Tux Watch

Slashdot | Increased Linux Use With SCO’s Defeat Predicted

Now that the SCO lawsuit is pretty much over, I feel that the use of linux will grow and migrate into the business desktop.

From Slashdot:

The defeat of SCO’s infamous copyright attack has Forbes wondering if a GNU/Linux boom is upon us. They discuss how this will benefit Novel, IBM, Chrysler, AutoZone and Red Hat. ‘The SCO Group frightened potential business users away from Linux with lawsuits demanding billions in royalties. But the litigious company’s claims were shot down in a ruling that will likely boost uptake of the operating system.’”

Thanks to our friends from the UNDP-APDIP-IOSN International Open Source Network’s ASEAN+3 Node in the Philippines [here] who only recently organized the Asia Source 2 FOSS Camp in Indonesia [here] have produced a CD Package, filled with useful FOSS based free business applications titled SME-in-a-Box. I was lucky enough to be there and recieve a copy of the CD the content of which I will now be sharing through TuxWatch.org exclusively for our readers.

“SME-in-a-Box� is a toolkit designed to meet the specialized needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). The aim is to provide a selection of peer-reviewed software and material, which help businesses to grow. SME-in-a-Box leverages the power of FOSS for social and economic development. The collection comprises of software and manuals for general use of SMEs in their daily operations and management. Online links for each application will be conveniently included on this website directing the end-user to relevant websites and thus, gaining quick access to both downloades and advanced technical documentations and case studies.

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The Linux Professional Institute has launched [here] the LPIC-3 Certification Program representing the culmination of LPI’s Certification Program. LPIC-3 is designed for the “enterprise-level” Linux professional and represents the highest level of professional, distribution-neutral Linux certification within the industry. The LPIC-3 program consists of a single exam for LPIC-3 “Core” designation. A number of “specialty” exams are proposed as additional designations on top of the LPIC-3 “Core” certification. Proposed specialties include the following: Mixed Environment, Security, High Availability and Virtualization, Web and Intranet, and Mail and Messaging. The first such “specialty” designation, “Mixed Environment” has been made available in January 2007.

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Part- 4. India Plays “IT” Big

Further adding to local FOSS Ecosystem development initiatives in India, the Indian state of Tamil Nadu has been making headlines [here ] the world over as the state goes for FOSS due to concerns over security and the high costs that Microsoft offers for Windows. The Indian state is not new to FOSS as the local government been running Red Hat Linux on various backend servers coupled with JBoss application server and PostgreSQL databases.

Mr. C.Umashankar the Managing Director, Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Elcot is a state-owned IT supplier) has clearly announced that

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Part- 3. India Plays “IT” Open

India has been very prominent on the FOSS world news bulletins due to the fact that with one of the largest populations in the world, the country has been on preference list for Information Technology and Software Business Process Outsourcing for the western or developed world. Adding to this, almost every major FOSS development corporation has either Research and Development center in India as well as country operations including giant brand names like Red Hat, Novell, IBM etc. In India, the Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) [here ] has been leading FOSS initiatives in the country.

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Part- 2. Pakistan Brings Nation Closer To Realization

To take FOSS efforts to the next level in Pakistan, the Government initiated a project worth Rs29 million titled “Open Source Resource Center” (OSRC) [here] was established at the through the Ministry of IT’s [here] implementation arm the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) [here] in January 2004 in Islamabad to facilitates stake holders and investors in the software industry, should they decide to shift their businesses from vendor-dependent proprietary software to open source software technology. It aims to create a culture of open source software use in Pakistan through media awareness and training workshops, and act as a virtual community for experts in this field.

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Part- I. Realizing True Potential

Readers on this side of the world may not be aware of some very interesting ICT and FOSS developments taking place in the various regions of Asia. First of all, there are many FOSS initiatives that are very active within the overall region adding value to the global FOSS movement. These regional or country level initiatives include organizations and groups like:

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Enterprise Resource Planning software integrates departments and functions across a company into one computer system, conceptually running off a single database, enabling various departments to share information and communicate with each other. ERP systems comprise of function-specific modules designed to interact with the other modules, eg Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Purchasing, HRMS, Sales and Marketing, Distribution etc. Business Intelligence software is used to mine data from large information system repositories such as Data Warehouses and the web.

The LinuxInsider reports [here] that IDC estimates that overall market for non-proprietary ERP applications will hit about US$36 billion by 2008 with FOSS ERP systems like Compiere ERP, ERP5, OpenMFG and Fisterra taking it there. Organizations worldwide are now looking towards as the possibility of mission-critical Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Business Intelligence (BI) solutions as FOSS is making its way into a number of “niche” markets. Another interesting fact is that Oracle and SAP are also making a major shift towards the Linux platform proving that FOSS is receiving adequate support by the global business and industry.

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Oracle’s move into the Linux world through its new product combined with Operating System platform support strategy and distribution, “Unbreakable Linux” has already caused an unrest in the market that was already buying Linux support from companies like Redhat and Novell. Most of the industry thinks that it might be possible that Oracle will only be supported on platforms blessed by Oracle itself. The FAQs available on Oracle’s website speak of such a ‘Transition Path for Red Hat and Novell customers’ on Page#4 [here]:

“What is the transition path for existing Red Hat and Novell Linux users?
Transition is very easy. Existing Red Hat and Novell Linux customers that move to the Unbreakable Linux support program may receive credit for

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