PeopleSoft climbs aboard the Linux bandwagon. At its user conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, PeopleSoft announced that it is porting and optimizing all of its applications for Linux, the open source operating system. PeopleSoft will partner with IBM for Linux deals, with IBM providing its xSeries hardware, DB2 database, and WebSphere Application Server. PeopleSoft plans to complete the migration of all of its products to Linux by the end of 2003.

Although Linux has made great strides in establishing itself in data centers, its role has been largely restricted to running Web servers, file servers, and messaging platforms. Its growth beyond such infrastructure services has been limited by the fact that, until recently, there have not been many enterprise-class applications that can run over Linux. But now PeopleSoft joins a number of other enterprise system vendors, such as SAP, Oracle, and QAD, in offering support for Linux. This trend appears to be growing, and if it continues it could allow Linux to play a central role in the application architecture of many organizations. Some industries that rely more on custom applications, such as financial services, are already heavy users of Linux, which offers a cost-effective and reliable platform for high volume transaction processing. With vendors of commercial software such as PeopleSoft getting on the bandwagon, this trend to Linux will likely accelerate.

For a more extensive discussion on Linux total cost of ownership (TCO), see my post on Dec. 17, 2002.