Case Analysis Note

On
IBM and Linux

Group 3 – H Section
Gokhul S A (PGP/23/440)
Bhanu Nelavalli (PGP/23/454)
Adithya Palakurthy (PGP/23/459)
Vishwanth S R (PGP/23/469)
Ranjith Roshan (PGP/23/470)
Shabnas C (PGP/23/476)
1. How does the open source model of Linux different from the Proprietary model of
Microsoft?

A.

Criteria Open Source Proprietary software

Easy to modify as it is Conveyed to user in form of binary
Accessibility conveyed as human codes as strings of one’s and zero’s
interpretable as source code
License fee No license fee License fee and copy right
Development No profit motivation Profit motivation
Customization Modifiable by anyone as per Only the owner can modify it if client
customer requirements wants some changes or additional
customization
Ownership No one has ownership and Only owner is solely contributed to
many programmers contribute the development of software
to the development to the
software
Compatible with almost all the Compatible with all the hardware’s
Compatibility hardware’s
Support and No proper technical support Proper technical support will be
debugging will be available, and no entity available and the owner will be
mechanism will be liable for software bugs accountable for the bugs of the
of this software software

2.  How is the platform market going to evolve in open source in comparison to the closed
source?

A.

Advantages Limitations

 No initial cost
 Minimal support
 Open Standards
Open Source  Usability
 Avoid vendor lock ins
 Risk posed by malicious user
 Faster responses to threats

 Usability
 Dependency
Closed Source /  Product Stability
 Software opacity
Proprietary  Ownership
 Expensive
 Tailored Support

Considering the above advantages and limitations of both open and closed source platforms.
The businesses and PC users do not depend heavily on the closed platforms, the growth of
open source will be more common. Since the open source platform can be modified based on
the requirement of the user/business it will get a greater momentum in comparison with
closed source especially in areas where high modularity and innovativeness (Ex: Universities,
Labs) is required.
Along with this the growth of the community will help in faster update cycles and faster fixes
of the issues in the system. This will provide a reliable system even though there are no fixed
support providers, the community input will outpace the developments that is possible
through closed platforms. So, open platforms will evolve faster and will be suitable for
adaptation in many enterprises.

3.  What should IBM or Mr. Daniel Fyre do, what are the options available? How would it
impact the evolution of the platforms?

A.

There are 4 options available to Mr. Daniel Fyre and they are

 Opponents of Linux

 Adopt a neutral position

 Support open source but refrain from involving development practice

 Forming alliance with Linux development community

IBM should support open source but refrain from involving development practice

 Can garner support from Red Hat for commercial support

 Benefit from high quality, non-proprietary operating system without any

vulnerabilities

 Cater to both B2B and B2C segments with differentiated service

 No change to their existing coding culture

 Have rights to change code base which might translate into large cost saving and easy
to update for users