Linux and other open desktop alternativesSept 2003

Contact author: Tushar Chandra (tushar@us.ibm.com)Contact author: Tushar Chandra (tushar@us.ibm.com)

IBM Research DivisionIBM Research Division

What is the Linux-based open desktop software stack?

Is it credible?

Demo of a working Linux desktop stack for IBM

Some other alternatives to think about

Agenda

What is it?

Outlo

ok

Device

driv

ers

Third

party

apps

Third

party

utils

Custo

m a

pps

MS W

ord

MS E

xce

lM

S P

ow

er p

oin

tO

ther O

ffice

Tools

MSN

messe

nger

MS desktop software stack

Windows

Web B

row

ser

Outlo

ok e

xpre

ss

Media

pla

yer

Win 32

.DOC .XLS .PPTWebmedia

POPLDAPvCard N/A N/A

Device

driv

ers

Third

party

apps

Third

party

utils

Custo

m a

pps

Oth

er O

ffice

Tools

Equivalent Linux desktop software stack

Linux

Alt. M

edia

pla

yer

Wine

media N/A

Wine

Suite

Offi

ceO

pen

.DOC .XLS .PPT

Mozilla

Web Alte

rnativ

e e

mail

& ca

lendar

Vario

us

POPLDAPvCard N/A

Linux native Linux native

Is it credible?

Open Desktop Status and Roadmap

Current status (by major component)ƒ OS status: stable & secureƒ Desktop managers: mature enough for general useƒ Basic system admin: still too complicatedƒ Device support is not perfect but improvingƒ WINE: supports several Win32 applicationsƒ Browser: supports vast majority of web pagesƒ Email: works wellƒ OpenOffice: credible alternative for basic office use (> 9M Downloads)ƒ Other applications are being ported to Linux

Each component has some problems …ƒ … community is working to fix these problems

IBM’s Linux Client for e-business (Linux C4eb)ƒ Currently targeted at technical community, 14,000+ downloads

ƒ Notes 5, MS Office, SameTime, Mozilla, MTS, Acrobat, Cisco wireless, SmartSuite Viewers, Java, PSM (for printing), AFS, TSM (backup)

Gnome: 2.0 (June 2002), 2.2 (Feb 2003), 2.4 (Sept 2003)

OpenOffice: 1.0 (May 2002), 1.0.1 (July 2002), 1.0.2 (Jan 2003), 1.0.3 (Apr 2003), 1.1 beta 2 (May 2003), 1.1 (Sept 2003)

Mozilla: 1.3 (Jan 2003), 1.4 (May 2003), 1.5 (Sept 2003)

Rate of evolution

Some parts of the Linux Desktop Ecology

Core Platform

Core OS

OpenOffice

Distribution

Applications

140

30% enterprise apps

5

Ximian RedHat Suse

Sun Apple

ISVs

LindowsDebian

75

CodeW

Win4Lin

Windows apps

VMs Wine

Desktops

Gnome

KDE

China

200-500

Mozilla75

IBM20

IBM

?

40

Identified 350 (Full Time PY) developers across 3 projects (very conservative)

Add 180 developers from Qihang-1

Demo

Other alternatives to consider

Windows + OpenOffice.orgƒ Value: avoids MS Office licence

Move applications to browser-based modelƒ Value: Manageability, increased platform independence, lower

TCO

ƒ Reduces reliance on Win32 APIs