IBM Certifies Linux

"Federal agencies are increasingly interested in Linux because of its reliability, ability to reduce information technology costs, and its portability across different computing platforms..."

Linux is not owned by a self-interested (or self-obsessed) monopoly that has history of refusing to allow anybody (including IBM) to compete with its product. IBM invented OS2 in a mistimed effort to create a viable alternative to Windows NT. It was a bit before its time (efficient multitasking) and a bit too clunky (too much technical exposure and during its heyday - it was character based) to achieve user acceptance in the face of the then underdog Microsoft and its whizz bang "user friendly" graphical interface the industry decided it would embrace.

Unix was lurking in the background, developed in the 60s and popularized first by SCO and oddly Microsoft (Xenix) and then relegated to "mid range systems" until Linux came along and showed that a system could work better than a disrelated series of acquisitions that Microsoft herded together in its stable of Operating System products. Try and remember back - Windows used to be an optional applications development environment, MS DOS was the "big thing".

And then the world became networked and Windows, based around many technologies, became vulnerable to many doorways flapping in the digital winds of progress.

In a recent survey on internet.com, it is revealing that the ways in which the majority of people feel that may be infected are directly the result of software inadequacy.

 Of all the ways a virus can infect IT systems, which is the most difficult to defend?



P2P applications (18%)

e-mail attachments (28%)

Web site downloads (26%)

Partners with network access (23%)

Other (4%)

It is the ActiveX level of Windows that allows infection during normally sequestered "intimate" network accesses that P2P may allow. That is one directory, file copying. Instead we have services that ought to be cloaked or locked away available to script kiddies. Ever been infected by a virus via a webpage or download? The Open Source community has an inbuilt protection against malicious code. It's very nature (publishing the source code) makes it difficult to hide evil code that may establish liability.

We can backup all our development files in Linux with one command. And it does this without worry every day. It takes minutes or even seconds and compresses entire directory trees into files that rebuild easily. The venerable tar (tape archive) utility is terrifically powerful. Used with cron (the time based background application system) and you too can take a photocopy of all your files in seconds.

It takes hours to backup these files under Windows. Using WinZip improves matters, unless Windows memory management gets involved. And then a new class of doubt arises as a job that takes so long to complete surpasses one's memory of what the file you created is for, moreover the crash renders the large ZIP file useless.

And the Linux development environment just keeps on running without a pause. The Windows machine crashes about twice a day, usually from memory faults.