Taking the leap to open source?


Contents
Introduction
 From zero to support team
 Closing the skills gap
 The personal approach
 And then there's the desktop
 A strategy for open source
And then there's the desktop
Until recently, most discussions about Linux in the enterprise have focused on its role as a server platform. But with the launch of several new open-source operating systems -- including Red Hat Desktop, Novell Linux Desktop, and Sun's newly open sourced OpenSolaris environment -- the previously hypothetical idea of using open source operating systems on the desktop has taken on a new life. Many companies are seriously exploring the possibility of cobbling together free open-source desktops that use a variety of tools to integrate with existing proprietary applications.

Not surprisingly, the idea of supporting an open source desktop is likely to send shivers up the spines of IT managers who find it hard enough to manage a known, well-accessorised desktop based on Windows XP. Desktop Linux may be free, but for it to run smoothly technical staff must take on a steep learning curve, and install and use management tools providing similar remote management to those already available in Windows.

Leading Windows systems management firms, ranging from CA to HP and Novell, have already brought such tools to the table, although they tend to be less sophisticated than their Windows counterparts. Yet even with remote management handling functions such as image deployment and software updates, an open source desktop is likely to introduce a considerable support burden simply as users, unaccustomed to the ways and mores of the new environment, flood the help desk with calls for help.

Supporting an open source desktop inhouse can be done, says RTA's Carvouni, but it takes work: "In this registry, a lot of work was done to create an environment of managing," he says. "You discover it's not as easy as it first seems, and you have to do detailed business analysis to understand what [users are] doing."

"Support is really about the mainstream products."

Laurie Wong, Sun Microsystems
"Even small things can bring you unstuck; even a browser can change what presents to the user. Slight differences aren't impossible to fix, but if you don't do the analysis first you're going to end up with a very negative customer reaction. When it comes to servicing our desktops in a support sense, we benchmark ourselves against other people."

In the long run, companies weighing up strategies for open source adoption should look to existing vendors first, and if working with a VAR, they should make sure the VAR has both a track record of strong support and enough resources to provide adequate response times. Companies must also resist the urge to customise open source software: start changing and recompiling the code and you'll soon find the terms of your support arrangements changing considerably.

"Support is really about the mainstream products," says Laurie Wong, software business manager with Sun Microsystems. "If customers make changes to them, it becomes a consulting engagement." In other words, get carried away with open source and it could cost you an arm and a leg to support. Stick to top-shelf Linux brands and get familiar with online messaging boards for support on other open source applications and you should do OK.

This is the unspoken message underneath discussions about open source support, and it's one that should resonate with any technical or business manager contemplating the move.

Certainly, the growing number of support options for Linux make the open source option less risky than ever -- but it still has its potential pitfalls. Weigh up all the costs of support and your own requirements for support, and you'll be able to develop a hybrid in-house/outsourced support team capable of bringing your servers -- and your users -- smoothly into the world of open source.

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Talkback 5 comments

    I think this was a pretty nega ...Anonymous -- 14/03/05

    I think this was a pretty negatively-focused article (e.g., starting with a case study of one person's bad experience). It discusses the issue of what are the pitfalls are of linux again and again yet provides little clue as to why people are interested in linux, i.e., the positives in using it. Successes are barely mentioned. What about the horror stories using windows that cause people to leave windows for linux? That is just as relevant to the author's story. And I have heard many horror stories of Microsoft's (and other propietary, non-open source vendor) support. Apache (open-source) is the most widely used web server software out there.

    For every one of these stories ...Anonymous -- 15/03/05

    For every one of these stories there are 10 success stories.

    I'm using linux servers for critical services exposed to the internet. I administer about 8 Redhat servers. They are reliable, dependable and secure. I am able to administer all of them myself with no help.

    By contrast, we need 3 windows systems administrators to look after 8 Windows 2003 servers. Even though they are patched up and virus protected, they are always giving trouble. Suddenly one day, a service will fail or windows will somehow, spontaneously reset something to previous settings. You can't rely on Windows to just keep running, day-after-day and stay the same. Sooner or later, it will apparently "spontaneously" break or reset some of its settings.

    I've never seen this happen with linux. Admittedly it might sometimes take longer to figure out initially how to do something properly in linux, but once you've done that, it will keep working the same way reliably. You don't have put so much effort into just propping it up and restarting it regularly to pre-empt a failure.

    This story is just ridiculous. ...Anonymous -- 15/03/05

    This story is just ridiculous.

    Perhaps I should post up articles on my Windows system nightmares I've experienced in enterprise over the years? What about my peers?, shall we include all their Redmond Based atrocities too?

    I would suggest that most of this particular persons problems are mainly due to someone not having a clue ?

    I have four words for anyone who thinks finding good Linux support , IBM, Novell, Redhat and Sun.

    I guess if you deal with some chicken-sh*t , noname bunch of amateurs (even if the head guy does have a Mathematics qual...pffft) then those sorts of things are bound to happen.

    I was going to write a rant ab ...Anonymous -- 15/03/05

    I was going to write a rant about over educated people, thinking that they know it all. but it occours to me that they have a very narrow perspectrive, and most likly knows no better, and only ever used Windows and so thinks that this is how this should work.

    There are some very large companies now using and supporting Linux, it can't be that hard to find support, if it is then you are most likly not looking.

    I have setup a number of linux servers on 486's doing what one dual P3 running windows 2000 advanced server, can't do for as long or as well.
    The windows server needs to be re-set daily. I know a number of big companies that do have a regular maintance squedual for thier windows servers, it includes re-setting them each day.

    over all I found the article to be a little narrow minded, maybe these people should talk to those of us who do use linux and other open source projects . If companies are having trouble with open source then maybe when they advertise for employees they should go for the people that have the experience, instead of the guy who lies best.

    Artilces like this should be listed under hearsay, not opinion or insight, cause they don't go into both sides of the story no sucess stories, who can anybody form an opinion with out knowing both sides of the story. These sorts of stories undermine the people that do work very hard in these areas of open source.

    The article is a little weak i ...Anonymous -- 21/03/05

    The article is a little weak in details. What does driver incompatibility mean? If you have an old driver and new hardware, download a newer kernel and reboot. Takes 5 minutes if you read the manual. Plan B is to compile the new driver for the existing kernel. A lot of the other problems seemed more like problems with that other OS than with Linux. That's how lock-in works. Set up a complicated system and make sure nothing else works with it. Set up a lean, clean set of modules that do their jobs and the system will tick away for years.

    I have been using Linux for years and have had no formal training in it or any other IT for that matter. I have been able to get anything I have tried to work in the manner of servers on the web and LAN. Lately, I have been using a single box to do everything on my LAN including printing, filesharing, time, http, dhcp, firewall, routing, thin client service, not to mention huge databases and web applications. It is so easy a teacher can do it, for pity's sake. Just try and read and learn. If you do not not want to muck with stuff, hire the right people to do it. As Linux expands, that is getting easier whether you have one or 100000 PCs.

    If your competition is using Linux, chances are, they will have a lower cost of doing business sooner or later. How long can you afford that?

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