Computers Today, October 1-15, 1999, Master File;

Not in the near future. Forget about Bill Gates, even the Linux creator Linus Torvalds wouldn't hope so. However, riding on the anti-MS wave and backed by leading hardware and software vendors like IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq and Dell, Linux has lately picked up an amazing amount of mindshare spanning corporates, end-users, ISPs and geeks.

Suman Saraf of Hughes Software with his Linux Desktop

September 19, 1999. Another dull summer Sunday. For a while, the lengthy, dark corridor to Delhi's Electronics Niketan hall seemed to conjure the same sombre mood inside. Only a small paper stuck on the wall-'Linux World Demo, Delhi chapter-this way', lights up the confusing pathway. As you enter the hall area, you see a bunch of young guys sipping coffee. Now, a pretty girl on the reception desk hands you over a kit (yes, even before you show your press card). In it are five thick brochures and a grey T-shirt with the Tux logo. Welcome to the Linux community, Version India 99.

Executives of big infotech brands and consultancies walk up and down with a "may I help you" look; teenaged geeks gossip about Ethernet cards and VGI adapters; a few old men stare curiously at the desktops arrayed flashing a StarOffice window or a Tux logo. One striking factor-nobody is even taking the 'M' word. It looks like the Linux community has declared freedom from the 'anything- but-Microsoft' advocates.

Inside the packed hall, a projector display is going on. Intriguingly, the screen is flashing only a Tetris game, but the audience is watching it in solemn silence. A new entrant quips: "Is there a game going on?" The answer comes immediately from the side-"No, they are demonstrating Caldera installation." Two minutes later, the screen throws up a new window: the bearded person at the podium clicks the 'finish' button. Pops up the desktop screen, the now-famous KDE one for Linux. And he goes on: "We can opt for either the Windows desktop screen, the Mac screen, the FreeBDS one or the KDE itself."

Kishore Bhargava of C&B Consultants, who was doing the demo, now turns back to the crowd and asks-"Any doubts?" Hands throw themselves in the air, but no one apparently has got doubts with the installation. Only that the smoothness with which he installed (within flat 20 minutes) the OS in the Pentium-I system was incredible.

Will Government Tux it all in?

Though it is premature to say that government departments are shifting to Linux-based systems, a gradual acceptance of the penguin is perceptible. The Karnataka government is seriously looking at Linux-based solutions for the simple reason that it is the most cost-effective. Thinking along the same lines are the Ministry for Agriculture and Indian Council for Agricultural Research Institutes.

In Andhra Pradesh, the Stamps and Registration Department is opting for Linux. The first one to take part in the state's famous computerisation drive, it is now fully networked through a system called CARD. The system began functioning on Unix, but later found it difficult to manage the growing transactions. Around that time, C. Ramakrishna, assistant commissioner (commercial taxes) began toying with the idea of using

Linux. Today, the department has finished all the testing phases and is getting ready to change over. Says Ramakrishna: "I am a government servant and have been with the computerisation drive adopted by the state government. I understand the limitations that the government departments face during computerisation. This includes limitation of finances. In that context, I think an OS like Linux is the ideal solution. It is virtually free software and helps in making use of the existing hardware. Whereas Windows NT will force to shun the existing systems and go for newer expensive ones. And this type of cost governments cannot afford."

On his part, Ramakrishna is trying to push the virtues of Linux to the state government. He feels that public service-oriented departments should be first computerised as the benefits flow down directly to the citizen-thereby indirectly encouraging the computerisation movement itself. Service departments, he says, cannot afford exorbitant IT costs. One good reason to have a look at Linux. Indian governments cannot be shelling money continuously for making a department techno-savvy. "At one point they will stop, " Ramakrishna says.

In the meantime, the Karnataka government is promoting it in full measure. This year at Bangalore IT.com, a separate pavilion has been allotted to Linux. Anticipate a major boost to the software after the show.

More incredible is the fact that Linux has arrived in India, all the way from the University of Helsinki, Finland, with its culture intact-the culture of openness, freedom and flexibility. The eight-year-old journey has been truly completed: even 'print-out' home-users talking eagerly about the new zing thing. IS managers swear by its name, corporates offer both free and commercial support, datahouses churn out new figures of support every week, and above all, the government keeping a serious finger on the 'Enter' key. Is the millennium shift about to happen?

An estimate by the Linux Users Group of India (ILUG) shows that there are nearly two lakh users currently using the OS in the country. With the government departments seriously considering the usage of Linux, Linuxperts predict that it will become the favourite OS in the country in the next five years. Linux still ranks third in the country's OS market. What about tomorrow? With Windows leading the baton, followed by Novell, it is likely that the other flavours of Unix will lose their place to Linux quite soon. It is easy to see why. So far, Linux has been termed as a great performer in the areas of the Internet and intranet. A few users in India are changing that brand image: they have started developing applications on Linux. Alongside, the OS has made its foray into the application server and desktop levels.

"1998 was the year of Linux," says Indraneel Dasgupta, founder member, ILUG Calcutta chapter. During that year, Linux came out and grabbed people's attention, he adds. Dasgupta feels that much of the uproar was also created as more and more global software majors realised the growing importance of Linux, the stability of the platform, the tremendous creativity and dynamic nature of its developers. Corroborates Atul Chitnis of C&B Consulting: "Today, Linux is a mainstream operating system, and is being promoted by corporate vendors very aggressively. Examples are IBM, Dell, Compaq, HP, HCL-all in India."

Linux freedom does not stop at free downloading and installation. It is the freedom to change, share and distribute. Says Dasgupta: "The so-called freeware status is not of great importance here, you only have to look at the rampant levels of software piracy. In that angle, most software being used in our country is "free" or almost so. Linux is free in the sense of "freedom" or "free speech" not as we say "free mangoes."

Hues and Flavours

Atul Chitnis of C&B consulting divides the usage of Linux in Indian corporate sector into three categories:

The first is as a server. This can be both as an Internet/intranet server or a traditional file server. Due to its ability to emulate just about any network OS available today, Linux can be a Unix server, a Windows NT server or a Novell NetWare: all without letting server-end users realise the change.

The second is development. Software developed under Linux will run under just about any flavour of Unix available in the market. The basic difference is in the hardware. Linux can run on a low-end 386 or 486 system and still perform almost similar to a high-end workstation. In India, where costs and rapid obsolescence of hardware can play havoc with a company's finances, this makes for an attractive proposition.

The third is for the user category. End users use Linux as their main operating systems, working under Windows environment on a desktop very similar to other OS. Most of the applications are available on Linux. Full office suites priced at a tenth of what they would cost under other OS, communication programs, utility programs, multimedia applications and games are available. "If a company wishes to give its users functionality similar to what they would have under another OS, then they can do so at very low cost, and with added stability and manageability."

Linux also stands out among its peers for its flexibility. Cut to India, where the angle is that Linux running on affordable machines can quickly eradicate the computer-literacy gap at educational and government levels. It is 'possible' to deploy computers running Linux, while other operating systems have tremendous hardware requirements that a country like India just cannot afford. There are other reasons too-stability, reasonable cost, varied features, easy deployment, availability of knowledgeable support people, quick and constant updates, etc.

The critical boost that Linux got in India in recent times is the support services announced by major corporates like HCL Infosystems Ltd and Hughes Software Systems. Both have the early lead in promoting the corporate Linux surge.

HCL Infosys announced its Linuxpertise programme in 1999 March to "promote the Linux movement in India". Sharad Talwar, general manager, Marketing, HCL Infosys traces back the Linux support programme to the Unixpertise programme that the company had launched way back in 1988. Linuxpertise includes E-mail support, telesupport and on-site support. Apart from leading the Linux surge, one advantage that the company has got here is that the service helps users to familiarise themselves with the Infinity Global Line servers tested and validated for Linux. Its Linux helpline operates at linux@hclinsys.com while the telesupport operates from nine cities in the country.

Later on in August, HCL Infosys signed up with the global leader in Linux applications, Red Hat, as its authorised system builder in India. One major client of the company's Linuxpertise is Hyderbad-operating Pioneer Online (POL). It uses Linux as the operating system platform and has SendMail for the E-mail solution. The caching implementation is Squid-based and obviously Apache is the Web-hosting solution.

Hughes Software Systems (HSS), a subsidiary of $1.2 billion Hughes Network Systems, USA, has got a different approach regarding Linux. The firm has been using Linux as the development platform of choice ever since its inception in 1992. An HSS analysis of competing operating systems, at that point of time, had rated it as the highest on "parameters of flexibility, richness and robustness".

Today, HSS is offering its Linux expertise free to users across the country, both through a dedicated E-mail (penguine@hss.hnn.com) and a phone line at 91-124-346666. Vinod Sood, vice president, Engineering Services, HSS, says the Linux helpline program was devised to lend out the company's brainpower on Linux. "Right now, we are not looking at it on a commercial point of view, and are willing to share our Linux knowledge-base for free," says Suman Saraf, senior software engineer, HSS. "We have a Linux core group working here consisting of 30 engineers. The queries that come in are taken up by the group, and the solution would be posted at the earliest."

Even today, however, Linux is known only as a network operating system. For Tuxicans, the good news is that corporate India is embracing Linux steadily. The not-too-good news is that the space that it is taking is not quite that of Windows NT or Novell NetWare, but that of the good-old Unix. An interesting opinion on the Linux love of Indian corporates comes from an unexpected quarter. Mahesh Jaychandran, a US-based neuro-physician turned Linux fan, and promoter of Linux usage in India, says: "It is not just the software licensing aspect which has to talked about, but even the hardware. As and when you had new software, your hardware has to be upgraded. This means doubling your expenditure. On the other hand you have Linux which will serve the same purpose for a minimal cost."

Jaychandran has a point when you consider the server statistics. Windows NT, consisting of Windows NT server 4.0, Exchange 5.0 Enterprise, SQL Server 6.5, and Win Proxy costs Rs 5,74,075 for 100-user licence. Novell with NetWare 5, GroupWise 5.5, Oracle 8 (five-user licence) and others will cost Rs 8,70,000 for 100-user. On the other hand we have Linux with all the similar features costing Rs 2,100 only. The cost factor seems to driving many corporates to look at Linux as the alternative OS solution for their enterprise.

Krishna Susrala, a Hyderabad-based independent consultant who is promoting Linux through seminars and workshops, has a panoramic perspective: "It is not right to use the term 'switching over to Linux'. As of now we are in the transformation phase and it is difficult to state whether a corporate has completely switched over to Linux leaving behind their earlier OS. I think a company should start using Linux in conjunction with other operating systems. No one is actually propagating the one-OS idea anymore."

The IS managers of Indian corporates are more concerned about using the right tools for the right job and not so bothered about which software, points out Susrala. They take up any OS that is flexible to their needs and cost-effective to their management. He explains: "Their biggest concern is inter-operation between various platforms. OS like Solaris (on Sun machines), OS/400 (on IBM AS/400 systems), and others recognise and cater to this. As does Linux, which happily co-operates with just about any OS under the Sun, including Windows." Says C. Rama Krishna, assistant commissioner, commercial taxes, Andhra Pradesh, who has been instrumental in computerising the entire department in the state, "As of now Linux is the best solution for Indian governments which can not afford to shell out huge sum of money regularly."

The four major factors, which are placing Linux above other OS, are stability, robustness, scalability and price. For example, to set up a Windows NT server in a 100-user environment, you would need a high-end server with at least 64 MB RAM and running at a pretty high CPU speed. "Now take the same hardware platform, put Linux on it, and you will see an improvement in performance and stability that's unbelievable. The exciting thing is that this performance is not very different if you were to run it on a much lesser machine," points out Atul Chitnis, a Linux evangelist. This allows for only the basic functions. Once you start adding other features like E-mail, the hardware has to be simply doubled. On the other hand, we have Linux box distributed by Caldera, Red Hat or SuSE which comes with all the functions and will run on the same hardware platform. "The best part is Linux would have all these functions built-in." India can be called an "Unix Country" as it has a large number of Unix based installations in major research centres, universities, defence research organisations and in the aerospace industry. These machines range from PDP Series to Alpha servers, IBM RS/6000s and HP Unix Servers. "The transition from Unix to Linux is already in process," says K.G. Ramesh Kumar, managing director of Institute for Specialised Education based in Bangalore. "We see the younger generation software engineers showing a great deal of interest in Linux". The institute has started an exclusive Linux Learning Centre, the first of its kind in the country.