IBM banks on Linux

jdaily writes "IBM's server group head said in an interview that IBM will Linux-enable all of its server hardware, from PCs to mainframes. " This is a pretty major endorsement... but I still want a Thinkpad running Linux with every component (including the freakin' modem!) working. You listening IBM?

Comments

too many misconceptions...

[Silverpike]

Disclaimer: I am an IBM employee

Um, I think my friend Mr. Malda has confused some /. readers. The announcement, as stated, applies to Enterprise Servers, which in IBM lingo means RS/6000, AS/400, and OS/3[7-9]0 machines.

As far as I can tell, this does not affect notebooks, PCs, and Netfinitys. They fall under a separate division of IBM and have their own "master plan". This is somewhat moot however, since Linux does run fairly well on these machines anyways.

As some readers insightfully pointed out, there are obvious motives for this. AIX, VMS, and VM are expensive to develop and time consuming to maintain, and IBM makes more money off the hardware anyways. IBM still has very strong hardware expertise, and the best reason to buy a RS6k is the hardware architecture (that and all the reliability aspects).

Don't have the misconception that IBM's enemy is Microsoft. Although we compete with them, our real competitor is Sun. Sun competes heavily in all the same areas we do, and Linux is the perfect way to help us fight the the workstation battle.

Since it is obvious to me that Sun has no intention of really supporting Linux until it begins to threaten their survival, I'm all for IBM and Linux partnership. This means IBM will contribute to linux kernel development for all of the products mentioned above, which should be quite valuable to Linus and Alan.

As for applications, that too falls under a different IBM division. I can't tell you if Notes or Smartsuite are coming for sure, but I wouldn't be suprised to see some changes in light of this announcement.

But where's the Lotus Notes Client on Linux?

[octothorpe]

I work in development for Big Blue and lots of us here love Unix in general and Linux in particular but no one can use it on the Desktop until Lotus comes up with "Notes for Linux". Now mind you no one actually likes Notes here, but if you want to get mail you don't have any other choice. I've gotten it to work using WINE but then its even more unstable than usual. Sigh.

Another story . . .

[gnarphlager]

There's a bit on the NY times website about this too.

Personally, I'm not sure I really see the significance of this. Big blue likes linux. Okay, fine. They'll sell servers running linux. Neat. But what are they going to do to develop linux? Are they going to contribute to the community, or are they just going to make a quick buck on everyone else's work without having to worry about NT licencing fee. Don't get me wrong; it's great to see more linux servers and workstations in the world, and any exposure is good exposure, but if anyone has the means to help development, it's IBM.

Too many corporations are looking at linux as a finished product, rather than a work in progress. It's not.