Open Source Community Preps Linux Kernel 2.4 - Product Development

ENT,  April 12, 2000  by Stephen Swoyer

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Despite edging out Novell Inc.'s NetWare operating system to grab the number two slot in server market share during 1999, analysts say the open source Linux operating system doesn't yet have a substantive enterprise presence. With the pending release of version 2.4 of the Linux kernel -- which is expected to provide a variety of scalability and manageability enhancements -- the Linux faithful are betting this will soon change.

Despite the hype that surrounds it, Dan Kusnetzky, program vice president, system software, at IDC (www.idc.com), says Linux doesn't enjoy the widespread acceptance of other operating systems in most enterprise environments. "Right now, Linux does not have a position as an enterprise operating system whatsoever, except in a few narrow market niches," he says. "But in those niches [such as Internet infrastructure, digital content creation, and high-performance technical computing] it's a well-accepted model for computing."

This will change in time, most analysts agree, as the open source phenomenon continues its march to the enterprise. The forthcoming version of the Linux kernel, for example, is expected to introduce a number of important new features to Linux's portfolio, such as advanced power management (APM) support, improved scalability in SMP configurations, and augmented support for peripherals.

Christopher DeMarco, a systems administrator who manages Linux, Windows NT, and Solaris platforms for computer reseller Neutron Computers Inc. (www.neutronet.com), says the 2.4 release will be an important one in regards to ratcheting-up Linux's competitiveness among operating systems such as Windows NT/2000 and Solaris. Because of POSIX restrictions, DeMarco points out, Linux currently supports only 2 GB of memory; version 2.4 of the Linux kernel will double that ceiling to 4 GB. Windows NT and Windows 2000 today support 4 GB of memory. Windows 2000 Advanced Server supports 8 GB of memory.

DeMarco also points to the 2.4 kernel's improved support for multithreading as yet another much-anticipated scalability enhancement. The upgrade shatters the 1,024 thread barrier of the 2.2 kernel, allowing systems with enough memory to support thousands of threads.

Version 2.4 of the Linux kernel is also slated to provide improved SMP scalability to the level of eight processors. In this area, Linux covered a lot of ground relatively quickly. Prior to the release of the 2.2 kernel in January 1999, deploying Linux on four-way SMP systems was considered a challenging task. With kernel release 2.4 boasting scalability across eight took Sun Microsystems (www.sun.com) to task. "StarOffice is not free software," de Icaza proclaimed. He explained that although Sun's StarOffice applications can be downloaded for free, StarOffice code isn't available for free to developers.

De Icaza described Helix Code's forthcoming Evolution as "a framework for creating a groupware environment." As to the specifics, Evolution's mailer, calendar, and contact manager will be linked together by the Evolution shell. The shell will include a short cut for quick access to the components, plus an executive summary for a quick overview of tasks, appointments, and new mail.

Users will be able to customize the executive summary with news headlines, weather, and other information from online sources.

Users also will be able to synchronize the calendar and contact manager with Palm organizers. The calendar and contact manager will each be divided into a front-end user interface and back-end server. The local contact manager server will be able to communicate with remote contact servers for sharing of contact information across an organization.

Gnumeric, a Gnome spreadsheet with native support for Excel, also was demonstrated at the event. Despite criticism of Microsoft, de Icaza acknowledged that the company does do some "good things." In fact, de Icaza dubbed Excel "surprisingly beautiful." Gnumeric comes with import/export filters for HTML, Quattro Pro, Lotus 1-2-3, and a number of other desktop environments.

Gnumeric and Evolution both make use of Bonobo, a CORBA-based component system. Bonobo allows components to be embedded in other applications to extend capabilities, de Icaza explains. If a user is reading e-mail in Evolution, and gets new mail with an attached Gumeric or Excel spreadsheet, Evolution will launch Gnumeric as an embedded component to display the attachment.

The goodwill toward Microsoft didn't last long. De Icaza took aim at Microsoft for creating COM instead of going along with CORBA, an industry standard for object development. "Basically, (COM) is ugly all over the place," he complained.

"COM is extremely monolithic. With CORBA, you can take components out --and put them back in -- much more easily," agreed Carey Bunks, senior scientist in applied physics at GTE Internetworking and author of Grokking the Gimp. Gimp, an image editing and paint tool similar to Adobe PhotoShop, is included in the Helix Gnome Desktop, although it can also be used in other environments.