Finding the apps you want or need used to be challenging. Not anymore!
Written by Barry L. Kline
I have been writing about the benefits of Linux in business for over a decade. Web serving (simple pages and Web services), spam control, email distribution, integration with a Windows network—these are all fairly trivial to implement. UNIX and UNIX-like (e.g., Linux) operating systems have been handling infrastructure tasks since the early '80s, and for many IT managers, this long history has led to the typecasting of UNIX, in the same vein as Leonard Nimoy is typecast as his famous "Spock" character. This isn't to say that UNIX holds the same position in scientific circles, where it has historically been the operating system of choice for servers and workstations. But for the business types who typically use the iSeries in a network with Windows desktops, *nix is just part of the plumbing, much like our i5 is plumbing to the kids coming into IT who think that the world revolves around Microsoft. (Yeah, I'm old enough to call 'em kids).