The Business Lounge

Linux: A Technology management perspective.

More and more Linux is marketed as an alternative to Microsoft software products. It is often questioned from a technology management position whether it would be financially worth the while to make the switch to Linux. After all it is free, or is it?

To make a proper decision on switching to Linux products, one need to consider the influence of such a switch on the technology environment a business operates in. There exist major philosophical differences between Microsoft and Linux except that one is free and the other not.
To understand these differences, one needs to look at the software development cycle.

All software go through a development S-curve. Initially software is developed under lab conditions, with minor external influences. The software reliability increases from unreliable peaces of code into a program that runs stable in the lab.

This brings on the second phase where the newly created program is installed on a client machine, with much more external influences and unknowns. Usually this causes software do display unreliabilities or errors called bugs. (Don't confuse these with viruses which are programs written to cause damage). These errors need to be rectified and reinstalled continuously up to the point where the software is reliable enough to be used under normal conditions.

The third phase is where the software is running stable under normal usage. Bugs found in this phase can be rectified with minor updates to the original software. On the scale of operating systems you never get 100% reliable software. This is due to the complexity of writing the software. (Which is a typical reason for the odd system crash).

Taking these phases into account one can look at the differences between Microsoft and Linux. Microsoft starts selling products when it is above the threshold for phase 3. Microsoft manages development of the Software, and they take responsibility for any bugs found. They constantly update the software to rectify these. Due to this responsibility they don't distribute the source code for their products, and thus users can make no alterations.

Linux products are available while not finished from even as low as phase 2. It is developed by anybody who wants to make a contribution and system changes are managed by a few organizations (Depending on the distribution used). These organizations take the contributions made by the community and update the main system where necessary. Nowadays Linux distributions vary from phase 3 level stable systems (usually used by business), to unstable systems used by engineers who want to customize their software as much as possible.

Due to the big amount of contributions and distributions Linux gains momentum as a custom fit secure operating system, although it is claimed that it costs more to maintain Linux than Windows in the long run.

It is clear that both Linux and Microsoft are competing for market share. Although free, it is often wondered why everybody doesn’t switch to Linux?

This is again due to the fact that technology consists of three sub systems. The software technology (Both Microsoft and Linux products) is functional, but due to a few years of Microsoft dominating the market, the second and third legs of technology management (processes and training) makes it difficult for Linux to break through. (Three pedals in a car, Financial Mail 2004 )

To expand on this the effect of the three technology legs on these systems will be shown.

The first leg of technology is the technology itself. At this stage both operating systems are stable, and may be used in any business environment. Both has applications that enable the user to gain a good amount of productivity. Each have their unique strengths, but both also have weaknesses.

The second leg of technology is the processes used around the technology. Every organization uses computers. Most of these computers contain Microsoft products. Due to this market domination, a big amount of organizational processes was developed and implemented using Microsoft products. To make the switch from Microsoft to Linux one has to take into account that old processes will have to be replaced by new processes based on Linux applications.

Last leg, Training. Most users nowadays are able to do the basic functions in a computer. When switching to Linux everything you know is changed. From the commands used to do average functions, to the way data storage is managed on a disk. To be able to use Linux you will have to go through a full training cycle. Taking these into account it seems as if it might be difficult for Linux to penetrate the market. But it actually does penetrate the market due to its low initial cost.

It can be seen that the first technology leg at this stage is equal for both operating systems. As the second and third leg catches up, a new generation of Linux users starts to emerge that base their business processes on Linux. These users go through the pains of learning a complete new environment. They need to do business with Microsoft users, and thus seamless compatibility becomes more and more essential as Linux emerges.

Due to this the focus will move away from the choice of operating systems, to applications running on top of these operating systems. This creates the requirement for a new breed of applications that runs seamlessly across any platform.