Linux- Gaining Ground We have to compete with free software, on value, but in a smart way.

We cannot price at zero, so we need to justify our posture and pricing. Linux isn't going to go away--our job is to provide a better product in the marketplace. - Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft, in 2002 .[1] You're going to see it do things at the middle of the enterprise. You are also going to see increasing Linux on appliances, on small devices, in the embedded space. You are going to see it in less technically advanced shops as well. As it continues to get easier to manage, more robust, then you don't have to have a highly technical shop. - Dan Frye, Director, IBM Linux Technology Center, in November 2001 .[2] SHAKING WINDOWS In March 2003, the worlds leading software company, Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft), in an unusual move offered to open the source code of Windows its highly guarded operating system - to the Chinese government. Though company sources said that the move was targeted towards making Microsofts position in the country strong, analysts felt otherwise. Analysts pointed out that Microsofts move assumed significance in the light of the increasing support to the Linux operating system by the Chinese government. Microsofts move was seen as being directed at containing the increasing popularity of Linux in China. Reports said that not only China, but many other countries including India (Refer Exhibit I) have been shifting to Linux for administrative tasks, resulting in a loss of market for Windows. The main reason why many governments and corporates had shifted to Linux was its free availability (Refer Exhibit II for evolution of Linux). Also, because of its open source code[3] corporates were able to customize the operating system (o/s) according to their needs. In 2003, it was reported that Linux had gained considerable market share in the server markets. With established technology firms such as Intel, IBM, HP and Dell supporting Linux, it began to get a foothold in the high-end server markets also. Analysts felt that Linux posed the biggest threat to Microsoft after the Netscape browser[4]. With no market share in 2000, Linux captured around 13.7% of the $50.0 billion server computers market in 2002. According to International Data Corporation (IDC) [5] estimates, Linux share would increase to 25.5% in 2006. By early 2003, Linux was finding acceptance in consumer electronics gadgets such as the Sony PlayStation (video game consoles) and TV program recorders. Analysts commented that the growth of Linux in the last few years had been spectacular. However, they also expressed doubts regarding the viability of Linux as there were no proper applications that were compatible with the Linux operating system (o/s) and the popular Windows applications (Microsoft Office suite) would not work on Linux. In addition, it still had problems with graphical user interfaces. Another major threat faced by Linux was from copyright advocates who claimed that Linux would diminish the importance of copyrights and patents.
[1]

Ballmer: We'll outsmart open source, September 24, 2002, Zdnet.com IBM's (now) not-so-secret Linux strategy, November 5, 2001, Linuxworld.com article

[2]

[3]

The set of computer instructions, which are translated into binary code, the form of software that computers can understand and act on.

[4]

Netscape Browser Netscape Navigator was hailed as a better product than Microsofts browser Internet Explorer and within 2 years of its launch in 1995 Navigator gained 80% of browser market share.
[5]

IDC is the world's leading provider of technology intelligence, industry analysis, market data, and strategic and tactical guidance to builders, providers, and users of information technology. It has presence in 43 countries worldwide. OPEN SOURCE MOVEMENT GAINING GROUND Initially, in the computing industry, consumers were given programs that included the hardware and source code. The programmers were happy to share their source code and add the improvements made to the source code by others. However, the functioning of the industry changed in the 1970s, with firms like Microsoft withholding the source code, thus making the software an element of proprietary business. Microsoft started selling its products without disclosing the source code. In the 1970s, the computing world was dominated by one operating system Disk Operating System (DOS)[6] , though there was also another operating system provided by Bell Labs - Unix[7]. Initially, Bell Labs allowed the source code of Unix to be taught in universities, but later on it guarded it closely. In 1983, Microsoft introduced its revolutionary operating system Windows, which changed the face of the computing world (Refer Exhibit III). Windows provided a graphical user interface -(GUI) operating environment for users, enabling them to run applications that used bitmap displays and mouse pointing devices. Microsofts Windows source code was a closely guarded secret. Selling Windows through an excellent marketing strategy, Microsoft was able to lock in customers to its operating system. The new style of software business was opposed by software enthusiasts and hackers, who felt that proprietary software would result in less cooperation and slower growth in the industry. This led to the free software movement in early 1980s. In 1984, Richard Stallman (Stallman), former programmer at MITs artificial intelligence lab, developed GNU software as an open source version of Unix. GNU software became workable in 1985. In order to prevent GNU software from turning into proprietary software, Stallman proposed a Copyleft concept as opposed to copyright. According to the concept of Copyleft, developers could do whatever they wanted with the programs; even sell their own versions, as long as they made the source code available. With the increasing popularity of GNU software, and with more and more programmers getting involved in its development, Stallman founded the Free Software Foundation (FSF) in 1985. FSF was formed mainly to collect funds for the development of free software; funds given to FSF were exempted from tax, and this attracted many donors for FSF. FSF also distributed copies of free software and services, for which it charged a nominal fee. Along with the GNU operating system, another operating system that was making waves in the open source community was the MINIX operating system. Professor Andrew S. Tanenbaum (Tanenbaum), a Dutch professor, developed MINIX in 1987, as a duplicate of Unix. Though MINIX had some technical problems, soon programmers from all over the world started working on it to plug the problems, as its source code was open.
6]

A proprietary program that controls all the basic operations of a computer. Unix is operating system written in the C language.

[7]

EVOLUTION OF LINUX The history of Linux dates back to early 1990s, when Linus Torvalds (Torvalds), a Finnish graduate student of computer science started coding an operating system. In August 1991, he e-mailed his code an experimental version of the Linux kernel[8] -- to a software discussion group, and shared his code freely with other developers to make it more robust. Initially, Torvalds had started developing the operating system as a hobby for Intel processors - 386 (486), which was based on MINIX. He invited his fellow programmers to test the code and make suggestions about its working and add new features. The first Linux version 0.01 was released in September 1991 and was made available on the Internet for access to programmers worldwide. Soon, programmers from all over the world started responding to the program and added new features. By October 1991, Linux 0.02 version was released, with a declaration from Torvalds that he wanted to develop an operating system that could be used on all systems. Within a few weeks of the release of Linux 0.02 version, its third version came out, and by December 1991, Linux 0.10 was released. However, the design of Linux was still in its early stages with no login, and it supported only AT hard disks. Linux 0.11 came with better features like support to multilingual keyboards, floppy disks and support for Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA)[9] and Video Graphics Adapter (VGA) [10] . Soon, with the help of supporters of the open source movement, Linux 0.95 version was released. Though many criticized Linux, and even Tanenbaum in his mail to Torvalds stated: Linux is obsolete, Torvalds was confident about the potential of Linux as an o/s and continued his work. Over a period of time, many programmers contributed to the ongoing work on Linux and made it a potential challenger to MS Windows. Linux was licensed under the GPL in order to ensure its open source code property. Tux the Penguin was chosen as the Linux logo, to represent the free spirit of the Linux movement (Refer figure I). By 1994, the commercialization of Linux began, with vendors selling application software that would run on Linux. Red Hat, Caledra and Debain[11] and others started distributing Linux with Graphical User Interfaces such as GNU Network Object Model Environment (GNOME)[12] , and K Desktop Environment (KDE)[13] , which became popular. Not only was different application software developed for Linux, but the companies also started using Linux on different platforms. Linux was used on 3Coms handheld PalmPilot computer. It was seen that the clustering technology[14] of Linux made it possible to combine a large number of Linux machines into a one parallel computer and also allowed it to be used on different platforms. This gave it an edge over other o/s. In 1996, Linux was used at Los Alamos National Laboratory to run 68 PCs as a combined processing computer to replicate atomic shock waves at very low cost. FIGURE I TUX LINUX LOGO

Source: www.tssp.co.uk

Analysts attributed the success of Linux to the open source movement, which enabled Torvalds to improve the o/s with help of other programmers around the globe. By 2001, Linux was acclaimed as cheaper, and also free from software bugs or glitches as compared to other o/s such as Windows and Unix.
[8]

The kernel is the essential center of a computer operating system, which provides basic services for all other parts of the operating system. It includes an interrupt handler that handles all requests or completed I/O operations that compete for the Kernels services, a scheduler that determines which programs share the kernel's processing time in what order, and a supervisor that actually gives use of the computer to each process when it is scheduled.
[9]

EGA was one of the display modes of the computer introduced in 1984 by IBM. It allowed up to 16 different colors and offered resolution up to 640 * 350, which improved the display on the computer monitor and made it easy to read text.
[10]

VGA was an improvement to EGA introduced by IBM in 1987. It allowed maximum resolution depending on the number of colors displayed. It allowed the user to choose between 16 colors at 640 * 480, or 256 colors at 320 * 200 resolution.
[11]

These software firms provide Linux installation services and other Linux related products.

[12]

GNOME is a graphical user interface and set of computer desktop applications that run on the Linux o/s. It is intended to make Linux o/s easy to work and corresponds with Windows desktop interface.
[13]

KDE is an open source graphical desktop environment for Unix workstations. Initially it was called as Kool Desktop Environment and it includes complete GUI, file manager, window manager, help system, configuration system, tools and utilities, and several applications for users.
[14]

Clustering is a process of listing a single page from a web site within a search engine or directory's search results, generally used to provide more relevant results.

THREATENED BY THE PENGUIN In the mid-1990s, Linux gained respectability in corporate circles and was supported by several computer companies like IBM, Oracle, HP, Compaq and Dell. It was felt that the main players who would be affected by Linux were Microsoft and Sun Microsystems (Sun). Analysts felt that with the free availability of the source code, Linux would be a major threat to Windows and to Suns operating system, Solaris. Customers might slowly shift to Linux as support from the big names in the industry gave Linux greater credibility in the business world. Initially Linux was used only in low-end workstations; however, with support from IBM, HP, Compaq and Dell, consumers would probably move to installing Linux in critical operations also. Major companies in the world announced their support of Linux. In 1998, Oracle started offering Linux versions for its software and even IBM announced support to software that would run on the Linux o/s. IBM supported Apache, a leading web-server program, which worked on Linux. HP and other major players in the industry also announced their support to Linux and announced huge budgets for Linux research. Till early 1998, Microsoft tried to sideline Linux, saying it was an o/s developed by hobbyists with no technical credibility. However, in August 1998, internal memos of Microsoft, which were leaked to the web the Halloween documents- made it clear that, though Microsofts top management was not acknowledging the growing threat from Linux, its employees perceived Linux as a major threat. Memos from an engineer, Vinod Valloppillil (Valloppillil), highlighted the threat from Linux. The memos said that the open-source movement poses a direct, short-term revenue and platform threat to Microsoft, particularly in server space[15]. It was also mentioned that Linux was becoming popular due to

the reliability factor, on which Microsoft Windows was struggling. The memo also highlighted the fact that due to its open source code, Linux exploited the advantage of a large number of developers working on debugging the software, and this minimized the problem of bugs in the o/s. Said Valloppillil, Commercial quality can be achieved/exceeded by open-source software projects. Valloppillil felt that the main advantage of the open-source movement was its ability to bring together the IQs of millions of developers through the Internet, which made its software superior. Microsoft downplayed the whole episode by terming it as a technical analysis of an engineer and not as the official stand of the company over the Linux issue. But many analysts felt that it was clear from the internal memos, that Microsofts employees were considering Linux a serious threat to the company, and they were not happy with the companys response to the situation. Meanwhile in IBM, an employee survey in 1999 found that most IBM employees felt that the next big trend in the industry would be Linux in servers. In response to its survey findings, IBM announced that Linux would be focal point of its strategy. It also conducted its first Linux Summit about Linux and open source programs, for its employees worldwide. The summit discussed issues relating to Linux and database administration, performance challenges, Java for Linux, and the future of the o/s. IBM also announced an increase in its research on Linux to turn it into a comprehensive o/s which could be used for enterprise solutions also. This move from IBM further strengthened the Linux movement and gave it greater credibility. In 2000, IBM announced the allotment of US$ 1 billion for research and development activities on Linux, and it also appointed around 250 engineers to work with the open source community on Linux. Another company, which was facing the heat due to growing popularity of Linux, was Sun. It was reported that most of Suns customers were shifting to Linux, which performed similar functions to Solaris at very low prices. While Microsoft chose to downplay the threat posed by Linux, Sun [16] extended its support to Linux. It had a two-pronged strategy to deal with Linux: offering servers with Linux for serving up web pages, and beefing up its own operating system, Solaris, to stay ahead of Linux. Scott McNealy, (McNealy), CEO, Sun Microsystems, said We have a very deliberate plan here. Were going to stay focused. Were not going to do what IBM or HP are doing --- abandoning a 20-year investment in mission-critical Unix operating systems. Theyre marooning customers. Unlike all other industry analysts, Sun stated that Linuxs impact would be greater in the desktop markets and it announced its plans to begin selling desktop computers with Linux applications. However, analysts felt that it would be very difficult for Linux to be successful in desktop markets, as shifting from Microsoft applications to other Linux-supported applications would be very costly. Al Gillen, IDC analyst, commented, Microsoft won the desktop battle a long time ago.[17] By 1999, Microsoft woke up to the threat from Linux and started its campaign to counter the growth of Linux. In 1999, Microsoft created a portal Linux Myths - questioning the performance and reliability of Linux. Through this portal, Microsoft challenged the five claims of the Linux community Linux performs better than Windows NT, Linux is more reliable than Windows NT, Linux is more secure than Windows NT, Linux can replace Windows as a desktop operating system, and, Linux is free.

Microsoft referred to lab tests, which indicated that Windows NT was faster and more secure than Linux, and also claimed that working on Linux o/s was actually costlier than working on Windows NT. However, the Linux community said that Microsoft was making comparisons with the older version of Linux. They said that while Microsoft had taken 1999 June PC Week benchmarks, which showed Windows NT performing better than Linux, it had not mentioned the fact that the same problems had been fixed by programmers, and a new version of Linux Linux 2.2 had been released since then. However, the Linux community agreed that Linux had to be improved to make it more reliable for critical mission servers. The portal created by Microsoft could not contain the growing popularity of Linux. By 2000, Linuxs market share increased to 27%, and according to an IDC report, Linuxs growth rate was 24% against Microsofts 20% (Refer Table I). TABLE I MARKET SHARE IN THE YEAR 2000 OPERATING MARKET SYSTEM SHARE WINDOWS 41 LINUX 27 UNIX 13 NETWARE 17 OTHERS 2 Source: The Economist, April 12, 2001.
6]

Solaris is the computer operating system that Sun Microsystems provides for its family of Scalable Processor Architecture-based processors as well as for Intel-based processors. Suns Scalable Processor Architecture is 32 and 64 bit microprocessor architecture from Sun.
[17]

The Linux Uprising, BusinessWeek, March 3, 2003.

In May 2001, Microsofts Chief Software Strategist, Craig Mundie (Mundie) (in a speech at New York University) attacked Linux, stating that it defied the system of intellectual property rights (IPR). He also said that using Linux license might change a companys IPRs into public property, as it wanted all the changes made to the source code to be made freely available to the public. However, Linux supporters were quick to refute Mundies charge by stating that a company using Linux would not be forced to give away any application written for its operating system or its business processes. In an interview to the Chicago Sun Times in June 2001, Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft called Linux a cancer - as it defied IPRs. In order to restrict the spread of Linux to government offices, Microsoft lobbied heavily with governments to increase the usage of Microsoft software. However, in the early 2001, many governments including the US government were openly considering legislation encouraging the use of Linux. Ted Schadler, Analyst, Forrester Research Inc, said, The strategy [of bad-mouthing Linux] has failed, and Microsoft should abandon it immediately. [18] In 2002, Microsoft appointed Peter Houston, senior director, server strategy, to conduct a study on Linux and devise a strategy to counter Linux. Houston said that though Linux was free, its maintenance costs were very high as compared to Windows. In December 2002, Microsoft appointed market researcher IDC to evaluate the total cost of ownership (TCO) for Windows 2000 and Linux. The study was conducted on both Windows and Linux in five different computing tasks like sending files to printers and running security applications. IDC reported that Windows was 11-22% cheaper over a period of 5 years to operate than Linux. However, the study also mentioned that Windows was very expensive for hosting web pages.

However, this move of Microsoft was not well received in the industry, and many questioned the credibility of the report as the company itself had commissioned it. This view was vindicated when one of the IDC researchers - Dan Kusnetzky (Kusnetzky) stated that Microsoft had selected scenarios where the use of Linux would be more costly. He also added that Windows was cheaper only because Microsoft had been developing software to manage its o/s for a very long time. Kusnetzky, said, Microsoft has had a lot more time to work on this. I wonder why the win wasn't bigger.[19] However, Microsoft refuted Kusnetzkys views and stated that it had not manipulated the study. After its unsuccessful attempts to counter Linux, Microsoft announced a major shift in its strategy in late 2002, and adopted an embrace and extend strategy towards Linux. In late 2002, Microsoft announced that it would open the source code of Windows 2000 to its largest customers on condition that they would not change the code. However, analysts termed this a one-way sharing as customers would see the source code and help Microsoft to debug and improve the o/s but would still be required to pay for the next version. Reflecting its changed stand on Linux, Microsoft even participated in the LinuxWorld conference in New York in January 2003. It opened a small booth where its employees were seen wearing black t-shirts with the words Lets Talk printed on them. Microsoft was confident that with the opening up of the Windows source code to some of its customers, it would be able to maintain its advantage over Linux. However, Linux remained a strong threat to Microsoft in the server market. The server market emerged as the most important segment in the industry as growth in PCs was declining. By 2003, it was reported that around 39% of corporations had shifted to Linux in the server market. According to IDC reports, it was estimated that by 2006 Linux would increase its market share to 25.2% in the server market, threatening Microsofts leadership. THE FUTURE OF LINUX AND THE OPEN SOURCE MOVEMENT Analysts felt that there were two areas of the software industry that open-source would have trouble penetrating. One was enterprise software that related to a companys core activities. Companies would hesitate to bet their business on free software, at least until it was backed by heavyweights such as IBM, as Linux was. Enterprise software was also usually built by a tightly knit group of developers within a single company and would be difficult to develop in a decentralized way. Also in the long term, the open source movement would threaten the software industry as volunteer programmers who worked on open source due to interest were not specialized and business applications might be beyond their range. Due to lack of specialized solutions, corporates would face too many risks in shifting to open source programs. Another major problem for Linux, according to analysts, was that of the limited number of applications available for use on the Linux o/s. Though Sun came up with its StarOffice applications for the Linux o/s on the lines of the Microsoft Office suite, a lot remained to be done in this area. Suns StarOffice suite consists of a word processor, and spreadsheet and database programs, and Sun was confident of making inroads into the desktop market In 2002, Lindows.com[20] was launched, to cater to the needs of committed Windows users. Lindows.com announced that it would develop a Windows application program interface that would enable Microsoft application software to run on the Linux operating system. However, many analysts felt that it would not be possible to develop such an Application Program Interface (API)[21] , as Microsoft could always add new features to its applications to make them incompatible with the Linux o/s. Most importantly, Linux would be likely to face problems because of IPRs. It was reported that the SCO Group, the patent holder for Unix Software, would be starting a licensing division and might register claims against Linux vendors as Linux was based on Unix software.

In addition to the above problems, financial problems of the Linux companies could slow down the research and development on Linux, affecting its performance adversely compared to Windows. As Linux companies charged only for services, it would be difficult for them to invest heavily in R&D. In 2002, most of the companies that had shifted to Linux were using it on low-end servers and it did not have much market share in the desktop markets. Technically too, Linux had problems; it was reported that only people with understanding of Unix would be able to install it easily. Linux also had problems with graphical interfaces, and many popular application programs failed to run on Linux (Refer Exhibit IV). Another problem area was with regard to accountability. In case major security bugs or problems popped up in the Linux o/s, it would be difficult for companies to hold anyone responsible. Lack of accountability would hinder the progress of Linux, according to some analysts. However with big corporates pledging support and R&D investments for Linux, many analysts believe that Linux will probably give Microsoft a tough fight and change the dynamics of the industry.
[20]

A San Diego based start up, founded by former MP3.com CEO Michael Robertson for providing applications for the windows users to work on Linux.
[21]

A formalized set of software calls and routines that can be referenced by an application program in order to access supporting network services.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION: 1. 2. 3. By the late 1990s, the open source movement was gaining popularity. It developed into one of the most powerful movements in the software industry. Analyze the reasons for the growth of the open source movement and, in particular, the popularity of Linux. BusinessWeek magazine stated: Linuxs sudden success owes much to the fact that Dell, Oracle, Hewlett Packard, and, most notably, IBM, have hitched themselves to the Linux bandwagon. Discuss the reasons why these companies extended support to Linux in a big way? In the mid-1990s, Microsoft dismissed Linux as software written by hobbyists, but by 2001, Microsofts CEO Steve Ballmer called it the threat number one. Do you think Linux is a threat to Windows, and do you think it can be a substitute for Windows? What should Microsoft do to arrest Linuxs growing popularity? Though support for Linux has increased in recent years, doubts still persist on its acceptability. What are the problems facing Linux that could impede its future growth? What, in your opinion, is the future of Linux and the open source movement? EXHIBIT I LINUX USAGE IN INDIA STATE/GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT State Government of Maharashtra LINUX USAGE Land record system, accounts & treasuries, employment exchange, desktops. Treasuries & accounts, schools, desktops Treasuries, desktops Desktops

4.

State Government of Madhya Pradesh State Government of Uttar Pradesh Delhi State Government Defense Research and Development Messaging & workflow solutions Organization (DRDO) Ministry of Railways ERP Solutions NIC Database applications ER&DCI Billing applications

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (Department Billing applications of Telecommunications) State Government of Andhra Pradesh Stamp registration State Government of Karnataka File tracking system State Government of West Bengal Schools, desktops National Thermal & Power Corporation Messaging & Collaboration (Department of Energy) Department of Posts & Telegraph Parcel Tracking. Source: Businessworld, March 17, 2003. EXHIBIT II TIME LINE OF LINUX YEAR 1991 1993 1994 1996 1998 1999 2000 2001 DETAILS Linus Torvalds wrote first code for Linux OS. First Linux software company Red Hat - was formed Linux version 1.0 was released. Linux users estimated at around 0.5 million. Work started on packages based on Linux. Linux 2.0 was released. Linux users estimated at 3.5 million. Corporates started showing interest in Linux, Netscape announced financial backing for Red Hat. Big corporates such as HP, Compaq announced their support to Linux. Linuxworld Conference and Expo started. IBM Big Blue announced its support to Linux, investing $1 billion in R&D for Linux. Linux Version 2.4 with additional features, released. Adapted from: Linux Now we are 10, Computer Today, September 2001 EXHIBIT III EVOLUTION OF WINDOWS In 1983, Microsoft launched Microsoft Windows, as an extension of the MS-DOS operating system. Windows provided a graphical operating environment for PC users and was hailed as a new environment for running applications, using bitmap displays and mouse. With the launch of Windows, the graphical user interface era began in the computing world. The following table provides the time line of the evolution of Windows: Source: Adapted from www.Microsoft.com EXHIBIT III EVOLUTION OF WINDOWS contd... YEAR 1985 1987 DETAILS Microsoft released first version of Windows Windows 1.0, which allowed PC users to shift from MS Dos to Windows operating system. Windows 2.0 was released. It had enhanced features such as improved processing speed, expanded memory, inter application capabilities through Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), which gave user control to screen layout, use keyboard combinations and overlap windows. Windows 3.0 was released. Hailed as the first mainstream computing platform. It came with a Program manager, File manager, Print manager and improved windows icons. Windows 3.11 with domain networking support was released. With this release, Windows became an

1990 1993

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997 1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

integral part of client/server evolution. Windows for workgroups operated in LAN, on stand-alone PCs and laptops. Windows NT 3.1, which for first time combined support to client/server business applications and personal productivity applications, was released. It came with new features like multitasking scheduler for Windows-based applications, integrated networking, domain server security, and support for multiple processor architectures. Windows NT was targeted at business users and was made available in desktop and server versions initially. In late 1993, Microsoft released Windows NT workstation 3.5 supporting OpenGL graphics standards which made possible high-end applications in software development, engineering, financial analysis and critical business-related tasks. Microsofts first Windows Server operating system Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1 was released. It was promoted as an application server for Novell Netware, Banyan VINES and Microsoft networks. Windows NT Server 3.5, which was built on 3.1 version with increased processing speed and improved connectivity to other systems, was released. It provided new administration tools, client software configuration, auto-reboot and dump facility and remote access capabilities. Release of Windows 95 Hailed as the successor to Microsofts existing desktop operating systems Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups and MS-DOS. Win 95 came with integrated 32-bit TCP/IP stack for Internet support, dial-up networking and plug & play capabilities that enabled users to install hardware and software easily. It also offered multimedia capabilities with powerful features such as mobile computing and networking. Microsoft released Windows NT Server 3.51, which enabled users to manage Client Access Licenses (CAL) for the Microsoft Backoffice family of server products. Microsoft released Windows NT Workstation 4.0. It was upgraded for a business desktop o/s, and included the Windows 95 user interface, improved networking support and provided easy access to Internet and corporate intranets. Windows NT Server 4.0 with faster file and print management services, robust application support, integrated web server and complete tools for developing and managing intranets, was also released. Windows NT Server 4.0, Enterprise Edition, with additional features to appeal to large corporate customers with mission-critical requirements, was released. Microsoft released upgrade of Windows 95 Windows 98 (designed specifically for individual customers). It opened and closed applications faster and supported reading of DVD discs and Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices. In October 1998, Microsoft announced that initials NT would be removed from Windows NT and announced the next major version of the o/s Windows 2000. Microsoft released Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition, which came with a multi-user core, enabling it to host multiple and simultaneous client sessions, and a remote desktop protocol allowing communication between server and Windows-based client software. Second edition of Windows 98 called Windows 98 SE, was released, with Internet Explorer 5.0 and Microsoft Windows NetMeeting version 3.0-conferencing software. Windows 98 SE also provided the user with device drivers that worked with the Windows NT business operating system. Windows Millennium Edition was released. It offered users music, video and home networking enhancements. Windows 2000 Professional was also released. It was an upgrade to Windows NT 4.0 and was designed to replace Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT workstation 4.0 on business desktops and laptops. Microsoft released three server versions of Windows 2000 providing scalability, reliability and manageability. Windows XP was released with the objective of unifying desktop operating systems. It was available in two versions Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Home. With Windows XP, Microsoft was able to merge its two windows operating systems for individual consumers and businesses. Windows Server 2003 was launched to meet the requirements of all types of businesses. It incorporated Microsoft .NET Framework, allowing developers to create XML web services. It was released in four versions: Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, Datacenter Edition and Web Edition. Source: Adapted from www.Microsoft.com

EXHIBIT IV COMPARISON OF LINUX AND WINDOWS

LINUX WINDOWS The flavors of Linux are known as distributions, All flavors of Windows come from which come from various companies. The Linux Microsoft only. Windows flavors fall distributions, which are released at the same time, under two wide distributions: Win9x use the same kernel. However, they would differ consisting Windows 95, 98, 98SE and in the additional software provided. Me, and NT Class which consists of Windows NT, 2000 and XP. GUI Linux provides two types of GUI KDE and GUI is integral part of Windows o/s. GNOME. Linux GUI comes as an option to the user. If the user does not want it, he can avoid GUI. Cost Linux is cheap or free. For server use also Linux Windows is expensive for desktop or is cheap compared to Windows. home use. For server use also, Windows is expensive. Bugs Linux is reported to be having few bugs, when Reportedly, most Microsoft products compared with Windows. Also bugs are fixed have security bugs and it takes a long faster in Linux as its source code is publicly time to discover and fix them, when available it is easier to find bugs and fix them. compared with Linux. O/S software Installing Linux is considered to be difficult, as Installing Windows is considered very installation different Linux distributions have different easy. installation programs. Application For Linux, application software installation is Though application software installation Software reportedly different for every distribution. is not standardized, it is usually consistent Installation with the Windows platform. Application There are very limited applications available for There are numerous application softwares Software Linux. available for the Windows platform. Viruses Linux is considered virus-free as compared to Reports say that numerous viruses enter Windows. the Windows platform easily. Hardware There are very limited hardware devices for A majority of hardware devices support devices Linux, when compared to Windows. Windows. supported by OS Clustering Linux can make enormous clusters of computers. Windows cannot support large clusters. Security Linux always requires the user id and password to To log in Windows user id and password log in. are not compulsory. Windows 2000 and XP can be configured in a way that user can access system without a user id/password. Multiple Linux is a multiple-user system. Windows is basically designed for the Users single user. Though there is a multi-user version of Windows, it is not pre-installed on all systems. Networking Linux is based on TCP/IP. Windows is based on TCP/IP. File Systems Linuxs default file system ext2. Linux file Windows uses FAT12, FAT16 and names are case sensitive. FAT32 file systems. File names in Windows are not case sensitive. File Linux File Hierarchy is a unified scheme. In File Hierarchy is volume-based in Hierarchy Linux all directories are attached to the root Windows. Alphabets are used to directory - identified by a /. All hard disk represent different devices and hard disk partitions and devices are shown as sub- partitions in Windows. In Windows, a directories of one root directory. In Linux, there standard format for representation of subare no standards regarding which sub-directories directories is followed. For example, A should be used for which device. drive is always the floppy drive and C drive is always the boot partition. Flavors

Shutdown

Linux cannot be shut down without first logging There is no need to log out for shutting out. down Windows.