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Journalism of Courage
Individual buffs beam when asked how much they8217;re saving with it. Earlier this month, Hewlett-Packard, the world8217;s biggest computer company, brought to India a laptop, the Nx5000, preloaded with it
Meet Linux, the operating system that8217;s giving Bill Gates nightmares. And is beginning a slow but sure climb in India8217;s IT mindspace.
Every year, say MAIT estimates, three million desktop PCs are sold in India. Only two per cent use Linux. That seems small, is small. Yet the PC market is growing at a scorching 18 per cent a year in India 8212; and Linux, estimates say, could be doing a nippy 20 per cent.
It8217;s still got years of catching up to do and may make nothing more than a dent in the 10 billion a year Indian software market. But boy, does Tux, the cute Penguin that8217;s the Linux mascot, have his fan club!
From computer geeks to corporate gurus, there8217;s an Indian sold on Linux every minute. This story tells you just why.
Begin with the dummy8217;s guide
BUT first, what the heck is Linux? It8217;s a free operating system that is being touted as the alternative to Windows. An operating system is what gets your computer going each time you switch it on. But be careful. As a Linux evangelist once warned: 8216;8216;The free in free software refers to free as in freedom, not free as in beer.8217;8217;
That may be getting ahead of the story. Return to operating systems. Microsoft Windows is the most popular 8212; 81 per cent of Indian computers use it 8212; but its licences are expensive Rs 3,000-8,000, depending on which version you buy. Upgrading from Windows 95 to 98 to XP must have cost you or your company a little packet.
Linux, first devised in 1992 by Linus Torvalds, a Finnish student with a rebellious, egalitarian bent, threatens to change that. Linux comes free, you could borrow a CD from a friend or download it off the Net. Of course, you8217;d need to have an operating system in the first place to get nto the Net. But that8217;s another story.
You can tweak Linux as you want, if you8217;re a geek yourself. There8217;re no proprietary right infringements to worry about. You only need to keep calling it Linux, and give everyone else the same right. Indeed, there are 500 Linux types 8212; or 8216;8216;flavours8217;8217; 8212; doing the rounds.
You can also 8216;8216;buy8217;8217; Linux from service providers. The software comes free; you only pay for customer support. This could cost you Rs 1,500-4,000 and is generally resorted to by companies, rather than individual users.
It ain8217;t just about money, honey
AH, you8217;ll say. So even Linux service providers charge, just like Microsoft does for Windows. What8217;s the difference?
For a start, many upgrades are free. Every new 8216;8216;version8217;8217; of Linux doesn8217;t mean throwing out what8217;s already on your machine 8212; like removing Windows 2000 to bung in Windows XP. What8217;s more, since most viruses seem custom-written to hit Windows-driven computers, Linux is virtually virus-free.
So who8217;s bringing Linux to India? Other than individual users and their word of mouth campaign, hardware vendors. As PC and laptop prices crash, the cheapest machines come with Linux, roughly a Rs 10,000 saving from a Windows machine.
Between them, Novell, Onward-Novell and Red Hat 8212; some of the most popular Linux brands today 8212; have four development centres and 600 Linux programmers in India.
8216;8216;India is a very strategic and important market for us,8217;8217; says Munesh Jalota, country manager, Asia, Onward-Novell. 8216;8216;Globally, Linux is expected to grow at 19.7 per cent overall, and at 44 per cent on desktops, faster than any other platform today. That8217;s a big chunk of the market in India.8217;8217;
So who8217;s in the Linux league anyway?
EVERYDAY, it seems, Linux wins new adherents 8212; the Central Bank of India to BSNL, the government of Tamil Nadu to budget businesses. Net Aquila Solutions, a Gurgaon/Delhi-based BPO in the medical transciptions segment, is a recent Linux convert. 8216;8216;When I joined Net Aquila a year ago, only one machine was running Linux. Beginning March this year, we migrated all our support functions to Linux. This includes e-mail, spam filtering and document processing,8217;8217; says vice-president Ankur Rohatgi.
By removing MS Office which includes Word, Power Point, Excel et al, e-mail and three specialised machines to Linux, Net Aquila claims to have saved close to Rs 10-12 lakh a year on licence fees.
Rohatgi can8217;t stop smiling: 8216;8216;Technically too, I found Linux superior. Now we don8217;t have to run around looking after viruses.8217;8217;
In India, a Unix selling proposition
ROHATGI8217;S reasons for migrating to Linux are not unique. In a March 2004 study of firms that had switched to Linux, Forrester Research said:
8226; 86 per cent found it cost effective;
8226; 31 per cent went for better security/virus protection;
8226; 24 per cent spoke of generally higher quality.
Specially relevant for India was the report8217;s admission that moving from older, Unix-based computers to Linux resulted in cost savings of 45 per cent. India8217;s strong replacement market for Unix computers is a boon for Linux. 8216;8216;India is primarily Unix country,8217;8217; says Red Hat India director Javed Tapia. 8216;8216;It is very easy to migrate from Unix to Linux as the code is very similar.8217;8217;
One of Red Hat8217;s key customers is Central Bank. As per K. Raghuraman, the bank8217;s general manager, IT, when all branches switch to Linux over two years, it8217;ll save 1 million in licence fees and training and maintenance costs.
Yet the window 8212; pardon the pun 8212; of opportunity is limited. Says Partha Iyengar, vice-president, Gartner Research. 8216;8216;In India, I8217;m afraid the Linux uptake is not too high. In back-end servers, Linux is most of the time a replacement for Unix. But as far as desktops are concerned, Linux penetration is still insignificant.8217;8217;
Tux at the li8217;l guy8217;s heart
EVEN if rare, Tux the penguin8217;s individual-user fans are committed. Says Chirag Patnaik, a Delhi-based marketing executive and Linux addict since he tired of Windows in March this year, 8216;8216;Since I use a laptop, for which Linux offerings were limited, I stuck with Windows for years. Now I have switched to Linux since the level of ease of use has come down to non-geek levels. Today, anyone using any computer can use a Linux box.8217;8217;
Globally too Linux vendors are waxing eloquent on how they are set to 8216;8216;take over8217;8217; desktops in the next seven years. 8216;8216;According to industry analyst IDC, in the Linux space, server high-end machines shipments are expected to grow by 28 per cent annually in 2002-07, compared to 10.3 per cent for Windows,8217;8217; adds IBM8217;s Jyothi Satyanathan, head of Linux strategy, Asia-Pacific.
That aside, Linux in India is now recognised as a 8216;8216;community8217;8217; project, constantly adding supporters among people who do not want to depend on a single vendor 8212; Microsoft 8212; for all their software needs. In sensitive fields like banking, this diversity and flexibility is attractive.
8220;For Linux, I have formulated the 8216;4-S8217;, principle covering scalability, support, savings and security,8217;8217; says Mumbai-based Sanjay Sharma, chief technology officer, IDBI Bank.
8216;8216;I must add here that contrary to belief, Linux is scalable. For example, at IDBI Bank, we started the enterprise mail server on Linux, and we could easily scale it from 200 plus people to more than 2,000 plus,8217;8217; says Sharma.
Satish Naralkar, IT head at the National Stock Exchange, is equally satisfied. 8216;8216;Our online position monitoring for derivatives is on Linux,8217;8217; he says, 8216;8216;the price advantage in Linux happens only when you are going for a number of solutions on the Linux platform. But I must warn you: you need trained personnel to run Linux.8217;8217;
But the competition8217;s snarling
THE Linux symphony irritates Microsoft, the world8217;s biggest software company. 8216;8216;Linux buyers forget that the cost of ownership for any software is not just at the point of purchase, but over a period of time,8217;8217; says Abhijit Das, manager, platform strategies, Microsoft.
8216;8216;Besides, people buy Linux assuming it has no viruses. But this is a myth. At least four viruses have been reported for Linux in 2001 and 2002 8212; Scalper, Lion, Slapper and Ramen. And as the user base grows, many more viruses will be written for Linux,8217;8217; adds Das.
Linux user IDBI Bank has another take on viruses. 8216;8216;It is pointed out that since Linux is based on open source code, it is not secure, but I must say that because Linux is open, so many more people will be working on solving security issues,8217;8217; says IDBI8217;s Sharma.
Stronger criticism of Linux lies with Sun Microsystems, once the technology leader with its own open source offering 8212; Solaris. Says Anil Velluri, India country manager, marketing, at Sun, 8216;8216;Linux is no more free than we are. We don8217;t charge for our software either, only for hardware such as servers.8217;8217;
The road ahead 8230; through China
THE big story about Linux isn8217;t about small users in India. It probably isn8217;t about India at all. It lies in China and it8217;s scaring Microsoft no end.
The Chinese would rather use an operating system they can 8216;8216;own8217;8217;, customise, build upon. Especially if the alternative is dependence on a single American company. It8217;s not just a question of monopoly, for China8217;s over-cautious government, it8217;s a security issue as well.
In India, the big moment for Linux 8212; the big shock for a certain Mr Gates 8212; will come when large PSUs and whole governments begin to make their way out of Microsoft8217;s grip.
That could reshape India8217;s 10 billion a year software bill. That could see Linux hitting the big time.
Ask Tux. He thinks the time is now.
with
Open source8217;s open secrets
Walking you through Linux, the mascot of 8216;free software8217;
Linux is an operating system 8212; a large piece of software that makes computers work. It was initially written by Linus Torvalds, a young Finnish student, who made it freely available.
Since anyone could use, modify and distribute Linux, techies became the biggest fans. Some began selling their own versions. Contrary to myth, Linus or other Linux enthusiasts never said you couldn8217;t make money by selling free software.
Parallel to 8216;8216;free software8217;8217;, there grew the 8216;8216;open source8217;8217; software movement. Under this, software could be distributed like a product but the source code or core of the package could not be viewed, sold off or altered.
Casual software buyers, unaware of the difference, often erroneously refer to both kinds as 8216;8216;open source8217;8217;.
So, Red Hat is open source, while Debian Linux is 8216;free.8217;8217;
Getting Linux
Linux can be got through distributors, such as Red Hat and Novell, who offer the code with maintenance, fixes, patches and support. Or users can take on the code themselves.
One of the biggest difficulties in migrating from Windows to Linux is the lack of knowledge about comparable software. New users usually search for Linux analogs of Windows software, and advanced Linux users cannot answer their questions since they often don8217;t know too much about Windows!
This list of Linux equivalents/analogs of Windows software could help.
| nbsp; | Aside from the cost, Indian users of Linux point out most viruses are written for Windows machines |
Web browser
Windows: Netscape, Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera Firebird
Linux: Galleon, Mozilla, Lynx, Opera, Firebird, Netscape, Epiphany, Nautilius
E-mail
Windows: Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape, Mozilla
Linux: Evolution, GNUmail, Netscape, Mozilla, Warrior, Datula, Althea, Arrow, The Bat, Eudora, Becky, LiaMail, KMail, Sylpheed,
Text editor
Windows: Notepad, WordPad, TextPad, Vim, Xemacs
Linux: Vim, Emacs, Joe, Fte, Jed, CoolEdit
