It has become something of a cliché that Linux has reached a critical point
in its development and adoption. However, this is especially true now when we
look at what events are lined up to occur in the near future, and
particularly in the desktop area.
Perhaps the most visible event is the impending launch of Microsoft's Vista.
Try as they might, this new OS shows every sign of needing hardware
replacement, some user training, and considerable support staff training to
be truly effective in deployment. Particularly note the last two, often cited
as reasons why moving to Linux is expensive and fraught with danger. Of
course, Linux doesn't have the added disadvantage of needing a hardware
upgrade.
The second event on the horizon is the move to 64 bit hardware on the
de... (more)
One of the most serious problems facing larger organizations considering
using Linux and Open Source application stacks is managing the software
environment.
The basic Linux system has adequate tools to manage a single machine, or even
a small group of machines, but once the population of these machines reaches
into the tens and hundreds and spreads across multiple application areas and ... (more)
Linux has come a long way, quite quickly over the past couple of years. It
has moved from a system usable only by those willing and able to spend time
installing, configuring, and re-configuring again to systems that are sold by
a wide variety of distributors, some of which have specialized desktop
distributions. The list includes distributions such as Red Hat, Novell,
Mandrake, Debian, ... (more)
The OSDL Desktop Linux Working Group (DTL) captures, discusses, publishes and
develops Linux capabilities definitions required by demanding,
enterprise-class desktop applications. The ultimate goal is to accelerate the
use of Linux on enterprise desktops. The DTL Capabilities document is the
work of current OSDL member companies and interested individuals. The purpose
of this document is... (more)
As anyone who has used Linux systems for production systems knows all too
well, there's an art to arriving at a stable configuration with all
dependencies met. Linux distributors do an excellent job of delivering
systems that meet this criteria, and keeping them there through their update
processes as functionality updates, bug fixes, and security updates get laid
on top of the out-of-th... (more)
Philip Peake is a professional services consultant, and has worked for a variety of companies including Netscape, AOL, Sun Microsystems and OSDL.
Keith Bergelt
Ricardo Aravena
Gaurav Mantri
Aditya Banerjee
John Karamitsos
Kaj van de Loo
Bob Little
Alois Reitbauer
Chris Schin
Richard Gordon
Anil Parambath
