Links: Volcanoes

Linux's Friends (And Enemies) by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols Lately, it's getting so you can't tell the Linux players without a scorecard. So, here is my handy-dandy guide. First, we have IBM. There's something terribly ironic that Big Blue, the original Evil Empire, has been instrumental in Linux's explosive growth. But there it is. Of course, keep in mind that IBM is being good to Linux because Linux is good for IBM. Linux has given the company the universal, multi-platform operating system that they've always needed for their customers. HP is another company that needed Linux. HP-UX just wasn't cutting the mustard anymore at the middle, and, like IBM, Linux gives HP a server operating system that runs across multiple platforms. Notice a theme here? Even though most people think of Linux as a PC-centric operating system, its most important hardware vendor supporters are into it because it runs on so many different architectures. That said, I think HP could do more by Linux. I'm looking forward to seeing where they'll go with it in the next few years. I'm hoping, expecting, that they'll do well by it. Which is more than I can say for Dell. Dell keeps flirting with Linux, but they never get serious about it. And then there's Sun. First, let me say thank you, Sun. Thank you for OpenOffice, thank you for StarOffice, thank you for your open source contributions in grid computing, and thank you for providing so many of the tools that open source programmers rely on every day. OK, now would you puhlease get your act together when it comes to Linux... you can either embrace it or kill it. In the last few days, Sun leaders have told me that Solaris x86 is their real platform of choice for the x86 world, that Red Hat Linux is proprietary, and that they really do support Linux. OK, which is it? Frankly, I'm at the point that I don't care anymore. For the sake of Sun and its partners, I wish Sun would just pick a message and stick with it. You really want to push Solaris? Then just do it, and stop messing around with Linux. I actually like Solaris and I can easily find situations -- primarily clusters and grid -- where I'd actually choose it over Linux. Heck, here's a radical idea for Sun. Create a Linux kernel personality (LKP) ala SCO before SCO turned rabid, so Solaris x86 can run Linux binaries in native mode. Boom! Solaris' software library explodes, you can push Solaris, and you'll have Linux compatibility. OK, enough with the hardware companies, let's talk software. You know who I think is Linux's best ISV friend? Chances are you'll never guess. Wait for it. Oracle. Why? Because not only is Oracle moving everything in its portfolio to Linux, it's moving all of its employees to Linux desktops, too. By year's end, Oracle will finish switching its in-house programming staff to Linux, and the rest of the company will soon follow. Many companies say how wonderful Linux is and how great their products are that run on Linux, but they don't eat their own dog food. They don't actually depend on Linux. Oracle does. Their example will spur other companies into moving to Linux. Novell, though, is close behind. Like IBM and HP, Novell needed Linux. While still profitable, sales of their flagship operating system, NetWare, have been declining for years. Novell needed a new, strong operating system, and Linux needed a company with a strong support and reseller channel to move it into companies that would otherwise never look twice at a newcomer operating system like Linux. To many Linux fans, Red Hat is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, they make the most popular U.S. Linux distribution. On the other, they tend to go their own way, and their quick closing down of the Red Hat Linux line left a lot of users with a bad taste in their mouth. Some people have told me that they think the release of the purely community-supported Fedora made up for Red Hat's error. Maybe it did for individual users, but for business users who had planned around Red Hat's technical support, Fedora, with its community support, just isn't good enough. Finally, how can any list of Linux's friends and enemies be complete without mentioning Linux's truest enemies, SCO and Microsoft? Personally, I'm the most ticked with SCO. For the longest time, I thought Caldera/SCO was the best hope for business Linux. Alas, those leaders were replaced by ones who have made suing companies for Linux-related issues the company's main reason for existence. I find it more than a bit amusing, in a bitter kind of way, that the main external financial backers of SCO, BayStar Capital, doesn't think that the current leadership is gung-ho enough in its legal attacks on Linux. It's sad. What was once a leading Linux company has not only become the leading anti-Linux business, but it may soon be transformed into a company that has no other existence outside of attacking Linux. Still, despite SCO and Microsoft's best efforts, Linux is here to stay and only continues to grow. Linux's and its allies' best days lie ahead. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols is a long-time Unix guru and technology writer. He can be reached at sjvn@vna1.com.