| Millions of savvy computer users have been putting Linux to work for more than 10 years. Over the last year, many individuals; small office/home office (SOHO) users; businesses; corporations; colleges; nonprofits; and local, state, and federal agencies in a number of countries have incorporated Linux with great success. And today, Linux is being incorporated into many IS/IT environments as part of improvements in efficiency, security, and cost savings. Using Linux is a good idea for a number of reasons. These reasons include Linux provides an excellent return on investment (ROI) There is little or no cost on a per-seat basis. Unlike commercial operating systems, Linux has no royalty or licensing fees and a single Linux distribution on CD-ROM can form the basis of an enterprise-wide software distribution, replete with applications and productivity software. Custom corporate CD-ROMs can be easily crafted to provide specific installs on enterprise-wide hardware. This feature alone can save hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars in information service/information technology costs all without the threat of a software audit from the commercial software monopoly or the need for licensing accounting and controls of base operating system installations. Linux can be put to work on the desktop Linux, in conjunction with its supporting graphical networking protocol and interface (the X Window System), has worked well as a consumer Unix-like desktop operating system since the mid-1990s. The fact that Unix is ready for the consumer desktop is now confirmed with the introduction, adoption, and rapid maturation of Apple Computer's BSD Unix-based Mac OS X supported, according to Apple, by more than 3,000 OS X-specific programs that are known as native applications. This book's CD-ROMs contain more than 1,300 software packages, including Internet connection utilities, games, a choice of three office suites, thousands of fonts, and hundreds of graphics applications. Linux can be put to work as a server platform Linux is fast, secure, stable, scalable, and robust. Latest versions of the Linux kernel easily support multiple- processor computers (optimized for eight CPUs), large amounts of system memory (up to 64GB RAM), individual file sizes in excess of hundreds of gigabytes, a choice of modern journaling file systems, hundreds of process monitoring and control utilities, and the (theoretical) capability to simultaneously support more than four billion users. IBM, Oracle, and other major database vendors all have versions of their enterprise software available for Linux. Linux has a low entry and deployment cost barrier Maintenance costs can also be reduced because Linux works well on a variety of PCs, including legacy hardware, such as some Intel-based 486 and early Pentium CPUs. Although the best program performance will be realized with newer hardware because clients can be recompiled and optimized for Pentium-class CPUs, base installs can even be performed on lower-end computers or embedded devices with only 8MB of RAM. This feature provides for a much wider user base; extends the life of older working hardware; and can help save money for home, small business, and corporate users. Linux appeals to a wide hardware and software industry audience Versions of Linux exist for nearly every CPU. Embedded systems developers now turn to Linux when crafting custom solutions using ARM, MIPS, and other low-power processors. Linux is the first full operating system available for Intel's Itanium CPU, as well as the AMD64 group of CPUs; ports have also been available for HP/Compaq's Alpha and Sun Microsystem's SPARC CPUs for some time. PowerPC users regularly use the PPC port of Linux on IBM and Apple hardware. Linux provides a royalty-free development platform for cross-platform development Because of the open-source development model and availability of free, high-quality development tools, Linux provides a low-cost entry point to budding developers and tech industry startups. Big-player support in the computer hardware industry from such titans as IBM now lends credibility to Linux as a viable platform IBM has enabled Linux on the company's entire line of computers, from low-end laptops through "Big Iron" mainframes. New corporate customers are lining up and using Linux as part of enterprise-level computing solutions. It has been used on some of the world's fastest computers, including IBM's Blue Gene.
Look forward to even more support as usage spreads worldwide throughout all levels of business in search of lower costs, better performance, and stable and secure implementations. |
