buyingmandriva

SuperiorLinuxDistributionItisimportanttobeginbysayingthatallLinuxdistributions,includingcommercial–RedHatEnterpriseLinux,SUSE,Xandros,etc–aswellasnon-commercial–Debian,Slackwre,Gentoo,etc–areallgoodandaretechnicallyabletofulfillmostrealworldneeds.
Tochooseamongstthemismorerelatedtopersonaltasteofthepeoplewhoalreadyknowsitthantofunctionality.
Butacompanymustthinkaboutotheraspects–notonlytaste–toguaranteemakingtherightstrategicchoiceforlongtermbenefits.
SupportandCertificationAllLinuxdistributorspackage,inonewayoranother,mostlythesamesetofOpenSourcesoftwares(theKernel,Apache,Samba,libraries,Gnome,KDE,etc).
Butonlythesocalledenterprisedistributionsincludesupportservicestogetherwiththeirproduct.
Forauser,supportreallymeans:1.
Apartneravailablenowandinthelongtermtotransferoperationalrisks.
Thisisthemostimportantpoint.
Companiesdon'twanttotakerisks—speciallytheOpenSourcerisks—forthemselves.
2.
Fastaccesstoqualityupdates.
Companiesingeneralhavelimitedresourcestocompile,testandapplyOSSupdates.
3.
Accesstoalargesetofcertifiedhardware(IHV)andsoftware(ISV)vendors,andavailabilityofpre-testedcomplexsolutions.
AcriticalpartofanyITprojectisthesupportandcertificationconnectionsbetweenitscomponents(hardware,storage,middleware,etc).
Themostimportantandvaluedfunctionprovidedbyadistributor,evenmoresothantheembeddedtechnologyintheOS,isitsabilitytobuildecosystemsofcertifiedIndependentHardwareandSoftwareVendors.
PriceforaLicenseVersusSubscriptionBusinessModelsCompaniesthatsellcommercialsoftware(asMicrosoft,IBM,Oracle,etc)allowsomebodytousetheirproductsonlyafterbuyingtherightsto.
This"buyablerights"arereferedtoasacommerciallicense.
ThesoftwareprovidedinanyLinuxdistributionisfreeofcharge.
ThedevelopersofthesesoftwareshavelicensedtheirworkundertheGPL,BSD,MozillaPublic,IBMPublicorsomeotherOpenSourcelicenses,whichgrantsanyonetherightstouseandredistributethesoftwarewithouthavingtopayanymoney.
Itisamisnomertosaythatyouare"buying"someLinuxdistribution(oralicenseforittobeused).
Youcan'tbuyit.
Itisalreadyyours,inpracticalterms.
Itislikesayingauserisbuyingthecontentofsomewebsite.
Thereisnothingmaterialtoacquire.
Ontheotherhandthisusercansubscribetoaservicethatprovideshotlinesupport,accesstoupdatesandaccesstoanecosystemofinteroperablecertifiedproductsandsolutions–thesupportpointsoutlinedabove.
SoenterpriseLinuxdistributors(suchasRedHat,Novell,Xandros)selltheseservices,andnotthesoftware,becausethelastisfreeofcharge.
ChoosingtheBestDistributionTherearetworesponsibleandeffectivewaystouseaLinuxdistributionaspartofacompany'sIToperations:1.
AcquireaglobalcommercialLinuxsubscriptionsuchasRedHatEnterpriseLinuxorNovellSUSELinuxEnterpriseServer.
AsubscriptiontiestogethertheOpenSourcesoftwareanditsglobalscalesupport,providingastableenvironmentforacertifiedISVandIHVflourishingecosystem.
2.
UsefreedistributorssuchasasDebianorSlackwareandbuysupportservicesfromanindependentlocalcompany.
Freedistributionsmayintroducemoreriskduetonon-globalsupportoperations,inadditiontoalooseintegrationbetweensoftwareandsupport,whichleadstoaweakISVsandIHVsecosystem.
Intermsoftechnicalflexibilityandvendorchoice–pointsthatinfluencecost–,bothoptionsareequal.
Allthebenefitsofthesecondoptionarepresentinthefirst,whilesecondlackstheecosystemaspects.
Thustheconclusionisthatitismorereasonabletodirectlyacquireaproductthatdirectlytiesthesupporttothesoftware,thanmanuallyintegratethemattheregionallevel.
Companiesshouldlookatthefollowingpoints,inthisorder,whenchoosingaLinuxdistributiontoruntheirbusinessapplications:1.
WhichdistributionvendordoIhaveclosercommercialrelationship2.
Whohasbestpricingmodelforthevalueprovided3.
Whichdistributiondoesmytechnicalstaffhavemoreexperiencewith4.
Whichdistributionissupportedandcertifiedbymyprovidersofhardwareandsoftware5.
Ifyouareunsure,beresponsibleanduseanenterprisedistributor.
TherearetwoenterpriseLinuxdistributorsthathaveastrongecosystemandpenetrationinthemarket:RedHatEnterpriseLinuxandNovellSUSELinuxEnterprise.
Theyhavedifferencesthateveryyearcontinuetoconverginganddiverge.
Seethetableforacomparison.
OtherEnterpriseDistributionsThereareseveralLinuxdistributionswithbusinessmodelssimilartotheoneadoptedbyRedHatandNovell.
MostwellknownareUbuntu(technicallybasedonDebian),Mandriva(ConectivaandMandrakefusion),Xandros(alsobasedonDebian.
)Theyarefocusedonbuildingaproductthatcanscalegloballyinsuchawaythatsupportservicescanbedeliveredautomaticallyorasaself-service.
Thereisanintrinsicmarketlawthatseeksequilibriumbyprovidingtwooptionsinwhichtochoose.
Oneoptionmaybegood(thereisactuallynooptionwhenonlyonepathisavailable),twomatureoptionsisbetter,andthreeormoreoptionsaretoomuchforthemarkettohandle.
Itappearsthatthemarkethasalreadydefineditstwomatureoptions:NovellandRedHat.
Eveniftheseotherenterprisedistributorshavebetterproducts,they'llhavetospendaconsiderableamountofenergydevelopinganecosystemofISVsandIHVs.
Morethanthat,ISVsandIHVswillhavetotakeabreakintheiroperationstolistentowhatthesenewdistributorshavetooffer.
Ecosystemiseverything.
Aproductwithagoodecosystemcaneasilybecomemuchbetterthananexcellentproductwithoutanecosystem.
ThisisprobablythemostimportantaspectacompanyshouldconsiderwhenchoosingaLinuxdistribution.
Onecannotsaythatacertaindistributionisbetterthanallothers.
Whensearchingforadistributiononeshouldbepragmaticinstrikingabalancebetweenthedistribution'sfunctionsandhowwellitmeetsthegoalsofthecompanyorspecificproject.
AviAlkalayisaLinuxandOpenStandardsconsultantfromIBMavix@br.
ibm.
comusabilityecosystemSUSELinuxEnterpriseRedHatEnterpriseLinuxIncludesJava,Flashandotherpopularno-costclosed-sourcesoftwareStrictpolicytoincludeonlyOpenSourceandpatent-freesoftwareUnified,componentized,morecompleteandconsistentadministrationtool–YaST–forGUIandTUISmall,separateandmonoliticconfigurationtoolsforthegenericsituations,mostlyforGUIComplexpatchesfocusedonusabilityandbetterintegrationofdifferentsoftwaresMinimalpatchesfocusedonsimplifiedmainteinershipinthelongtermtechnologycalapproachUncommoninterpretationofstandardssuchastheFHS,LSB,JPackageCommonsensestrictconformancetoLinuxstandards,includingJPacakgeStickwithwhatalreadyworksIncludeslaststableinnovationsfromtheOpenSourceworldNotallsourcepackagesavailabletothepublicAllsourcepackagesavailabletothepublicSomedifferentsourcepackages(kernel,libc,etc)fordifferentplatformsSamesourcepackagesacrossallplatforms,withintelligentcompile/buildsystemsNamingconventions(packages,folders,filenames,etc)havesome"SUSE"signatureNamingconventionsaregenericandRedHat-independentAlwaysreadytopartnerStrongecosystemestablishedOtherinfrastructure-relatedproductsthatusetobeclosedsource,suchasmonitoring,collaborationandadministrationOSSandLinuxarethehearthandsoulofthecompany;PostgreSQL,middleware,Javaandinfrastructurerelatedproducts,suchasGFS,clustering,DirectoryServer,alwaysOpenSourcefavorablechallengingneutral