eFiles: January 22, 2001

OS Still Lags in Integration Area

Even with the release of the new 2.4 kernel, Linux will have a hard time overthrowing Windows 2000 as an application server, according to Meta Group Inc., of Stamford, Conn. Still missing in the new kernel are features such as entry-level symmetric multiprocessing and operating system resource and session management, the research company said. Packaged applications such as enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management require tighter integration with the OS framework—something Linux still lacks.

Dont expect Linux to make any big inroads as a database server, either, according to Meta. Again, its inability to integrate into an overall system management framework is a weakness. Meta recommends that Linux be avoided for production use until 2004.

Linux Lovers Yearn for Land Free of Sun

While well-known for its anti-Microsoft Corp. sentiments, the Linux community also shows some enmity toward Sun Microsystems Inc. In a survey of 103 IT managers by Zona Research Inc., in Redwood City, Calif., more than 30 percent of large enterprises said that their independence from Sun was a factor in their decision to adopt Linux. According to Zona, Linux represents the option of swapping vendors within projects and the opportunity to multisource key technologies for project development—a nice change for large companies that remember being held captive by sole-sourcing arrangements in the days of IBM midrange systems.