Ls unix and linux command

Corporate suitors are lining up to dance with Linux - Product Information

A year ago, if you had looked at the corporate IT radar screen, a tiny little blip would have shown up, lurking at the edge like a wallflower at the prom. That blip was a computer operating system that broke all of the rules. It was not developed by a giant corporation. It did not cost an arm and a leg. It did not eat hardware for breakfast, and in fact it could run on junkers destined for the recycle bin. Not too many business people took it seriously, at least in public.

That was then.

Now that humble wallflower, Linux, is the darling of the industry. According to a recent survey by International Data Corp. (IDC), 13 per cent of corporations surveyed now run it somewhere in the organization; when they conducted their last survey, the number was too small to discuss. Furthermore, IDC says that Linux will enjoy a 25 per cent compound annual growth rate through 2003 - more than double that of other client or server operating environments.

Everyone is trying to get onto the dance card. IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq and even SCO (a purveyor of commercial Unix implementations) have announced extensive support for what started as a computer student's private project. Oracle, Sybase and Informix databases will run on it, and Dell and IBM are preloading computers with it.

Linux is not your average corporate operating system. For one thing, you can get it for free, and I have yet to meet an IT manager with a lot of faith in free products.

Oh, they may use little freeware utilities, or buy the odd bit of shareware, but the idea of running systems on a free OS - especially one whose entire development culture revolves around readily available source code that anyone is welcome to modify - terrifies them, and rightly so. Little issues like support rear their ugly heads and send them off to spend money on commercial products.

Another little challenge that presents itself is the very nature of Linux - it's basically Unix, and Unix is not a friendly operating system. You talk to it in cryptic monosyllables like ls and rm and grep. Companies using proprietary versions of Unix like HP-UX or AIX can cope, but Windows-centric organizations which wouldn't know a command line if it bit them on the ankle are at a total loss.

Various authors have been trying to overcome that problem with graphical interfaces like Gnome and KDE, and others are bypassing the problem by using technology that both supports Linux's unique development strategy and allows users to obtain the OS for free: the Internet. Peek under the hood of Internet appliances like the Cobalt Qube, and you'll see Linux running, managed by a simple Web browser.

Techies tend to appreciate the OS first. They're often most comfortable using the Internet, and the Internet is where Linux support is centred. Well before commercial players announced (and charged for) their support services, Linux users with problems could log onto a newsgroup, post their question and have an answer (and sometimes even an operating system fix or enhancement) within a few hours.

The source code for the alterations is duly posted for examination and use by other developers, who build on each others' work. A lot of these developers were students, who are now entering the workforce in droves, ready and willing to implement and support the OS.

Corporations are discovering that this adds up to an almost infinite support organization. Then you add the "real" (paid) support from those who sell Linux implementations (this is permitted, as long as certain criteria are met, under what's known as "copyleft," which governs how Linux is developed and distributed) and support from third parties, and suddenly Linux isn't so scary anymore. Network administrators can even manage Linux systems with their heavy-duty tools like CA-Unicenter TNG (CA announced Linux support in July), and users can run desktop applications like Corel WordPerfect and StarOffice (owned by Sun Microsystems Inc.).

All this still doesn't mean instant adoption. As with any new product, there's going to be a flurry of activity as Linux is put through its paces in corporate IT shops. It will be placed in appropriate and inappropriate situations and will eventually find its proper place.

For now, however, the former wallflower is the belle of the ball, and everyone wants a dance.

Lynn Greiner is senior manager of computer services for NPD Group Canada Inc. in Toronto. She can be reached at lynng@inforamp.net