Now, one year later, Linux is all the rage. Novell and Caldera Systems, a firm started by former Novell CEO Ray Noorda, are working together to port Novell Directory Services (NDS) to Linux (NW Oct. 12, page 1). Companies such as Oracle, Netscape, Corel, Computer Associates and Informix have an-nounced support for this maverick operating system. Applix, Inc.'s ApplixWare office suite running on Red Hat's version of the Linux OS offers a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation graphics, mail and HTML authoring software.
How is this newfound enthusiasm for Linux affecting the more traditional Unix vendors, such as BSDI, The Santa Cruz Operation and Solaris? Is support still an issue? Would you now be better off choosing Linux rather than Unix?
Red Hat, which considers NT to be its main rival, is currently seeing a doubling in its business, with a pro-jected 400,000 copies of its Linux OS being sold this year. In addition to eroding NT's foothold, Red Hat sees Linux products usurping some of the more traditional Unix vendors' market share - which is clearly one of Caldera's goals. "Linux does a better job then SCO Unix, has better scalability and will run most applications written for the SCO Unix without modifications," contends Ransom Love, Caldera's president and CEO.
In contrast, Kevin Rose, director of marketing for Unix vendor BSDI, feels that Linux has helped increase Unix's sales. "The growth of Linux has paralleled the growth of our business, and we're glad Linux is suc-ceeding," he says.
Market share gains notwithstanding, a perceived lack of support still dogs Linux. How do you sell this low-to-no-cost OS to your boss, when little or no vendor support exists?
Currently Red Hat offers not only e-mail-driven installation support, but a whole commercial support pro-gram, available worldwide, says company spokesperson Melissa London. In addition, London says the com-pany is in the process of creating a Red Hat certified engineer program as well as a new enterprise computing division geared toward commercial use of Linux.
Caldera offers free 30-day installation support by e-mail and a pay-as-you-go support plan with several op-tions. In addition, the company is creating "training and certification courses to bring a common level of knowledge to all Caldera VARs, who will support Linux worldwide," Love says.
Unix vendor BSDI continues to offer a technical response team, responding to all technical queries within a four hour time frame. BSDI also has a consulting division to assist clients in the development or implementa-tion of BSDI products. From programmers to systems operators, Rose says BSDI will offer support to its cli-ents - for a fee.
Ultimately, when deciding whether to go with Unix or Linux, weigh the advantages and disadvantages of specific Unix and Linux vendors based upon the functionality they offer, not on the support issue. The plat-forms are beginning to open, so more and more programs are available on all flavors of Unix and Linux. And the major Linux vendors have created a support environment that you can take to your boss. So if Linux is your choice for an OS, go for it; the old arguments aren't valid anymore.
Linux, as that old cigarette ad said, "you've come a long way, baby."
Spivak is president and owner of SBA * Consulting, an IT consulting firm, and SBA.NET.WEB, an Inter-net consulting company. He can be reached at wspivak@sbanetweb.com.