Open-Source, Part III The Open-Source Desktop

1. Open-Source, Part IIIThe Open-Source Desktop Presented by Tom Nolle President of CIMI Corporation Chief Strategist for ExperiaSphere

2. What We’ll Cover • What’s the special value proposition for the desktop? • What are the issues and pitfalls that will mess me up? • What specific software types are available, and likely useful, in the desktop space? • Can I integrate open-source with my IT processes, and with the Cloud?

3. The Special Value There are a lot more desktops than data centers in the typical enterprise, and so software license costs on the desktop can mount to truly alarming proportions. Commercial desktop software is generally less secure because it’s a greater target for hackers and malware. Thus open-source can cut your security risks and costs. The more open-source software you use on the desktop, the more the savings in licensing costs will multiply. In some software segments, open-source tools are arguably the best of breed.

4. What’s Available, What Works, What Doesn’t Personal productivity software, from word processors to spread sheets, presentation graphics, databases, and multimedia editing and processing: The tools are good if used from scratch, but there are issues of features and format compatibility with commercial software. Best bets: multimedia and graphics, databases. Linux distributions combine tools, provide software update sources, and introduce better community support and compatibility assurance than a total “roll-your-own” approach to desktop Linux. All of these are helpful in making desktop Linux practical. Thin-client trends, including cloud computing and some desktop virtualization trends, could promote the use of a Linux desktop. The problem is that support for open-source tools can be non-existent, and that means that you may have to rely on “community support” or on your own in-house expertise.

5. Integration: Data Center & Cloud Thin client options in open-source are pretty much the same as they are in any desktop/laptop or phone; they are a function of browser availability. In a company moving to thin clients, the savings in open-source desktops are high, and support and other risks are diminished. There are “enterprise desktop” versions of many Linux distributions that include integration tools, but the biggest benefits of these are likely to be common administration, so try to pick one compatible with your data center commitments. IF you can migrate your workers to cloud-based productivity tools, you can either use those tools with a Linux desktop or be reasonably sure that open-source suites (OpenOffice) will serve their needs. Watch out for compatibility issues in desktop collaboration, though! In the end, it’s likely that integration benefits for desktop Linux won’t change the value proposition for most enterprises. The key is more likely to be the availability and suitability of desktop productivity tools.

6. What Are the Special Risk/Reward Balances for the Desktop? The biggest question is probably going to be the extent to which your workers are “power users” of desktop software tools like office suites, graphics software, etc. The differences between open-source and commercial tools are most apparent for the more sophisticated users. Software support is a community effort in open-source, but your desktop users had better not be expected to join in the community! You’ll need to have a cadre of technical types who provide the interface. You will need to think of desktop Linux as being committed as far as the eye can see within your enterprise, because you’ll pay all of the penalties of support, integration, and compatibility with even 10% of your workers committed – but won’t harvest the benefits!

7. How NOT to Mess Up: Formats & Interfaces Any significant commitment to a proprietary set of interfaces, APIs, or services is likely to create problems for you. While some are “supported” with open-source equivalents, most of these are incomplete, many are buggy, and almost all are reported to be performance dogs. Most Java-related tools and SDKs are fairly portable between commercial and Linux desktop platforms, and you may be able to write “adapters” to match up interfaces. You’ll need to do some testing and evaluation here! Pretty much all of the proprietary desktop file formats will work some of the time with open-source tools, but very few will work all of the time, and sometimes the “not working” will be a disaster. You will need extensive testing here! Before you cut over to a Linux desktop, lay the groundwork by converting files to a Linux-compatible format in the old software where possible and test the interfaces while the older software is still available. This may mean dual-boot systems!

8. How NOT to Mess Up: Practices & Features How many open-source desktop tools are 100% feature compatible and operationally equivalent to their commercial counterparts? You guessed it! The learning curve on desktop productivity tools is much steeper than most realize; people build skills through decades of exposure. You’ll need to jumpstart the process of re-educating workers with some good education and practice! Beware of old files that get pulled out for special applications! These are often ignored when compatibility testing is being done, and sometimes the applications they support are absolutely critical. Think about an end-of-year pilot test to find them! In most enterprises, 80% of desktop software work is done by 20% of the workers. Figure out who these people are, and focus on their files, features, and processes!

9. Summary • Desktop Linux is NOT going to be easy! • Open-source tools are comparable to commercial ones in basic applications, but not identical, and in complex applications they may not work at all. • The value proposition will depend on being able to replace commercial desktops for a LOT of workers. • You should plan on an extensive project to test compatibility and identify the key workers and key issues.

10. Thank You! www.cimicorp.com (856) 335-5137