Jon Walker

As with all big conferences, LinuxWorld Boston earlier this year had a few broad themes that you couldn't help be exposed to just by walking the floor. One that caught me by surprise was the excitement around thin client Linux. At first I attributed it to a combination of the big vendors pushing blade computing and the malaise that had developed around desktop Linux. For the past few years the battle cry had been "This is the year of Linux on the desktop." Linus Torvalds himself made the assertion in a few interviews. Well...Windows hasn't been crushed in an avalanche of Linux adoption on the desktop. I personally believe that desktop Linux is going to be less of an avalanche and more like the buildup of sand on the beach - gradual, constant, and imperceptible to the casual onlooker. The lack of widespread adoption however had people like Jeremy White of Codeweavers... (more)

Rebuffing Microsoft's Spin About Linux Management

Over the last few years, we've seen and heard some pretty visceral reactions from the Linux community to Microsoft-funded reports about Linux. Rightfully so - some of the "facts" in Microsoft's "Get the Facts" campaign have been outright false and most have been misleading at the very least. Perhaps no studies have drawn more ire from the Linux community than the total cost of ownership ("TCO") studies by Laura DiDio at the Yankee Group and the community also had a strong collective outcry against some very one-sided Microsoft "facts" about Linux security. But one particular foca... (more)

University of North Carolina at Charlotte Capitalizes on More Bang for Fewer Bucks

For the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC), using technology to further the education of its 21,000 graduate and undergraduate students is nothing new. In 1983, UNCC became the first U.S. university to electronically categorize its library, and for the past 10 years the school has offered numerous degree programs online. A benefit of this commitment to technology is that members of the entire campus stays closely connected to each other and to the community-at-large. UNCC's 49er Express portal lets students access course information, grades, registration, financia... (more)

Fujitsu Siemens Simplifies the Complexities of Software Testing

Customers have high expectations that their software solutions have been stress-tested thoroughly in advance for every conceivable combination of events that might occur in production and that vendors who put out buggy products are exposed quickly. Unfortunately, inadequate infrastructure for software testing is said to cost approximately $59.5 billion annually, according to a 2002 study, "The Economic Impacts of Inadequate Infrastructure for Software Testing," conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. This cost reflects, in part, the extra resources expen... (more)

Windows-to-Linux Desktop Migration Road Map

International Data Corporation (IDC) released a study in December 2004 noting that the worldwide Linux market for PCs, servers, and software will hit $35 billion by 2008. There's a general industry consensus that we're at the brink of a major Windows-to-Linux migration. However, with all the high-level discussion, there has not yet been much attention paid to the practical steps of moving from a Windows desktop to a Linux desktop. This article serves as a road map, outlining how to perform both a manual and an automated desktop migration. Prep Steps: Advance PlanningIn planning a... (more)