Linux makes inroads into E&P market - Statistical Data Included

World Oil, Sept, 1999 by Louise S. Durham

Linux, brother of Unix, tries to take on his older sibling, as well as Microsoft's popular operating systems. Some E&P companies see an opportunity for savings

This article describes the use of Linux vs. Unix, Windows and WindowsNT. It discusses the pros and cons of these operating systems, including costs, and it gives examples of positive experiences with Linux.

INTRODUCTION

Despite the recent uptick in oil and gas prices, the still-cautious industry continues to wrestle with tight budgets. One cost-cutting target area is the widely used Unix workstation environment, where hardware and maintenance costs are high. Expense, lack of standardization, Unix's steep learning curve and the increasing power of PCs have caused growing numbers of corporations and consultants to shift to PC-based Microsoft Windows/NT operating systems (O/S). In fact, dual environments are rapidly becoming the norm.

For example, geophysicist Steve Anderson, president of Kinnickinnick Exploration in Lafayette, Louisiana, uses both a Unix workstation and a PC. The workstation's hardware and software cost Anderson about $120,000, which is about eight times more than the PC. His reasons for choosing the PC were its user-friendly interface, low initial cost and low maintenance expense, among others.

The increasing number of downsized professionals reinventing themselves as consultants likely will bypass pricey workstations, for the most part. "All those people being laid off, they're going to be buying PCs," said Anderson.

Although routine work can be performed on a stand-alone PC, the scale of data in seismic applications can be so massive that the 64-bit memory addressability available on a Unix workstation is a must-have. So, the mixed environment likely will be around for a while.

ENTER LINUX

The latest contender for a share of the Unix/Windows/NT-dominated operating-system market is a Unix clone of sorts that can be downloaded from the internet free of charge. Dubbed Linux, it debuted in 1991 when a Finnish college student, Linus Torvalds, began tweaking an experimental version of Unix. He posted his work on the worldwide web where a band of programmers began altering and refining it, and the software quickly took on a life of its own. Indeed, an estimated seven million people worldwide now use computers and networks run by the versatile O/S.

Linux is known as freeware or open-source software, meaning it is not only free but also available complete with its source code. This allows programmers to constantly improve it and add features, either for their own use, or to share with other programmers as a kind of status symbol among peers. This is very different from the typical annual, or less frequent, release of updated versions of commercial O/Ss.

Some folks believe, however, that the open source nature of Linux could work against it on the bottom line. Scott Fawcett, global energy-industry manager at Microsoft, pointed out that, because any competent programmer can modify its code, there are many versions of Linux; in fact, there are more versions of Linux than there are of commercial Unix. He added that interoperability and support of these systems can be a problem, and since Linux is less commonly supported than Unix, it is potentially more expensive. Less than 20% of all computing in the oil and gas industry is performed via Unix, and less than 0.01% of this uses Linux, said Fawcett.

Companies have sprung up to sell the otherwise free operating system for a minimal fee. The catch with a free download, available at many internet sites, is that it can be hours-long, documentation is minimal and support is non-existent. Linux commercial vendors, such as Red Hat, make money via education, training and technical support.

Two desirable attributes of Linux are its tendency not to crash and its flexibility. A user can easily script a work run in Unix, but not in NT--so with Linux, you can maintain the ability to script and do workarounds and still be in a PC environment. Robustness and flexibility are not compromised. An important fringe benefit of Linux on a PC is the opportunity it affords to learn the Unix O/S, allowing mistakes that beginners make without possibly crippling an expensive workstation.

In addition to paying perhaps $80,000 or more for a high-end Unix workstation, the Unix user must commit to maintenance payments for hardware and software that typically are about 10 to 20% of the purchase price. However, a PC can simply be replaced if problems arise.

Unix workstations lie within the scope or a group of trained experts. A switch to an all-PC environment would be cost-effective in accommodating more users within a company, and that could prove challenging for software vendors. Because of the increased numbers of software copies required, the company likely would demand a deeper than normal discount for software licenses, while the vendor would face the demanding task of providing support to an increased number of users.