Why Linux?

When Linus Torval started his project, he dreamed of an OS unencumbered by source-code restrictions and copyrights. In just a few short years, Linux workstations and servers began to emerge as a powerful Open Source alternative to Windows desktops and many UNIX servers. Productivity tools such as Star Office, WordPerfect, and many other application ports were available. Games were also available on these strange new Open Source boxes. As the desktop functionality grew, many saw computer server functions as Linux's destiny. Linux is a workstation and a server with a graphical user interface for management (Gnome and KDE are the two interfaces of choice). With HP and others beginning to offer certification as Linux Accredited Systems Engineers, support and services are beginning to mature.

So where does Linux fit in today's IT strategy? Let's review some of its features.

• Laptop: With Sun's Star Office or Corel's WordPerfect 2000 suite, a Linux installation offers the users less disk space consumption than a comparable Windows OS and Office suite. Linux also offers the ability to reuse two-to-three- year-old laptops that are now too underpowered to run the latest versions of Windows products, but it can also run the latest versions of Linux and many personal productivity tools that run on the platform. For Microsoft interoperability Bynari Systems also offers bug-for-bug compatibility with Windows Exchange Clients (Outlook) and Windows-compatible Exchange Servers for Linux and UNIX systems to integrate directly into Exchange E-mail Server infrastructures. Alternatively, Linux and other TCP/IP users can use Netscape mail, if they have POP3 or IMAP servers already in place (http://www.bynari.com/, http://www.sun.com/staroffice/, http://linux.corel.com/).

• Workstation: What goes for laptops goes even more so for Linux desktops. A few-year-old 300–500MHz Pentium workstation or even Alpha workstation can run Linux and its applications blazingly fast. Instead of buying new workstations with 50 percent more memory and disk space, recycling a used desktop saves money and upgrades easily to Linux with as much ease of use as Windows desktops. And while there have been some demands for enhanced Linux security, it's nothing like the defense that must be mounted against the 65,000+ virus definitions that Windows programs must be defended against every day when on a public network.

• X Window Terminal: Linux workstations and laptops make excellent X Windows display terminals. Linux, UNIX, and OpenVMS all use X Windows and various X Windows managers and programs to redirect output to remote machines across Ethernet or other network connections. Today, Microsoft Windows has programs to perform X Server displays, but Linux has built-in X Windows security and the same X Windows features as its larger UNIX and OpenVMS cousins. Therefore, bringing all your OpenVMS and UNIX application displays down from a headless server to a single, low-cost, high-quality desktop with a great choice of graphics and sound cards is a wonderful alternative to purchasing expensive workstations. (Although, just like driving a Ferrari, once you've worked on a full-blown 64-bit UNIX or VMS workstation, it's hard to go back—no matter how "sporty" the 32-bit Chevy becomes.)

• Server: As a bottom-tier server (in the standard three-tier client/server model), Linux is as good or better then any single NT, UNIX or OpenVMS server. Linux servers support SAMBA for disk shares with Windows servers and clients, NFS for disk mount points for UNIX and OpenVMS machines, Java, Apache, and all the major computer languages and scripting tools. The problem is that Linux servers no matter how functional, live within mean time between failures of their hardware. Sooner or later a deployed single server will have a failure that takes out critical data or programs, and then the system will have to be restored or rebuilt. Commercial clustering for Linux servers is in its infancy, as are automatic failover environments for Linux. As support, cluster technology, and shared storage (SAN, networked storage) continue to mature, so will the use of Linux servers for data-center applications.