Linux audio world you must not assume that your equipment will be supported. For that information your first stop should be the new & improved ALSA Soundcard Matrix, and if you can't find what you need there you should proceed to the LAU mail-list and its archives. These steps are increasingly necessary as Linux itself broadens support for USB, Firewire, and other i/o devices and protocols. For the most up-to-date information on recommended (and not-so-recommended) hardware, search the LAU archives and ask on the mail-list.

Typical recommendations for professional-quality audio work include the RME Hammerfall and the M-Audio Delta systems. However, potential buyers are well-advised to ask on the LAU list before purchasing any hardware, even the recommended items. Sensitive points include firmware versions, preamp requirements, available sample rates, and so forth.

ALSA supports a greater variety of consumer-grade cards, so recommendations are easier to make. Most cards from Creative Labs are well-supported, though again I also advise checking the ALSA Soundcard Matrix and the LAU mail-lists for current reports on your potential purchase.

USB audio devices are generally supported if they are truly standards-compliant. The LAU mail-list archive contains some valuable threads regarding USB devices and their performance under Linux, it won't hurt to consult the archive before buying a USB sound device. Firewire support has only recently come to the Linux audio world, thanks primarily to the work of the FFADO (formerly FreeBOB) project. Consult the FFADO Web site and the LAU list for current usability reports.

On-board desktop and laptop chipsets are generally not recommended for serious recording, at least not for multitrack/multichannel CD-quality digital audio I/O. They may be desirable for audio features for CD/DVD playback, but they are not sufficiently robust for serious audio production. The hda_intel chipsets are especially prone to difficulties; see the LAU archive for details regarding that and other fractious laptop & notebook audio chipsets.

Tools & Utilities: GUI

The Windows Control Panel has been a mixed blessing for users, but it does succeed at putting a lot of information about your system into one handy utility. Linux per se does not provide such a utility, but many Linux distributions and desktop environments now supply some kind of GUI for investigating and configuring your system and its various devices. For example, openSUSE includes yast ("yet another system tool"), an excellent utility that reports a wealth of detail regarding your machine and its operating system.

The screenshots in Figures 1 through 4 indicate the breadth and depth of information and control available from yast. Figure 1 shows off the yast (yast2, actually) GUI. The left-hand panel lists the general categories, and each category displays its own set of available devices and services. Figure 2 displays the results from selecting the Hardware category and then clicking on the Hardware Information icon. Figure 3 shows the same panel with the sound device information fully revealed.

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Source : http://www.linuxjournal.com

Microsoft Trumpets Virtues of Office Business Apps

Microsoft is gearing up to show its partners how Office Business Applications (OBAs) can help organizations squeeze extra productivity out of their line-of-business apps.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant Friday published three reference application packs (RAPs), which include whitepapers and Virtual PC images that illustrate how OBAs can be used to boost efficiencies health care, manufacturing and the public sector.

Microsoft is positioning OBAs as a way to bridge Office front ends with backend CRM and ERP applications, allowing organizations to give access to these traditionally underused apps to a broader range of employees, said Daz Wilkin, program manager for Microsoft's Platform Strategy group.

Microsoft is using OBAs as the prime example of its Software + Services strategy and plans to barrage its partners with information on OBAs next month at its worldwide partner conference in Denver.

ISVs and enterprises are expected to be the key drivers for innovation around deployment of OBAs on the Office platform.

Microsoft and SAP last year teamed up to develop Duet, an OBA that links Office apps with SAP's back end ERP apps. Duet makes it possible to peer into an SAP application, take an invoice and analyze it, and reinsert it into the SAP workflow, all without impacting performance.

In manufacturing, OBAs can be used to organize mountains of business intelligence (BI) data emanating from plant floor operations and deliver it to a foreman's mobile device or a CEO's PC screen. "Usually BI is aimed at senior executives and sales, but OBAs allow this data to be used in different scenarios," said Wilkin.

In health care, companies could set up a Sharepoint portal for employees to navigate corporate medical programs and get information on quitting smoking or joining a gym, with OBAs triggering backend workflows, Wilkin said.

OBAs can be sophisticated data warehousing and workflow management tools within the walls of Microsoft products, but companies that don't have all Microsoft infrastructure may not find them as useful, says David White, vice president of client strategy and enablement at Beacon Technologies, Madison, Wis.

"Microsoft is notorious for not wanting its products to be called out through APIs, so they are building a complete cosmos of their own systems," said White.
Source :http://www.crn.com

Leading Analyst Joins Media & Entertainment Group at Microsoft

Microsoft Corp. today announced that Katherine Styponias will join the Media & Entertainment Group as general manager, where she will lead the business development team working with major content suppliers. Styponias joins Microsoft from Prudential Equity Group LLC, where she served as senior vice president and the senior cable, entertainment and satellite equity analyst. She has relocated from New York to Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash.

Styponias is widely recognized as an expert in analyzing media industry trends and companies. She was named in The Wall Street Journal's "Best on the Street" poll for earnings-estimate accuracy and stock picking in the entertainment category. She was also recognized in Institutional Investor magazine's All-America Research Team poll and was named the No. 1 earnings estimator for the media sector in the Forbes.com/StarMine Analysts Awards for 2004.

"I've known Kathy for more than 10 years and have the highest regard for her," said Blair Westlake, corporate vice president of the Media & Entertainment Group at Microsoft. "Kathy brings to our team an unparalleled depth of knowledge and understanding about the entertainment industry that will help expand business opportunities for both Microsoft and its partners."

"After 12 years covering developments in entertainment, I'm looking forward to turning my knowledge and relationships into opportunity for the industry," Styponias said. "This is a time of tremendous change in the way entertainment is being delivered, and Microsoft is a great place to influence the game."

Styponias joined Prudential in July 1995, writing and conducting research on publicly traded media companies. Before joining Prudential, she worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1988 from Queens College, City University of New York, and received her MBA from Columbia Business School at Columbia University.

Styponias is fluent in Greek, enjoys traveling and is an admitted TV junkie and nascent gamer.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Source :http://money.cnn.com

Microsoft pays $200M for two Savvis data centers

Savvis Inc. said Friday that it sold assets in two adjacent data centers in Santa Clara, Calif., to Microsoft for $200 million. As a result of the sale, Savvis also reduced its 2007 outlook.

Seattle-based Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MFST) was the sole customer in both data centers, under the terms of a Savvis colocation contract that was to expire at the end of 2010, Savvis said in a release. As part of the sale, the service contract for the two facilities terminates as of the end of June 2007.

The total sale price includes $190 million in cash and forgiveness of about $10 million in previously-advanced revenue, as well as reflects early termination of the service contracts related to the data centers.

Phil Koen, Savvis chief executive said in a statement that the transaction is "great" for both Savvis and its continuing customer Microsoft. "Microsoft gets full control of two data centers they already occupy. Savvis can redeploy the proceeds into investments in higher-margin, higher-growth assets."

Jeff Von Deylen, Savvis chief financial officer, said in a statement that the contract with Microsoft had provided Savvis with only modest growth from contractual price escalators, and proceeds from the asset sale will fund expansion that's expected to produce higher growth. "Over the next twelve months we expect to reinvest the proceeds in initiatives including selected data center expansions and potential network enhancements. As a result of these investments, we would expect to exceed the lost annualized adjusted EBITDA from this transaction within 24 months."

Von Deylen said the company will announce the initiatives as plans are finalized "over the next few quarters."

Savvis said that as a result of the asset sale to Microsoft, its management's current expectations for 2007 include total revenue in a range of $805 million to $820 million, compared to the previously anticipated $820 million to $835 million; and adjusted EBITDA in a range of $155 million to $165 million, compared to $160 million to $170 million previously anticipated.

St. Louis-based Savvis Inc. (Nasdaq: SVVS) provides hosting, networking and application IT services.
Source :http://stlouis.bizjournals.com

Microsoft Solves iPhone E-Mail Flaw

An update to Exchange 2007 released by Microsoft should solve problems that may have prevented e-mail from Exchange Server 2007 from being received by Apple's iPhone.

Thursday the software maker released Rollup 3, the third update to the Exchange Server 2007. The update, which should address issues some have with Apple Mac Mail, came just ahead of Friday's U.S. release of the iPhone.

It will hopefully resolve some of the issues users have encountered, including certain Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) clients being unable to open e-mail messages accessing mailboxes on a Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 server.

The update will be available via Microsoft Update and at the Microsoft Download Center.
Source :http://www.pcworld.com

Microsoft Windows Live Web-based storage gets limited beta nod

Aiming to catch up to rivals that provide users with free online storage to handle the growing amounts of videos, photo albums, documents and music files quickly filling up storage space on their PCs, Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday released its Windows Live Folders service as part of a tightly controlled software beta test phase.

Windows Live Folders, which features up to 500MB of free Web-based storage in its current iteration, will initially be offered to about 5,000 preselected U.S. users as part of a "managed" beta test release rolled out this week, according to Microsoft officials.

The new storage service is designed to enable users to back up data and share and access their files online with ease. However, there is a caveat: Anyone who receives an invitation to access files from a shared folder must first register for -- or already have -- a Windows Live ID for proper authentication.

Users hoping to kick the tires of Windows Live Folders as part of a larger beta release shouldn't expect to get their hands on the software for at least a few more months.

Despite the company's attempts to stand toe-to-toe with the likes of Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and AOL LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., in the online file access storage arena, Windows Live Folders' capacity limits puts Microsoft behind similar offerings from competitors.

For example, AOL's Xdrive offering provides 5GB of free Web-based storage. Google's Gmail service features nearly 3GB of free storage for its e-mail subscribers, while Yahoo recently rolled out unlimited storage capacity for its e-mail platform.
Source :http://www.computerworld.com

India's Kerala state goes open source

According to a statement, the Kerala government has identified free and open-source software as a major strategic component in its efforts to build an inclusive information society.

"Kerala has always been a leader in literacy, and now we want to make Kerala a leader in e-literacy," said Kerala Chief Minister V. S. Achutanandan. "We believe that free and open-source software is an essential component in our drive to democratize information technology and bring its benefits to all sections of society."

The Indian state, located on the country's southwest coast, is partnering with Red Hat to train the technical staff of various government organizations and school teachers on desktop Linux and other open-source applications. The Linux vendor will also work with the state government to promote Kerala as a global destination for developing open-source software.

Commenting on Kerala's move toward open source, Nandkumar Pradhan, president and managing director of Red Hat India, said: "The freedom, flexibility and cost-effectiveness of open source helps governments maximize their IT budgets."

Kerala is the latest Indian state to widely support the use of open-source software in schools and government departments.

Tamil Nadu, which embarked on a plan in January to put Linux in government offices, schools and villages, is making progress. Tamil Nadu is located on India's southeast coast.

According to C. Umashankar, managing director of the Electronics Corp. of Tamil Nadu (Elcot), the new operating system has gone down well with its computer users.

"We have switched over to 100 percent Linux in our office, which has more than 200 desktops and laptops. We have also been dispatching desktops with only Suse Linux," he told ZDNet Asia in an e-mail interview.

Although there was initial resistance to change, Umashankar noted, people warmed up to the software after an hour's orientation.

Elcot has opened a Suse Linux training center in its corporate office, and the first batch of 84 officials from the Department of Industries was trained in June. Trainers also conduct on-site training at various government offices.

"The current indications are that government users will fully accept the Linux OS in the days to come," Umashankar said.

More than 3,000 Suse Linux desktops have been dispatched to government offices in Tamil Nadu, and Windows is not offered unless there is an absolute necessity.

"The government offices have to justify the procurement of Windows by indicating the existing client/server software, if any," Umashankar said. "If a desktop system is required only for office application, then we will only supply desktop systems with Suse Linux."
Source :http://news.zdnet.com

KDE developers receive Mandriva Flash Linux keys at aKademy 2007

Mandriva today announces its sponsorship of the 2007 aKademy KDE conference, which is taking place in Glasgow from June 30th to July 7th.

Mandriva today announces its sponsorship of the 2007 aKademy KDE conference, which is taking place in Glasgow from June 30th to July 7th. As well as sponsoring the conference, Mandriva is arranging to provide special edition Mandriva Flash USB keys to developers attending the conference as a token of appreciation for their work.

"We are very happy to welcome Mandriva as a silver sponsor for Akademy 2007," said Jonathan Riddell of the aKademy Team. "As a long term supporter and distributor of KDE the summit organising team is looking forward to giving our developers, contributors and industry partners at the conference a special present from Mandriva."

aKademy is the official annual meeting of the KDE community, where KDE developers and users come together for presentations, talks, and workshop sessions. Mandriva is proud to help in supporting this vital and significant event. Mandriva's involvement in aKademy will run far beyond sponsorship: as well as hosting a booth, Mandriva staff will be taking advantage of the event to support the Nepomuk social desktop project, a collaboration between researchers, developers and users to bring new and innovative social features to existing desktops, particularly KDE. Some of the products of the Nepomuk project will feature prominently in the upcoming KDE 4, and Mandriva is one of the major participants in Nepomuk.

Helio Chissini de Castro, a leading member of the Mandriva KDE team, will be presenting on the topic of OEM deployment, drawing on his years of experience of large KDE deployments with Conectiva and Mandriva.

Mandriva Flash, the Linux key, is a complete Mandriva Linux desktop on a bootable USB key. Mandriva Flash is designed to allow the user to take their desktop and all their vital documents with them wherever they go. The Mandriva Flash provided to aKademy participants will be a special edition based on Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring and including the very latest version of KDE, 3.5.7, along with some unique special features.

"We are very proud to be in a position to support this important event and to give something back to the KDE community," said David Barth, Mandriva Vice-President of Engineering. "Our staff and contributors are looking forward both to spreading the word about Mandriva and being involved in important work on the future of KDE."
Source :http://www.linuxpr.com/

Is a Linux Civil War in the Making?

Microsoft's partnership with Novell got a lot of people in the open-source community fired up. Since then, Microsoft's Linux deals with Linspire and Xandros have just thrown gasoline on the fire. Now, it appears that Red Hat, the leading Linux company and the most vocal opponent to Microsoft wheeling and dealing, tried to make its own deal with Microsoft before the Novell one was released.

So, what's going on here? As Kevin Carmony, Linspire's CEO and president, rhetorically asks in his latest public column, "Is Linux Splitting into Two Factions?"

Carmony says: "Saying that Linux is going to be torn in two makes for good press and lively debates, but this is certainly nothing new for Linux. There are far more material splits today in the Linux world, such as Debian vs. RPM, KDE vs. GNOME, Distro A vs. Distro B, and so on. These divisions are quite material, and dilute significant energy and efforts across competing standards. However, we accept this as the price we pay for freedom of choice."

I see the current uproar between those who partner with Microsoft--Novell, Linspire and Xandros--and those that swear off Microsoft partnerships—Ubuntu and Mandriva—as being just another variation on the theme of open-source pragmatism versus free software idealism.

On the one side, you have those who believe in open source as the best possible way of writing code. For them, open source is just the most practical way to create the best programs. If hardware companies—like graphic card vendors ATI and NVIDIA refusing to open up their devices enough to create true open-source drivers--won't cooperate, you find other ways to make their hardware work. Companies that buy into this approach are far more likely to play "Let's Make a Deal" with Microsoft.


Linux & Open Source Header


Vaughan-Nichols
Is a Linux Civil War in the Making?
By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
June 28, 2007

Opinion: Is Microsoft just selling the ammo? Or, is Microsoft fighting the wrong war with the wrong weapons?


2 comments posted
Add your opinion


Microsoft's partnership with Novell got a lot of people in the open-source community fired up. Since then, Microsoft's Linux deals with Linspire and Xandros have just thrown gasoline on the fire. Now, it appears that Red Hat, the leading Linux company and the most vocal opponent to Microsoft wheeling and dealing, tried to make its own deal with Microsoft before the Novell one was released.
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So, what's going on here? As Kevin Carmony, Linspire's CEO and president, rhetorically asks in his latest public column, "Is Linux Splitting into Two Factions?"

Carmony says: "Saying that Linux is going to be torn in two makes for good press and lively debates, but this is certainly nothing new for Linux. There are far more material splits today in the Linux world, such as Debian vs. RPM, KDE vs. GNOME, Distro A vs. Distro B, and so on. These divisions are quite material, and dilute significant energy and efforts across competing standards. However, we accept this as the price we pay for freedom of choice."

I see the current uproar between those who partner with Microsoft--Novell, Linspire and Xandros--and those that swear off Microsoft partnerships—Ubuntu and Mandriva—as being just another variation on the theme of open-source pragmatism versus free software idealism.

On the one side, you have those who believe in open source as the best possible way of writing code. For them, open source is just the most practical way to create the best programs. If hardware companies—like graphic card vendors ATI and NVIDIA refusing to open up their devices enough to create true open-source drivers--won't cooperate, you find other ways to make their hardware work. Companies that buy into this approach are far more likely to play "Let's Make a Deal" with Microsoft.

eWEEK.com Special Report: Enterprise Wars: Linux vs. Windows

On the other side, you have those that believe that for free software to really work in the long run there must be no compromises with the forces of proprietary software and hardware. For them, working with a Microsoft is out of the question. The perfect example of a group on this side is the Free Software Foundation with the GPLv3 license, which will be released on June 29.

The real world though isn't black and white. Open source versus free software, Microsoft Linux partners vs. non-Microsoft Linux partners, is a spectrum, not an either/or choice.

Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, for example, has stated that he's not about to make a patent deal with Microsoft. He hasn't, however, ruled out making other kinds of partnerships with Microsoft. Novell, on the other hand, Microsoft patent deal and all, has said time and again that it doesn't agree with Microsoft's nonsense that having a patent agreement means agreeing that Microsoft patents have anything to do with Linux.
Source : http://www.eweek.com

Jim Lacey, CEO, Linux Professional Institute

At the beginning of the Linux revolution, Linux entered many enterprises through the back door with experienced users just managing it on their own. As Linux has matured, so too have the demands of the enterprise and the demands on IT professionals that manage Linux systems.

How does an enterprise ensure that its staff has the skills necessary for Linux? One answer is skills certification. That's where the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) comes in. LPI, founded in 1999, is a non-profit entity that runs a core Linux certification program called the LPIC (Linux Professional Institute Certification), which is offered around the globe.

Internetnews.com recently talked with LPI President and CEO Jim Lacey about the challenges of Linux professional certification and whether it's necessary.

Q: I've been running Linux for 10 years. What do I need certification for? Is there something that LPI adds?

That's the big question that comes up. It's a bit market-dependent. As you travel around the globe, certification means different things. In Japan certification is very strong and they believe in why they need it to get a job. In Latin America certification is really starting to take hold.

In the U.S., the problem is that people lost the value proposition around certification through the last 10 years. There are a lot of promises made in the past that certification could help people to make money.

The bottom line is that many of those promises didn't ring true, and people spent a lot of money to find that out.

The value of certification in the U.S. took a nosedive. That, coupled with the flooding in of a bunch of paper cert, sooner or later the CIO and CEO were saying, "You've got the certification, but you're not proving that you can do the job." So the value dropped off.

I think it's starting to come back now because people have been more research-oriented on what certifications really prove and what they are worth. People aren't saying certification overall is valuable, they are picking and choosing.

On the LPI side, I think our value is that we are creating the global bar of Linux certification. We are creating the mindset that this is where you should start.

Our biggest value for you the candidate that has been working with Linux for 10 years: the answer to that is does your employers see value in it? Does the employer look for the certification and do they understand that it is a bar? We're working hard at the top to make sure people believe in what we are doing.

Q: What are the biggest myths or misconceptions about what LPI does today?

First and most critical for us is brand awareness. We had a lot of people engaged at the beginning of LPI, but they didn't have a great presence in the market itself.

First question we normally get is. "Tell me about LPI." Even though we've been here for seven years, it's still a big push in a brand-awareness campaign. We've solved that in the last 18 months by creating area operations positions where we've hired people that have built large channels before in large geographies.

Second is the misconception about computer-based testing versus hands-on operating with the server itself. The answer is that, as long as the exam itself is based on a job-task analysis, then in certification terms it's a performance-based test just like a practicum.

Our other issue is accessibility; it's very hard to set up 7,000 exam centers around the world, so in order to keep our costs market ready, the computer-based model really is the best.

Q: Red Hat offers its own certification programs that some would argue compete with LPI. Are you competing against Red Hat's certification or is LPI complementary?

LPI sees itself as the Switzerland of the certification space. We are very open and willing to participate with anyone and create programs that build on one another.

I've had some good discussions with Red Hat and extended to them the offer of working together when the timing is right.

We're never going to speak down about any other program. LPIC 1, as we position it today, is really the entry-level professional-level certification for Linux, and everyone should start there. Where they go after that is up to them. If they want to move to a propriety certification program that's fine.

With Novell they respect our LPIC 1 and accept it as part of their CLE [Certified Linux Engineer]. They don't require it but they accept it. Ubuntu is another example; it sits on top of LPIC 1.

I think Red Hat has its own mindset of how they want to approach the market, and, hey if you're going to be a strictly Red Hat shop, RHCE [Red Hat Certified Engineer] is a good cert for you. But as Linux becomes more of a commodity you're going to need the generalist skills.

Where we think LPI brings value is the vendor-independent side where you can go work on any distribution regardless, so long as it Linux our skills our viable and relevant.

Q: Is there a large roadmap about where LPI and LPIC is going in the coming years?

We do. We recognize that to be the entry-level place for everyone, we have to look hard at how we create that future base. Other people are entering into the market. With the Novell-Microsoft deal, we have a lot of Windows administrators coming into the market now, and we want to make sure when we provide a skill base that it applies to everyone.

We want to move away from people thinking of us as strictly a systems-administration exam. Largely we've made a good move to reposition LPI as a professional exam. Whether you are a systems admin, a security specialist or a developer you should come under our wing.
Source :http://www.internetnews.com

GPLv3 Emerges After Long Debate, Opposition Muted

Richard Stallman's Free Software Foundation launched GPL Version 3 on Friday from its Boston headquarters, with an eye toward restricting patent actions against free software. GPL 3's impact will only slowly be felt as it is adopted as the license of choice on various open source projects. But its adoption is practically assured as developers close ranks in the face of Microsoft charges that Linux and other open source code projects violate 235 of its patents.

The GPL 2 and its predecessors have been the license of choice on the majority of open source code projects. The GPL revolutionized the way software is written and distributed. Instead of setting fees and license limitations, the GPL granted developers a broad writ to use code freely and modify it, but it required those modifications to be given back to the developer community.

One of the early adopters of GPL 3 will be the Samba Server project, which supplies file translation code between Linux and Windows. Jeremy Allison, leader of the project, said Version 3 "a necessary update to deal with the new threats to free software that have emerged since version 2 of the GPL."

Allison left Novell in protest and moved to a job at Google shortly after the Microsoft-Novell deal was announced last November. That agreement supplied protection to Novell SuSE Linux customers but Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in follow up statements said no such protections were offered to other Linux users.

In an e-mail exchange with InformationWeek, he said the Samba team "will be discussing a move to GPLv3 now that the license is available" but he couldn't predict how soon it will be adopted. Allison said the provisions of GPLv3 "will provide greater protection for the freedoms of individual contributors. In the long term, it will provide greater incentive for them to contribute code."

The GPLv3 bans digital rights management in GPL licensed code as well as requiring a particular version of GPL code on a hardware device, such as a TiVo set-top box. Stallman refers to such a requirement as "the tivoization" of software. He believes the device user should be able to modify the software on the device, if he chooses.

In addition, GPLv3 "forecloses any kind of deal like [the Microsoft/Novell agreement] going forward," said Andrew Updegrove, specialist in software licensing and partner in the Boston law firm of Gesmer Updegrove in an interview.

Stallman, the originator of the free Gnu software tools and the free software movement, views the GPL license as the front line of defense against those who want to restrict users' rights to software. Stallman and Eben Moglen of the Software Freedom Law Center wrote GPLv3, and revised it four times over 18 months as comments flowed in on its restrictive provisions.

Rod Spring, lead developers of the Spring Framework for Java developers, said Spring will remain under the Apache Software License.

"I am concerned at the more ideological parts of the GPL3, including the restrictions that may impact digital rights management. However, it's good to see that this appears to be have been softened in recent drafts."

He welcomed the effort to make code licensed under GPLv3 and Apache more compatible when the licenses are used together. "I expect that GPL 3.0 will gain widespread adoption, but I think it will take years," he wrote in an e-mail message.

In the past, Linus Torvalds, lead developer of the Linux kernel and owner of the Linux trademark, has expressed reservations about the GPLv3. But the previous pronounced opposition of other Linux kernel developers appeared to soften palpably at the May 16 Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit, held on Google's Mountain View campus.

"What has emerged is much better than what the Free Software Foundation offered a year ago," said kernel developer Ted T'so at the Linux Foundation Summit June 13. He expressed a concern that issuing Linux under GPLv3 would mean six months of additional work for the kernel developers. But he added, "They did listen, they did change some of the features."

"The Free Software Foundation listened to people outside its normal support base. The GPL 3 is better than the GPL 2," said Mark Radcliffe, an intellectual property attorney with DLA Piper's Silicon Valley office, during the Linux Foundation Summit.

GPL 3 "clarifies language that was unclear in GPLv2 and addresses many issues that did not exist when GPLv2 was written more than 15 years ago," noted Sun Microsystems Simon Phipps, chief open source officer. Sun offers Java Standard Edition under the GPLv2 license.
Source :http://www.informationweek.com

Mobile Linux Stakes Its Claim At LinuxWorld Conference & Expo

IDG World Expo, the leading producer of world-class tradeshows and events around the globe has announced a series of conference programming and sponsored Developer Days dedicated to Mobile Linux at this year’s LinuxWorld Conference & Expo®. Leading mobile phone and embedded systems players including ACCESS, Motorola and Palm are showing their commitment to further the adoption of mobile Linux with strong presences at LinuxWorld®. LinuxWorld, the largest and most comprehensive event that focuses exclusively Linux and open source, is scheduled to take place August 6-9, 2007 at the Moscone Center.

As the mobile market continues to grow, mobile manufacturers are increasingly turning to Linux as a strategic platform to deliver more capable devices with increased flexibility and lower costs. Research firm Ovum reports that worldwide mobile phone sales grew 31 percent in 2004 alone and that more than 2.8 billion phones are expected to be in use by 2009. According to research by Gartner, in 2005, the percentage of smart phones with Linux jumped to 26% compared to just 6% the year before, further confirming a growing and vibrant market.

LinuxWorld Conference & Expo will be the place to be for attendees to learn about the latest on user interfaces, new applications for enhancing the user experience, and more through rich conference content and a series of 1-day programs dedicated to writing applications for mobile Linux education.

“The explosive growth of Linux as a key platform for the mobile industry opens up new opportunities for the Linux community," said Didier Diaz, senior vice president, product strategy management, ACCESS CO., LTD. “ACCESS is committed to working with Linux developers to help them build and commercialize innovative applications for mobile Linux that capitalize on this market momentum.”

The ACCESS Developer Day features six hands-on sessions in which attendees will learn how to build applications for the ACCESS Linux Platform™. The day will kick off with a special, interactive, go-to-market session on “Developing Mobile Linux Applications and Bringing Them to Market." It will also include a series of technical discussions that allow developers to leverage their Linux expertise and the open source tools already familiar to them, like Eclipse IDE and Glade UI designer, to develop innovative mobile applications for the ACCESS Linux Platform.

Motorola’s Fast Track with MOTODEV offers attendees the opportunity to meet the MOTODEV team and guide them to world–class business development, marketing, and go-to-market programs that can fast track development and maximize market success. Attendees will also discover tools and documentation resources, as well as get tips directly from on-site developer support engineers.

"In an industry predicted to ship over 1 billion handsets in the coming year, Linux is one of the fastest growing operating systems in mobile and clearly represents a significant developer opportunity," said Christy Wyatt, vice president, ecosystem and market development, Motorola. "As a leader in mobile Linux, Motorola is proud to return to LinuxWorld as a Platinum sponsor to help developers mobilize their innovation."

Wind River is also sponsoring a Developer Day where attendees will learn more about embedded Linux platforms, embedded technology, development tools, and solutions. They will also learn why developers have rapidly embraced Linux as the platform of choice for embedded device development and find out about new and emerging technologies that are key for critical application enablement.

For a detailed schedule of Mobile Linux sessions and programs, please visit www.linuxworldexpo.com.

Attendees can register for a free exhibit hall pass to LinuxWorld Conference & Expo on or before August 5, 2007 at www.linuxworldexpo.com/register. Exhibit hall passes are $50 thereafter. The pass provides attendees with access to the keynote addresses, feature presentations, birds-of-a-feather meetings and the exhibit hall floor.

About LinuxWorld Conference & Expo

LinuxWorld Conference & Expo is the premier event exclusively focused on Linux and open source solutions. As the world’s most comprehensive marketplace for open source products and services, LinuxWorld provides business decision-makers with information and resources to implement Linux and open source solutions into business infrastructure and enterprise networks. For more information or to register for the event, visit the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo Web site at www.linuxworldexpo.com, or call (800) 657-1474. For exhibiting opportunities, please contact Amy Bonner at (508) 424-4892 or amy_bonner@idg.com or Christian Montminy at (508) 424-4852 or christian_montminy@idg.com.

About IDG World Expo

IDG World Expo (www.idgworldexpo.com) produces tradeshows and events for professionals seeking world-class education, peer-to-peer networking and one-stop comparison shopping. IDG World Expo's portfolio of conferences and events includes Entertainment For All™ (E For All™), E3 Media & Business Summit, GreenXchange Xpo™, LinuxWorld Conference & Expo®, Macworld Conference & Expo® and Next Generation Data Center™ (NGDC™). IDG World Expo is a business unit of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research and event company.

About International Data Group (IDG)

International Data Group (IDG) is the world's leading technology media, events, and research company. IDG’s online network includes more than 450 web sites spanning business technology, consumer technology, digital entertainment and video games worldwide. IDG publishes more than 300 magazines and newspapers in 85 countries including CIO, CSO, Computerworld, GamePro, InfoWorld, Macworld, Network World, and PC World. IDG’s lead-generation service, IDG Connect, matches technology companies with an audience of engaged, high-quality IT professionals, influencers, and decision makers.

IDG is a leading producer of more than 750 technology-related events including Macworld Conference & Expo, LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, Entertainment for All Expo (E for All), DEMO, and IDC Directions. IDC, a subsidiary of IDG, is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events. Over 900 IDC analysts in more than 90 countries provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends.
Source :http://home.businesswire.com

Is Linux heading for civil war?

Microsoft's partnership with Novell got a lot of people in the open-source community fired up. Since then, Microsoft's Linux deals with Linspire and Xandros have just thrown gasoline on the fire. Now, it appears that Red Hat, the leading Linux company and the most vocal opponent to Microsoft wheeling and dealing, tried to make its own deal with Microsoft before the Novell one was released.

So, what's going on here? As Kevin Carmony, Linspire's CEO and president, rhetorically asks in his latest public column, "Is Linux Splitting into Two Factions?"

Carmony says: "Saying that Linux is going to be torn in two makes for good press and lively debates, but this is certainly nothing new for Linux. There are far more material splits today in the Linux world, such as Debian vs. RPM, KDE vs. GNOME, Distro A vs. Distro B, and so on. These divisions are quite material, and dilute significant energy and efforts across competing standards. However, we accept this as the price we pay for freedom of choice."

I see the current uproar between those who partner with Microsoft -- Novell, Linspire and Xandros -- and those that swear off Microsoft partnerships -- Ubuntu and Mandriva -- as being just another variation on the theme of open-source pragmatism versus free software idealism.
Source :http://www.desktoplinux.com

Is a Linux Civil War in the Making?

Microsoft's partnership with Novell got a lot of people in the open-source community fired up. Since then, Microsoft's Linux deals with Linspire and Xandros have just thrown gasoline on the fire. Now, it appears that Red Hat, the leading Linux company and the most vocal opponent to Microsoft wheeling and dealing, tried to make its own deal with Microsoft before the Novell one was released.

So, what's going on here? As Kevin Carmony, Linspire's CEO and president, rhetorically asks in his latest public column, "Is Linux Splitting into Two Factions?"

Carmony says: "Saying that Linux is going to be torn in two makes for good press and lively debates, but this is certainly nothing new for Linux. There are far more material splits today in the Linux world, such as Debian vs. RPM, KDE vs. GNOME, Distro A vs. Distro B, and so on. These divisions are quite material, and dilute significant energy and efforts across competing standards. However, we accept this as the price we pay for freedom of choice."

I see the current uproar between those who partner with Microsoft--Novell, Linspire and Xandros--and those that swear off Microsoft partnerships—Ubuntu and Mandriva—as being just another variation on the theme of open-source pragmatism versus free software idealism.

On the one side, you have those who believe in open source as the best possible way of writing code. For them, open source is just the most practical way to create the best programs. If hardware companies—like graphic card vendors ATI and NVIDIA refusing to open up their devices enough to create true open-source drivers--won't cooperate, you find other ways to make their hardware work. Companies that buy into this approach are far more likely to play "Let's Make a Deal" with Microsoft.

On the other side, you have those that believe that for free software to really work in the long run there must be no compromises with the forces of proprietary software and hardware. For them, working with a Microsoft is out of the question. The perfect example of a group on this side is the Free Software Foundation with the GPLv3 license, which will be released on June 29.

The real world though isn't black and white. Open source versus free software, Microsoft Linux partners vs. non-Microsoft Linux partners, is a spectrum, not an either/or choice.

Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, for example, has stated that he's not about to make a patent deal with Microsoft. He hasn't, however, ruled out making other kinds of partnerships with Microsoft. Novell, on the other hand, Microsoft patent deal and all, has said time and again that it doesn't agree with Microsoft's nonsense that having a patent agreement means agreeing that Microsoft patents have anything to do with Linux.
Source :http://www.eweek.com

Red Hat profit rises on demand for Linux software

Red Hat Inc. (RHT.N: Quote, Profile , Research) reported an 18 percent jump in net income on Wednesday, but shares in the maker of business software declined as its quarterly cash flow fell short of Wall Street expectations.

The developer of Linux software, used to run business computers and corporate data centers, also said it was on target to meet full-year earnings forecasts it released three months ago.

It posted fiscal first-quarter profit of 16 cents a share, excluding items, just ahead of analysts' average forecast of 15 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.

But cash flow fell short of some forecasts for the period, which ended May 31, due to higher-than-expected spending.

Chief Financial Officer Charlie Peters told investors the extra costs were the result of some one-time items, including spending on the release of a new version of its flagship product and a users conference, along with negative foreign currency impact.

The company reported $52.25 million in non-GAAP cash-flow from operations. Jefferies & Co. analyst Katherine Egbert said that fell short of her forecast of about $55.5 million.
Source :http://investing.reuters.co.uk

Google Desktop Arrives on Linux

Google has finally released a long-awaited native Linux application: Google Desktop for Linux. As with the already shipping OS X and Windows versions, Google Desktop enables Linux users to search for text inside documents, local e-mail messages, their Web history and their Gmail accounts.

This first beta version doesn't offer the sidebar and gadgets, which are found in other versions of the application. Those will come later, according to a Google representative, who stated, "We focused most of our efforts on desktop search. Gadgets and sidebar are not supported, but will probably be added in the future."

The first version supports many popular versions of Linux. It comes in the form of both RPM and a DEB distribution packages. The RPM can be installed on Red Hat, Fedora, SUSE, and Mandriva distributions. The DEB will install on Debian and Ubuntu systems. The program works with both KDE and GNOME.

Officially, Google Desktop is supported on Debian 4.0, Fedora Core 6, Ubuntu 6.10, SUSE 10.1, and Red Flag 5. It should work, however, on any modern Linux that has glibc 2.3.2+ and gtk+ 2.2.0+ installed. For example, it also worked on MEPIS 6.5, even though Google doesn't mention compatibility with that distribution. At this time, it only supports PCs with 32-bit x86 compatible processors.
Source :http://www.eweek.com

Technalign release Pioneer Basic CD - Release 2.1

Technalign, Inc. has released Pioneer Basic CD Release 2.1 of it's base Linux Operating System. Pioneer Basic Release 2.1 on CD has been released due to the demand of the community as well as our Partner network. Release 2.1 on CD is limited due to the space on CD but easily upgradable by installing the missing applications and utilities. Notabily missing from the CD release, that is included on the DVD, is Automatix, Gimp, Guarddog Firewall, and KlamAV Anti-Virus. Each of these can be easily installable either from Synaptic or from Automatix once installed.

"We had to release on CD since many of our users and Partners have requested Pioneer on CD versus only being avaliable on DVD," claims Technalign CEO Dianne Ursini. "Pioneer Basic CD Release 2.1 is Technalign Trailblazer ready and when released will be a simple upgrade."

Pioneer Basic CD Release 2.1 represents the most user-friendly version Technalign has released since its beginnings in 2002. Users can now make the transition from Windows easily and be up and running in no time. Those consumer users who have little or no experience running Linux can visit one of over 1,400 Technalign Partners who will perform a Windows to Pioneer conversion as well as walk-throughs and training.

The Pioneer Knowledge Base provides information on installing Automatix, which allows users to install the most requested applications by users moving to Linux.

Pioneer can be downloaded from the Pioneer download pages. Technalign's Pioneer Linux products are free to Consumers, Educational Insitutions, and Nonprofit organizations. Commercial and those requiring support from a Partner, or Technalign directly must purchase a boxed set.
Source :http://www.linuxpr.com/

Linux makes bigger push with servers

Linux has had a great run. But to keep the growth, the upstart operating system needs to please more people like Jim Walsh.
Walsh, chief information officer for the Tyco International Ltd. unit Earth Tech, wanted to do more than the simple chores that are most often handled by Linux. He decided to shift one of the company's most crucial pieces of software - an Oracle Corp. enterprise resource planning system - off Sun Microsystems Inc. servers and its Solaris operating system.

Earth Tech, an engineering and consulting company specializing in environmental cleanup and transportation, opted to run the software on Dell Inc. servers running Linux. Walsh estimated that lower hardware and maintenance costs reduced the cost to run his systems by half.
''I have run Solaris for years. I like Sun,'' Walsh says. ''Linux is significantly more cost-efficient.''
Such moves are still the exception. Since the 1990s, Linux, which comes in free versions and is also sold by companies such as Red Hat Inc. and Novell Inc. (which has operations in Utah), has been an important force in holding down computing costs. One reason is that the software runs on inexpensive servers that use chip technology that evolved from personal computers.
Those x86 machines have continued to deliver improvements in price and performance. The combination of those systems and Linux are particularly suited for jobs such as serving up Web pages and running e-mail systems.

But other kinds of servers and operating systems - particularly the Unix system offered by many computer makers - have advantages in handling some big computing jobs such as running databases. Many hardware and software companies are trying to change that picture, but it won't be easy.
Linux needs to ''become more of a central component of the overall data-center strategy,'' says Matt Eastwood, an analyst at the market-research firm IDC.
For one thing, Microsoft is determined to push its Windows operating system into the same fields. Though Linux-based servers account for 12.7 percent of server revenue - up from just 6.4 percent in 2003 - Windows-based servers account for three times the revenue of Linux servers.
Other big server makers such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard are pushing Linux aggressively by offering the operating system on high-end hardware, as well as x86 servers. That is also a focus of Intel, which is working with HP and others to popularize its Itanium chip line for running heavy-duty computing jobs along with Linux.
Source : http://www.sltrib.com/

Podcast delves deeper into Linux boot speedups

TimeSys has published a second podcast on achieving rapid boots on Linux devices. "Fast boots -- the sequel" discusses the relationship of footprint and boot time, post-2.6.15 kernels' CONFIG_EMBEDDED option, application pre-linking and profiling, filesystem selection, execute-in-place (XIP), and initramfs, among other interesting techniques.

The new podcast follows a similar podcast published two weeks ago. The original attracted considerable passionate feedback, according to moderaters Gene Sally and Maciej Halasz.

The two intrepid podcasters start out with a discussion of Matt Mackall's "Tiny-Linux" patchset, aimed at helping prune non-essential kernel functionalities. The patchset can be a "good starting point" when building fast-booting or small-footprint systems, according to Halasz. It was merged into the mainline kernel during the 2.6.15 release as the CONFIG_EMBEDDED option, shortly after Mackall was hired as principal developer by the Consumer Electronics Linux Forum (CELF).

Next, the podcast looks at optimizing application start-up time and performance, through pre-linking and application profiling.

Pre-linking, which is done at compile time, reduces application start-up times up to 30 percent, according to Halasz. Sally notes, "[A device is] not like a traditional desktop system: things are not going to shift around. You can safely [pre-link] applications, and still get some of the benefits of a shared library."

Profiling, meanwhile, can work as a "second pair of eyes" to help developers understand where their applications are using time and CPU cycles. Profiling is also great for helping developers understand code that they did not write themselves -- for example, helping them use APIs (application programming interfaces) more efficiently.

The pair next discuss various approaches to flash storage, including XIP (execute-in-place), an interesting technique in which kernel and applications are run in-situ from NOR flash, saving time that would otherwise be required to copy them into memory. Halasz cautions, "If your application is called very frequently, and links with other dynamic libraries, it may be better to keep it in RAM;" however, XIP is "one of the options definitely worth considering," according to Sally.

These are only a sample of topics broached in the full 39-minute podcast. The podcast, along with several reference URLs, can be found here.

In other news, TimeSys recently published a brief guide about how to use its toolchains to build and rebuild Linux kernels.
Source :http://www.linuxdevices.com

Linux Professional Institute Announces New Training Partners around the World

The Linux Professional Institute announced new LPI Approved Training Partners (LPI-ATP) in Africa, Europe and Latin America.

(Guangzhou, China: June 22, 2007) The Linux Professional Institute (LPI), the premier Linux certification organization worldwide (http://www.lpi.org), announced new LPI Approved Training Partners (LPI-ATP) in Africa, Europe and Latin America. This includes the first LPI training partners in France, Greece, the Ivory Coast, Peru, and Tanzania.

Jim Lacey, President and CEO of the Linux Professional Institute credited the efforts of regionally-based Area Operations Managers for these milestones: "LPI's global business strategy of empowering locally-based regional players to drive the adoption of Open Source Software has proven to be an effective model. We continue to recruit high quality training partners and affiliates who know and understand the importance of a professional Linux certification." Mr. Lacey congratulated Jose Carlos Gouveia, Area Operations Manager for Latin America and John Meaney, Area Operations Manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) on these recent accomplishments and noted that both had been instrumental in renewing LPI's training partner program. Mr. Lacey made the announcement of new LPI training partners while participating in the China OSS Promotion Union's (http://www.oss.org.cn) Open Source Movement & Chinese Information Industry Development Summit in Guangzhou, China.

Alain Abreo of Net Security Solutions in Colombia emphasized the importance of LPI certification as part of an overall training strategy: "Open Source and Linux are of increasing importance within the corporate sector in Colombia and there is a real necessity for these companies to have trained professionals. Our alliance with LPI is an important opportunity as it will demonstrate that Colombians have skills and knowledge in Linux which meets world-wide standards." Net Security Solutions specializes in providing Linux technology solutions and training programs (see http://www.netsecuritysolutionsltda.com).

Mr. Lacey noted that since LPI renewed its training partner program in November (http://www.lpi.org/newtraining) the organization has added many new training partners. The LPI Approved Training Partner program (LPI-ATP) has over 140 participating training organizations in 35 countries. New LPI training partners in the last month include:

* Clube do Hacker, Brazil (http://www.clubedohacker.com.br)
* Fuctura Informatica Ltda, Brazil (http://www.fuctura.com.br)
* Mathesis - Capacitacao Tecnologica e Profissional, Brazil (http://www.mathesis-ma.com.br)
* Ponto de Ensino, Brazil (http://www.pontodeensino.com.br)
* T&A Informatica, Brazil (http://www.teatecnologia.com.br)
* Linagora, Toulouse, France (http://www.linagora.com)
* Deutsche Angestellten Akademie (DAA), Halle, Germany (http://www.daa-halle.de)
* Control Data Training GmbH, Nürnberg, Germany (http://www.cdt-nue.de)
* SoftEd Systems GmbH, Dresden, Germany (http://www.softed.de)
- TCP 4 IT GmbH, Kiel, Germany (http://www.tcp4it.de)
* Informacy SA, Thessaloniki, Greece (http://www.newhorizons.gr)
* Penguin IT, Israel (http://www.penguinit.co.il)
* Scuola Lavoro Marche, Italy (http://www.cslmarche.it)
* Optima Consulting, Ivory Coast (http://www.optima.consulting-ci.com)
* Ictivity, Eindhoven/Amsterdam, Netherlands (http://www.ictivity.nl)
* Universidad Continental de Ciencias e Engenieria S.A.C, Huancayo, Peru (http://internacional.universia.net/latinoamerica)
* Universidad de San Martin de Porres, Lima, Peru (http:/www.usmp.edu.pe)
* Sybase, Portugal (http://www.sybase.pt)
* Proyecto Universidad Empresa SL, Spain (http://www.pue.es)
* Avante Formacion SLL, Spain (http://www.avante.es)
* Klubschulen Migros, Zurich, Switzerland (http://www.klubschule.ch/)
* University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (http://www.udsm.ac.tz)
* CFT Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia (http://www.cfttunis.com.tn)
* MeWe, Surrey, United Kingdom (http://www.mewe.org.uk)

LPI's Approved Training Partner (LPI-ATP) program is designed to recognize publishers, schools and training centers who have met LPI criteria. The LPI-ATP program is open to all qualified participants: those using LPI approved courseware (LPI-ATM) delivered by qualified instructors and upholding a common code of ethics. These recognized partners promote their affiliation with the Linux Professional Institute as an indication of their commitment to educational quality and the advancement of Linux certification. Additional information on the LPI-ATP program can be found at: http://www.lpi.org/LPI_ATP. For more information on the benefits of becoming an LPI-ATP please contact your local LPI Master Affiliate or Area Operations Manager (see http://www.lpi.org/REI for contact information).

The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) is globally supported by the IT industry, enterprise and professionals and within government and the educational community. LPI's certification program is delivered worldwide in multiple languages at over 7,000 testing locations and is supported by an affiliate network spanning five continents. Since the programs inception, LPI has delivered over 145,000+ exams and 45,000+ LPIC certifications around the world.
Source :http://www.linuxpr.com/

Novell announces real-time Linux enhancements and partnerships

Novell announced enhancements to SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time and unveiled partnerships that expand the ecosystem around Novell's low latency Linux solution.


Novell will ship a maintenance update for SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time in July 2007. This maintenance update delivers new performance enhancements to the real-time operating system. It inherits the improvements and enhancements associated with the recently launched Service Pack 1 for SUSE Linux Enterprise, including high availability storage and processor support.

In support of its real time offerings, Novell also announced partnerships with several players in the real-time arena. These included Concurrent Computer Corporation and Voltaire.

The maintenance update for SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time will be available in July. The next generation release of SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time is currently in development. As with all SUSE Linux Enterprise products, customers with a current subscription can upgrade to any released version without additional charge.

Solutionwright simplifies repetitive math tasks

Solutionwright Software has released NumberMate v. 2.0, an arithmetic and scientific calculator for Windows. NumberMate simplifies desktop tape calculator, plus the ability to record complex sets of interrelated calculations that can be edited, saved and reused.

The program performs time calculations, expression evaluations, and unit conversions. All of the work is stored on multiple tapes which can be edited and annotated. You can also reload it later, make revisions, and recalculate earlier results.

You can insert, delete, change numbers and operators, anywhere on a tape. The program lets you use up to 20 tapes at a time, allowing you to organize and work simultaneously with separate calculations. NumberMate takes a lot of the work out of performing financial projections and "what if" calculations.

The program includes a rich set of scientific functions. You can raise numbers to any power, or find any roots. You have a complete set of trigonometric, logarithmic, and hyperbolic functions. There is a mod operator and a div operator. Choose between rounding and truncation. Unit conversions are built in, along with descriptive statistical functions. Numbers are stored with up to 18 significant digits.

NumberMate v. 2.0 runs under Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP/Vista, costs US$25 for a single-user licence, and may be purchased securely online at http://www.numbermate.com/. Multi-user discounts are available. You can download a free 60-day trial version from the same Web address.

Security

HP unveils security offering and acquires SPI Dynamics

The HP Secure Advantage portfolio was unveiled offering a number of solutions to protect data and resources. The offering validates regulatory compliance across the IT infrastructure-from the desktop to the data center.

HP signed a definitive agreement to acquire SPI Dynamics, Inc. SPI Dynamics technology enables customers to assess and identify security vulnerabilities along the entire lifecycle of Web applications – from development, quality assurance and deployment.
Source :http://www.itbusiness.ca

Vista more secure than Linux and Mac OS X?

Security Strategy Director in Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing group Jeff Jones, on Thursday published a report claiming that in the first six months of the Vista life cycle fewer serious security vulnerabilities have been found in Microsoft’s newest OS, compared not only to Windows XP, but also all major enterprise Linux distributions and Apple's MacOS X.

According to Jones, Microsoft has patched 12 out of 27 disclosed Vista vulnerabilities in the first six months since its public release. In comparison, Microsoft's security team patched 36 out of 39 known bugs for Windows XP in its first six months, while Ubuntu 6.06 LTS and Apple’s Mac OS X had 63 out of 74 and 60 out of 76 bugs fixed respectively also in their first six months. The report cites other popular Linux distros as well.

Of course, you should know better than blindly believe Microsoft’s claims regarding its OS security. According to some, this method of counting and comparing vulnerabilities between Windows to Linux and Mac OS X is not the best metric:

"This is an apples-to-oranges comparison," said HD Moore, one of the hackers behind the popular Metasploit penetration testing toolkit. "If you want a more accurate view, try comparing the number of flaws between Microsoft-developed software and vendor-X-developed software. Most Linux vendors don't actually write the majority of the packages they include," he said via e-mail.

"Alternatively, force Microsoft to include all vulnerabilities in common third-party software," he added. "For example, the thousands of exploitable ActiveX controls that... vendors include with a Windows system."
Microsoft might have stepped up its security practices with its software development methodology, called the Security Development Lifecycle (SDL). However, it should be interesting to look at vulnerability statistics again once Vista becomes more widely adopted and the target of hackers worldwide.
Source :http://www.techspot.com

Mandriva Rejects Microsoft Linux Deal

In rejecting the possibility of a cross-licensing pact with Microsoft, Mandriva CEO Francois Bancilhon wrote that there has been "absolutely no hard evidence" that Linux and other open-source applications are in breach of any patents. "So we don't believe it is necessary for us to get protection from Microsoft to do our job."

Microsoft Relevant Products/Services's collection of patent-protection deals with Linux providers lost another potential addition this week, when Mandriva announced that it will not sign such a pact.

The statement, by CEO Francois Bancilhon, has the international company joining with Linux providers Red Hat and Canonical, which have refused to sign cross-licensing deals with Microsoft.

Formerly called Mandrakesoft, Mandriva publishes the Mandriva GNU/Linux operating system for enterprise Relevant Products/Services, government, and educational customers. The company has offices in the U.S., France, and Brazil. Its products are available through its online store as well as through dedicated channels in more than 140 countries.

Innocent 'Unless Proven Guilty'

On the company's blog, Bancilhon wrote on Tuesday that there has been "absolutely no hard evidence" that Linux and other open-source applications are in breach of any patents. In any democracy, he wrote, "people are innocent unless proven guilty and we can continue working in good faith. So we don't believe it is necessary for us to get protection from Microsoft to do our job or to pay protection money to anyone."

He added that interoperability between Microsoft and Linux is a "good thing," and that the best way to accomplish that is with open standards.

Mandriva's position is similar to the one taken this week by Canonical, the company responsible for a popular GNU/Linux distribution called Ubuntu. Canonical's CEO, Mark Shuttleworth, wrote in his personal blog that "the deals announced so far strike me as 'trinkets in exchange for air kisses.'"

"A promise by Microsoft not to sue for infringement of unspecified patents has no value at all and is not worth paying for," he added. "It does not protect users from the real risk of a patent suit."

Fallout from Novell Deal

One by one, Microsoft has been steadily stacking up cross-licensing agreements with several Linux-related companies. The deals have included a provision that protects the signatory's customers from liability due to Microsoft patent infringements. Microsoft has said that Linux and other open-source software infringe on some 235 of its patents, a declaration that is adamantly opposed by members of the open-source community.

In recent months, the Redmond, Washington-based company has announced cross-licensing deals with LG Electronics, Xandros, Samsung, Linspire, and others.

The most notable such deal, and probably most controversial so far, was the arrangement in November of last year between Microsoft and Novell. In a subsequent and widely cited "Open Letter to the Community," Novell said the deal included a promise that each of the parties would not sue the other's customers for patent infringement.

But Novell also said that it disagreed with Microsoft's claim to patents affecting Linux. "Importantly," Novell said in the Open Letter, "our agreement with Microsoft is in no way an acknowledgement that Linux infringes upon any Microsoft intellectual property. When we entered the patent cooperation agreement with Microsoft, Novell did not agree or admit that Linux or any other Novell offering violates Microsoft patents."
Source :http://www.newsfactor.com

Red Hat Joins the SCOPE Alliance With Global Leaders to Optimize Linux for Telecommunications

Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, announced yesterday that it has joined the SCOPE Alliance. The SCOPE Alliance, formed in January 2006 by Alcatel, Ericsson, Motorola, NEC, Nokia and Siemens, was founded to drive the adoption of open source software and commodity hardware in carrier-grade environments as an alternative to proprietary Unix platforms. SCOPE works with leading network equipment providers (NEPs) and carriers worldwide to define hardware and software requirements for open platforms in mission-critical telecommunications environments. SCOPE is currently developing requirements profiles for various hardware and software components. Current versions of these profiles are available at www.scope-alliance.org.


Source :http://www.business-traveler.eu

Shuttleworth scuttles Microsoft-Ubuntu Linux deal rumors

The CEO of Ubuntu distributor Canonical, Mark Shuttleworth (pictured), has categorically denied that his company is planning to do a "deal" with Microsoft.

Microsoft has accused the Linux open source community of violating 235 of its patents. These accusations have been flatly rejected by the Linux community, with Linux guru Linus Torvalds telling Microsoft that it's more likely that Windows violates patents, and that if Microsoft is going to accuse Linux of violating patents, it should put or shut up.

However, that hasn't stopped Linux distributors Linspire, Novell and Xandros from entering into technical and legal partnerships with Microsoft, which in addition to helping Microsoft make Windows more interoperable with Linux, protect the Linux distributors from being taken to court for patent infringement.

Rumors has been circulating on the blogosphere that Ubuntu was in discussions with Microsoft about doing a similar deal.

"We have declined to discuss any agreement with Microsoft under the threat of unspecified patent infringements," Shuttleworth wrote on his personal blog.

"Allegations of 'infringement of unspecified patents' carry no weight whatsoever. We don’t think they have any legal merit, and they are no incentive for us to work with Microsoft on any of the wonderful things we could do together.

"A promise by Microsoft not to sue for infringement of unspecified patents has no value at all and is not worth paying for."

While Shuttleworth was adamant that he would not be seeking legal safeguards, he didn't rule out working with Microsoft in the future.

"I have no objections to working with Microsoft in ways that further the cause of free software, and I don’t rule out any collaboration with them, in the event that they adopt a position of constructive engagement with the free software community," he wrote.

However he added that he didn't think the current agreements being made were "supportive of free software".

Linux distributors seem to be falling into two camps — those who have been shaken by Microsoft's patent posturing, and those who are willing to defy the software giant.

Shuttleworth's defiance is admirable, and in fact is vital if Linux is to maintain its independence. After all, if all Linux distributors effectively become Microsoft approved, wouldn't that defeat the whole point of Linux?
Source :http://tech.blorge.com

Novell offers Linux service pack

Looking to bolster Linux in enterprise environments, Novell is offering its first service pack for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, with capabilities for new quad-core processors. The company also announced Monday commercial availability plans for SUSE Linux Enterprise Virtual Machine Driver Pack.

Service Pack 1 supports quad-core processors in the Intel Xeon and AMD Opteron product lines. Also featured are improvements in interoperability and system management, Novell said.

"What we further improved was the interoperability with Active Directory for both the server and the desktop," said Holger Dyroff, Novell vice president of SUSE Linux Enterprise product management.

High-availability storage infrastructure has been updated in the service pack and the platform's audit subsystem has been enriched, Novell said. The storage infrastructure features new versions of the open source Heartbeat high availability software and Oracle Cluster File System. The audit subsystem, which tracks transactions, now is complete.

Support for Novell Open Enterprise Server 2, which merges NetWare and Linux, also is featured.

Other improvements announced by Novell include:

* Expanded OpenOffice.org support, with capabilities for Microsoft Office macros

* An updated desktop user experience

* A preview of desktop virtualization technology based on the Xen hypervisor

* Advances in enterprise integration

* Improved security

Novell also detailed SUSE Linux Enterprise Virtual Machine Driver Pack. This package includes drivers to allow unmodified Windows and Linux guest operating systems to run with near-native performance in virtual environments created with Xen in SUSE Linux.

Featured in Virtual Machine Driver Pack are drivers for Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows 2003. Virtual Machine Driver Pack is due for general availability in July. Drivers for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5 will be released later this summer.

A one-year subscription to Driver Pack costs US$299 per physical server for as many as four virtual machines, or $699 per physical server for an unlimited number of virtual machines.

Xen drivers for Suse Linux Enterprise Server are available now as part of SUSE Linux Enterprise distribution.
Source :http://www.computerworld.com

Interview With Fred Miller - GNU/Linux Evangelist

Background
I would like to introduce you to Fred Miller, whom I have known over the past few years as a long-time FOSS community member and activist. Fred is a prolific news poster - I read somewhere the SUSE-OT list was started because of his posting of news stories on the 'English' (SLE) list. And, while I sometimes wish he would just join the editorial team here, he's actually quite the busy guy.

Fred is best known in the SUSE and OpenSUSE communities, and is pretty darned helpful, if you ever get stuck on something. To me, though, the interesting thing about Fred is the businesses he has helped convert to SUSE Linux. And yes, I mean the sheer numbers. I have converted less than 10 people - that I know of - while he seemingly converts them in his sleep. I thought it would be interesting to find out what Fred could share with us from his experience. So please meet one of the community's most prolific evangelists, Fred Miller


The Interview

Tell me, how and when did you get into computing, and GNU/Linux in particular?

In 1981, I needed a tool that would give me claims data along with personal client information quickly for my insurance business. I was running out of room for file cabinets and it took too long to gather information that a client needed. Personal computers were in their infancy then, but a company named Kaypro had produced a model II that worked off of 2 51/4" floppies that looked promising. I purchased one, and went to work learning all I could about my new "filing system" as quickly as possible. As some others found, I soon really enjoyed my new "tool". It used the CP/M operating system and shipped with the very good word processor WordStar and business suite called "Perfect." There was Perfect Writer, Perfect Calc, and Perfect Filer.

Now, this will blow the minds of younger readers who are "new" to computing, but the Kaypro only had 64k of RAM. Perfect Filer allowed a large number of fields to be defined and a lot of data could be entered into those fields. Editing the hex code, I was able to get the software to do a few things that the developers didn't know it would do, and "won" an article for my messing around with it in a magazine called Profiles. Simply, I was able to maintain a large database on my clients that I could access quickly for my clients. I was the first computerized Field Underwriter in the company.

Later on, I learned to use QNX, Coherent Unix, various flavors of Windows (only when necessary), OS/2, and of course, Linux. Obviously, I'm only one of many "junk yard dogs" who learned a great deal the hard way, and earned our "degrees" in the school of hard knocks. :)

If I remember, you run a small business focusing on GNU/Linux. Tell me a little bit about that. Where are you located (city and state) and when did you start? What is your business name?

I retired from my Insurance business, took some time off, and then took a position at Cornell Univ. as a Systems Admin. During that time, and to the present, I kept getting requests to solve computer problems - the vast majority are Windows users. Word of mouth is the best advertising. "I live in Lansing, NY, which is in Central NY.

I believe you don't do Windows - how do you manage to keep your business afloat?

First, working on computers has never been my only avocation, which has given me a great deal more freedom than I'd have otherwise.

I did coin the nickname years ago, during the days of FidoNet, of "MickySoft." I think the first time I used it was after IBM had purchased OS/2 from Microsoft, had rewritten all of the code, and released it's first version of Warp. A shill who worked for Microsoft (never did know his real name) used the handle of Steve Barkdoll. Some of the "old timers" will undoubtedly remember that name. I used the nickname of "MickySoft" then, which of course did produce the desired responses. :)

I will assist someone with their Windows problems, but more often than not, I end up replacing it with openSUSE or recently if it's a laptop, PCLinuxOS. At this time in my life, I'm very near retirement and a great deal of what I do now are freebies. I can't say "no" to people who simply don't have the money to pay someone to permanently end their problems that are caused by the bad designs and bad code from Microsoft. But, as you know, this is the attitude among most seasoned users of Linux. We are community based and Linux has grown using the old principle of "get one, teach one." ;)

Can you tell me how many Windows-to-Linux migrations you have done (either by yourself or with others, business and personal)? How many of those are business migrations?

I honestly can't tell you how many. I think a fair percentage of business system would be 40%, and most of these are fewer than 10 desktops.

How would you break down the difference between desktop and server migrations? What percentage of migrations has been mainly desktop-based?

Most have been desktop migrations, if for no other reason that many of the businesses are small with no need for a server.

What size businesses do you work with primarily?

I preferred small businesses, because their interest is in long term cost reduction and service. Most small businesses want to keep their hardware longer than 3 years, which is most often the maximum time big business keeps theirs. If hardware is properly maintained, it will function properly for 5 or more years. One of the biggest operational costs big business has is a continual write off of hardware - buy new systems and write them off over 3 years, and then buy new again. There is of course, the "Evil Empire" that is Microsoft, continually convincing the bean counters of Academia and big business that they must upgrade to the latest and greatest from Redmond. This often forces the purchase of new hardware. This is one of the biggest impediments to reducing TCO for medium to big businesses and has been the ignorance prevalent in upper management, along with not hiring IT personnel who know Linux (often the "good guys" are the ones with no degrees but sure know what they're doing), and not hiring enough IT personnel.

What, in your experience, is the most common objection to migrating to GNU/Linux?

I think it's the same thing that has always plagued all of us. People by nature don't like change. If you suggest Linux, they immediately have visions of massive changes in they way they interact with software. My approach has been get users to understand that a GUI (graphical user interface), is a GUI, is a GUI. Once a user has learned to use any computer with a GUI, they can quickly learn to use a different system. It's simply a mindset. Most I've taught to use Linux, are comfortable with it in as little as a half hour, and no more than a couple of hours.

Applications like OpenOffice are so well coded, compared to Microsoft's Office, it doesn't crash and burn loosing the ability to load a backup copy. I've literally had grad students at Cornell Univ. call me with a request to salvage their thesis because they can't recover after Microsoft Office crashed. I've yet not been able to import a backup copy created by MS Office into OpenOffice.

Once a migration is approved and announced, where do you see the biggest resistance to a new system?

To be honest, most resistance has been from those who are the least productive employees. Those who understand that their employer owns the hardware, not them, and that they are there to do a job and not "play" are happier with Linux than Windows because it's most often faster, it's stable, it's much more secure, and applications are more usable.

You once shared on a mailing list how you had to inform an employee that if she did not make the transition to the new Linux system, her boss would replace her. Is that pretty rare?

Yes, and in this case he frankly was tired of hearing her complaining about everything and anything. ;)

What is the biggest objection to a migration from the employees?

As I said, they don't like change. There's also the fact that some don't like the fact that they loose "administrative" control over their desktops and laptops. Microsoft has been so lax in the security for so many years, that most users have been able to get buy with just about anything. I've seen job sites where management didn't want users having IM installed and certainly not used. Yeah......right.

Once these users get the "word" that there will be an administrator, security will be tight, and no......"you're not going to any software you want on the 'puter that belongs to your employer," then any enthusiasm they may have had for Linux dissipates. Users in the US have far too long had the erroneous idea that they computer they use is theirs. Management has for far too long let them get away with it.

This is a very strong selling point for Linux, where you have management that finally has their heads on straight and understands that solid security, stability, and reliable software auditing is only obtainable with Linux - not Microsoft. If I'm right, there will be a lot of medium to big businesses who will finally "get it" and opt for not just the huge TCO savings by migrating all systems to Linux, but because they can stop all the workplace abuses of the past and be a lot more productive.

How long, on average does it take to train users on the new GNU/Linux system?

As I said, with SUSE Linux, most average Microsoft users are able to find their way around a system after a half hour or so. I have preferred SUSE over other distributions for a number of reasons, which include the great installation and administrative utilities, and that it's the most complete distribution available.

One of the mistakes I think a lot of instructors make, is in the way they approach a class. They most often reinforce users fear my using terms like, "you'll have to learn to........" Or, "OpenOffice doesn't look like Microsoft Office and creates a different format........" This is ignorance! Users know it's different before they even look at it. Why reinforce any fear or negativism? We can make a conversion to Linux a lot smother, if we get users to understand (once again) that ALL GUI's basically work the same way. If you know one well, you can work with another just as easily. Trainers need to spend time showing users the really slick things Linux and applications for it can do, and never mind how something was done in Windows.

How much time, on average, do you spend providing post-migration support?

Not much anymore. I'm looking forward to retirement. I haven't quite figured out what that will mean, however. Linux has become a passion for me. It represents freedom. Freedom from a company that is immoral and evil that is Microsoft. Even better is the fact that it's far superior in every category to anything Microsoft has ever or will ever slap together with it's form of "bubble gun and bailing wire".

Yes, retirement looks good - unless a good company needs a "junk yard dog" to really improve their IT department, then I just might not be able to resist the challenge. :)
Source :http://lxer.com