Linux Moves Toward The DesktopLinux Moves Toward The Desktop

Companies looking to trim IT costs are increasingly turning to Linux as an operating system for their desktops. While desktop Linux isn't a new phenomenon to programmers familiar with Unix, Linux's move to the mainstream has meant the delivery of graphical PC desktops that offer many of the same apps found in Windows--word processing, spreadsheets, and E-mail--without the need to commit to Microsoft licenses.

This week at LinuxWorld in New York, Sun Microsystems and Ximian Inc., a provider of Linux desktop apps, introduced Sun One Connector for Ximian Evolution, a component of Sun's Open Net Environment (One) that will let users run Linux-based Evolution E-mail and calendaring apps from a Solaris desktop. Although pricing hasn't been set for Connector, Ximian plans to ship it by June. Sun will ship Connector by June as well, bundling it as part of its Sun One Calendar Server. Sun plans to launch its own desktop Linux operating system, code-named Mad Hatter, during the summer, says Curtis Sasaki, VP of desktop software engineering.

Zumiez Inc. has created a Linux desktop using Ximian Evolution to communicate daily sales information with its employees via inexpensive open-source applications. The outdoor-sports-equipment retailer used Evolution software to create an open-source intranet that the company's 1,500 employees can access from more than 90 retail locations. The intranet serves as a desktop that includes Web browser, spreadsheet app, E-mail, and point-of-sale software from Apropos Retail Systems.

Linux desktops caught on at Zumiez thanks to the company's Unix background. Zumiez has been using Unix at its stores since 1990 and has resisted the pull of fat desktops overflowing with Windows apps. Nevertheless, E-mail, spreadsheets, and intranet apps have become indispensable tools for Zumiez's sales associates. "We're a specialty retailer for teenagers interested in the active outdoor lifestyle, and we have to respond quickly to the demands of our market," says Rory Hudson, Zumiez's retail systems manager.

Hudson says one key to responding quickly is to make sure Zumiez's corporate IT systems communicate efficiently with those of the retail outlets. Before implementing Evolution, company headquarters, which is standardized on Windows, would send Zumiez stores Excel spreadsheets with sales information. But the retail locations couldn't accurately view the data on Linux-based, non-Windows desktops until Hudson implemented Evolution, which lets Linux desktops work with Office documents without the need to license and install Office.

Not all desktop Linux seeks to operate independently of Windows. SuSE Linux on Tuesday introduced a desktop product that lets users install Microsoft Office within a Linux operating environment. SuSE Linux Office Desktop automatically detects existing Windows installations and resizes file-system hard-disk partitions so that SuSE Linux can be installed. SuSE also uses CrossOver Office 1.3.1 from CodeWeavers Inc. to let users run both Windows and open-source desktop apps simultaneously.

Engineers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston are using CodeWeavers' CrossOver Office so they can program in Linux while running Windows apps on the same desktop. These engineers write software that simulates the in-flight work environment that astronauts will face in space. Although these engineers have been writing to Unix for years, they more recently have been required by the government to use Windows apps for E-mail and other forms of communication.

About a year ago, Patrick McCartney, a Johnson project manager, came up with the solution of creating a Linux desktop environment that could also run government-mandated Microsoft apps. "As PCs have become more powerful, it's easier to run Linux on the desktop, add the Windows applications, and use a single machine for everything," McCartney says. CrossOver Office is designed to appeal to companies that are looking to migrate away from Microsoft's desktop software and licensing contracts but that can't yet function without Office. Johnson has installed both CrossOver Office and Office on the PCs that McCartney's programmers use. Although they do most of their work using CrossOver, they can still communicate easily with colleagues throughout the agency who use Microsoft apps.

One drawback to CodeWeavers' model is that Johnson still has to pay to license Microsoft apps, in addition to paying $55 per desktop for CrossOver Office. But McCartney says he's still been able to save about $10,000 in the past year by getting rid of his programmers' old Unix terminals. Johnson has also replaced a $1.6 million Silicon Graphics Inc. mainframe server with a cluster of 12 PCs running Red Hat Linux for developing simulation software. The PCs were a $25,000 investment--less than half the cost of annual maintenance on the SGI server.

The key to Linux's success on the desktop will be not only the availability of messaging and productivity applications but also the ability of users to easily adapt to a different look and feel. "The applications have to be available, otherwise companies risk sacrificing productivity to use cheaper software," says Bill Claybrook, an Aberdeen Group research director. "Linux isn't less expensive if your employees aren't as productive or if you're hiring developers to write customized programs."