Changing of the guard?

Date: 16 May 2005	Issue: 16 May (Computing S.A.)
Category: Comment	Brian Bakker

If you are reading this at Futurex you will probably have noticed two interesting things about the show this year: Microsoft is not here; and seemingly in its place is LinuxWorld SA. While the conspiracy theorists may have a field day with this, Aldean Prior, director of the Futurex exhibition, believes that this is mere coincidence, and that the two events are unrelated.

What’s on...?
At the time of writing last month 40 exhibitors had booked space at the show, and a stroll through the aisles should reveal the strong presences of IBM, HP, Novell, Oracle and Obsidian Systems. The IBM stand will contain a small theatre, in which Big Blue representatives will be espousing the relative merits of Linux technology.
Joe Ruthven, technical sales manager of IBM SA’s software business, says visitors should pause to consult the daily schedule of presentations for items of interest to them. “We will also entertain specific requests,” he adds.
Oracle’s focus, according to local marketing manager, Johan Bornman, will be twofold: launch a competition to send a developer on a sub-orbital space flight worth $100 000; and to promote the company’s entry-level database edition. “The point of the competition is to encourage Linux developers to download and look at our integrated development environment, J-Developer,” he says.
On the database side he notes that the intention is to dispel the perception of the Oracle database as prohibitively expensive. “The single-processor version of our database is, in fact, less expensive than Microsoft SQL Server,” he adds.
“We are also going to be doing the 17-minute challenge,” says Bornman. “Our resident database administrator, Deon Roos, will demonstrate how easy it is to install.”

Ten into one does go
A stand that will interest some is that of international exhibitor and Novell reseller, Omni. Aldo Zanoni, director of customer service at Omni, says that the American company re-engineered itself almost in parallel with Novell.
“Omni is a Novell development partner that is focused pretty much on building solutions for eDirectory and GroupWise,” he says. “We are focused on GroupWise, and, with the purchase of SuSE and Ximian, we saw the opportunity to move our solutions over to a Linux platform.
“Probably the most exciting initiative that we are pursuing right now is the Novell Linux Desktop (NLD) Multiplier. (This is a product that) leverages the power of NLD, by allowing a single computer to have up to ten monitors, ten keyboards and ten mice; allowing ten users sessions from that one computer,” he adds.
Zanoni believes the product will be of particular interest in SA following the success of HP’s Four-for-One, a similar product that allows four users to use a single PC concurrently. “Something like this is only possible on an open source OS like Linux,” he says.
“It really comes down to leveraging an open source solution for enterprise-class solutions that deliver value to the customer. And the NLD Multiplier is a perfect example of that ... here is a solution that will allow government departments, an Internet café or, more importantly, a school, to save tremendous money on the cost of infrastructure,” says Zanoni.

Local Linux is lekker
If you are one of those who has been wondering what all the fuss is about, or have even been thinking of checking it out, you have to stop by the Impi Linux stand and pick up your copy of SA’s only ‘made in SA’ distribution.
Ross Addis, CIO of Impi Linux, explains: “Impi Linux started a few years ago when a group of local open source developers saw a need for a Linux distribution that was both developed and maintained locally.”
Visitors to the stand will also be able to catch a demonstration of Cubit, the open source accounting system that has funded the development of Impi. “We are also planning to show off a number of our custom development jobs,” he says.
Addis is also involved at the LinuxWorld SA Conference, conducting a workshop entitled ‘Open Source the SA way’, a discussion that provides insight into the Impi/Cubit business model, how it works and, more importantly, why it works.
According to conference organiser and LinuxWorld spokesman, Craig Rodney, other speakers at the conference will include Mark Shuttleworth, Jon ‘Maddog’ Hall and Nhlanhla Mabaso of the CSIR. “Visitors would be well advised to consult the full conference programme for more information,” he says.
Ruthven is quite upbeat about the potential impact of LinuxWorld SA: “It is going to give people a huge shock when they see all the different solutions, all the different vendors, big and small, showcasing their technologies. I do not think people realise how much is available, and how stable it is,” he says.
“Those of us whose been working with it and keeping an eye on it, we have a feel for what is available, but once you actually get to an environment where you see real stuff running, real applications running, it is really going to be an eye-opener for a lot of people. I believe that it will make a big impact, and do a lot to dispel the doubts and fears that many customers may still have around Linux,” concludes Ruthven.