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GM ponders Linux for 7,500 Dealers
Hedonick writes "Seems like a combination of maturity on Linux behalf and bloat on Microsofts part has prompted
GM to investigate the possibility of replacing their NT based solution with a Linux based for it's dealerships according to ComputerWorld
The whole plan seems to be a bit tentative at the moment but the guy they interviewed, David E. Hutka, is the operations manager for GM:s dealership network and makes some good points on why Linux would be a good (and bad) choice." Unfortunately, it looks like they have a lot of legacy code that may require porting, but it's still good news.
I've looked hard at porting applications to Linux from Microsoft platforms, mostly VB apps. It's a bitch. There's no VB equivalent for Linux (I know there's some activity on this front), and I'm not aware of an easy porting path (if anyone knows one, comment, please).
There is no question that Linux is a more stable platform than any Microsoft platform. We've been installing Linux machines for our clients whenever we can -- Linux is much easier to work with. However, for GM to convert all those machines over to Linux doesn't make much sense to me. Not only do all of the VB apps have to be rewritten, but also most of the third-party software packages that this guy *thinks* he'd like to add are probably written for Windows (WINE advocates: I can't see my local GM dealer putting up with an "80% working" application under WINE, can you?).
Finally, are this guy's motivations (running out of disk space) silly, or is it just me? He could solve his problem by spending $200 at each store to upgrade to a larger hard drive and maybe to install more memory (DriveCopy does a very nice job of cloning hard drives, small --> large). It would probably cost him another $200 per store to hire a nationwide third-party service organization to visit all his dealerships and perform the upgrade. But at the end of it, he'd have what he needs: working systems with plenty of elbow room to grow.
(Yes, he could take the $400 and probably buy a better PC than he has right now. But I'm assuming he'd rather not IPL them all, install software on them all, burn them in, and so on, which will cost at least another $400 per machine to stage, not including shipping and installation at the dealer.)
If he converts to Linux, he has a huge problem on his hand: not only does he need to rewrite all his applications and do all that expensive staging above, but then at the end of the whole process (assuming it all works) he'll have to explain on a daily basis to his bonehead management how come the XYZ Inventory Control System doesn't run on his machines (his boss spots the XYZ ad in Useless American Cars Weekly, for example).
Ouch.
I work for a group of DaimlerChrysler dealerships, and I find this development *potentially* interesting. For years, Chrysler has had a SCO based server in every dealership. Apart from some application bugginess on their side, the servers are reliable and stable.
However - They went with NT Workstation clients for the MDSII diagnostic system. I suspect a lack of beta testing and a few other items have contributed to continual problems with the things. They went web-based (using Java), and the stability just is not there. The clients crash as a matter of routine, and it took 6 months (here at least) to even get the machines to run the training software without crashing on lesson 3. I would *really* like to see someone give this a try for several reasons:
Longer hardware cycles - without NT crippling the machine, a *nix based client could last longer between upgrade/replacement.
Of course, Linux (*nix in general) has the advantage of being a lot more robust typically. We use a Linux proxy (squid) for web connect and other things, and it basically only gets rebooted with power outages. It's more or less the same with the other Non windows/*nix boxes around here (Irix, SCO, Solaris)
Yes, there are a lot of relatively computer illiterate people out in the dealerships, but I see this as *more* of a reason to go with Linux. If the OS is rock solid, support primarily consists of application issues. That throws a lot of tech support calls out right there.
Finally, to those saying "buy more hard drives" and calculating $250 savings on Windows licenses, don't forget that it takes a lot less server (IMHO) to do the work with Linux. Add to that that Linux is better at multiple tasks, and you may very well wind up saving the cost of extra servers too. Where you might need 3 $10k Win servers to run web, database, e-mail, proxy, blah blah blah...one solid $5k Linux machine will probably do.
Finally, I expect dealerships to become *very* interested in systems that are more open than traditional proprietary solutions. Getting information between the in-house system, the manufacturers system, and the dealership's internal network should be easier...and it can be.
Oops...sorry - that got a bit long winded.
I think that besides the technological advantages to running a free OS such as Linux, there is a more human advantage, which is that with corporation struggling to increase shareholder value, reigning in on their IT costs by not having to pay for Microsoft OS's may save jobs. The money they trim there might have otherwise come from layoffs.
I hope this is something which is actually going to happen, I live near a car plant (ford) and I know many people who have lost jobs due to "restructuring". It would nice to see Gates' billions get trimmed a little due to "restructuring" instead.
five fingers make a fist amalgamate and resist
I think Microsoft knows that once a single IT manager at a Fortune 500 company proves that Linux is far faster/cheaper/better than Windows then it's all down hill for Windows from there, so I'm sure Microsoft is sending the FUD calvary to GM as you read this.