| NeTraverse: Moving Windows users to Desktop Linux |
by Jill Ratkevic
In this DesktopLinux.com interview, NeTraverse's CEO Jim Curtin explains how Win4Lin helps move Windows users to Desktop Linux. Curtin also offers his view on why IT managers should use migration strategies in a move to Linux, examine the value proposition of Linux, and discusses what the future holds for the desktop . . .
DesktopLinux.com: From your viewpoint, how can IT managers best begin to migrate to products based on open source Linux? What specifically should be considered in a switch to Linux?
Jim Curtin: There are several categories of applications that can be migrated easier than others. There are back end systems on mainframes and big UNIX servers. These can be anything from heavy computational applications and databases all the way to multiple instances of web servers. There have been a number of people following this path. There are also other services like web servers, mail servers, firewalls, gateways, etc.. that are low risk migrations. As organizations gain confidence and as the open source community matures, more and more organizations will take the migration all the way to the desktop. A future with end-to-end Linux is not that far away and that is why Bill Gates finds it worthy of mention in SEC filings and briefings to leading customers and partners. On the mainframe and on the mid-low end UNIX servers, Linux has moved from the marines and heavy artillery phase to the army occupation phase - the battle is over. Linux is the successor to UNIX for all but the most mission-critical custom applications - and those are just a matter of time. On the desktop, however, it is still a promise on the horizon, a battle looming.
Linux desktop offerings are much better today than a few years ago. Much has been done to improve ease-of-use and application availability, but there is still enough room for improvement that a decision between a pure open source Linux desktop offering and a Microsoft offering on the desktop is not an even decision.
DesktopLinux.com: Have you seen conversions to Linux in response to Microsoft's new licensing policies, or is it still too soon to see a shift?
Jim Curtin: There has been a increased amount of user interest in Linux as a result of Microsoft licensing scheme changes, but I believe that there would have been significant interest any way, even without the licensing changes.
The desktop status quo has become increasingly expensive -- not only the support and change-management model, but the increasing frequency of upgrades that require new hardware, applications and training. The desktop model has been begging for a disruptive technology to come along and displace it. The browser changed the world, but Microsoft embraced it and grew stronger. Java and XML have contributed to the opening and 'networkization' of application architectures. Microsoft is responding with .NET and other initiatives. But, along comes Linux and attacks Microsoft where it is hard to counter - on price; and to make matters worse for Microsoft, Linux brings a heritage of stability, security and reliability from it's UNIX roots. Linux is a formidable competitor and growing stronger all the time.
I think the licensing changes have only added to the momentum that was already there. On the low end, there have been a lot of impulse buys and conversions. At the enterprise and government level things are more complicated. There are multiple groups each with their own behavior. Licensing changes have emboldened the true believers in open source who recognize the benefits in moving away from MS quickly. Licensing changes have armed others who recognize open source as a club with which to beat price discounts out of MS. This group recognizes that they will have to spend some reasonable amount of money on Linux to make it into a credible threat to Microsoft (even if 10% of the corporate and government money that currently goes to Microsoft is carved off to legitimize a competitive alternative, it is a staggering amount of money). But, there are still a large number of people in the power structure that follow the adage that one never lost their job for going with Microsoft. The mix and respective power of these constituencies is different in every company and organization. Success rests on getting enough critical mass purchases out of the second group and making those implementations so compelling that the first group uses the resulting momentum to overthrow the third group. We are seeing this more and more in organizations that are implementing Linux in a large and public way. Everything ultimately comes down to balance between P&L cost savings and the risk associated with changing horses. There are such huge savings that more and more organizations are making the change. The more organizations that successfully make the change, the lower the risk becomes for other organizations, and the dynamic becomes unstoppable. I think it already is unstoppable, but in the early phases.
DesktopLinux: How does one lower the "risk" of converting to Linux on the desktop?
Jim Curtin: First, what are the "risks"? The risks are 1) loss of productivity (from sub-par applications, lack of applications, lengthy development or replacement projects, etc...), 2) support and maintenance of the Linux desktop and 3) potential user revolt when introducing a Linux desktop.
Being able to run Windows applications on Linux is the best way to minimize two out of three - 1) loss of productivity and 3) user revolt. The risk of either high cost or not being able to find support (2) for Linux on the desktop, or that the platform is 'rough' and requires a lot of maintenance is an out-dated concern. Several distros have hardened desktop Linux and added ease-of-use features that weren't there even two years ago. Other vendors have added consoles, desktop environments and integrated desktop services that round out the feature set to be on par with the most common Windows/desktop capabilities.
Running Windows on Linux lifts the game to an even playing field. Because companies can run hard-to-find, custom or third party applications via Windows-on-Linux technology, the major pain point has been removed in a Windows-to-Linux desktop migration. Nothing gets left behind. No compromises. No cold turkey kicking of the Microsoft habit. No loss of productivity - because your applications come with you, at least for the first phase of the migration.
The other risk in moving to a Linux desktop is the fear and resistance that your average non-savvy user would have in moving to and learning a new environment. Being able to run familiar Windows applications on Linux, especially in full-screen mode, allows the user to dangle their feet in the water from the edge rather than getting thrust into the cold, murky deep end. Over time, users will be trained on new applications - the only difference is that instead of going to their semi-annual Windows training session, they will be learning about a Linux or Web Services app. The beauty of this is that whether the user ever knows that they are running Linux underneath their Windows applications or not, the department and company will certainly know it by the amount of money they will be saving in easier management, better security, improved stability and extended value on their hardware investment. This is not about the user having a better experience, it is about the company saving a lot of money now and setting the stage for the next generation of IT.
DesktopLinux.comWhat is the difference between various emulation technologies? How does Win4Lin cdiffer from other approaches?
Jim Curtin: There are three approaches to running Windows in Linux; emulation, integration and virtualization, or in other words; WINE, Win4Lin and VMware, respectively. Win4Lin offers the best of all worlds in that it gives pure compatibility, broad application coverage and no loss of performance. It also accomplishes this with a minimal resource footprint.
Integration means that Win4Lin runs most of the application directly on the processor but uses Linux for it's host services - file system, memory, caching, scheduling, etc... and it virtualizes the device drivers; video, keyboard, sound, print, etc... It is optimized for running Windows applications on Linux. And the beauty is that it only worries about running Windows, not each application by each version of the application, like WINE. It is multiple orders of magnitude less complicated than WINE, which means with Win4Lin users get true compatibility, the broadest application support and no application support overhead.
DesktopLinux.com: In what environments does Win4Lin excel?
Jim Curtin: Win4Lin is the perfect compliment to StarOffice or OpenOffice in that it allows an organization to cover that last bit of real estate on the desktop that Microsoft retains by virtue of having the only solution for a particular company or group of users. Win4Lin runs not only Office, but all the other apps as well, be they custom, third party or Microsoft... and it runs them with native behavior and native speeds in a well-behaved Linux process. If you are a school, it is hard to find education apps on Linux, for example. Or if you are a call center, maybe it is the Seibel client that you can't find. Win4Lin gives users the peace of mind in knowing that these apps will run on a Linux workstation.
The other thing that sets Win4Lin apart is that it was designed from the start to be a multi-user, server-based application. Not only can users slip Linux under Windows and get all of the stability, security and resource-efficiency of Linux, but users can shift this desktop "state" onto a Linux server and make it available to any browser-enabled device on the network. This dramatically improves the desktop operating cost model vis-Ã -vis the Microsoft status quo. Again, schools, call centers, Labs, workgroups, can all benefit from the lower cost of running these applications on a server and displaying then on Linux thin clients, Linux clients, UNIX workstations, Windows 2000, whatever. By running the Windows applications on a Linux server, one can implement a common application environment that can be used across the widest range of heterogeneous clients.
DesktopLinux.com: You recently donated a significant amount of software to LUGs. How
will that program work?
Jim Curtin: We are firm believers in the potential for Linux to cover an end-to-end footprint, not only in the company, but eventually throughout society. To do this we have to transition the desktop community over to Linux. To do this we need to be able to bridge or host Windows applications on Linux until such time that users don't know what is a Windows app, a Linux app or a Web Services app. By lifting the Windows up and running it on Linux, we are able to give users unfettered choice. To the point of the LUGS, these are the grass roots evangelizers that have made Linux what it is, a fearsome competitive alternative to Microsoft and UNIX on the server.
We want to encourage and enable the LUGS to continue the campaign on the desktop. We have provided any LUG who registers a free copy of Win4Lin for using and demonstrating and we have offered special discount pricing to LUG members so that they might be more willing and able to take the antidote to Microsoft dominance. Just as any antidote, it introduces a bit of the pathogen into the system so that the host can develop antibodies against the offending virus. In this case, we introduce a bit of Microsoft apps into the system - it just so happens that they are the ones that users are most uncomfortable doing without - and we gradually build up a tolerance to not having a total Windows solution we are addicted to. Ultimately, even the apps we thought we couldn't do without will be replaced. The LUGs are the missionaries.
DesktopLinux.com: Where do you see Linux in say five years? ten years?
Jim Curtin: I see Linux as a ubiquitous understructure to the networked grid pervading society. I see IBM and Sun and others dominating the middleware layer, the value-added plumbing of Web Services. I see Microsoft remaining as a dominant application vendor. The harder part to see is who will lead in the emerging RFID space and in managing and understanding all of the non-human "users" out there - appliances, packaged goods, consumables, physical security and monitoring infrastructures, etc... this is a green field boomtown opportunity. Linux will be the underlying kernel environment for enabling the rest of the industry to get on with adding value instead of wasting resources differentiating where differentiating adds little value to society. The trick will be to keep the passion for creativity and contribution alive amongst the open source community, and in keeping the model fresh, while at the same time institutionalizing it.
As for desktops, in five years we should be well on the way to more prevalent use of thinner devices with user "state" hosted in the network. The majority of desktops, to the extent they exist, will not be stateful. People, especially home users, will have personal servers (either hosted at home or at a third party hoster) that broadcast apps and data to a range of personal devices, but these devices should be more about ergonomic elegance than operating systems. Corporate users will have stations that are big on display and light on local disk access.
Learn more about Win4Lin, at this link.
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