NETWORK WORLD FUSION FOCUS: PHIL HOCHMUTH
on LINUX
Today's focus: Will Linux be a hit or miss on the corporate desktop?
03/15/00

Dear Wincenty Kaminski,

Today's focus: Will Linux be a hit or miss 
on the corporate desktop?
---------------------------------------------
By Phil Hochmuth

So far this year, the buzz about Linux in enterprise networks has
focused on servers and embedded systems, with the growth of Linux
severs being most heralded. According to IDC, a research firm based in
Framingham, Mass., Linux was the fastest-growing server operating
system last year, with a 93% growth rate over the year before. Linux
was the second most-shipped operating system in 1999 after Windows NT,
capturing 24% of new licenses shipped.

As for the embedded market, Linux has emerged as an ideal platform for
network appliances, because the system can be modified to handle
specialized, dedicated tasks very well. Companies such as Cobalt
Networks, Picazo and Progressive Systems have announced Linux-based
appliances, ranging from Web servers to PBXs to firewalls.

But what of the open source hacker,s dream of &Linux on every desktop?8

Sure, Linux on the desktop has become more accessible than ever, with
colorful, shrink-wrapped boxes of Caldera, Red Hat and Corel Linux now
available at places like CompUSA. However, analysts have said that
Linux,s growth in the enterprise will be limited to the macro and micro
areas of network servers and embedded operating systems.

According to IDC, Linux currently runs on only 4% of U.S. desktops. The
hold Microsoft Windows has on the desktop market will remain strong,
analysts say, despite such factors as Microsoft,s antitrust problems
and the surging popularity of Linux.

Even some Linux executives are skeptical of their product,s desktop
future. Recently, SuSE CEO Roland Dyroff downplayed Linux,s future on
desktops. Dyroff said, &given the lack of applications available, we
really can't claim it as being competitive on the desktop yet.8

A recent survey by Survey.com gives more hope for Linux desktops.
According to the survey of 1,640 enterprise network managers, open
source operating systems are used on 10% of desktops, with the number
jumping to a surprising 23% of enterprise desktops by 2002.

Despite the mix of numbers being thrown around, two important factors
that will determine the success of Linux as an enterprise client
desktop are: a standardized, easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI)
and available applications.

One company that is working to make Linux more user friendly is Palo
Alto-based Eazel, which is designing a next-generation file management
system and user interface to run on top of the Linux kernel. According
to Eazel,s Web site, the company,s goal is to bring Linux to the masses
and &do it in a way that appeals to today's Linux users and to mere
mortals.8

The company was founded by a group of former Apple executives, and is
allied with the Gnome project, which has been doing extensive Linux
desktop environment development for several years. Eazel is due to have
a product out by the middle of this year. With an intuitive, icon-based
file management environment, Eazel is hoping its user interface will be
an improvement over the two current Linux GUIs, Gnome and KDE, and will
help standardized the look and feel of Linux for &regular8 users. For
enterprise mangers who have already embraced Linux on the server side,
this development will be worth keeping an eye on.

On the applications side, several office productivity suites have been
available for some time, such as Sun,s StarOffice suite and KOffice for
the KDE desktop. Corel has also ported its office products, such as
WordPerfect, over to Linux to complement its own distribution of the
operating system. While there have been recent rumors (started by Linux
Care Vice President Arthur Tyde) that Microsoft is working on a port of
MS Office to Linux, Microsoft officials deny this.

While Linux may never supplant Windows as the industry-standard desktop,
there should be plenty of opportunity for Linux PCs in enterprise nets
in the future.

To contact Phil Hochmuth:
-------------------------
Phil Hochmuth is a writer and researcher for Network World, and a former
systems integrator. You can reach him at mailto:phochmut@nww.com.

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FOR RELATED LINKS -- Click here for Network World's home page:
http://www.nwfusion.com
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Staroffice Software from Sun
http://www.sun.com/staroffice

Corel Linux OS
http://www.corel.com/freedom/freedom.htm

Eazel
http://www.eazel.com

GNOME -- the GNU Network Object Model Environment
http://www.gnome.org

KOffice -- the integrated office suite for KDE, the K Desktop
Environment
http://koffice.kde.org/

Cobalt Networks, Inc.
http://www.cobaltnetworks.com

Progressive Systems
http://www.progressive-systems.com

Picazo
http://www.picazo.com


Other Linux-related articles from Network World:

Active Directory upgrade requires strong game plan,  Network World,
03/13/00
http://www.nwfusion.com/archive/2000/89629_03-13-2000.html

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