Linux all ready for prime time

Novell president Ron Hovsepian says the Linux program will give Microsoft a run for its money. Picture / Mark Mitchell

For years open-source evangelists have beaten on the business community's door, fervently spreading their message: the ascension of Linux is nigh.

The evangelists' mantras have become more believable as the Linux operating system's popularity as an open-source alternative to Microsoft's dominant offerings has grown quietly but steadily.

The latest Linux missionary to arrive on our shores is Ron Hovsepian, president and chief operating officer of network software developer Novell.

Hovsepian's company is about to launch a new suite of desktop applications aimed at undercutting Microsoft's ubiquitous Office software on price.

His particular mantra: for large, and even small-to-medium businesses, Linux is "ready for prime-time now".

Linux servers have a strong foothold into the backrooms of large IT installations, but the operating system's popularity with techies hasn't yet flowed out on to the office desktop.

But Hovsepian is arguing Novell's mid-year launch of its SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, running the OpenOffice.org 2.0 application suite, will tip the balance.

"[Until now] we offered Linux on the servers, on the mainframes, on point-of-sale devices like cash registers and kiosks," he says. "The one thing that was still missing from our point of view was the desktop."

He says the new software will retail for about 10 per cent of the cost of the equivalent Microsoft package.

"The exciting part is the value equation that's created for the customer - that's where I see the acceleration. We've saved millions of dollars on licensing fees alone making the transition ourselves internally."

A recent success story for Novell has been the state of Indiana, which has signed up for 500,000 of the company's desktop products for its education system.

A European manufacturing business has committed to replacing 25,000 of its desktops with Novell's latest enterprise-level package, SUSE Linux Desktop 10.

Hovsepian, who joined Novell in 2003 after a 17-year career with IBM, says the European deal "was a value decision" for the company involved.

"They still have 50,000 other [Microsoft-based] desktops there and this is the type of co-existence we think is going to occur in the market over time. As they said to us, if we deliver well on those first 25,000 we'll have a good shot at the rest."

Closer to home, last October Novell signed an all-of-government licence agreement with New Zealand's Inland Revenue Department.

The procurement agreement gives about 50 government departments access to discounted Novell products and support.

At the time it was hailed by the State Services Commission as providing Government departments with greater flexibility and freedom of software choice. Hovsepian calls it a "big breakthrough for where open source can go".

One of the early results of the Government deal is that Crown entity Public Trust is installing Novell technology as part of a major IT upgrade.

"Like any piece of software, customers stop and they look at it and they do a proper evaluation," Hovsepian says.

"One thing I've learned about New Zealanders is that they're very pragmatic and that's going to play extremely well to the value proposition that we're bringing to this market. They're very logical, they look at things in black and white," he says.

"What we're seeing is the Public Trust, as an example, has pressed forward with a number of Novell products and that's really been a nice win for us."

Arriving in New Zealand at the end of a six-week global promotional tour, Hovsepian denied his recent frenetic travel schedule was aimed at pre-empting Microsoft's imminent launch of its new Vista operating system.

"I would say that's a subplot. The big plot is moving to a 64-bit architecture, which is what Vista really is.

"We delivered 64-bit Linux last year. So Linux is a solid two years ahead of the operating system from Microsoft from a 64-bit perspective."

Ron Hovsepian

Who: President and chief operating officer, Novell.

Favourite gadget: "My Treo [smartphone] - it's attached to my body all the time."

Next big thing: The continued evolution of embedded devices, meaning we'll see radio frequency identification chips "inside of everything".

Alternative career: "Doing something on a social level - helping people. Coaching young kids in sports and helping them head in the right direction."

Spare time: Spending time with his family of four children.

Favourite sci-fi movie: The Matrix Reloaded.