Real answers to the question “Can you run your business on Linux and open source?”

David M Williams
Monday, 26 November 2007 07:12

Opinion and Analysis

A friend said to me recently that “Firefox is for the home, Internet Explorer is for the office.” His comments reflect commonly found stigma and fears that free and open source software – and Linux too – are not suitable for a business environment. Let me set the record straight, giving real feedback from companies who have made the switch and don’t look back.

Before we consider business vs personal use, why do people use Microsoft Windows anyway? I’ve previously said there are four major reasons why people opt to use Microsoft Windows over an alternate operating system:

Familiarity
Windows is well-known. The majority of brand-name systems ship with Windows. Most users know what “My Documents” is for, or where to find their printers. It’s a truism that the big problem with first impressions is you only get to make one, so an alternate operating system has the cards loaded against it. If a user can’t find how to perform some of their regular tasks either immediately or in a very short timeframe then there’s little encouragement to try keep trying.

Support
Everyone knows someone who uses Windows. You can’t move in a shopping centre without tripping over Windows books and magazines. Even your grandmother uses Windows Messenger and conversation at the average family gathering will inevitably venture into registry tweaks. Yet, if you are not an IT pro, experimenting with an unconventional OS can lead to a feeling of isolation.

Hardware
It’d be rare hardware which doesn’t come with drivers for some version of Windows. Most any device can be made to work on at least 32-bit Windows XP. Vista is a different story, as is 64-bit Windows, and as is Windows’ server editions. But for the moment, it’d be safe to say 99.9% of hardware will run under 32-bit XP.

By contrast, Linux has a reputation in some areas for being deviously finicky. Even though huge gains have been made, video cards and wireless network cards are still a matter of concern as are some specialised laptop components.

Windows-only software
Last but not least, sometimes the software just leaves you no choice. We could all speak about banking websites which mandate “Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher is required”. And one of Australia’s biggest applications – eTax, allowing electronic submission of the annual tax return, with a potential user base of every single Australian adult – comes in just a Windows flavour at this time (but the future looks positive!)

That’s my opinion as to why Windows is used. And I can certainly imagine the issues magnify when it comes to business use over home use. At the office, stability is a much more important concern. Plus you add the need for file-shares and authentication (ie network logins) to the mix as well as groupware e-mail and calendaring applications.

I canvassed opinions from people whose companies had opted to switch from Windows to Linux. I asked them what prompted them to do this. Had they lost any services? Was it a painless or painful process? Any feedback in general? The responses were all very interesting giving real, unbiased, genuine experiences from the field. So, I’m pleased to tell you real reasons people switch, and the genuine experiences concerning stability, functionality and security.