红帽面临挑战 出路竟是桌面？
时间：2008-04-14 来源：linux论坛
要想使得Linux获得更加蓬勃的发展，红帽公司就必须在更广泛的Linux用户中发掘潜力。
五年前，红帽公司给linux社区留下了深刻的印象，当时，该公司宣布，Red Hat Linux将专注于企业Linux发展，另创建发行版社区Fedora。
起源于Red Hat Linux 9的Fedora Core是红帽为linux社区专门设置的一个发行版项目，主要特点是不断加入各种新功能，发行版更新快，免费自由发布；Red Hat Enterprise Linux则是注重稳定性、提供支持，提供咨询服务，但是需要付费。
当时，红帽的举动被认为是红帽的公司转型，目标客户从那些没有什么钱的，大众Linux桌面用户，转向那些有钱的、需要从Unix转换操作系统平台的、数量稀少的企业级用户，特别是那些银行和金融公司。
就连红帽当时的CEO Matthew Szulik在2003年的时候也承认，在桌面系统上，相比较当时的linux而言，微软的windows操作系统也许是个更好的选择。
直至今日，红帽公司的策略已经被市场所验证，他们在Linux服务器操作系统市场确实取得了非常大的市场占有率。但是他们的桌面linux还是非常薄弱，不仅不如Novell的SuSE Linux destop，连后起之秀Ubuntu目前在桌面Linux市场上的影响力都超过了他。
目前红帽公司所急需解决的是，如何扩展Linux平台的软件数量，不仅要开源软件，还有数量巨大的第三方的非开源的专有软件。
红帽公司目前在Linux服务器平台已经发展的很不错了，但是Linux要想发展得更好，那么他就必须吸引足够数量的专业企业软件开发人员和开发团队加入其中，为Linux软件平台发展添砖加瓦。
现在该是红帽公司为他的Linux平台计划发展细枝末叶的时候了。
To bolster growth, Red Hat must pursue the high-volume Linux space.
Five years ago, Red Hat sent a shock wave through the Linux community when it announced a new bleeding-edge development pace for its flagship distribution, Red Hat Linux.
Starting with Red Hat Linux 9, which was soon rebranded as Fedora Core, Red Hat forced its users to choose between the stable, supported and per-system fee-toting Red Hat Enterprise Linux and a fast-moving, community-supported and fee-free distribution.
At the time, the move was widely regarded as Red Hat turning its back on the high-volume, general-purpose Linux market in favor of the lower-hanging fruit of Unix-to-Linux conversions in large enterprises, typified by banks and other big financial institutions. And while the action of canceling its flagship support-optional Linux distribution spoke loudly enough, Red Hat tossed in, for good measure, some unkind words for Linux's highest-volume aspirations—those concerning Linux on the desktop.
In late 2003, Matthew Szulik, Red Hat CEO at the time, was quoted as saying Microsoft Windows was a better desktop option. Szulik confined those comments to the consumer space, but Red Hat's wafer-thin desktop options for the enterprise indicated that the biggest name in Linux wasn't ready to back desktop Linux for companies, either.
Click here to read about Red Hat's impressive 2008 earnings.
Fast-forward to today: Red Hat remains focused most keenly on the enterprise server stack, and its supported desktop offerings remain thin compared with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and Ubuntu Linux. Based on Red Hat's current desktop Linux offerings, the company's position seems to be that Linux is not yet ready to challenge the Windows desktop in a serious way, and Red Hat may be correct.
While Linux is as good and perhaps better suited to the needs of knowledge workers who do not require Windows-only applications—a category into which I fall—the lack of an identity and management solution for Linux that's comparable to Microsoft's Active Directory and Group Policy is retarding Linux's growth.
But based so far on my tests of Red Hat's Fedora 9, which is due in late April, the pieces required to fill this gap for Linux—namely, the PolicyKit management and FreeIPA identity components that make their debut in this Fedora—are starting to fall into place.
The challenge that remains for Red Hat and Linux in general lies in extending the platform's software packaging embrace beyond open-source applications to include the works of third-party developers and internal enterprise development teams.
Red Hat has done well to focus on shoring up the core of the Linux platform and business, but if Linux is to grow beyond its data center environs and assume first-class status among volume platforms, now is the time for Linux's biggest brand to shore up its strength on the platform's periphery.
[ 本帖最后由 Send_linux 于 2008-4-14 13:44 编辑 ]
五年前，红帽公司给linux社区留下了深刻的印象，当时，该公司宣布，Red Hat Linux将专注于企业Linux发展，另创建发行版社区Fedora。
起源于Red Hat Linux 9的Fedora Core是红帽为linux社区专门设置的一个发行版项目，主要特点是不断加入各种新功能，发行版更新快，免费自由发布；Red Hat Enterprise Linux则是注重稳定性、提供支持，提供咨询服务，但是需要付费。
当时，红帽的举动被认为是红帽的公司转型，目标客户从那些没有什么钱的，大众Linux桌面用户，转向那些有钱的、需要从Unix转换操作系统平台的、数量稀少的企业级用户，特别是那些银行和金融公司。
就连红帽当时的CEO Matthew Szulik在2003年的时候也承认，在桌面系统上，相比较当时的linux而言，微软的windows操作系统也许是个更好的选择。
直至今日，红帽公司的策略已经被市场所验证，他们在Linux服务器操作系统市场确实取得了非常大的市场占有率。但是他们的桌面linux还是非常薄弱，不仅不如Novell的SuSE Linux destop，连后起之秀Ubuntu目前在桌面Linux市场上的影响力都超过了他。
目前红帽公司所急需解决的是，如何扩展Linux平台的软件数量，不仅要开源软件，还有数量巨大的第三方的非开源的专有软件。
红帽公司目前在Linux服务器平台已经发展的很不错了，但是Linux要想发展得更好，那么他就必须吸引足够数量的专业企业软件开发人员和开发团队加入其中，为Linux软件平台发展添砖加瓦。
现在该是红帽公司为他的Linux平台计划发展细枝末叶的时候了。
To bolster growth, Red Hat must pursue the high-volume Linux space.
Five years ago, Red Hat sent a shock wave through the Linux community when it announced a new bleeding-edge development pace for its flagship distribution, Red Hat Linux.
Starting with Red Hat Linux 9, which was soon rebranded as Fedora Core, Red Hat forced its users to choose between the stable, supported and per-system fee-toting Red Hat Enterprise Linux and a fast-moving, community-supported and fee-free distribution.
At the time, the move was widely regarded as Red Hat turning its back on the high-volume, general-purpose Linux market in favor of the lower-hanging fruit of Unix-to-Linux conversions in large enterprises, typified by banks and other big financial institutions. And while the action of canceling its flagship support-optional Linux distribution spoke loudly enough, Red Hat tossed in, for good measure, some unkind words for Linux's highest-volume aspirations—those concerning Linux on the desktop.
In late 2003, Matthew Szulik, Red Hat CEO at the time, was quoted as saying Microsoft Windows was a better desktop option. Szulik confined those comments to the consumer space, but Red Hat's wafer-thin desktop options for the enterprise indicated that the biggest name in Linux wasn't ready to back desktop Linux for companies, either.
Click here to read about Red Hat's impressive 2008 earnings.
Fast-forward to today: Red Hat remains focused most keenly on the enterprise server stack, and its supported desktop offerings remain thin compared with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and Ubuntu Linux. Based on Red Hat's current desktop Linux offerings, the company's position seems to be that Linux is not yet ready to challenge the Windows desktop in a serious way, and Red Hat may be correct.
While Linux is as good and perhaps better suited to the needs of knowledge workers who do not require Windows-only applications—a category into which I fall—the lack of an identity and management solution for Linux that's comparable to Microsoft's Active Directory and Group Policy is retarding Linux's growth.
But based so far on my tests of Red Hat's Fedora 9, which is due in late April, the pieces required to fill this gap for Linux—namely, the PolicyKit management and FreeIPA identity components that make their debut in this Fedora—are starting to fall into place.
The challenge that remains for Red Hat and Linux in general lies in extending the platform's software packaging embrace beyond open-source applications to include the works of third-party developers and internal enterprise development teams.
Red Hat has done well to focus on shoring up the core of the Linux platform and business, but if Linux is to grow beyond its data center environs and assume first-class status among volume platforms, now is the time for Linux's biggest brand to shore up its strength on the platform's periphery.
[ 本帖最后由 Send_linux 于 2008-4-14 13:44 编辑 ]
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