DO YOU FIND that you're incapable of stopping upgrades? Do you spend
much of your day patching security holes? Do you have a vague sense
that you're spending too much money on software? If you answered yes
to any of those questions, you may have become overly dependent on
Microsoft. Here's a handy 12-step program to cure your condition.
STEP 1 WE ADMITTED WE WERE POWERLESS TO MANAGE OUR MICROSOFT
SOFTWARE.
Many CIOs feel they are in a double bind with Microsoft products. The
software itself seems always in need of security patches. The Windows
2000 server, for example, currently has 154 files available for
download at Microsoft.com, nearly half of which are security updates.
Windows XP makes things worse. The product's new subscription
licensing model has raised the ire of many executives because they
feel it forces them into frequent upgrades in order to get their
money's worth. But in a recent CIO survey, a majority (65 percent)
admitted they weren't considering any alternatives. "A lot of us will
just cry foul but then pony up," says one CIO.
STEP 2 WE CAME TO BELIEVE THAT A POWER GREATER THAN OURSELVES COULD
RESTORE OUR IT DEPARTMENT TO SANITY.
Linux is that power. It is less expensive to acquire. It takes up
less hard disk space and requires less memory to run. There is
elegance in the open-source code license: You can have the source
code for free, allowing you to upgrade or patch systems as you like.
The only rule is that when you develop something new out of the
source code, you must share that code with everyone else. Many
developers believe this open-source model makes Linux inherently more
secure than a proprietary operating system.
"We think we'll get blazing performance," says David Larsen, director
of IS in Murray City, Utah, who's starting a migration to Linux
desktops. "The other thing is, Linux is being taught in schools. It's
getting easier to find skills. It's something whose time is coming."
STEP 3 WE MADE A DECISION TO TURN OUR LIVES OVER TO LINUX AS WE
UNDERSTOOD LINUX.
this is the hardest part of running a Microsoft-free shop: deciding
to do it. Linux has a geek's reputation. At the same time, many
executives have a crude interpretation of its value to
corporations-"It's free, and therefore it's cheap." Slowly, that
mentality is changing, but it's still true that there first must be a
wholehearted and willing embrace of Linux as a legitimate enterprise
replacement for Microsoft. This journey usually starts with a tech
executive playing around. Maybe it's a Linux firewall on a home
machine. Maybe it's a Linux desktop on an old Pentium that was
collecting dust. But it starts at the top. A Microsoft-free IT shop
cannot exist without the CIO reading up on and understanding the
power of the alternatives.
STEP 4 WE MADE A SEARCHING AND FEARLESS INVENTORY OF OUR NETWORK,
APPLICATIONS, PROCESSES AND BUSINESS RULES.
Do this, literally. Write down everything. A migration away from
Microsoft requires very real proof that the move will make your
business better. But you can't prove your case without a list of
what's being replaced and why.
STEP 5 WE ADMITTED TO OURSELVES-AND TO OUR CEO-THE EXACT NATURE OF
OUR INFORMATION SYSTEMS' FAILINGS.
Victims of a hack or virus have likely already done this as a
necessary step in the recovery process. To others, the major failing
is this: They are locked into a Microsoft-dominated architecture that
feeds them insecure, bloated code. Another failing is the needless
codependencies of Microsoft products.
Perhaps the most expensive failing of CIOs' Microsoft-dominated IT
shops is the upgrade cycle. "There's no other compelling reason to
upgrade Office except to maintain compatibility with everyone else,"
says Larry Shutzberg, CIO of packaging maker Rock-Tenn in Atlanta.
STEP 6 WE WERE ENTIRELY READY TO HAVE LINUX REMOVE ALL THESE DEFECTS.
If step 3 was "Decide to do it," then Step 6 is "No, really decide to
do it." Psychologically preparing your company to create a Microsoft-
free shop will require a complete rethinking of entrenched technology
and business biases.
First, you have to plan a phased approach to taking Microsoft
products offline.
This occurs application-by-application. Firewalls first.
Then mail servers. Then Web servers. Generally, the desktop
OS-Microsoft's monopoly-is hardest to eschew, and so it comes last.
STEP 7 WE HUMBLY ASKED LINUX TO REMOVE WINDOWS, APACHE TO REMOVE IIS,
EVOLUTION TO REMOVE OUTLOOK, NETSCAPE 6.1 TO REMOVE INTERNET EXPLORER
AND STAROFFICE TO REMOVE OFFICE.
With the game plan in place, set up a "sandbox" in one corner of the
enterprise-a couple of servers and desktops, and some other hardware
for networking and firewalls. Here, the various Linux applications
will be brought online, tested, tweaked and prepared for deployment
throughout the network.
STEP 8 WE MADE A LIST OF ALL BUSINESS UNITS WE HARMED AND BECAME
WILLING TO MAKE AMENDS TO ALL.
Prepare memos that list ways a particular application improves
operations-whether it's saving disk space (Red Hat Linux distribution
is about 25MB; Windows XP requires 2GB), memory, acquisition costs,
or upgrade and maintenance costs. One CIO, though he thinks it's
doubtful
He could migrate away from Microsoft, says a major benefit would be
the time he'd take back for strategic planning. Right now, he wastes
time figuring out how to proceed with nonstrategic products like
Office.
STEP 9 WE MADE DIRECT AMENDS TO THOSE BUSINESS UNITS (EXCEPT WHEN TO
DO SO WOULD HAVE GOTTEN US FIRED).
Give them all of that freed-up disk space back. Return money saved on
licensing (most Linux applications require a capital purchase and
support, but little in the way of ongoing fees). At the film company
DreamWorks, Ed Leonard has ported the entire graphics animation
department to Linux; Shrek was created on a "renderfarm" (a powerful,
refrigerator-size rack of servers) that had 800 processors running
Linux. Leonard took the money he saved by not having maintenance
contracts and used it to buy far more inexpensive Linux PCs. He says
the money he has saved will allow DreamWorks to replace desktops and
the renderfarm every two years instead of every five.
STEP 10 WE CONTINUED TO TAKE INVENTORY OF THE SWITCH TO LINUX, AND
WHEN WE MUFFED IT, WE PROMPTLY ADMITTED OUR ERROR.
Now be brutally honest. If a conversion to Linux doesn't save money
or improve the business, admit it in your analysis-and possibly stop
the process. You're not doing this as a crusade. In many cases,
honestly admitting it was an even swap will win more supporters than
trying to fudge benefits that may not be there.
STEP 11 WE PRAYED FOR KNOWLEDGE OF BUSINESS GOALS AND THE POWER TO
CARRY THEM OUT.
Now you can put the documentation to work. Show what moving to a
Microsoft-free shop can do. Turn all that data into a slick
presentation created on StarOffice Impress. Michael Tiemaan, CTO of
Linux vendor Red Hat, recently did such a presentation for a
customer. The customer had done a high-volume transaction on a $2.5
million, 32-processor server using Windows applications. Even then,
the transaction took two weeks to finish. Red Hat and the customer
put together an alternative: 10 two-processor servers running Linux.
All told, it cost $500,000. The transaction now completes in one day.
STEP 12 HAVING HAD A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING, WE VOWED TO CARRY THIS
MESSAGE TO OTHER IT SHOPS AND PRACTICE MICROSOFT-FREE COMPUTING IN
ALL OUR AFFAIRS.
Tiemaan arguably is in a position of power on this, but when he
receives a document in a "proprietary data format"-that is, .doc,
.ppt and so forth-he sends a courteous reply to the person asking her
to resend the document in a nonproprietary format. Most of the time,
this is a painless exchange, he says. "To run a Microsoft-free shop,
you simply must be disciplined about it," Tiemaan says. "When I came
here, I ditched my Windows system, and I haven't looked back."
Share your attempts to run a Microsoft-free shop with Senior Writer
Scott Berinato. E-mail him at [email protected]
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