[Leaplist] Useful Linux Commands

[Phil Barnett]

On Tuesday 13 March 2007 17:14, Otto Gvert wrote:

>   Also nice article in todays Wall Street Journal on the coming of Linux.

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Linux Starts to Find Home on Desktops - More Businesses 
Adopt Cost-Saving Software For Some Workers' PCs

Linux Starts to Find Home on Desktops

More Businesses Adopt Cost-Saving Software For Some Workers' PCs
By ROBERT A. GUTH
March 13, 2007; Page B3

The Linux operating system, having made inroads into corporations' backroom 
server computers, is showing hints of inching into a much broader market: 
employees' personal computers.

The much-hyped notion that Linux would be viable software to run desktop and 
notebook PCs seemed dead on arrival a few years ago. But the idea is showing 
some new vital signs.

A REVIVAL?
 
*  What's New: Long ago left for dead, the market for Linux-based PCs is 
showing some signs of life.
 
*  Turf Encroachment: New licenses for Linux on PCs are growing in emerging 
markets and financial institutions, markets important for Microsoft.
 
*  What's Next: Major PC makers, including Dell, are laying plans to better 
serve customers who want Linux PCs.

Chief information officers have experienced the cost savings that Linux has 
brought to their server computers, which do narrow and repetitive tasks such 
as data storage and serving up Web sites. Now some CIOs are taking new 
interest in installing Linux on workers' PCs as well, for certain narrow 
applications.

Auto maker PSA Peugeot Citroën last month said it will start using Linux on 
20,000 of its workers' PCs. Novell Inc., which sells a version of Linux and 
is supplying it to Peugeot, says it has recently signed up several large U.S. 
financial institutions that are installing Linux on some employee PCs. Sales 
of Linux PCs are showing a "really nice uptick" at Novell, says Ronald 
Hovsepian, chief executive of Novell.

New-Factory Test

Last year, an internal study of TRW Automotive Inc.'s PC strategy found that 
Linux "looked like it was something we would want to pursue from a cost 
perspective," says TRW Chief Information Officer Joe Drouin. He says the 
auto-parts company may test Linux on PCs in Romania, Hungary or another 
country where it is building a factory.

First popularized in the late 1990s, Linux was touted initially by its 
boosters as a replacement for Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system and 
the Unix operating system. Like Windows and Unix, it runs the basic functions 
of a computer. In contrast to Microsoft's highly profitable software, 
however, Linux grew from a project at the University of Helsinki and was 
placed on the Internet to be used free of charge. Several companies, 
including Novell Inc. and Red Hat Inc., refined it and built businesses 
offering customers support and other services related to Linux.

The allure of desktop Linux is the low entry cost: A typical license for Linux 
from Novell is $50 a year per PC versus the $299 Microsoft charges for 
Windows to businesses that don't have a long-term contract with the software 
maker. (Contract customers, mostly large businesses, pay less than $299 for 
Windows; Microsoft charges $199 for an upgrade.)

World-wide Growth

Also, a Linux PC doesn't use Microsoft's Office, which has its own price. And 
companies willing to go without the support that comes from paid versions can 
install free versions of Linux.

Linux still goes into only a tiny proportion of the desktop and laptop PCs 
sold. But in a recent report, market researcher IDC said licenses of both 
free and purchased versions of Linux software going into PCs world-wide rose 
20.8% in 2006 over the previous year and forecast that licenses will increase 
30% this year over last. That compares with 10.5% growth in 2004, according 
to IDC.

Whether Linux gains a stronger footing in PCs depends partly on whether PC 
makers start supporting it more strongly. To date, neither Dell Inc. nor 
Hewlett-Packard Co. have offered PCs preloaded with Linux. But Dell has been 
soliciting input from its customers to help guide its plans for Linux -- 
which some industry observers say could lead the company to start making 
Linux PCs. Today Dell will start a formal survey on its Web site to determine 
what Linux products and support customers want, says Bob Pearson, a Dell 
spokesman.

Custom Offering

"We're certainly listening to the comments very closely and trying to 
determine what we should be doing with the [Linux] community longer term," 
Mr. Pearson says.

H-P says it has recently signed deals -- on an ad hoc, custom basis -- to 
provide Linux PCs to large customers. Some industry observers expect H-P to 
detail further plans in coming months for supporting Linux on PCs, although 
an H-P spokeswoman said the company isn't ready to discuss future plans for 
Linux PCs.

Despite initial expectations by Linux promoters, few businesses were 
interested in using the operating system on PCs. They remained loyal to 
Microsoft's Windows for many reasons, including its support for Office and 
other business programs.

Cheaper Alternative

But Linux found strong success elsewhere: as a replacement for Unix, an 
operating system sold by Sun Microsystems Inc. and others that had run on 
specialized chips running servers. CIOs found that Linux, combined with 
machines using standard Intel Corp. chips, was often a much cheaper 
alternative to Unix machines.

As corporate-technology chiefs become more comfortable with Linux running on 
their servers, they are beginning to warm to the idea of installing Linux in 
PCs for workers who don't require most of the features offered by Windows and 
other Microsoft software, such as the Office suite of programs.

TRW's Linux PCs would possibly be used in "shared services" centers handling 
accounts receivables and other business functions that span TRW's operations, 
Mr. Drouin says. Workers in the centers "might not need the features of an 
Office 2007," he says.

Peugeot says Linux machines will be used by general office workers and 
engineers. And Novell says the financial institutions to which it has sold 
Linux are using it for retail banking, securities trading and other 
order-entry-related tasks.

While initial prices don't include the total cost of maintaining the software 
over the life of a PC -- training and support, for instance -- it's enough to 
have some companies taking a serious look at Linux. The cheaper initial cost 
of Linux may be a particular factor behind its growing use in developing 
countries.

In places such as China, Microsoft has made some progress curtailing piracy -- 
a change that could be spurring PC users to pick up Linux, avoiding both 
paying for Windows and the risk of being nabbed for illegal software. "That 
in some respects drives the adoption," says Al Gillen, an analyst at IDC.

So far, the clearest shift toward desktop Linux is happening in Asia, 
which "may turn out over time to be a pivotal market for Linux on the [PC] 
desktop," Mr. Gillen says. Shipments of Linux for PCs in Asia in 2005 caused 
a surge in overall Linux licenses that year, he says.

Windows' Grip

Almost no industry experts expect Linux to make much of a dent against 
Microsoft on the desktop and laptop any time soon. Windows is still in some 
92% of the PCs sold each year, according to IDC. Microsoft could cement its 
grip on the PC further through a strategy of tying it more closely with its 
various types of server software, a move that adds new capabilities to 
Windows PCs.

Most businesses, meanwhile, are reluctant to leave the Microsoft camp for a 
still-nascent environment. Linux lacks the vast array of software available 
for Windows PCs and switching from an established Windows set-up can lead to 
other costs for information-technology managers, analysts say.

"When you boil it all down there still isn't a compelling alternative to the 
Microsoft infrastructure on the desktop," says Bill Whyman, an analyst at 
Precursor Advisors.

The State of Illinois in recently consolidated its IT systems onto Microsoft 
software -- and has no interest in using Linux, says Paul Campbell, director 
of the state's Central Management Services department. "We don't have time 
for science projects in state government," he says.

Write to Robert A. Guth at rob.guth at wsj.com1
 
-- 
Ballmer is basically saying: We know there's a problem but we're not going to 
tell you what it is because we want to ambush you in the future. 
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=154