Slashdot Mirror
Preparation for LinuxWorld Heats Up
BoomZilla writes "Numerous stories abound regarding next week's LinuxWorld in San Francisco.
Reuters has published a report about Sun's upcoming
announcement at the show. Apparently Sun will be revealing its first
general-purpose, low-end Linux machine, and its own version of Linux. In another
article CBS MarketWatch
reports that IBM and RedHat/Dell will also be making major announcements." It'll at least be interesting this year with Microsoft
having a booth. I'll be there as usual, but without a booth, so maybe we can
russle up a party somewhere for Wed night? Anyone know a good place? Perhaps that serves Guinness & Bodingtons? Also, go see the Golden Penguin Bowl since
I'm a contestant this year and will undoubtedly embarass myself terribly.
Sit and have things thrown at them?
Or are they going to release their own Linux distribution? That could make things interesting.
Sun announcement: We now own Linux and Sun is now the standard.
IBM announcement: We recognize Linux rules.
Red Hat announcement: We suck.
Dell announcement: Microsoft won't let us use Linux.
"I'll be there as usual, but without a booth, so maybe we can russle up a party somewhere for Wed night? Anyone know a good place? Perhaps that serves Guinness & Bodingtons?"
I wonder if this will be the first bar that gets slashdotted...
www.mslinux.org -- tells the whole story. Microsoft is ready to rumble! :-)
Rich people are eccentric. Poor people are strange. Me, I'd be happy with odd.
The Boston Tea Party and what you will do with all MS software you have.
.net, CLI, VisualStudio...
Let's see if we can fill up the MS booth.
You know they are gonna be promoting
I know the LWE 'party' is gonna be at Jillians. Is there a Dave and Busters in San Fran? Great food, drinks, and video games all together :-) Love the one in Austin.
Huh? Another distro? What could Sun's edge over the others be is what I'm wondering. Companies like SuSE/Mandrake already have the low end, RedHat does the middle and Solaris has the high end. So is there going to be a high end Linux?
Oh! Here's an idea. Perhaps McNealy sees this as a chance to return to the Network Computer idea (not a bad one in itself) by having thin client machines running XFree. Suns Linux could be like the LTSP distro.
that this Microsoft booth will put the whole OSS community into serious trouble.
We all know these ultra zealots like RMS et al. These people have only a little self-control if they are writing about closed source systems.
What will such people do if they see a MS booth at the Linux world ?
If they get mad and storm it and chase the poor MS employees around, it will be very easy for the MS PR department to portrait all OSS supporters as raving half-terrorists. This might result in Bush creating laws for prohibiting OSS at the US (at least at universities and colleges).
So they MS booth might provide much harm for OS systems. There is even the possibility that MS especially planned such events.
Owner of a Mensa membership card.
Just maybe M$ decided to release Windows XP as open source, and bill is waiting for our "HURRAAAYYYYYY"
The lunatic is in my head
Hard to beat(sic) the Power Exchange @Otis St. Plan to go with a date, stag males pay $75 entry on weekends for the mixed space.
Linux is Linux, if One need clarify their dist: <Dist>/GNU Linux
bsds are of course just BSD
Published last friday on their website:
a nd rakesoftnews/news?n=/mandrakesoft/events/2369
http://www.mandrakesoft.com/company/community/m
__________________
AMD's booth
This year AMD will be welcoming the Mandrakesoft team as partner on their booth. Hammer, AMD's new generation of 64-bits processor, and Mandrake Clustering (Clic project) will be in the spotlight.
Hammer demos
* Demo of the Beta version of the upcoming Mandrake Linux 9.0 on Hammer.
* Use of X 32 bits server running KDE 3.02 64 bits and a Konqueror 64 bits navigator. This server will be linked to a Gigabit Ethernet network. There should also be a charge simulation of 5000 connexions.
Mandrake Clustering (Clic project) demos:
* Use of a cluster of 4 Bi-Athlon XP/MP nodes with GeForce 4.
* Presentation of operations of nodes fast deployment from a server.
* Presentation of the Quake demo on multi screens.
* Presentation of Povray calculations using MPI or PVM technics which show that every node calculates and transmits the information.
HP's booth
On HP's booth, there will be demonstrations of the Bundle Premium, an OEM special offering built by HP and Mandrakesoft under a partnership agreement. This offering is based on HP's Evo desktops associated with Mandrake Linux Standard OEM Edition.
The Bundle Premium consists of 2 CDs and a 100-day per mail support. The first CD offers Mandrake Linux Standard OEM Edition, the second one is loaded with StarOffice 6.0, the reference office suite for Linux. This product is distributed via HP's worldwide network of resellers.
HP will also demonstrate 441 Project Community Computer concept, using the Mandrake Linux distribution. This concept is geared towards educational markets. It could potentially reduce the cost per seat dramatically by sharing the resources of one Evo desktop among 4 users.
IBM's booth
MandrakeSoft recently announced that it will distribute DB2, IBM's famous database software, with its server product. The combination IBM DB2 version 8/Mandrake Linux 8.2 will be exhibited on IBM's booth. This ideal low-cost e-Business solution is likely to open a new era of migration from other platforms.
_____
Great to see that IBM shows interest in Mandrake!
Most Sun customers won't even care what graphics card is in the thing - in fact, most won't ever log in. There are some Sun desktops in the universe (Hello to whoever posts a reply saying they use Sun on the desktop), but the vast majority are headless servers running back-end stuff.
Cheers,
Ian
if you're willing to go to lower haight, i'd suggest toronado. beer lover's paradise...
Or maybe they are there to answer questions from Wine and Samba (etc) developers? They are such nice people!
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
...if you think RMS is going to storm the M$ booth. Or any of the other self-proclaimed leaders. You might want to do a check on that binary attitude of yours, it seems to be all black or white.
Infuriate left and right
They cannot be so naive as to think they are going to go to such a convention, hoping to win followers. What they are doing is tantamount to inciting a riot for exactly the reasons you stated: many open source zealots have no self control. (Come on, we've all gotten fired up from a conversation with a half-witten MS drone.) This is no different from going up to PennState's main campus, standing in the college town, shouting "PennState Football SUCKS!" then throwing a garbage can. It will cause a riot. Microsoft standing in at a Linux convention, shouting "Open Source SUCKS!" then throwing thriw software around. It's no different. Hopefully, no violence or misbehavior will come of this. (MS, afterall, are certainly paying their dues to have a booth.) However, if it does, the picture will be painted and open source gets its credibility knocked down a thousand points.
What needs to happen is exactly the opposite, and it needs to be documented. There needs to be a few groups of well-educated indivudals who know software and the market well. They need to go to that booth, followed by a few idiots with cameras, and demonstrate a clean, friendly, intelligent conversation with the MS people. Nobody needs to trip anyone else up. Either party needs to show respect, and if MS can't do that all the better. It will make open source supporters appear mature, level-headed, and above all else, credible in a corporate sense, especially since both sides will ask the tough questions.
Why bother.
Yup - I use the Sun desktop but on a SunRay. I'm afraid I'm currently using a SunPCI card to surf while the real work is happening on the Sun desktop.
The initial poster has fallen for the usual trap of comparing the low-end Sun boxes with reasonably high-end Intel-based boxes.
The main problem is that the comparison of processor speeds is a meaningless as MIPS (meaningless indication of processor speed?:-)
Most Intel-uproc based systems have extremely limited architectures supporting the processor and struggle in multiprocessor systems.
SPARC on the other hand, was developed to exist happily in a multiprocessor environment and has the underlying architecture that will allow usparcIII systems to beat soundly Intel-based systems.
How many Intel-based systems have you seen at 16 processors never mind 64 or above?
Now answer the same question substituting Intel with SPARC....
Ok, so the components may not be as cheap as the off-the-shelf compatriots but I would counter that with a question...
How many times have you had problems with compatability issues and everyone pointing the finger at the other companies products? Even when you buy an ASUS mobo and ASUS-flavour nVidia-based graphics card there are still problems. I'd rather pay the higher price and not waste my time trying to get two independent entities to talk to one another in the vain hope of getting a fix. This can take days - my daily rate becomes a factor here as I would personally have to manage the problem myself instead of actually producing anything for my customers.
For me and I would imagine, many other commercial concerns, the elevated cost of peripherals is going to end up cheaper overall.
Yes - PCs have the place and Sun boxes have their place but the overlap is starting to blur. Don't just write of Sun boxes because their processors are "slower" than a cheaper intel cpu.
#pragma soapboxmode off
There's a little pub right across from the Metreon on Mission st. that serves guiness (and I think boddingtons), that's the closest one I know close to Moscone. Alternatively, there's a pub with pool tables on Columbus about half way between North Beach and the wharf that serves $2 guiness draws on weekdays! FYI.
Actually MS will be promoting and supporting the CLI (Common Language Infrastructure) Technology within
But they are not going to tell you Cornering the autocoding market is what they are planning to do.
And they do realise the GNU Freesoftware and Open Source Software communities don't have their (MS) resources to do it faster or better than MS.
It's gotta be Kate OBrians in San Francisco - the perfect place for geeks to meet up! Its located a mear 2 short blocks from the convention center, they let in all those underage geeks, its has great prices on food (and great food too - a steak sandwich to die for)and most importantly, guiness on tap! And if you're nice to the beautiful bartenders, you can get them to play whatever music you want over the sound system. There's also wireless access for all right next door~ See ya there!
I would not be so quick to just write off another Linux distro.
It may be very important that it comes from SUN.
And, it is not because Linux needs another distro either.
Rather it is because SUN will package hardware and software and sell the package to corporate accounts. HPaq, IBM and others do not do that. DELL is beat up by the criminals running Microsoft everytime they try.
But, SUN has not deal with Microsoft. They do not have to squeeze terms out of the illegal operation. They can just put together the hardware/software that works and works well and begin their marketing. And, Linux on the desktop needs that very much.
When corporations start buying 1,000 orders of SUN Linux and boxen, the other OEMs in the business will be forced to tell Microsoft to stuff their obusive terms. And, that will make all the difference in the world.
Do you really think Hpaq and IBM is going to just let SUN have all the corporate business for Linux on the desktop? Hpaq does offer a few Linux desktop solutions but they are limited. And, they are not across the board.
That dynamic can all change when SUN enters that marketplace. And, selling linux desktops does not erode their service business either. That would be the entry into a market which they presently do not participate in. And, that could be more significant than SUN adding itself to the list of Linux Server suppliers.
What will they do? Ignore the corporate desktop market? Or, package a fine white box, Linux and StarOffice? And, sell, promote and support them by the thousands? That is something that HPaq and IBM do not do.
NexuSys - Linux support by the best
the goatsex guy as their booth babe.
...as Environmentalist picket the convention, calling for Linux users to lower the production of heat to stave off global warming. One of the picketers was reported as saying he was offended that such an environmentally unfriendly convention had a penguin as it's mascot-- the anti-thesis of the environmenally harmful rally.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
It almost doesn't matter what happens at the MS booth, the result will be good for those guys.
.NET-based interoperability features and the goodness of XML. That will certainly reduce MS' tainted image of being a monopolist, they might even be starting a new niceguy campaign!
As has been pointed out in earlier posts: open source zealots attacking the booth will help MS to discredit the whole community and Linux as an operating system.
Maybe MS will even announce some
Perhaps the most stupid thing they could do is trying to sabotage the Expo with deconstructive criticism and blatant WindowsXP demos. The resulting uproar would bring them in on the frontpage of most internet news pages and make for some great indirect advertizing.
So there is not much that could turn out negative for MS at this. Maybe the best from a Linux point of view would be some sort of support by MS (e.g. Office suite), even though it is unlikely to happen. Anyway let's just hope the community won't embarass itself out there!
I plan to heckle the slashdot booth while wearing a shirt with a big "-1" printed on the front. Anyone else care to make some iron on goatse.cx prints?
This time LinuxWorld starts before my school does. That means I cannot excuse myself from my work saying I have some "school issues" to deal with!
Public surfing from a VM with undoable disks, with /tmp pointing to a big honking RAM disk. Of course, all this is moot for libraries like our local one, which log who and what machine was in use at a given time.
Call (206) 338-5780 COLLECT for information about a genuine BA, BS, MA, MS, MBA, or Ph.D.
get all those crap m$ licences i have kicking around, and hand them out to people going to the m$ booth...
They say not for resale, so giving them away must be ok.
or even better setup a microsoft licence pire just outside.
Uhh, yeah... When I turn up to work I see cubicles full of engineers and support staff with Sun desktop machines running chip design, simulation and layout software from the likes of Cadence.
Sure, Admin and Finance staff have Dells pre-installed with Win2K but engineering is still very much Sparc-based.
Interesting to see that the Slashdot booth went from the huge right-next-to-the-front-door booth with piles of beanbag chairs and the PT Cruiser to.. well, as Taco said, no booth at all.
I wonder if SGI will be there at all. They used to have cool booths.
The free t-shirt count has dwindled too. Kind of sad to see Linux World Expo shrinking year after year.
You see the bit where I said hello to the inevitable reply saying someone ran Sun on the desktop...
Hello, and commiserations. At the moment Sun's stuff runs CDE doesn't it? Yuck. And I like Sun.
Sun's desktop users are a minority, and you will probably agree with me that the world isn't exactly overflowing with chip design companies. That doesn't make it any less important to you of course, but I still think that my 'most Sun customers' argument holds.
Cheers,
Ian
Microsoft has no good intentions for the LWCE. I have come to learn that they intend to only do two things: promote their Services For Unix software and promote Windows XP Embedded.
I have been trying to find the original Newsforge article with that information, but I've only been able to find the article at Eweek.com.
They try to make it out as though it's really about talking to customers that need to work in a mixed environment, but I have my doubts. They also try to make it out as being a dialog between them and the rest of the OSS and Free Software communities.
// file: mice.h
#include "frickin_lasers.h"
Also, of note, is Central Computer between 4th and Howard. It's a good place for parts. There's cheaper online, but when you need that last minute firewire cable or replacement mobo, it can't be beat.
Other good neighborhood bars include Arrow Bar (6th and Market), Pow (an Anime themed bar) at 6th and Mission, Julie's supper Club (retro-styled bar and restaurant) at 7th and Folsom, and for late night revelry the strip at 11th and Folsom (including JWZ's DNA Lounge).
What the hell is Micro$oft doing at linuxworld?! Anybody got a clue?
Imagine this.
MS shows up at major Linux event with booth.
MS hires a bunch of rowdies to come cause trouble at MS booth, badmouthing MS, etc.
A bunch of reporters with cameras show up to document, because they received anonymous coward tip to "expect something interesting at the MS booth".
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Dell announces becoming a divison of Sun?
Don't Tread on OpenSource
I put together some bumper stickers for a friend who will be there. He printed a bunch and will be giving them away (perhaps accepting donations to defray printing costs).
The stickers he's offering are the top two from this site: http://www.halley.cc/ed/linux/slogans.html
I wonder how the "convicts" sticker will go over with the Microsoft crowd. ;)
[
Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.
For those of you who are still new to the politics of the industry, here's whats going on: Microsoft's future as a company is being threatened by Uncle Sam. As a result, they're going to do everything within their power to seem as friendly and non-hostile as possible. Even if it means setting up a booth in the enemy's backyard--LinuxWorld. They're going to do everything they can to persuade you, and the media, that they are not a threat to anyone.
As has been the case for the past 10 years, Microsoft will wait until your guard is down. When Microsoft needs to eliminate someone, a certain ritual occurs. Its a symbolic fight. Internally, they will do anything they can to undermine and destroy you. Externally, they want big you a big hug, bake you cookies and compliment you on your good looks. They'll concede a few minor trinkets to you, and make you feel like you've taught them a lesson, waiting for the right moment. They'll let you think you've won the fight, you'll let your guard down, and then they'll gut from asshole to adam's apple.
DO NOT TRUST MICROSOFT.
Yes, Virginia, they're actively engadged in trying to invalidate and destroy your work. REVOLT. If anything, go there, and sit down on the floor of their booth. Let them know they're not welcome in YOUR house. Doing anything less is an admission on your part that you believe all the horseshit they dish out to the media. They plan on pumping the same brand of horseshit down your throat at LinuxWorld to convince you to give up the fight. The fight is over when they're dead--Not when they tap out.
Cheers,
But what they are doing is preventing anybody from selling dual boot machines. In the current environement and with enough FUD from MicroSoft this is pretty effectively the same as preventing them from selling Linux, since nobody is willing to try it without the ability to retreat back to MicroSoft.
Great beer and a traditional environment. Good choice.
Here's Ed's Screenshots . Looks like he's a terminal guy
(or he surfs a lot sites he'd rather keep secret)
Ali
Ph33r m3!!!
Rumor has it that the Gentoo folks are going to be releasing 1.4 during the Expo. They say it's going to be entirely built with GCC 3.2. Can anybody describe the benefits of a GCC3x release over the GCC 2.9.5(?) Gentoo I'm currently using?
"Bold as Love"
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Sigh.
Writers imply. Readers infer.
The Hitler comparison is pretty nauseating. Did anyone else not find that funny? I don't like MS or use their products either, but Christ. . .
Microsoft documents apparently have something to reveal.
It does not sound like lack of demand had anything to do with it.
Sounds more and more like additional illegal activity.
The following is taken from the opening statement by the States.
1. Microsoft held a series of meetings with Dell in regard to linux
2. Meetings involved both Gates and Ballmer
3. Microsoft does not sell a linux distro
4. Microsoft needs to remind Dell why it is smart to partner with Microsoft
5. Dell feels a need to discuss linux with Microsoft? (does he need permission from the godfather?)
6. Ballmer is urged to make certain that Dell understands it is untenable for Dell to be marketing linux
7. Ballmer suggests that Gates give Dell somewhat of a hard time (Ballmer suggests that Gates brown nose Dell)
8. Dell in June of 2001 informs Microsoft (the crime family) that Dell has canceled their linux business unit
9. Does not smell like lack of market demand at all
Is this testimony? No, just statements from the States based upon Microsoft documents.
But, does this sound like a lack of marketing demand nixed Redhat on Dell desktops? Not to me it does not.
It sounds like Dell thinks that Microsoft Corporation has to approve any contracts that Dell might want to sign with others. (Or, they have to cancel if Microsoft does not approve.)
Lewis A. Mettler, Esq. (lamlaw.com)
NexuSys - Linux support by the best
How come Dell is still in the mix if they are not allowed to sell machines without an MS operating system inside anymore? How does that fit?
The article was rather horrific in it's content.. it was rather straightforward Linux-bashing by for example some nameless 'analysts', and it was generally filled with misinformation. And the article came from Reuters.. I would have expected something better from them.
:(
Please read the article (link to Sun's announcement), and if you agree with me, send your warm feedback to Reuters.
E
PS. Can I be labelled as 'Anonymous loginchallenged person?'. Slashdot refuses to let me sign in on my account
Sit and have things thrown at them?
They'd better be prepared for that.
Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
without the ability to retreat back to MicroSoft.
While this might worry some customers, it should worry M$ as well.
Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
Fat? That's because we spend our time eating as opposed to fixing our winblows servers. Lazy? That's because it's been so long since we've had to patch our system we've forgot what it felt like to download the latest fix from MS hoping some guy doesn't code-red you in the 20 minutes it takes to download a 500k file from a slow website. Linux Loving? Thats us!(or me anyway) Hippies? We just look like hippies because we are to lazy(read #2 titled "Lazy?" to shave). Faggots? Windows lovers are the faggots if you ask me, They are the ones who don't mind bending over for Bill! Take a shower? What's that?
unfortunatly or not so as the case may be, you were on the 'winning' side.
This will probably get slamed by all and sundry but hell someones got to put the very minority point accross.
Hitler or at least fachisim was embraced by a huge populas, he had his own views and methods be then right or wrong but people stood by him.
Today large corperations opperate in a very simila manner, governments think there great, look at all the jobs etc... but it's the things they take away from you, you freedomes and rights that are getting undermined.
How many people die of anarexia and suffer in pain because of an image portraied in the media.
How many people suffer in the greed that up until a few hundred years ago they never knew.
hitler all but wiped out the gypsies, today 'democracy' and 'WIPO' etc.. are in the process of wiping out all kinds of freedomes and cultures.
The winning side always writes the histroy books, just think about what they might say about Microsoft and the RIAA in a hundred years time?
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
Anyone whose conditions for a place to meet includes the availability of Guinness, is a genius and must be modded-up considerably.
This wasn't just plain terrible, this was fancy terrible. This was terrible with raisins in it. - Dorothy Parker
Sun sells hardware. They don't make money of software. They don't care what runs on their hardwares, as long as they can sell the hardwre. They also have a name. Large corporations such as banks would only do business with large corporations such as Sun. They want the support that Sun can provide with their own distro.
When you buy Sun hardware you get what you pay for. If you believe Sparc processors are slow then you have fallen for the Mhz myth. Raw Mhz doesn't equal a faster cpu. Any processor that still has the heart of the 8088 and the 286 in it will never be faster that a risc processor. Until Intel and Amd drop x86 backwards compatibility, x86 will never be faster that Sparc, or nay other risc platform.
Hello to you, too.
What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
Boddingtons is (unless you're very lucky and live near Manchester) fizzy nitrokeg shite. Americans should look at www.camra.org.uk and see what you're missing ;-)
Beside the anouncement of Sun Linux, Solaris x86 is back at Sun, with Solaris 9 and 10 apparently in the Pipe. After struggling with the Solaris x86 community since the beginning of january, when Sun looked like they were killing the x86 version, Sun's Graham Lovell revealed the hopefully bright future of Solaris on x86 hardware.
The Solaris x86 community is cheering over in alt.solaris.x86 and on the Solaris x86 mailing list.
Solaris x86, now offered side by side with Sun Linux on the new BigBear line of Intel based servers at Sun is quite useful, even on generic x86 hardware.
Companies can add cheap edge servers based on commodity x86 hardware to complement their Solaris/SPARC installations which integrate well with each other and offer essentially the same administration tools. If the need for power grows, existing software is easily transferred to bigger, expensive SPARCs. This makes Solaris x86 unique, since this way a commercial grade Unix is available across the whole scale from small cheap x86 boxes up to 106 processor SPARC SMP machines.
For students and developers Solaris x86 is great, since they can use existing x86 hardware to dip their toes in the waters of Solaris without having to shell out for SPARC hardware.
Having to develop and support Solaris on more than one architecture forces Sun to keep Solaris portable, and that may be very useful if the SPARC architecture might prove to be a dead end, with only a small niche market left that actually needs and affords it.
It's also quite nice to have the usual Solaris envionment available on normal x86 based laptops.
While I personally use mostly Linux and Mac OS X it's nevertheless great to see other Unices alive and kicking. Competition in the x86 Unix market is good, and having the commercial versions competing with the free versions keeps everyone on their toes.
The reason why anyone whould go to LinuxWorld would be to see the alternatives to that M$ crap. We're all fed up with having XP shoved down our throats at ludicrous prices. Allowing them to stick their fingers in this particular pie is not going to do anyone any good. I mean FFS, would RedHat be allowed to exhibit in a Microsoft-run show?
Yo dude, why are you a freak?
Ceci n'est pas un post
I don't recall. Usually it happens when I'm reading a thread and someone keeps pumping a view that pisses me off.
It's funny, 'cause I don't filter anything, so I still see whatever gets written. However, the little red dots remind me that this person, at one time, advocated a postition with which I strongly disagree, and to reply or judge accordingly.
Writers imply. Readers infer.