Migrating to Linux in the Enterprise Using Vendor-independent Formats

For a successful migration, data needs to be stored in a format that is independent from single applications and proprietary standards.
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An impulsive and immediate migration to Linux can sometimes lead to disappointment. Ambitious businesses are sometimes led to believe that their data can merely be be dumped from one platform onto another, but the reality is a little more complex than this. In order for a migration to be successful, one needs to be familiar with native Linux applications, and the data needs to be stored in a format that is independent from just a single application.

Changing one's favorite application can be hard. Everyone resists the introduction of new things, especially when they threaten and have direct impact on the force of habit. For a very long time, large and well-established software vendors have capitalized on people's reluctance to learn new processes, such as identification and menu items and familiarity with user interfaces. Some software vendors went further and defended these processes by introducing the notion of ownership, then essentially patenting behavior. Even more software vendors used the idea of obscurity to restrict (or altogether eliminate) people's ability to change. This is known as lock-in.


A single unified format is the key with which various businesses can communicate conveniently. It is also highly essential for the enhancement of the existing formats, which should preferably remain party-neutral, backward compatible, complete, and elegant. In a world of unified formats, different businesses are able to compete with one another not through restriction or punishment of rival developers and consumers, but rather through innovation, added value, reasonable cost, and a decent level of support. For example, in the case of documents, one unified format is currently OpenDocument format (ODF), and for static documents, Portable Document Format (PDF) has become the norm.



Years passed on and people accumulated data. Inability to access older data, which is related but not identical to digital preservation, opened many people's eyes. For example, consider the case where a person loses metadata that accompanies photos if moved from one application to another or one file system to another (a common scenario when changing or upgrading an operating system). Suddenly, people's personal information -- including memories with sentimental value -- became obsolete and no longer accessible. In some cases, the effort required to regain access to information was just too great to be worth handling. People learned to accept losses, but they also realized that there was a different way -- a better way even.



The introduction of a limited set of formats that multiple vendors can work with has resolved notorious and much-loathed (by the customer, not the vendor) issues, most notably lock-in. Backing from international organizations meant that these formats were by no means formalized to benefit one application or one operating system. No company was truly in control of the process. Portability was improved at the application level and the operating system level. People who prefer different platforms -- whether an application or the underlying operating system -- were able to exchange information at ease and also in a non-lossy fashion. This improved productivity for various reasons.

First among those reasons is personal convenience. There is no one piece of software that suits everyone. There is no parity in user expertise due to level of experience and various backgrounds (including training and education). Different people think differently and thrive in individual strengths. A programmer, for example, might be able to handle technical complexity, whereas a writer can express himself or herself in a clear and eloquent fashion. Any technical peril you put in a writer's face might simply become a distraction and obstruction – simplification enables a writer to be more focused.

The second reason why a unified format solves and addresses many problems has to do with the fact that it eliminates the need to transform and translate of data from one format to another. The data is contained in a form which is defined by one "gold standard." It is a case of abstraction, or separation into layers. Data becomes entirely independent from the application that supports it.

Having identified reasons why no single application suits everyone, one can look at the needs of a business. Businesses must standardize on formats, not software. Formats are verbal and technical specifications, not code. As long as the specifications remain unchanged or evolve in an open, transparent, and carefully monitored fashion, business information is secure. It preserves its integrity in the long term. Businesses, moreover, needn't rely on one particular vendor anymore. It puts the businesses in charge of their financial destiny and puts their data in the hands of responsible, supervised, and peer-reviewing industry consortia.

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