Articles by Philip Peake

Linux on the Desktop

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 11:00:00 EST

It has become something of a cliché that Linux has reached a critical point in its development and adoption. However, this is especially true now when we look at what events are lined up to occur in the near future, and particularly in the desktop area.

The Importance of Configuration Management in Open Source Deployments

Tue, 30 May 2006 12:30:00 EDT

As anyone who has used Linux systems for production systems knows all too well, there's an art to arriving at a stable configuration with all dependencies met. Linux distributors do an excellent job of delivering systems that meet this criteria, and keeping them there through their update processes as functionality updates, bug fixes, and security updates get laid on top of the out-of-the-box system. The amount of work and the success that they have in delivering both the base distribution and the stream of updates that follow is widely unappreciated.

Managing an Open Source Application Stack with Aduva OnStage

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 22:30:00 EST

One of the most serious problems facing larger organizations considering using Linux and Open Source application stacks is managing the software environment. The basic Linux system has adequate tools to manage a single machine, or even a small group of machines, but once the population of these machines reaches into the tens and hundreds and spreads across multiple application areas and multiple locations the management task becomes harder.

Dealing with Open Source Licensing in a Commercial Software Environment

Fri, 12 Aug 2005 16:00:00 EDT

Much as some people would like to paint Open Source licensing as a viral disease that can cause untold problems for innocent software companies, the truth is a lot less dramatic.

OSDL and Desktop Linux - Hype Meets Reality

Tue, 14 Jun 2005 11:00:00 EDT

Linux has come a long way, quite quickly over the past couple of years. It has moved from a system usable only by those willing and able to spend time installing, configuring, and re-configuring again to systems that are sold by a wide variety of distributors, some of which have specialized desktop distributions. The list includes distributions such as Red Hat, Novell, Mandrake, Debian, and several others for specific geographies. They all install about as easily as any other OS that doesn't come pre-installed from a machine maker.

The Story Behind DTL 1.0

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST

The OSDL Desktop Linux Working Group (DTL) captures, discusses, publishes and develops Linux capabilities definitions required by demanding, enterprise-class desktop applications. The ultimate goal is to accelerate the use of Linux on enterprise desktops. The DTL Capabilities document is the work of current OSDL member companies and interested individuals.