John McCLean; Open Source and Inclusivity

There is an article in today’s News & Observer about John McClean, an incoming freshman at Duke University. He has an interesting view of Open Source Software and relates it to the inclusiveness and openness taught him by his parents, who are both pastors in the United Methodist Church.

Fedora Frog 1.0-11.0.0 released

One of the ways that people give back to the Open Source Community is by writing or contributing to Open Source projects. My programming project is Fedora Frog which I took over in 2007 from Raivis Dejus, a Lithuanian programmer and college student.

Open Source Community at Work

Raivis wrote a handy little utility to assist System Administrators installing software that was not part of the original Fedora releases, or that was not installed by default. Raivis was getting too busy to continue working on the project and asked for volunteers to take it over. I offered and have been maintaining it ever since.

This is how Open Source Software works. People have a need for a particular piece of software and find that existing software does not do what they need so they write their own. Some Open Source Software, such as OpenOffice.org may gain a very large number of developers, testers and supporters, sometimes numbering into the thousands, far more than any company would be able to afford to assign to such a project. I found that Fedora Frog was very valuable to me and so, rather than have it die, I volunteered to take over its maintenance.

Some of the Open Source developers work for companies such as Sun Microsystems in the case of OpenOffice.org, but the vast majority do their work for free because they enjoy it and they are able to make a positive contribution to the project. I happen to enjoy writing programs and, as a System Administrator, I have a frequent need to install software on many remote computers. Fedora Frog is the software I use to do that. So it solves my problem and that of the more than 17,000 other people who have downloaded it since I put it up on SourceForge in 2007.

About Fedora Frog

This version of Fedora Frog is a nearly complete rewrite of the code. I have made it more efficient and combined multiple pieces of code into a single program.

This Bash program provides the Linux administrator an easy way to install applications not installed by default during a Fedora Core installation procedure, and applications that are not part of the standard distribution. It also tweaks some configuration items. Additional repositories are required beyond the normal Fedora ones, and they are added by Fedora Frog as well.

Frog installs media players such as RealPlayer, Mplayer, VLC, Kaffiene and Xine. It also installs Thunderbird, Firefox, GNUCash, Adobe Reader and Yumex, and some things specifically for System Admins such as chkrootkit. Fedora Frog is currently supported on Fedora 10 and 11. Support for all previous versions of Fedora has been removed.

The latest version of Fedora Frog can be downloaded at https://sourceforge.net/projects/fedorafrog/.

Happy Linux Customers

There is a neat little company in Austin Texas that does Linux and Open Source consulting. HeliOS Solutions is doing in and around Austin Texas what we at Millennium Technology Consulting LLC are trying to do here in the Raleigh Durham, RTP area of North Carolina.

They have been doing this for a while now and we are just getting started. So I am not too proud to point you to the What our customers are saying page of the HeliOS Solutions web site to see how satisfied their customers are with Linux and Open Source Software.

Just a couple fragments from that page:

“It is such a relief to not worry about viruses and spyware anymore. What struck us immediately about Linux is the beauty of it.”

“Well, this begins month two without having to reboot our computer and my kids have went download-crazy. The fact that they can play their beloved games and not ruin our setup like it used to happen is not only a relief, it has saved us countless hours of reformating[sic] and reinstalling Windows.”

“I’ve been using Linux now for about a year and a half, and I stopped dual-booting Windows about a year ago. I cannot believe how much time, energy, and money I literally wasted, needlessly, on software while using Windows.”

The company also refurbishes old computers and make them usable by removing Windows and installing Linux. They donate these older but now usable computers to children who would not otherwise have access to a computer at home.

Contact us at Millennium Technology Consulting LLC to see how Open Source Software can improve your life. We can also provide training to assist in making the transition. We do Open Source and Linux consulting for small to medium businesses.

Dell to Bundle Open Source Software to SMBs

From an article on Yahoo by By John Ribeiro, IDG News Service – Tue Jun 9, 2009 12:30AM EDT

Dell is planning to offer small and medium businesses (SMBs) globally pre-configured bundles of hardware and open source software to run their businesses, according to an executive at the company.

There is a definite shift from proprietary to open source software among SMBs, particularly as companies in this sector look to cut costs, said Amit Midha, president of Dell’s Asia Pacific and Japan region for the SMB business, on Tuesday.

“The more advanced the customers, the more likely they will adopt open source, because they are likely to ask why they should spend money on something they can get free,” he added.

Read the complete article.

Contact us at Millennium Technology Consulting LLC to see how Open Source Software can make your business more competitive. We can also provide training to assist in making the transition. We do Open Source and Linux consulting for small to medium businesses.

Linux – Easier Than You Think

“But Linux is hard!”

I hear this quite frequently in many different forms. Sometimes it takes the form, “Do I have to learn to use the command line,” “It is just too complicated,” or, “I won’t know how to use it.” These questions and statements are based upon an assumption that Linux is significantly different from other operating systems like Windows in the face it presents to end users.

In fact nothing could be further from the truth. It is very much like the situation in which your system administrator installs a new computer with Windows on it on your desk. If that same administrator installed a new Linux computer on your desk the experience of moving to a new operating system would be nearly the same. With Linux:

• You never have to use the command line unless you really want to.
• The GUI, the Graphical User Interface looks and works very much like the Windows desktop. It can be made to look and work exactly like Windows if you wish.
• Some applications, like OpenOffice, Thunderbird and Firefox, are the same in both Windows and Linux.
• Some applications, such as OpenOffice are similar enough to their Windows counterparts that you will generally take only a few minutes to make the transition.

I liken the transition to Linux a little like purchasing a new car. Even when you move from one model or year to another of the same manufacturer the controls may be placed a bit differently, the accelerator and brakes have a bit of a different feel, and it may take a couple times to get used to how the wiper controls work on the new car. Moving from Windows XP to Windows Vista took a bit of getting used to.

When moving to a car from another manufacturer the differences may be a little greater and it may take a little longer to get used to the way the controls work and the car responds to steering, acceleration and braking, but the basics are all the same. The basics of Linux are all the same as any other operating system. Some things work a bit differently but launching and using programs, manipulating application windows, accessing files and many other things are very similar to what you are already used to.

Contact us at Millennium Technology Consulting LLC for a demonstration that can show you how easy it is to make the transition to Linux. We can also provide training to assist in making the transition. We do Open Source and Linux consulting for small to medium businesses.

Availability of Open Source Applications

The availability of high quality Free Open Source Software (FOSS) is an important factor if you are considering making the switch to Linux and Open Source. I started to write a post that would list some of the major classes of software and provide examples of Open Source Software that can be used to replace the Windows-based software you likely use currently. It became much longer than would be appropriate for a post so I have added it to the FAQ section of this web site.

You can go directly to the Free Open Source Software Availability page to read all about it. I am always amazed at the number of Open Source applications that are available. I think you will be too.

Millennium Technology Consulting LLC can help you locate and choose the Free Open Source Software you need for your business. Contact us today.

Move to Linux Desktop Driven by Cost, Security

Linux has long been popular for servers of various types including web servers, file and print servers, as well as DNS, DHCP and other behind-the scenes servers. However more companies are moving to Linux on the desktop.

A new study commissioned by IBM and performed on-line by Freeform Dynamics Ltd has shown that companies that move to Linux on the desktop are driven by cost and security. This survey of more than 1000 companies that have adopted Linux on the desktop, showed that more than 70% of respondents said that the lower cost of implementing Linux desktops was a significant factor in their choice to deploy Linux, while over 30% responded that the greater security of Linux was the driving factor and over 30% indicated that the reliability and stability of Linux was a factor. Yes, that is more than 100% because respondents were allowed to select multiple reasons for moving to Linux desktops.

The report also provides a balanced view of the inhibitors to the adoption of Linux on the desktop. The top two inhibitors are company politics and resistance of users which are both primarily perceptual issues. It is not until the third inhibitor, that of specialized application availability, that, while still a perceptual issue, there is some basis in reality. Although more and more specialized applications are becoming available for Linux, there are definitely some areas of deficiency. Of course company politics and users perceptions do have their own realities that need to be dealt with; they are just not technical inhibitors.

That said, the report goes on to show that the so-called “average user” is likely to be a good target for moving to the Linux desktop. While IT staff is always a good target for the Linux desktop, that group tends to self select into Linux anyway. It is the “general professional” and “transactional” workers that make the best target for desktop Linux. Many small companies are composed almost entirely of these classes of non-technical workers and can be considered prime candidates for the Linux desktop.

The report states, “Those with experience are much more likely to regard non-technical users as primary targets for Linux. The message here is that in practice, Linux is easier to deploy to end users than many imagine before they try it. For the majority of application types, including office tools, email clients and browsers, there is a strong consensus that the needs of most users can be met by native Linux equivalents to traditional Windows solutions. Where this is not the case, thin client or browser based delivery and/or one of the various emulation or virtualisation options are available.”

Download the complete report here to get the full picture and then contact us at Millennium Technology Consulting LLC help you find out whether desktop Linux makes sense for your business. We do Open Source and Linux consulting for small to medium businesses.

Green Computing With Open Source Software

There are many direct benefits one can gain from Open Source Software including low or zero cost of acquisition, enhanced security, improved performance and world-class quality and support. Open Source Software and the Linux operating system in particular can also help the environment.

The environmental benefits to using Linux stem from two primary directions. First, it uses less power than other operating systems such as Windows, and second, it extends the lives of older computers and keeps them out of the landfill for much longer than would otherwise be the case.

Reducing Power Consumption

Linux reduces power consumption both directly and indirectly. By consuming less power in the first place, Linux reduces power consumption at the outlet. And this also means that a computer running Linux places a smaller load on computer room and office cooling systems so that the air-conditioning systems also consume less power.

Right out of the starting gate Linux consumes less power than other operating systems. The article Linux beats Windows 2008 power-saving measures shows that, in tests performed by InfoWorld, Linux uses about 12% less power than Windows 2008.

The LessWatts.org web site tests and tracking the power consumption of the Linux kernel and provides tools and shows through test results which are published on the site that the Linux kernel is on track to consume even less power in the future than it has in the past. With a skilled professional, the tools and recommendations presented on this web site can be used to tune each system individually to optimum performance and efficiency.

Of course as with any set of comparison tests, your mileage may vary (YMMV). Your environment will never be like a test environment and you may not be able to implement all possible power saving measures discussed in this article or the links. But it is important to know and understand that Linux uses less power than Windows in any given set of equal circumstances.

Reducing E-Waste

Linux reduces e-waste by extending the life of old computers. Many computers with perfectly good hardware are thrown in the trash or sent to e-recycling centers every year even though they are in perfect working order. This can be because they have become unbearably slow because they are irrevocably infested with malware which consumes most of their resources. See the post Is Your Computer Slow? for more information on this.

When older computers no longer have the hardware resources necessary to run the current versions of Windows for which relatively decent anti-malware software is available, don’t throw them out. Upgrading them to Linux can extend their useful lives for years and keep them out of landfills as well as away from third-world recycling dumps where environmentally unsound practices endanger both the environment and the workers health.

This also has the added advantage of saving you the cost of a new computer with yet another costly copy of Windows and all the ancillary yet expensive software and subscriptions to keep it safe.

Ready to Go Green?

Not only is Linux and all of the Office software free, but it is much more safe and secure from malware than Windows. And because no matter how safe and secure it is, no operating system is completely free from the threat of malware, there is anti-malware software available for Linux — Open Source and free of charge as well.

If you would like more information about how to help save the environment with Linux, contact us at Millennium Technology Consulting LLC.

Virtualization Overview

Virtualization is a very hot topic these days. Virtualization is a really neat technology that allows one computer which is running Linux (or another operating system) to act as multiple computers. Each of these virtual computers can run any PC operating system including other versions or distributions of Linux, or OS/2 or even Windows.

The primary attraction for using virtualization is that it allows more complete utilization of relatively expensive hardware resources. Most hardware is very powerful these days and, for the most part, is seriously underutilized as the CPU, disk and memory capacity of most server hardware today far exceeds the demands being placed on it by multiple web sites, as well as email and other types of network servers. This can be especially true in smaller companies which impose only limited demands on their servers. Virtualization allows companies to more fully utilize those available resources.

Other reasons for using virtualization include the ability to run software meant for one operating system on hardware that is running a different primary operating system. It also provides the ability to run older software which requires an older version of the primary operating system. For example I have one program that only runs on older versions of Red Hat Linux, versions that do not have all of the current security updates that it is prudent to have. So I run the most current version of Fedora, with all current security updates and I run a virtual computer with that older version of Red Hat to enable me to use that older software.

There are a number of virtualization products available and some are Open Source Software while others are proprietary. All do well for most virtualization needs but all have their quirks as well.

• Xen – a hypervisor which is part of the Red Hat Enterprise distributions. It requires especially compiled kernels to achieve best performance and functionality. Thus it is a poor choice for Windows guests.
• KVM – or Kernel-based Virtual Machine. This is a relatively new Open Source project that seems to have a large number of supporters.
• VMWare – this proprietary virtualization product provides good capabilities through a number of relatively specialized products. There is a free (of charge) “player” which allows one to run a virtual machine that has been previously created, but does not allow creation of virtual machines.
• VirtualBox – A Free Open Source product that performs very well and offers lots of capabilities.

I used VMWare for several years and was fairly happy with it. The biggest issue I had was that their support for kernel upgrades has been quite limited. I currently use VirtualBox because it seems to have better performance than VMWare and provides compatibility with all upgrade kernels. I was never happy when, after a kernel upgrade for security reasons, VMWare would no longer work, and recompiling the kernel module for VMWare failed. VirtualBox does not seem to have this problem.

Here is a short review of VirtualBox on my DataBook® web site.

Please contact us for more information about virtualization and how it might be used to help your business.

Open Source Software Aids Google Searchability

Open Source Software can be an aid to the Google searchability of your web site. If raising your Google profile and getting more hits on your web site is important to you, consider switching to Open Source Software for the development of your web site.

I am talking specifically about the creation of the content itself, as opposed to using an Open Source web server such as Apache which merely serves up the content to web browsers. Although using Apache, which is also free and Open Source, can be a winning choice as well.

The makeup of the content of your web site is very dependent upon the software used to generate it. Many Windows-based, traditional, proprietary software packages that are designed to generate HTML, the markup language used to create web sites, generate huge amounts of HTML markup that is unneeded and totally not required. This causes multiple problems, but the one you should be most concerned with is that it makes the actual content, the words you want Google to find, get lost in the trash.

Clean HTML is one key to optimizing your web site for search engines. Most Open Source web creation software, such as WordPress, the software I use to run all of my web sites including this one, creates very clean HTML. WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time. And it produces very clean HTML code that is ideal for search engines.