Linux in Business

I am a network administrator, now I am in a position where I have to administer a mainly Windows environment. So what I am doing writing a Linux blog? Well, we have been incorporating Linux into this environment as well, and what we are finding is that Linux is a very powerful and flexible platform to run many applications needed by our users. The most amazing thing is that the users don't even know they are using Linux to accomplish their day to day tasks. What we are attempting to accomplish is to eliminate as much licensing management as possible. Now I am a firm believer in letting the users to be comfortable with the desktop they are comfortable using, since Windows is such a popular choice we let the users use Windows as a front end, but may of the network applications that they are accessing are sitting on a Linux server. Eventually we are going to be web base our applications so that we don't have the need to run solely Windows.

So where does Linux fit in the desktop arena in a business environment? Well that is a little tricky, administrators are used to adapting to new technology and so learning how to navigate and use Linux comes a little more easier. Users on the other hand tend to resist change a little more, because they just want to do their jobs as quickly as possible, Windows for so long has filled these shoes, but at higher cost of ROI, Linux can solve this problem. First lets look at what Window users use on average, on a daily basis. Users generally use a web browser, email, and an office suite. There are probably some custom applications that they may also use that only run under Windows but there is a way to solve that problem as well.

Linux can provide all these functions, but there may be some program rewrites involved so it is not necessarily the cheapest rollout but in the long run you can save a lot of money. Most Linux distributions come bundled with Firefox web browser which is W3C capable, Evolution which is an Outlook equivalent, and OpenOffice which is Sun Microsystems open source equivalent for Microsoft Office. This is where the word "free" comes to an end, because now we have to look at the custom applications that were written for Windows specifically. With the emerging web technologies we have been able to take applications that used to be required to be installed on the desktop can be rewritten to run in a web browser. Of course this could be a pro and con, the pro is once the program is written for the web its done other minor changes and maintenance. The con is that there is a cost tied to rewritting programs, but the investment is well worth the cost of rewrites because now your organization can be platform independent.

With the advances that Linux has made in the last few years it has become a very viable platform to use as not only backend servers but it has emerged as a viable desktop for the enterprise user. The days of Linux being used by hobbiest has long since passed and it is evolving by leaps and bounds. Microsoft may still be the dominant platform in the enterprise environment but distubtions such as Red Hat Enterprise Desktop, Novell Suse Linux Desktop, Ubuntu Linux, and Fedora Linux gaining popularity it won't be soon before organizations will adopt Linux as their platform of choice.