Much has been made of the challenge posed to the Microsofts of the world when it comes to desktops and servers. For most, the challenge is an all-or-nothing battle in which Linux must at all costs usurp Microsoft as the dominant software player. In reality, however, that scenario is still a long way off, and may never happen. Rather, the open source community should be concentrating on market areas in which real gains can be made with Linux.
Linux will win in areas where what it is, is less important than what it can do.
Alastair Otter, Journalist, ITWeb
One of these is in the retail sector. Others are service industries and call centres, areas where often the flashiest and most expensive application is simply overkill, particularly in the small retail sector.
A good example is point of sales terminals. The criteria for these types of applications are simple: they must be robust, reliable and secure and, in case they go down, they must be able to get back up and running as fast as possible. After all, you don`t want to have to slowly reboot client-facing terminals in the face of a Saturday morning shopping crowd.
The benefits of Linux in this type of environment are that it meets exactly these needs. It is lightweight, fast and infinitely customisable, and because it doesn`t require the highest spec machines on the market, it is great for even the smallest of retailers.
Call centres are another area in which Linux is a likely winner. Call centre terminals are focused on one task: providing operators with access to the information they need to resolve problems and queries. The systems don`t need to be full-featured with animated graphics but they do need to be fast and, again, if there is a problem, should reboot as quickly as possible.
How often have you been stuck on the end of a phone line while the operator waits for the system to "come back up"? Or worse, making idle chitchat with the operator while his or her machine chugs away at processing the query.
There are two options here, and both make sense for companies considering setting up a call centre. Either use a collection of lower-spec machines with a stripped Linux version which keeps costs down enormously, or run the call centre through a central server with diskless workstations acting as the operator terminals. This is perhaps the best because security and upgrades, and managing access to the system, can be centrally controlled, making it easy to add and remove users.
Another area is in small environments like doctors` rooms. Most doctors` rooms appear to be still running old DOS-based systems or early versions of Windows that don`t require a desktop as such. General practitioners don`t want to hack a bit of code or download MP3s on their machines, but they do want their billable hours to be accurate and their system to be stable as possible.
In these areas Linux is the most likely winner because of its reliability, low cost and ability to be as simple and as capable as possible. Linux will continue to make headlines with its inroads into server rooms and large desktop installations, but the real work that will grow Linux will happen with the smaller applications and businesses where the fact that it is Linux is less important than what it can do.
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