Linux moving into Microsoft’s turf

Move over Microsoft, there is a new player in town. The Linux operating system, which was initiated in 1991, has the mighty Bill Gates on his toes.

Basically, Open Source Software (OSS) or Free Software (FS) programmes are programmes whose licenses give users the freedom to run the programme for any purpose. Users are allowed  to study and modify it, as well as to redistribute copies of either the original or modified programme without having to pay royalties to previous developers. The opposite of OSS is closed or propriety software, such as that offered by Microsoft. Kevin Khelawan, the Director of Systems Development of Teleios Systems Limited and President of MS Dev Caribbean, said the key impact that open source has had on software companies is the provision of avenues for additional income, particularly with regard to providing value-added services and consulting.  

“Microsoft,” he went on, “has admitted that open source and Linux, in particular, is a threat.” This, he said, has forced Microsoft to be more open with its own source code and offer better products and services to their customers, which, at the end of the day is a good thing, he said. “I think that open source developers make their software open source simply because they see their work as art and want as many people to benefit from it as possible,” he stated. He went on to note that the Linux operating system has certainly provided opportunities for start-up software developers since it offers them a low cost of entry . “Since many versions and distributions of the Operating system (OS) are free, a developer can, for little start-up cost, begin developing software on Linux,” Khelawan maintained, adding that this benefits the software industry on the whole.

In Trinidad (and other developing countries) Linux certainly provides a great opportunity for people interested in “writing codes,” Khelawan said. According to another local computer analyst, there are a number of file sharing software programmes, similar to the Napster programme which allowed users to exchange music over the Internet. These programmes permit users to swap entire software programmes. He went on to note that it was difficult to prevent persons from downloading the software, since there are many users who have unlimited internet access. “Linux,” he went on, “is the next popular software programme after Microsoft Windows, although the two are different. People into programming tend to prefer Linux.” Professor St Clair King, local software developer and owner of Ixanos Limited, further explained that the Linux system has the advantage of allowing the more sophisticated user to fix the bugs - faults in the software - himself. The user, too, can adjust the software to facilitate a particular application he may have in mind.

He went on to note that closed software, as opposed to open software, can be traced whenever the system goes onto the Internet. “This is one of the reasons that the Government of a Latin American country has instructed all of its ministries to only buy open source software so that it is sure of what the code does in its entirety and that it contains no spy codes,” he said. “The problem is that few end users, like users of word processors or spreadsheet applications in the typical office environment know of anything but Microsoft products,” he maintained. Linux was the brain child of Finnish university student and computer programmer, Linus Torvalds, who had in mind an operating system free to all users, as opposed to costly Unix and Windows software.

According to a study done by technology consultant, Gartner, by the fourth quarter of 2002 it had powered 14 percent of the servers sold to run powerful corporate networks, up from nine percent in 2001. Presently, Linux runs 25 percent of all the corporate servers. Both Khelawan and Professor King dismissed the notion that open source software is completely free of charge.  Khelawan said that although the bits on the CD might not necessarily have a cost directly associated with them, there is still a cost for the services associated with that software.

There are many companies today that make significant profit on open source by providing value-added consulting and support services that are tied to the ‘free’ open source software they provide for their customers, Khelawan explained. Here are many significant and profitable business opportunities associated with open source that many companies have been able to capitalise on, he said. Four major companies have jumped on the Linux bandwagon — Dell, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard  and most notably, IBM. While most Linux startups have mostly struggled to get by, together these four have pocketed billions of dollars in revenues selling and servicing Linux products.

The biggest beneficiary of the bunch to date has been IBM which garnered one billion in Linux-based revenues in 2002 - double that of 2001. Hewlette-Packard follows one step behind having generated two billion in Linux-based revenue from the sales of hardware, software and consulting over the past four years. Analysts conclude that Linux will seize an increasing percentage of the key market for operating system software in corporate data centres and in so doing will eventually take a bite out of Microsoft. According to George Gobin, Microsoft’s Territory Manager for the Eastern Caribbean, Linux’s competitor, Sun Microsystems, may have suffered the most.

“Linux does compete against Microsoft in the server space, but it is the UNIX market which has received the strongest hit, as far as competition goes,” Gobin maintained. “What has really happened,” he went on, “is that Linux grew fast through these last few years and now there are more software sources in the enterprise market.” “Linux basically is now as strong as our other competitors such as IBM, SUN, Oracle and Lotus Notes among others,” he said.  When asked Linux’s impact on Microsoft, Gobin stated that there were concerns with all of the company’s competitors. He said, “when we listen to the Linux enthusiasts, they point out precisely what Microsoft needs to do differently to satisfy their expectations.”

This time, Gobin noted, the message comes from a community that has taken action and has been successful in creating an alternative to Microsoft and established UNIX platforms. Responding to the belief of many that Linux is “unhealthy for the technology industry,” Gobin stressed that this was far from the truth. “Linux is competition,” he asserted, “and every competition is welcome since the one who benefits at the end is the customer.” “The more the competition, the more choices there are in the market for IT solutions. We at Microsoft do believe that there is a wide opportunity in the market to grow and improve. “What really matters is who gets there first. Linux is basically another runner in the race,” he stated.