Technogory

One year ago, I attended LinuxWorld; for the first time.  I had high expectations for the conference and the exhibitors.  It wasn’t a bad show.  There was some “hype” and excitement about Linux.  However, the year that has not been a year of gib advances in the Linux footprint within datacenters or desktops.  Now - before the Linux geeks get their undies in a bind - think about it….

Vitualization

Virtualization was a big topic last year.  It promises to be a bigger topic this year given the number of discussions on the topic.  Compared with last year, it has easily doubled.  But, given the VMWare woes, Citrix purchasing XEN and nothing much happening there, and nothing new from the OpenVZ/Parallels people…it’s been real ho-hum.  Data centers have adopted VMWare, and it continues to be the leader.  The virtualization vendors will say “Our products just work,” but any of you that are legitimate data center administrators knows that nothing “just works.”  There is always some niche the product really has, and unless vendors of these products continue to improve their game - it’s ho-hum.  I can’t tell you how many consultant meetings I have been in with these very vendors and heard the comment - “we never thought of that” or “you are unique!”  The second comment is always the comment of death - that means the vendor will probably do nothing about your uniqueness!

Linux Desktop Footprint

Unless you live under a rock, or become depressed with stating reality - the Linux desktop has not gained any appreciable foothold.  Prove that wrong.  The average home user is a “geek” or “tech savvy” guy that know how to make it work with all of their friends Windows desktops.  Although, and I am one of them, we try to get everyone we know to use Linux, it just isn’t happening.

In the corporate world, forget about it!  Too many have applications, both web and widows based, that require some nuance of Windows or Internet Explorer.  Don’t fool yourself with Wine - most large corporations see Wine as an infraction on use agreements with Microsoft.  Yes, legal runs most corporations - you can bank on that.

I can’t finish this section without mentioning some of the news of the year.  KDE4 - miserable release.  The KDE developers would have never been allowed to release this garbage in a real commercial world.  OpenSuSE - yeah, 11 came out.  Big deal.  It’s a good release, Suse users will love it.  But it’s not going to change a lot of minds.  RedHat - smart move, they are not going to do anything with desktops.  Rather, they will leave that to Fedora.  Fedora is okay, but I have never been able to load that on my touchy laptops and make it work out of the box - roo much tweaking.

Ubuntu is my shining light.  Mark Shuttleworth understands what it’s going to take to create a solid and viable desktop that “might” displace a few Windows systems.  I hope they continue the progress, and look forward to talking to these guys at Linux World.

Mainframe Linux

Well, it’s making progress.  Under a zVM, it seems to be the right place for it to live.  However, there are some caveats.

First, if you are running heavy Java, forget about the mainframe.  The CPU requirements just kill the guest.  Yeah, I know, it’s a mainframe.  But if you don’t understand the architecture, you won’t understand the CPU issues.  There is hope in the z10 - but is it all packaging and hype?

Second, if you are running database server, it’s a great place.  But, you have to invest in memory.  A lot of “old school” data centers still ahve mainframes with 6-8 gig memory max.  That is pleanty of memory to run CICS or Batch - so, the thought of the old guard is why do we need more memory.  Well, you just have to take a lesson from Nationwide - they have mainframes with tons of memory, running Linux.

Third, disk.  Well, the old gurad would like you to beleive that ECKD (native mainframe) disk is the stuff!  However, SCSI or attached disk is where Linux users on the mainframe are finding advantage.  Datacenters are figuring this out - that’s good news for the SAN vendors out there!

The mainframe has a big play in the Linux server world.  However, the folks managing the mainframe need to adjust to the new demands of a Linux environment.  The Open Systems type folks need to understand the complexities of zVM.

There are only two players in this arena - SLES and RedHat.  Period.  Pick your poison.

LinuxWorld 2008

Okay - this year I have higher expectations.  Vendors need to step up and talk about how they are going to help corporations adopt Linux and technology.  Linux developers need to talk about how they are going to improve the products they release.  Linux O/S vendors need to talk about how they are going to exceed anything Windows does today.

The Open Source beleivers need to figure out that sometimes, dipping into the till of “pay me” is a great motivator for getting things done; and done right.  Too many projects start with great intention, but die the death of “lost desire” or “boredom.”  That is where Linux begins to lose credibility - not that the O/S is bad, but the Open Source projects that techs rely on can lose valuable programmers.  Or they go to jail - spelled Reiser!

Conclusion in Brief

I am a Linux user, prefer Linux to any other O/S.  But, unless the Linux community as a whole steps up, gets some good P/R, and begins to attack Windows and the servers in the data center with more verocity - this year will be no different than last - ho-hum!