Dann Sheridan: Linux

Open Source Adoption.

Fri, 28 May 2004 22:15:38 GMT

A part of the conversation I have been having with my colleague included the development of a graphic below, which was originally written on a napkin. The point of this graphic is that there are two market segments that will readily adopt Open Source software for their projects and contribute back to the Open Source community. Those two segments represent the two ends of a bell curve. At the low end of the bell curve are independent or small businesses that cannot afford enterprise solutions due to cost. At the high end of the bell curve are organizations that find enterprise solutions too restrictive and have significant funding available to produce highly customized solutions on their own. The middle of the bell curve represents the enterprise market. The reason the enterprise market is reluctant to adopt Open Source software and solutions are that these solutions require expertise to maintain that they are not willing to keep on staff, namely more people with specialized skills. The majority of the enterprise market does not see technology as being a core competency.
(Click on image to see a larger version.) This diagram will not change until the "trusted technology advisors" (a term which I despise) can put Open Source in business terms, namely operational cost savings. What do you think?

The World of Geek Audio.

Fri, 09 Jan 2004 13:25:10 GMT

I've made a couple of posts about IT Conversations recently. As a result, a comment was left that pointed me to The Linux Show, a weekly live Internet radio show. The Linux Show has a year a half of archives available. This prompted me to a do a little research and I found a gold mine of audio content out there. Here are a few of the other golden nuggets I found:

IT Conversations is the only show I've found so far with an RSS feed. RSS feeds are critical for these shows, in my opinion. I like to the IT Conversations MP3's and load them on my iPod to listen to them in the car, at the gym, or on the subway. Being tethered to my computer to listen to these shows is very unattractive. RSS let's me break the tether.

Red Hat 9.0.

Thu, 27 Nov 2003 02:12:16 GMT

I decided to resurrect my Linux workstation today. Upon powering it up I found that it just wasn't healthy anymore. So, I decided to rebuild it with Red Hat 9.0. Wow! What a leap forward from 7.3 that I had on it previously. Red Hat received a major facelift between 7.3 and 9.0. It was a much smoother install from what I remember. I would even go as far to say that the install process rivals Windows XP and Mac OS X in terms of user assistance and smoothness. The workstation will be used to develop and test some Java applications I'm working.

Thu, 09 Oct 2003 03:02:29 GMT

Virus Bulletin: "The single biggest security issue facing Linux users at the moment is the misconception perpetuated by highly vocal advocates that Linux is somehow impenetrable to security-based attacks, and in particular, viruses and other malware." [The Scobleizer Weblog] Good point. Just because there is little publicity on a particular platform doesn't mean vulnerabilities don't exist. I am glad the proper term was used here: "issue". If "risk" had been used it would have implied there was a way measure the issue. You just don't know what you don't know.

Thu, 09 Oct 2003 02:57:57 GMT

One Too Many Viruses: Converting a Non-Geek to Linux, Part 1. The first in a series of articles chronicling the journey of a 30-something law student from Windows to Linux. [Linux Journal]

Fri, 01 Aug 2003 00:31:04 GMT

Sun signs second Linux partnership. Sun Microsystems signs a deal to incorporate SuSE's version of the Linux operating system in its servers, the company's second step in moving beyond its own version of Linux. [CNET News.com]

Sun, 01 Dec 2002 01:10:45 GMT

Drivel: I downloaded and installed OpenOffice 1.0 under Red Hat 7.3 today. As far as I can tell, it is well on its way to being a MS Office alternative. The only hitch I ran into is the requirement to have the Java 2 Runtime Environment 1.3.1_06 installed. This requirement was not clearly documented. Other than this, the install was very easy and went smoothly.

Sun, 01 Dec 2002 00:59:35 GMT

Drivel: I purchased VMware Workstation last year and have not had a good reason to use it until recently in testing different web browsers on Windows 98. In the process, I learned how to configure X-windows to run under VMware, which was the main reason I purchased it. I have found myself gradually spending more and more time in Linux.

Thu, 14 Nov 2002 18:27:25 GMT

Drivel: I cannot imagine the difficulty this company is going to have migrating their data. I would hate to be the IT Manager responsible for this project.

## Red Hat wins over Windows convert. The Linux seller says its new customer will move from Microsoft Windows to its open-source software for database systems--a tougher proposition than a Unix-to-Linux switch. [CNET News.com]

Fri, 28 Jun 2002 03:30:54 GMT

Drivel: This is an interesting letter as it so acutely illustrates the fundamental shift that has occurred on the Internet in the past two years from free to for fee, or advertising sponsored, services. Email and hosting services such as those provided by Sourceforge.net are not free, despite how they are offered to the users of the service. This is also a great illustration of the infamous battle between the developer and the businessman. The developer thinks that if I don't like what my "free" service is doing I can just switch. OK, sure, but at what cost? The cost of switching can be calculated by totally the time it takes to perform the switch and multiplying by the person's hourly rate of compensation. If the person performs the switch on his or her "own time" then they decided to do the switch instead of something else, which also has a monetary value. The businessman understands this plods forward. This is economics 101, which, after almost eight years, the Internet community as a whole is just starting to grasp even after the down turn. Everything operates according to some basic rule set that can not be changed; economics, law, and programming are not as different as one might think at their core. This letter is like reverse of Dilbert in that Dilbert is asking the less intelligent question and the end user has the answer. In a sense, we are all Dilbert from our own perspectives.

##Open Letter to SourceForge. Upset by some SourceForge advertising policies, David Sugar, Bayonne Project leader, writes an open letter to the SourceForge staff and receives a response. [Linux Journal]

Thu, 28 Mar 2002 14:21:01 GMT

Drivel: A very interesting partnership in the making here. It looks like IBM is getting tired of Red Hat and may be looking for another horse to bet on.

IBM and SuSE: Worldwide Alliance Provides Linux Support for Corporate Users. The two companies partner on enterprise-level support and services. [Linux Journal]

Thu, 28 Mar 2002 14:07:55 GMT

The GIMP: I'm about fed up for paying for utilitarian software for Windows, or even slightly specialized software. I am willing to pay for things like Radio, which is highly specialized, or software that protects me, like anti-virus software. However, I am not willing to pay for things that are commodity items. For this reason, I blew away my installation of PaintShop Pro and Photo Shop, both of which are ending their trial periods or coming up for renewal, last night and installed GIMP for Windows. It works great. Now I have consistency across my Windows workstation and my Linux workstation. This is a rare thing.

Wed, 27 Mar 2002 14:08:30 GMT

Drivel: While this articles isn't entirely interesting, it does bring up an interesting point of Microsoft not being able to move software due to falling prices of hardware. In this scenario, hardware manufacturers will no longer be able to absorb the price of Microsoft's software because it will represent too large of a percentage of the total unit price. I think we are close to seeing this happen today. For example, Gateway is offering a $599 computer with a 1.2GHz Celeron chip, 128MB of RAM, a 20GB hard drive, and a CD-RW drive with Windows XP pre-installed. All of the software on this machine represents about $100 of the total price. That's 16.7% of the total price. This has to be eating into the per unit margins. I would guess that as this percentage gets closer to 20% you will see the computer makers begin to adopt other strategies. This is pure economics. They have to do something. All of the legal battles with Microsoft are only buying them some additional time.

Tiemann Takes the Stand. The big guys are trying to end the bullying of the biggest guy, but perhaps Microsoft's undoing will be simple economic theory. [Linux Journal]

Wed, 20 Mar 2002 04:28:31 GMT

Drivel: I am just about ready to make the transition from Windows to a complete Linux environment on all of my machines. It has been a lot of work to get this far, but it is all there and not having to pay Microsoft's licensing fees every year will be welcome relief. I have all types of network access -- dial-up, wireless, and ethernet. I have complete MS Office compatibility via StarOffice. I have more choices for IDEs than you can shake a stick at. All forms of communication are available -- IM, email, video, and audio. The only thing holding me back from making the jump is Radio and Frontier. Two things I can't live without. So, I will stand poised for the moment UserLand ships a Linux port.

Wed, 20 Mar 2002 04:19:21 GMT

Drivel: StarOffice is gaining momentum. It is nearly feature compatible with Microsoft Office and even supports saving and importing in most MS Office file formats. I have used it, though not extensively. The only thing it is lacking is huge install base, which will come as Linux gains momentum on the desktop.

StarOffice goes commercial, and stays open-source [IDG InfoWorld]

Wed, 20 Mar 2002 04:16:38 GMT

Drivel: Another win for Linux.

Lindows wins first round [Geeknews]

Wed, 20 Mar 2002 02:11:00 GMT

Drivel: With job losses minimal and in a non-critical area of their business, Red Hat is fairing rather well while competition folds or takes deep cuts.

Red Hat restructures, signs big customers. In reporting its fourth-quarter results, which meet analyst estimates, the Linux seller says it has restructured to focus on big customers, cutting some jobs. [CNET News.com]

Fri, 01 Feb 2002 01:47:20 GMT

LinuxWorld: Approaching a Linux standard. The 2002 edition of the OS show spotlights the latest news: IBM says the OS is suited for the real world; a push to standardize different Linux versions bears fruit. [CNET News.com]

Thu, 31 Jan 2002 20:38:45 GMT

LinuxWorld: CA stokes the Linux flames [IDG InfoWorld]

Thu, 31 Jan 2002 03:52:33 GMT

LinuxWorld: Red Hat expands enterprise software tools [IDG InfoWorld]

Thu, 31 Jan 2002 03:51:07 GMT

Sony Launches Linux for PS2 [Geeknews]

Thu, 31 Jan 2002 03:50:48 GMT

Torvalds, developers at odds over Linux. Is Linux founder Linus Torvalds stuck in a bottleneck? A debate is growing over whether he needs help with patching the operating system core. [CNET News.com]

Thu, 31 Jan 2002 03:50:32 GMT

LinuxWorld 2002: The flock returns. The spotlight is on the Linux operating system as the LinuxWorld Expo kicks into gear. Companies large and small are flocking to New York to tout their latest products, services and successes. [CNET News.com]

Thu, 31 Jan 2002 03:49:45 GMT

Linux Puts On the Formal Wear. LinuxWorld 2002 is a staid, serious affair -- even with the announcement that Linux coding will soon be available on Sony's PlayStation 2. Michelle Delio reports from New York. [Wired News]

Thu, 31 Jan 2002 03:49:14 GMT

LinuxWorld: Caldera to deliver Web-based management system [IDG InfoWorld]