By James R. Maddox and Karl Putnam
In Brief
An Open Source OS Alternative
Most accounting and finance professionals know about and use products that run on Microsoft Windows, but they may not know about an alternative operating system (OS)--one that can go toe-to-toe with Windows on almost every front. It is called Linux, and after years of cloistered development, it is finally out in the limelight.
Linux was chosen as the operating system on 17% of computers shipped by manufacturers in 1998, versus seven percent in 1997, according to the Internet Data Corporation. Additionally, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Compaq have announced plans to ship machines with Linux preinstalled. Linux can be downloaded from the Internet for free, or can be purchased from a few vendors offering technical support, including Red Hat Software (which also offers a free download on its website http://www.redhat.com .
Linux is an operating system based on UNIX, the operating system developed by AT&T's Bell Labs during the 1960s and 1970s. Originally, UNIX ran on mainframes with teletype terminals, so the only user interface available was an MS-DOS-like command line. Over time, a Windows-like interface called X Windows or X11 was developed. Today, variants of UNIX such as Sun Microsystems' Solaris and Silicon Graphics' Irix drive powerful network servers and high-end graphical workstations. Linux, though, brings the power of UNIX to the desktop PC.
During its early years, UNIX became popular among the academic and scientific community thanks to its simplicity as well as its ability to elegantly handle the demands of multitasking, multiuser, networked computing. The UNIX source code, which was widely available at the time, was used in universities to teach classes in operating system design and implementation. But as UNIX became a commercially viable product, AT&T became concerned with protecting its trade secrets and added a proviso to the license of UNIX Release 7 barring its use as a teaching tool. Programmers showed a clear preference for an open source environment, and that is how Linux has evolved.
Why Linux?
Price. Despite the overwhelming popularity of Microsoft Windows in the home and business markets, there are still many reasons to choose Linux when setting up a computer system. Possibly chief among these reasons is cost. A single copy of Windows 98 is about $150, while a copy of Windows NT Workstation sells for about $250--or about 1525% of the cost of a typical workstation.
Commercial Linux packages, however, sell for about $50, and there are even free versions available for the more technically inclined. As a result, the price difference for a 10-computer network could be as much as $2,500--a substantial savings that any operation could appreciate, especially as upgrades become available.
Networking flexibility. Linux is also more flexible than Windows in terms of configuring a network. Both operating systems support two basic types of network models: peer-to-peer and client-server. In a peer-to-peer network, each computer operates independently of the other computers, maintaining program and data files on its own hard drive. In the client-server model, most program and data files are stored on a single computer, the server. Users access the server through workstations, or clients, which run programs themselves, but do not store their own copies of the data. Peer-to-peer networking is less susceptible to network failures, since each machine is independent; but client-server networking reduces data redundancy, thereby reducing storage costs and the chance that old or otherwise incorrect data will be erroneously accessed.
Any computer running either operating system can be configured as a peer-to-peer network workstation without much difficulty. However, at least one copy of Windows NT Server is required to set up a client-server network; NT Server typically sells for $900$1,000, plus the cost of client licenses. If an organization intends to have more than five or ten clients on the network at once, it must purchase additional licenses from Microsoft or one of its dealers. Additionally, some advanced Windows NT features are only found in Microsoft BackOffice, an enhanced version of NT Server that sells for about $2,000.
Linux, however, requires no additional software or licenses to run as a network server. In extending the 10-workstation business network mentioned previously to a client-server architecture, the cost savings of Linux over Windows NT would now be as much as $4,500.
As the popularity of the Internet and corporate intranets continues to grow, the server capabilities of Linux make increasingly more sense. Indeed, much of the Internet is built around UNIX-based computers; Microsoft did not really get into the Internet market until the mid-90s. A computer running Linux can be configured as a local-area network file server, Internet or intranet web server, e-mail server, proxy server, or network firewall without additional software. (A proxy server is a machine that accepts Internet communications requests from other computers on the local network, sends the requests through the Internet, and routes the Internet response back to the appropriate computer. A firewall acts as a logical and physical barrier between a local network and the Internet, and is usually the only computer physically connected to the Internet. Both are essential for network security.)
And thanks to its UNIX roots, Linux has one additional mode of networked operation besides peer-to-peer and client-server: the venerable timesharing (host-terminal) model. Any Linux workstation can remotely log into a Linux server or even another Linux workstation with a simple command. Afterward, every command issued on the workstation remotely logged in (the terminal) is actually executed on the other computer (the host). This model differs from the client-server in that a client uses data stored on the server but runs its own programs. Under Linux, you can configure terminals to do nothing except send instructions to the host and display its output. While this model of access is not necessary for most modern business applications, it can prove invaluable for troubleshooting and other technical applications.
On the other hand, every major release of Windows, at least since Windows 95, has had confirmed bugs numbering into the thousands--even into the tens of thousands. Windows' woes can be explained away as the result of Microsoft's adding new features with every release; but the net result is that in everyday use Windows tends to crash more frequently, and with greater severity, than Linux.
Speed and Efficiency. Another result of Windows' "feature bloat" is that every new release requires more memory and a faster processor in order to maintain the same speed. Every new layer added to the operating system to make Windows programmers happy (or go crazy) means more processor time required by the operating system and less available to user programs. Linux's clean, well-written core has fewer unnecessary features that add overhead, allowing it to run comparable programs faster than Windows on similar hardware.
Security. With respect to Windows 95 and 98, and certain Windows NT systems (ones that must maintain compatibility with older MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 software), Linux provides enhanced security. Under Windows 95 and 98, network access can be controlled by requiring users to enter a password when they start up the computer; but use of the workstation and access to any of its files and directories cannot be limited in this way.
Similarly, under Linux, no one can use a workstation unless a valid user name and password have been entered. But Linux also maintains a system of file permissions that restrict access to files and directories. Every file or directory is subject to three types of access under Linux: read, write, and execute. Read permission allows a user to access data in a file or list the files in a directory. Write permission lets a user modify or delete a file and remove a directory or save a file in it. Execute permission allows the user to run program files or to search a directory for a particular file without necessarily being able to see any of the files in that directory.
Furthermore, every file and directory has not just one set of permissions, but three: one for owner, one for group, and one for others. Owner permissions refer to the creator of the file; usually, owners have complete access. Also, only the owner of a file or the system administrator can change a file's access permissions. Group permissions allow users in the owner's user group to access that person's files. For example, if a report is created by someone in the accounting department, other accountants could be given access to the report. Finally, other permissions are for users who are not the creators of the file and do not belong to the creator's group. A report file would need its other read permission set if it was created by the accounting department but had to be accessed by the company's marketing department.
Why Not Linux?
Software Availability. As advantageous as using Linux may seem, there are nevertheless some considerable tradeoffs. Foremost among these is the question of what kinds of applications the business will need to run and whether the same or equivalent software is available on Linux. Windows boasts the largest collection of software available on any platform, whereas consumer Linux software development is in its infancy, so obviously choices will be limited. Sometimes, though, software is available to convert data files from one program's format to another. If the business is dependent upon a particular program that is not available for Linux and neither a substitute program nor data conversion is a satisfactory solution, Windows is probably a more sensible choice.
This also applies to businesses that link electronically to suppliers and customers using Windows software. If there is no Linux product capable of satisfactorily handling the electronic transactions and the company is not willing to have a custom utility or application developed to facilitate compatibility, then it makes little sense to use Linux.
As Linux continues to grow in popularity, though, big-name PC software companies are testing the Linux waters, reducing the severity of this drawback. For example, Corel recently entered the Linux market with a version of its WordPerfect 8 word processor. In addition, ODBC-compatible databases (which can work with Access and Oracle databases) and a Novell NetWare compatibility package are now available for Linux.
Retraining. Another consideration is whether the business already uses Windows-based computers or has a staff trained in using Windows programs. A switch to Linux, especially in conjunction with a switch in application software, would require a fair amount of retraining before the system could be fully implemented, which will cost time and money. The Windows interface is the most familiar interface to many people, thanks to Microsoft's deep penetration of the home and business computing markets. The free X Window software enables Linux to draw graphics on the screen. A number of graphical desktop environments have recently been developed, which make Linux more Windows-like; KDE and GNOME are the most popular examples.
Security revisited. What if the business decides it needs tighter or more flexible security than is afforded by Linux's owner-group-other file permission system? In that case, Windows NT may be a better network answer than Linux. If no older applications need to be run, the system administrator can set Windows NT up using a special file system incompatible with older applications but providing better security options. Under NTFS (NT File System), files and directories can have general owner-group-other settings, but these can be overridden by the system administrator to grant or deny access to individual groups and users. The report produced by accounting for marketing earlier would actually be accessible to everyone on the company network because the other permissions affect exactly that--every other user on the network. If read permission for the marketing group alone were added instead, though, prying eyes from other departments would be kept out of that report.
An interesting point to be made here is that the availability of the Linux source code would allow a programmer to extend Linux security to the same level as NTFS allows. It might not be easy, but it could be done.
What About Software?
Even though its software library is not as large as that of Windows, Linux still boasts some major offerings in several key areas, most notably office suites and Internet software. As its popularity continues to increase, Linux will undoubtedly see many new applications ported from both the Windows and the UNIX worlds.
Office suites are integrated packages usually containing a word processor, spreadsheet, organizer, and sometimes a presentation program and database. Although the popular Microsoft Office is not available for Linux, there are still several competitive packages available. Applixware, an office suite by Applix http://www.applix.com , contains the above types of programs plus a drawing package, a web page design program, and an e-mail program; in addition, the individual applications can import data from the corresponding Microsoft Office 97 applications. It goes a step further than Microsoft Office by providing a rapid application development (RAD) package similar to Visual Basic. StarOffice, by the German company Star Division http://www.stardivision.com, is another office suite featuring the same kinds of programs as Applixware (except the RAD package) and boasts full Microsoft Office 97 data compatibility. Both StarOffice and Applixware are available in Windows and Java (platform-independent) versions as well as Linux and UNIX versions.
Corel http://www.corel.com has announced its WordPerfect Office 2000 for Linux, which will be fully compatible with both the Windows version of WordPerfect Office 2000 and Microsoft Office 2000. The stand-alone version of WordPerfect 8 is already available for Linux; a personal edition can be downloaded for free from the Corel Linux products website http://www.linux.core.com .
And what good would a network operating system be without Internet applications? Like UNIX, Linux enjoys a wealth of Internet-related products. First, the Netscape Navigator web browser http://www.store.netscape.com has long been a UNIX mainstay and is virtually identical to the Windows version. Netscape Communicator includes Navigator, the e-mail package Netscape Messenger, and several remote access and coordination tools. E-mail packages and web authoring tools are available in the office suites described above, are sold separately, and are even offered free online. In addition, packages are available to add secure website serving (for e-commerce) and full-featured e-mail serving capabilities (including spam filtering) to a Linux server for less than the cost of a Windows NT Server or BackOffice.
The Bottom Line
Overall, Linux is a powerful, cost-effective operating system that can provide businesses with the clerical, productivity, and connectivity tools they need. As it grows in popularity, it will become an even more attractive information technology solution. If a company doesn't mind having to use StarOffice or WordPerfect Office instead of Microsoft Office, and has no other special Windows-only software it depends on, Linux is definitely worth considering. *
©2008
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James R. Maddox is a graduate student at the University of Texas at El Paso, where Karl B. Putnam is an associate professor of accounting.