Novell CEO: Linux's time is now
Novell Inc. CEO Jack Messman delivered a Linux valentine to CIOs at the opening keynote at LinuxWorld here on Tuesday, taking pains to emphasize that Linux is business-ready in terms of security, certification, indemnification, and being able to run in entire hardware and software stacks, including on the desktop.
"A great deal of progress has been made in the past 13 months alone," Messman told attendees. Whereas in last year's keynote Messman said that IT managers were still leery about Linux, particularly concerned about whom to call if something breaks, now Novell hears "fewer and fewer of these questions," he said.
"The good work the open-source community has done ... has encouraged IT executives to see the light," Messman said. "Many CIOs and CTOs [chief technology officers] agree that open source and Linux in particular is the center of the enterprise."
He pointed to surveys that show that 53 percent of all CIOs said open source will be the dominant technology by 2007, saying that Linux's strategic importance in enterprises will over time continue to bear fruit as Linux moves to the desktop.
