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Learn more about Linux
Those methods will be on display Wednesday through Friday at the
The show suffered with the demise of the Linux hype of the late 1990s. But Linux hasn't dropped off the computer industry agenda, and attendance at the show is recovering: The number of exhibitors is increasing from 120 a year ago to 150, show organizer IDG World Expo said, while the tally of 16,800 attendees is also expected to grow.
Professional prognosticators are heady with optimism about the surging use of Linux--chiefly on the powerful networked computers called servers. Meta Group believes Linux will run on
Linux lock-in?
Linux specialists, though, are having a harder time than many established computing companies in skimming revenue out of all that business.
"These guys have to figure out how they're going to generate some money," said Aberdeen analyst Bill Claybrook. "If Red Hat
Special coverage
Linux advocates gather
to promote the OS.
"What Red Hat and SuSE have to do is create an annuity revenue stream," customer dollars that will recur quarter after quarter, Quandt said. The Red Hat Network, designed to ease computer administration, is Red Hat's mainstay for that recurring revenue.
At the show, newly
Lock-in might be nice, but Linux companies are aware that customers like standards, too. Red Hat will announce that its Advanced Server version complies with the
Red Hat also will show a prototype version of its coming
SuSE, Red Hat's chief rival, is being more aggressive in its desktop Linux push. The company will
Many companies would like to replicate with Linux some of the success Microsoft has had with desktop software, but Linux won't allow that kind of power to go to a single company, said Linux advocate Bruce Perens, a former leader of the
"People have these dollar signs in their eyes as being the next Microsoft. The trouble is, Linux makes it too easy for there to be competitors for anybody to have 40 percent (profit) margins," Perens said. "Chasing after the pot of gold is drawing people pretty far away from the community spirit."
Easy sell
For established software companies that already support several operating systems--Oracle, SAP, Computer Associates and BEA Systems, for example--Linux isn't that hard to accept. One of their biggest needs now is being met as Red Hat and the UnitedLinux consortium each build in features the software companies need and provide an a relatively stable island in the chaotic world of Linux development.
Software companies at the show will include BEA, which sells software to run Java business programs such as a Web interface to a bank's main computer system. Jefferson County in Colorado has used BEA's software on Linux servers to run its government services.
At the same time, JBoss, a company that sells an open-source competitor to BEA's software, will announce software on Wednesday that allows programs written for BEA servers to be moved to JBoss servers.
All four major server sellers also now are Linux converts, though each with a different strategy for benefiting from Linux. Sun Microsystems, the most recent
HP--which has hired some cast members of the TV drama "The Sopranos" to grace an evening reception--will announce customers including AFP Futuro Bolivia, which has tapped Linux and Oracle 9i RAC using four, four-processor HP servers to manage the pensions of about half the retirees in Bolivia, said Judy Chavis, director of HP's Linux program office. The company also will announce new Intel-based workstations with Red Hat Linux 7.3 preinstalled.
HP has pulled back from one Linux effort, however, canceling its
The company also will announce support for the four versions of Linux that are in the
IBM will announce preconfigured bundles of software based on SuSE's version of Linux and geared for its zSeries mainframes. And at the other extreme of computing power, it will announce a handheld computer hardware template using its new 405 LP processor and
On the software side, IBM will announce that the Netscape Web browser now can be used to tap into Big Blue's Lotus Domino e-mail software through the
Microsoft, which has rented booth space at the show, continues to grapple with the rise of Linux. Its strategy has shifted over the years, said Pete Houston, Microsoft's senior director server strategy.
Two years ago, Microsoft was on the
"The third phase, which we're entering now, is a focus on business value--of understanding the value of our offerings to them versus the shortfalls of Linux," Houston said, adding that Microsoft anticipates the jobs customers will need to do and builds its software accordingly. "I don't see the Linux community development model building the integrated offerings we have today."
Microsoft should have plenty of breathing room. The software giant's revenue of
"Microsoft...has always seen itself as replacing Unix. That ain't going to happen. Linux is going to replace Unix," Aberdeen's Claybrook said. In coming years, Linux, not Windows, will take over high-end computing tasks currently handled by Unix servers in "data centers" at the core of corporate computing operations, Claybrook predicted.
