Slashdot Mirror


IBM's New Linux Advertising

Amit Shah writes "IBM is airing a commercial featuring Linux as reported on Economic Times. This could be the first major way to reach out to normal users and explain the benefits of open source and Linux. The ad says, "Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom, but sharing data is the first step toward community""

587 comments

  1. Mirror by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    In case the site is slow, here is a mirror.

    Martin Studio Slashdot Policy

    1. Re:Mirror by Andrewkov · · Score: 3, Informative
      Check out IBM's new page, which is referenced by the TV ad: ibm.com/open. Here is a quote from the page, and this is good marketing:

      On demand business

      Linux is like nothing else in the history of computing--the most unique innovation operating systems have ever seen. It's unprecedented integration. It's an open source operating system. Owned by no single company or private enterprise. Constantly improved by thousands of programmers. And it's getting bigger. Last year, according to the IDC, shipments of servers running Linux increased by 22.8%.

      If Linux were a person, he would be growing, fast. Taught by the best. Gaining wisdom beyond his years. And sharing. He would be in business, education, government and homes. He would be a nine-year-old boy changing the world.

      It's stuff like this that will grab the masses attention and let people know that Linux is ready for prime time. I'm really happy to see IBM doing this!

    2. Re:Mirror by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I love this ad. Very "1984" quality. But how many civil rights groups will bitch that the kid is blonde-haired and blue-eyed? I can just hear Jesse now.

  2. No penguin?! by FileNotFound · · Score: 3, Funny

    Where's Tux?! Bah! It's not Linux without the penguin...

    --
    In Soviet Russia, the television watches YOU!
    1. Re:No penguin?! by Jenolen · · Score: 0

      Well, if it's Gentoo they are releasing just run 'emerge tuxracer' at the command prompt as root.

      --
      Karma is like sex. I can't remember the last time I had either of them.
    2. Re:No penguin?! by micromoog · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Maybe IBM realized that a fat, slow bird that doesn't even do the one thing "normal birds" are expected to do doesn't really reflect well on the OS.

    3. Re:No penguin?! by FileNotFound · · Score: 2, Funny

      I thought that Linux not doing the one thing "normal OS" do, that being crash all the time, was a great reflection of the OS.

      I always liked the penguin just because it was a totaly different logo, it didn't look as comersialized like some 'bought' logo or something that came out of marketing.

      Anyway the penguin is what really made me interested in Linux in the first place. See I figured if the OS I ran on my laptop had a cute logo, then all the girls would like it...well kidding about the girls...they like me anyway...still kidding.

      --
      In Soviet Russia, the television watches YOU!
    4. Re:No penguin?! by Jerk+City+Troll · · Score: 1
      In Soviet Russia, the television watches YOU!

      Actually, that would be in 1984. But close enough.

    5. Re:No penguin?! by Stonent1 · · Score: 1

      I'd much rather see a 9 year old Linux look-alike used. That would be cool.

    6. Re:No penguin?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Linus I meant. Doh!

    7. Re:No penguin?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Actually, that would be in 1984. But close enough.

      You mean "Nineteen Eighty-Four." Author George Orwell (real name: Eric Blair) said that his book had a title, not a number, or words to that effect.

    8. Re:No penguin?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean "Nineteen Eighty-Four." Author George Orwell (real name: Eric Blair) said that his book had a title, not a number, or words to that effect.

      Thanks, you just disturbed the fine impression I had of Orwell saying such an anal thing. It sounds like the title can only be said by telepathy or something. :-|

    9. Re:No penguin?! by Jerk+City+Troll · · Score: 1

      Right.

      I think Blair would complain if I called the book: "One Nine Eight Four". But if you'll kindly notice, I have emphasized the title (whether or not it is italicized is determined by your browser, but is no doubt emphasized in a structural sense), so there should be no confusion that I am refering to a proper name, not the digits 1, 9, 8, and 4, nor am I refering to the year itself.

      Blair probably would not have bothered with such a trivial issue as we have just done now and he would call us both fools for it. Please kindly return to your gin.

    10. Re:No penguin?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a fat, slow bird that doesn't even do the one thing "normal birds" are expected to do doesn't really reflect well on the OS.

      There was a show on TV the other day about penguins.. my wife and I watched, and she was always laughing at them as they showed the penguins walking along the ice.. she said "how do they survive? they can't be fast enough to catch any food, and they must be so slow that any predator could easily catch them."

      Then they showed some underwater shots, and she was amazed - they were swimming so fast that they left white trails, like jet planes through the air.. and they showed them swimming up and launching themselves through a hole in the ice, and gaining an amazing amount of altitude before landing quite gracefully on the ice shelf..

      ANd she said "wow - I've never seen anything like that!"

      People who think that penguins are slow don't really know very much about them.

  3. "Makes life simpler". Right. by Thinkit3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's the future. This is a great move by IBM, just to get the mindset to the masses. Eventually we'll get beyond copyright and patent, but this is a start--even if it's by a huge corporation.

    --
    -Libertarian secular transhumanist
  4. First Campaign? by CGP314 · · Score: 5, Informative

    What about their 'Peace, love, Linux' hippy campaign they ran a while back.

    1. Re: First Campaign? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      read the fucking article! i know that people either a.) read the article and move on or b.) read the preview and place a post but please:

      "It is often best to keep one's mouth shut and be presumed an idiot than to open it and remove all doubt."

      -Samuel Clemens

    2. Re: First Campaign? by winkydink · · Score: 3, Funny

      I liked Sex, Drugs, UNIX better.

      --

      "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

    3. Re: First Campaign? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's funny, I was walking down Bush street here in San Francisco Sunday night when I noticed one of those Peace/Love/Linux ads on the sidewalk. I think it's on Bush at Buchanan.

      You know, the ones that are two years old. That the ad agency swore up and down were done with "water-soluble chalk". It still looks pretty good, that must be some kind of chalk. Liars.

    4. Re: First Campaign? by Bob+The+Lizard · · Score: 1

      Has it rained in San-Fran in the last two years?

    5. Re: First Campaign? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about their 'Peace, love, Linux' hippy campaign they ran a while back.

      Obviously, it didn't work. I doubt little Linux boy minux the blue blanket will fare much better.

    6. Re: First Campaign? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was good to attract geek hippies and to give common people something to talk about. Attracting PHBs is a different story.

    7. Re: First Campaign? by miltimj · · Score: 1

      I think it back-fired. Despite my rational arguments for using Linux, one of my MCSE-obsessed Microsoft-loving (because that's all he knows) coworkers always jokes about how hippie Linux is, and that's it's only for 13 year old geek freaks.

      --
      "Truth is not decided by majority vote" consensus gentium -- Norman Geisler
    8. Re: First Campaign? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      coworkers always joke about how hippie Linux is, and that's it's only for 13 year old geek freaks.

      Well, looks like you're down to 9 year old geek freaks as your target market now.

    9. Re: First Campaign? by scotch · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      Give me his name and address so I can go punch him in the throat.

      --
      XML causes global warming.
    10. Re: First Campaign? by fanatic · · Score: 1

      Sex, drugs and eunuchs? Doesn't seem to work.

      --
      "that's not encryption - it's a new perl script that I'm working on..." - from some Matrix parody
    11. Re: First Campaign? by azzy · · Score: 1

      Sex: Commit a sexual offence
      Drugs: Get chemically castrated
      Eunuch: That's what you'll end up as.

      There's a moral tale there!

    12. Re: First Campaign? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Haha. How is this +4: Interesting? In ANY other context (except SCO, I guess), this would be modded flaimbate. Still, it made me laugh. :)

    13. Re: First Campaign? by cyberformer · · Score: 1

      IBM's theory was that the original hippies are now middle-aged senior managers in large corporations.

      They won't repeat it, though. The Peace sign is now seen as too political.

    14. Re: First Campaign? by tunabomber · · Score: 1

      Is that the one where they're all playing basketball? Linux is a good basketball player, right?

      --

      pi = 3.141592653589793helpimtrappedinauniversefactory71 ...
    15. Re: First Campaign? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just infect him with the Virus Of The Day and hide his product license key.

    16. Re: First Campaign? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sex and unix are incompatible, as many of us geeks know so very well... ;)

  5. Share the Love by Lodragandraoidh · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Share the love...

    Someone gets it, or is doing a good job of pretending to, anyway.

    --

    Lodragan Draoidh
    The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
    1. Re:Share the Love by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Share the love...

      With a 9 year old boy? What are you, some kind of pedofile?

    2. Re:Share the Love by jd · · Score: 1

      So long as they keep promoting openness, does it
      matter if they believe in it? Once the rest of the world
      does, the views of the marketing department will
      really not matter.

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  6. not their first by wawannem · · Score: 5, Insightful

    IBM ran a good commercial a while back where some cops were walking around a vacant server room while a PHB-type was explaining that all the servers had been stolen. Then the IT guy walks in and says, that they were not stolen but replaced with one linux server. The best part was as the commercial closed, one detective looks at the other and says: "What's a server?" - Classic :)

    1. Re:not their first by Otter · · Score: 1

      As long as it doesn't involve spray painting penguins on my sidewalk again, I'm all for it...

    2. Re:not their first by JabXVI · · Score: 2, Informative

      Heh, I liked that one too - if anyone wants to see it, you can probably find an mpeg of it by searching google for heist60.mpeg.

      My absolute favorites, though, were the basketball themed ones, featuring former NBA star Detlef Schrempf as Linux. :-) Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a video file of any of those.

    3. Re:not their first by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The IT guy's name has been termed "Jimmy the Geek" and was the focus of several TCO studies based on the claims made in that commercial. The name of the commercial was "The Heist."

    4. Re:not their first by Bob+The+Lizard · · Score: 1

      I've seen that ad. It was given to someone I used to work with on a business card CD, by some sales people at IBM.

      The CD only ran in windows! :-)
      G/

    5. Re:not their first by Wakkow · · Score: 1

      I don't remember them mentioning Linux in that commmerical.. If I remember correctly, they just said they replaced all of them with one server (no mention of OS). Or not?

    6. Re:not their first by AssClown2520 · · Score: 1

      The players name was Linux which was on his shirt along with other IBM "players". If I remember they were playing against people like "down-time", etc. Kind of catchy...

    7. Re:not their first by chill · · Score: 2, Informative

      Not...

      It ends with a voice over of "IBM Servers running Linux..."

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
    8. Re:not their first by AKnightCowboy · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I've seen that ad. It was given to someone I used to work with on a business card CD, by some sales people at IBM. The CD only ran in windows! :-)

      Well if you're running Linux then why would they be advertising to you? You've already switched.

    9. Re:not their first by Cone83 · · Score: 1

      I also remember an ad, where they where showing a basket ball team and their managers where talking about the new player, called Linux *g* (at least this advertisement was shown in Germany)

    10. Re:not their first by clarkc3 · · Score: 1
      Those basketball ones were great, I also always liked the IBM one with Avery Brooks talking about linux. (for those that dont know who he is off hand, think sisko from star trek deep space nine)

      You can check it out here - its the ibm_linux-02.avi one

  7. RedHat & IBM by phaetonic · · Score: 1

    You will soon be seeing a line of xSeries certified for Red Hat Linux AS/ES/WS 3.0.

    1. Re:RedHat & IBM by OS24Ever · · Score: 1

      This is important? IBM's had them certified on AS 2.1 as well....

      --

      As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.

    2. Re:RedHat & IBM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought they certified Z,I, P series, but x-series was only a couple of models.

  8. cup holders by foobar31337 · · Score: 2, Funny

    /me thinks IBM should also explain in the ad weather or not it will be compatible with all the built in cup holders that come with computers nowadays.

  9. Small print. by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


    Last 12 frames of the ad, bottom left "Linux is (C) SCO and used without permission."

    naw, I made that up.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:Small print. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When SCO takes their case to the Senate, like they threaten in that other EconomicTimes article, I doubt that there will be much more Linux to cheer on. SCO tries to play the poor, meek, and opressed fellow in this whole charade. There must be motive in their unusually strong, in my opinion, confidence in their actions. Whoever masterminds the SCO thing is a genius because whatever happens either the Linux community or IBM gets harmed as I very much doubt that the SCO claims will pass without being given some merit. Holes will be poked in Linux so that more vultures can start circling around it.

    2. Re:Small print. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If they take it to the senate, it will be talked to death after the next election. Job losses tend to do that
      However, MS proved that Ashcroft/Bush can help you, if you have the right money.
      Where do we want you to go today?

  10. I'll beleive it when ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can view the commercial with an Ogg Vorbis application on my linux box.

    1. Re:I'll beleive it when ... by AchilleTalon · · Score: 1
      Which one?

      --
      Achille Talon
      Hop!
  11. Ah, but did you hear the disclaimer? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Linux may contain intellectual property of SCO. Linux users may be liable for intellectual property infractions. Linux is not to be taken internally. If you have side effects after installing Linux, such as dryness of mouth or shortness of breath, discontinue use and consult a physician. Linux is not for all users. Not all Linux companies go up in value; some go down."

    1. Re:Ah, but did you hear the disclaimer? by GOD_ALMIGHTY · · Score: 1

      Do not taunt Happy Fun Linux!

      --
      Arrogance is Confidence which lacks integrity. -- me
    2. Re:Ah, but did you hear the disclaimer? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you have side effects after installing Linux, such as dryness of mouth or shortness of breath, discontinue use and consult a physician.

      You forgot obesity and anti-social behavior. By the way, these are not due to linux, they are typical characteristics of the individual who might use linux.

    3. Re:Ah, but did you hear the disclaimer? by jav1231 · · Score: 1

      "May cause gas with oily discharge. Frequent bowel movements; an urgent need to have them and an inability to control them."

    4. Re:Ah, but did you hear the disclaimer? by i_am_nitrogen · · Score: 1

      "May cause gas with oily discharge. Frequent bowel movements; an urgent need to have them and an inability to control them."

      Are you talking about Olestra (or whatever that undigestable fat is called)?

      I ate a large quantity of fat-free Olestra potato chips once. They didn't taste quite the same, but they weren't bad, and I don't recall any such side effects. However, I hear some people react to it very strongly in a negative way.

    5. Re:Ah, but did you hear the disclaimer? by flacco · · Score: 1
      "Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Linux may contain intellectual property of SCO. Linux users may be liable for intellectual property infractions. Linux is not to be taken internally. If you have side effects after installing Linux, such as dryness of mouth or shortness of breath, discontinue use and consult a physician. Linux is not for all users. Not all Linux companies go up in value; some go down."

      "Do not taunt Linux."

      --
      pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
    6. Re:Ah, but did you hear the disclaimer? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Do not taunt Linux."

      I think that's one that SCO is going to be wishing it'd listened to.

    7. Re:Ah, but did you hear the disclaimer? by red+floyd · · Score: 1

      Been there, done that. I had the runs for two days.

      --
      The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
  12. From the article by Feynman · · Score: 4, Funny
    Such commercials . . . show how companies must explain the value of complex technology to consumers who may be unaware of the capabilities of their personal computers or mobile phones.

    You mean I can make a phone call . . . from my car?!

    1. Re:From the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Homer: And this is one of our many light switches. It operates in both the 'On' and 'Off' position. Light goes on. Light goes off. Light goes on. Light goes off....

    2. Re:From the article by proj_2501 · · Score: 3, Funny

      surely you're joking, mr. feynman!

    3. Re:From the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What do you care what other people think?

    4. Re:From the article by Hayzeus · · Score: 1
      You mean I can make a phone call . . . from my car?!

      Why yes -- preferably while doing 80mph in a school zone and reading a racing form..

    5. Re:From the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Great, yeah real funny. Now explain why you had so much trouble call from you car during the recent blackout.

    6. Re:From the article by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      Some of us are making phone calls from our horse-drawn buggies, you insensitive clod!

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    7. Re:From the article by sirius_bbr · · Score: 1

      I'm not joking! And don't call me shirley!

      [(Leslie Nielsen (Airplane)]

      --
      this sig has intentionally been left blank
    8. Re:From the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not in the U.K you can't. 'tis illegal to use a cellphone while driving (Quite right too).

    9. Re:From the article by Thing+1 · · Score: 1
      Instant Karma Recipe:

      1. Make Feynman your friend (so his posts are visible to you; or, just keep clicking on his user details to see all his posts).
      2. Submit the parent post after every post Feynman makes.
      3. Profit!!!

      --
      I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
  13. I was promised flying cars... by soren42 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For my money, I don't know if it gets any better than the IBM Linux ads that Avery Brooks did... particularly memorable was the ad that went something like "In the early ninties, a Finnish college student named Linus Torvalds develops a new operating system, and then he does something remarkable - he gives it away."

    That and "Where the flying cars? I was promised flying cars!"

    --

    "Adventure? Excitement? A Jedi craves not these things."
    1. Re:I was promised flying cars... by CGP314 · · Score: 1

      That and "Where the flying cars? I was promised flying cars!"

      I loved that ad too. It felt like Captain Sisko was threatening me, that it was somehow my fault that I hadn't invented his flying car yet. : )

    2. Re:I was promised flying cars... by stratjakt · · Score: 1, Interesting

      But that commercial was a lie!

      Linus didnt develop a "new" operating system, he cloned a very old one (Minix).

      Of course, if the commercial went "In the early 90s, Linus Trovalds copied someone else's shit and put it on the internet for free" it probably wouldnt have the same effect.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    3. Re:I was promised flying cars... by lilricky · · Score: 1

      Any idea where I can grab those commericals? Those are my favorite.

    4. Re:I was promised flying cars... by battjt · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Linus didnt develop a "new" operating system, he cloned a very old one (Minix).

      The same way that a Ferrari is a copy of a Ford. Linux used parts of Minix for development, but only loosely "copied" Unix (definitely not Minix).

      Joe
      --
      Joe Batt Solid Design
    5. Re:I was promised flying cars... by Brendan+Byrd · · Score: 1

      http://www.adcritic.com/search/?q=IBM (click on Flying Cars)

      However, it's a subscription site. Anybody have a freebie one?

    6. Re:I was promised flying cars... by azzy · · Score: 0

      Correction: Linus didnt develop a "new" operating system, he cloned a very old one (SCO Unix). ;)

    7. Re:I was promised flying cars... by cyberformer · · Score: 2, Funny

      I find it hard to associate Avery Brooks with IBM. He should have been in a commercial for that big router company.

    8. Re:I was promised flying cars... by arkane1234 · · Score: 1

      I've used Minix way back when... he definately did not clone it, thank god.

      --
      -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
    9. Re:I was promised flying cars... by Dr_Cornholio · · Score: 1

      If linus cloned minix, linux would be just as unuseable as minix (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think minix gets it's name from being a mini-unix). Linus cloned Unix to give himself an OS that had more power than minix, which he was using at the time.

      --
      In Soviet Russia, the monkey spanks you!
    10. Re:I was promised flying cars... by shibashaba · · Score: 2, Informative

      The one there talking about here:
      http://www.mplug.org/archive/2002/ibm.mov

      And the one about all the computers being replaced by one running linux:
      http://www.mplug.org/archive/2002/heist60. mpeg

      --
      ---------- Open Source is capitalism applied to IP.
    11. Re:I was promised flying cars... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If Linux is a clone of Minix, Linus didn't do a very good job. Minix is a pure micro-kernel and Linux is a monolithic design. Linux couldn't be less like Minix if it was Windows..

    12. Re:I was promised flying cars... by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      I remember the days when Adcritic used to be free. Then, some assholes took it over and made it sub-only. :-(

    13. Re:I was promised flying cars... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The same way that a Ferrari is a copy of a Ford

      Should that be "the same way a Porche is a copy of a Volkswagen"? :o)

  14. SCO is running a commercial... by aurumaeus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Letting other people collect the data, and then saying it's yours and suing everyone that has it without your permission, is the road to profitability.

    1. Re:SCO is running a commercial... by capt.Hij · · Score: 1

      Actually SCO is sending an invoice to anyone who happens to view the IBM commercial. They aren't saying how much it will be and are promising not to sue regular viewers, though.

      This is way off topic, but did anybody else notice the link in the article titled "SCO to go to Senate." Kinda scary since the Utah senators are in the majority and the NY senators aren't...

    2. Re:SCO is running a commercial... by ronaldb64 · · Score: 1
      I didn't notice it until you pointed it out... it's in the small print ain't it.

      However, if you actually go to the article it says that "...The SCO Group, which has terminated IBM's right to sell its AIX operating system and wants $3b in damages, is not seeking to go to the Justice Department..." and "But, if required, we may take our case to the Senate".

      Basically, this is the same FUD they've been spreading for a while now. Anyone received one of their invoices yet?

      --
      There's no place like 127.0.0.1
  15. Oh, I know, I know! by ArmenTanzarian · · Score: 5, Funny

    He's nine years old, bright-eyed and hungry to learn. Meet Linux, or a human embodiment of the computer operating system, in a new television commercial by IBM.


    Meet SCO, Linux's molester-uncle.

    1. Re:Oh, I know, I know! by cheesenoodle · · Score: 1

      Meet SCO, Linux's molester-uncle.

      Who later ends up welcoming visitors to Linux's Holiday Camp.

    2. Re:Oh, I know, I know! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That was the funniest thing I've read here in months. The sad thing is... it's so true.

    3. Re:Oh, I know, I know! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here's Uncle Darl to guide you to
      Your very own machine!

      (We're not gonna take it)

    4. Re:Oh, I know, I know! by Hieronymus+Howard · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Just sometimes, very rarely, Slashdot needs a (Score: 10, Funny)

      This line needs to get out into the wider world. Hope that some journalists are reading and pick up on it.

      HH
      --

    5. Re:Oh, I know, I know! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      agreed. i laughed so hard at this one it hurt...

    6. Re:Oh, I know, I know! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Meet SCO, Linux's molester-uncle.

      ROTFL

      Please dear lord, let IBM air this spot the night before McBride goes to jail.

  16. Not so cute. by CGP314 · · Score: 5, Funny

    He's nine years old, bright-eyed and hungry to learn. Meet Linux, or a human embodiment of the computer operating system

    I'm going to say it was a wise choice not to use Linus in the commercial.

    1. Re:Not so cute. by minion · · Score: 1

      I'm going to say it was a wise choice not to use Linus in the commercial.

      You think a cute 9 year old is a better marketing tool than a cute 30 something-year-old? =)

      --

      -- If we don't stand up for our rights, now, there will be no right to stand up for them later.
  17. A bright, philosophical 9-year-old boy? by jmbauer · · Score: 3, Funny

    But how can he type while carrying his security blanket?

  18. When I was a kid by Sphere1952 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Big Blue was the bad guy.

    It feels kind of creepy to be cheering IBM on...

    Go IBM!!!!

    --
    Big Brother Bush is doubleplus ungood.
    1. Re:When I was a kid by confused+one · · Score: 1

      Part of /me is afraid of the big blue behemoth; part of /me is feeling warm and fuzzy about the linux promotion. I'm so confused...

    2. Re:When I was a kid by stratjakt · · Score: 0, Troll

      psst.. They still are, but don't let on.

      When they've decimated all competing linux vendors (seems they prefer Red Hat), pulled kernel development from Linus (hey, they just need to fork it.. Not their fault if the world needs their fork), completely shift the focus of Linux to make it permanently a big-iron datacenter thing, and the community realizes that it will never become the mainstream desktop OS they want it to be, then we'll see who the good guy was.

      More likely, though, they'll do to Linux what they did to OS/2. Make it the running joke of the industry.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    3. Re:When I was a kid by NineNine · · Score: 1

      When I was a kid, IBM was a corporation. They're still a corporation. Now they're a corporation that's going to make a killing off of a bunch of gullible college kids' programming.

    4. Re:When I was a kid by chef_raekwon · · Score: 1

      -- Am I downloading IP, or am I downloading free speech?

      free beer.

      --
      We're like rats, in some experiment! -- George Costanza
    5. Re:When I was a kid by CGP314 · · Score: 0, Troll

      Big Blue was the bad guy. It feels kind of creepy to be cheering IBM on... Go IBM!!!!

      Companies are by definition self serving. They are always the bad guys.

      That being said... I too am happy to see a company support Linux. It's just that I wouldn't be surprised if they attacked it later on if it could raise their profits somehow.

    6. Re:When I was a kid by Sphere1952 · · Score: 1

      Yeah I know.

      What really worries me about this though...in 20 years am I going to be cheering Microsoft?

      --
      Big Brother Bush is doubleplus ungood.
    7. Re:When I was a kid by Sphere1952 · · Score: 1

      I might climb into bed with the big blue elephant, but I'm going to keep one foot firmly on the floor.

      --
      Big Brother Bush is doubleplus ungood.
    8. Re:When I was a kid by proj_2501 · · Score: 1

      I would blame OS/2's marketplace failure more on Microsoft for pulling out than on IBM.

      That said, I've seen OS/2 running on quite a few ATMs and things of that nature.

    9. Re:When I was a kid by stevesliva · · Score: 1
      It's just that I wouldn't be surprised if they attacked it later on if it could raise their profits somehow.
      And the shareholders wouldn't expect any less, as long as it's all aboveboard. It's when you pull an Enron that shareholders frown. If you just pull a Microsoft and give a big ol' "fsck you" to your former affiliates (read:IBM and OS/2) but manage to rake in dough by doing so, shareholders cheer.
      --
      Who do you get to be an expert to tell you something's not obvious? The least insightful person you can find? -J Roberts
    10. Re:When I was a kid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're going to need that foot for leverage. After the reaming you're going to get from that elephant, you're going to look like the goatse.cx guy.

    11. Re:When I was a kid by stratjakt · · Score: 1

      Sure, thats who IBM blamed after all. And it's easier to point fingers than look at what went wrong.

      IBM could have gone the other direction, ran with OS/2, and we could be in a world where OS/2 is the desktop OS, Microsoft is a Corel-sized fringe player, maybe only making mice and keyboards.

      They let a technically good OS die because they had no idea how to sell it. That was IBM's main problem, they'd been a monopoly so long they were absolutely clueless as to how to sell something in a market.

      Microsoft is in this position now with XBox. They have no idea why people aren't buying XBoxes. They dont understand that people feel that PS2 or GCN have a better selection of games, and it's that simple. They'll piss away billions on marketing and celebrity tie-ins and movie deals and all that bullshit before some genious comes up with the idea "hey, why dont we pay some talented dev houses to create some good exclusive titles?"

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    12. Re:When I was a kid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When Hitler was around, we were cheering Joe Stalin.
      I think some famous dude was quoted as saying something like "if Hell declared war on the Nazi's, I'd find something nice to say about Satan."

    13. Re:When I was a kid by bigjocker · · Score: 1

      If you attested to IBM being The Bad guy and are cheering them now as The Good guy I believe in 20 years you'll be cheering the Real Bad Guy 'o'

      --
      Life isn't like a box of chocolates. It's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.
    14. Re:When I was a kid by Sphere1952 · · Score: 1

      Well...Hell has declared war on the Nazi's, so I'll find something nice to say about Satan.

      Go IBM!!!

      --
      Big Brother Bush is doubleplus ungood.
    15. Re:When I was a kid by BigGerman · · Score: 1

      when I was a kid
      US Government was a bad guy.
      oh wait a minute..

    16. Re:When I was a kid by AchmedHabib · · Score: 1

      That is because the alternative is even worse.

    17. Re:When I was a kid by Sphere1952 · · Score: 1

      The enemy of my enemy is my friend. (But I think I'll watch my back.)

      --
      Big Brother Bush is doubleplus ungood.
    18. Re:When I was a kid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      It feels kind of creepy to be cheering IBM on... Go IBM!!!!

      You know, the last obscure OS IBM hyped up to kill Microsoft Windows ended up dead in a sewer (OS/2). Will Linux be the new OS/2?

    19. Re:When I was a kid by neillewis · · Score: 1

      The ad seems deliberately disturbing in an AI/Village of the Damned stylee. Wonder who's going to be getting nightmares...

    20. Re:When I was a kid by km790816 · · Score: 1

      Doesn't remind anyone of the Apple 1984 commercial?

      What Apple did to IBM, IBM is doing to MS.

      Weird...

    21. Re:When I was a kid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      completely shift the focus of Linux to make it permanently a big-iron datacenter thing

      IBM originally wanted OS/2 to be able to handle workstations, mid-size servers, and mainframes so that admins. would be familiar with the mainframes. IBM is finding that Linux is more likely succeed in realizing that goal than OS/2 ever came. Because of that, IBM will likely not push Linux into a mainfrome-only direction.

    22. Re:When I was a kid by Andrewkov · · Score: 1

      mmmm.... beer. (Homer Simpson voice)

    23. Re:When I was a kid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was Winston Churchill, who before (and after) WWII was an ardent anti-communist. He needed to explain why he was suddenly being nice to Stalin. The actual quote was "If Hitler invaded Hell..."

    24. Re:When I was a kid by arkane1234 · · Score: 1

      wget http://www.uriah.com/apple-qt/movies/Apple.1984.mo v

      heheh... ahhh yes.. memories!

      It's kinda nice to see IBM in a new light, actually.

      --
      -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
    25. Re:When I was a kid by MikeCapone · · Score: 1

      What Apple did to IBM, IBM is doing to MS.

      Not to make you feel old, but that was almost 20 years ago. Things can and do change -- sometimes, maybe, whatever...

    26. Re:When I was a kid by spitzak · · Score: 1

      And in 10 years we will be cheering Microsoft on as they try to fight the Sony+RedHat monopoly conglomerate. Things can change and they will...

    27. Re:When I was a kid by pr0ntab · · Score: 1

      "hey, why dont we pay some talented dev houses to create some good exclusive titles?"

      Which is why they bought Rare and Shiny Entertainment.

      --
      Fuck Beta. Fuck Dice
    28. Re:When I was a kid by Sphere1952 · · Score: 1

      How would IBM push Linux into an anything-only direction? I'm sitting at a Debian machine with KDE. IBM could buy-up Red Hat and I wouldn't even notice.

      --
      Big Brother Bush is doubleplus ungood.
    29. Re:When I was a kid by Zachary+Kessin · · Score: 1

      I believe the Quote was from Sir Winston Churchill who said that if the Nazis were to invade hell he would put in a good word for the devil on the floor of the house (of commons).

      I wasn't able to find the exact quote on google. My search turned up to much anti-semetic crap for me to want search more carefully.

      --
      Erlang Developer and podcaster
    30. Re:When I was a kid by chez69 · · Score: 1

      I can't be the next OS/2, you can kill processess and the OS won't sit there like a dumbass.

      that was the worst part about OS/2, no hard kill.

      --
      PHP is the solution of choice for relaying mysql errors to web users.
    31. Re:When I was a kid by hackrobat · · Score: 1

      Hey, so was Terminator! :-)

  19. Awareness? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A lot of people are already "aware" of Linux but they have no clue what it is. Just the other day one of my co-workers in a memo referred to a product that uses Linux and asked if we should "explore Linux Open-Source programming." She had no clue what Linux or Open Source is but she saw them written somewhere and thought they sounded intelligent in her memo.

    I will save final judgement for when I see the commercial during football on Sunday but based on that article the commercial doesn't do that. I think most US Open and Football watchers are just going to either ignore it or already be gone flipping.

  20. Great image change! by stratjakt · · Score: 2, Funny

    In the IBM commercial, a blond, blue-eyed boy sits mum as a stream of celebrities ply him with information on everything from plumbing to the mysteries of the universe.

    I think the image of a little boy being approached and molested by a bunch of creepy strangers sums up the Linux community and ethos to a T.

    But shouldn't it be GNU/Linux?

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    1. Re:Great image change! by jav1231 · · Score: 1

      Maybe the ad should have went like this: GNU/Linux is older and joins the Army. The Sarge is doing mail call. "Bueller!" "Here!"...."LINUX!?"..."Uh, that's GNU Linux...my first name is GN..." "Just take your mail, Linux!" JAV

  21. Video? by mcbunny29 · · Score: 1

    Anybody got the movie file for this one?

  22. Missing the target by WinDoze · · Score: 5, Funny

    In July, IBM reached a three-year sponsorship deal with the NFL.

    They're going to advertise Linux during televised NFL games? Isn't that sort of like advertising beer during Oprah?

    1. Re:Missing the target by West+Palm+Beach · · Score: 2, Insightful

      A lot of well-educated business types as well as those who swill mass quantities of beer and scratch themselves on the couch watch football. This translates to a lot of financial decision-makers in the home.

      I don't think it's that much of a stretch.

    2. Re:Missing the target by LearnToSpell · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hey, I watch football AND have Gentoo on a laptop. I know, the mind b0ggles...

    3. Re:Missing the target by Stradenko · · Score: 1

      Think of the target audience. C[AEIOU]Os and junk like that. Good old boys who like to relax with their buddies on a quiet sunday afternoon...fire up the grill...things like that...

    4. Re:Missing the target by Hythlodaeus · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I think the point of the ads is that Linux is for everybody, not just the geeks.

      --
      For great justice.
    5. Re:Missing the target by been42 · · Score: 1
      They're going to advertise Linux during televised NFL games? Isn't that sort of like advertising beer during Oprah?

      More like a John Basedow commercial on TechTV, isn't it?

    6. Re:Missing the target by mog · · Score: 1

      Are you implying that the appropriate time to advertise Linux is during Oprah?

    7. Re:Missing the target by zakezuke · · Score: 1

      They're going to advertise Linux during televised NFL games? Isn't that sort of like advertising beer during Oprah?

      It's no more diffrent then that classic Apple add that was aired during the 1984 superbowl. It used the rater approperate George Orwell reference.

      http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/quicktime/1984.mov
      htt p://lib1.store.vip.sc5.yahoo.com/lib/redlightru nner/1984.mov

      [sorry, can only find quicktime versions]

      I'll agree, I don't watch football, I don't like football. But alot of people do watch football.

      --
      There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
    8. Re:Missing the target by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was the only guy at an R.E.M. concert wearing an NFL logo. Boy did I look out of place. Really folks, all sorts of people can like all osrts of things....

      p.s. GO RAIDERS

    9. Re:Missing the target by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you implying that the appropriate time to advertise Linux is during Oprah?

      I feel the urge to torch him.

    10. Re:Missing the target by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      zakezuke writes:
      I don't watch football, I don't like football.
      What are you, some kind of fag?
    11. Re:Missing the target by bruthasj · · Score: 1

      Nope. Business people actually watch sports. When Oprah becomes a sport, hey, they might advertise beer!

    12. Re:Missing the target by arkane1234 · · Score: 1

      What are you, some kind of testosterone-enraged neckless ass?

      --
      -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
    13. Re:Missing the target by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      I don't watch football, I don't like football.

      What are you, some kind of fag?

      What kinda of fag doesn't like watching a bunch of men on a field patting each other on the rump running to tackle other men?

  23. Take that McBride by harley_frog · · Score: 1
    This is so "in your face SCO". I love it.

    --
    It's all fun and games until someone loses the key to the handcuffs.
    1. Re:Take that McBride by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "In your face" - bukkake style.

      Good old Big Blue.

  24. GI Joe by spuke4000 · · Score: 1

    "Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom, but sharing data is the first step toward community"

    And knowing is half the battle.

    Man I miss that show.

    --
    This post cannot be rebroadcast without the express written constent of Major League Baseball.
    1. Re:GI Joe by sporty · · Score: 1

      And THAT is one to grow on.

      --

      -
      ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only

  25. people know what they want by chuckfucter · · Score: 0

    Such commercials, including past IBM ads, show how companies must explain the value of complex technology to consumers who may be unaware of the capabilities of their personal computers or mobile phones. People will just buy any pc that 'looks cool', and windows XP or pentium 4 are like buzzwords that to them means 'quality' I would love for more people to use linux, but if I remember right, back in the eighties when all I had was DOS, I was a computer nerd, and hardly anyone I knew had a pc, now everyone I know has a computer. But now that everything is window based, linux might still be a viable alternative due to the x window system. (i love kde!) It's gonna take ALOT of ads and recommendation from current users but I can't wait for the real 'revolution' to occurr. yay for linux!

  26. Finally... by West+Palm+Beach · · Score: 1

    The Linux commercials migrate from the business world (those commercials featuring the fiction basketball team) to the home user.

    I don't know if the average home user will embrace Linux, but in the face of DRM embedded in future versions Windows, some folks may give it a try.

    I wonder when Linux-based IBM computers will ship.

    1. Re:Finally... by stratjakt · · Score: 1

      I'd guess never.

      IBM is after the business market, they've shown absolutely no interest in competing on the desktop with linux.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    2. Re:Finally... by Mephie · · Score: 1
      I don't know if I'd go that far. Probably not soon, but it'll likely happen eventually.

      The one thing IBM loves to tout is their ability to provide a complete solution, from the servers to the users' computers (be they desktops or laptops). Eventually, they'll likely want to push a full on Linux integration. But part of their end-to-end solution is installation, network configuration and then system support. Formal support for Linux is just not that great right now.

      In the future, as it becomes more commoditized, likely that will improve. Right now, more people use Windows and Windows "support technicians" (read: helpdesk monkeys) are cheap. Linux support technicians are not. So this would require a major shift in the helpdesk to either invest in training your support people on Linux or dropping the cash to hire a team of Linux support agents. Helpdesks do not generate a cash flow. Investments in helpdesks are usually as small as possible, as infrequently as possible.

    3. Re:Finally... by stratjakt · · Score: 1

      IBM seems to have abandoned the desktop, and all but abandoned the PC altogether. Do they still sell Aptivas or whatever line of PCs they had?

      It looks to me their focused on their zSeries and PPC CPUs, data centres and mainframes.

      Maybe they'll shift back. I dont see why, though. PC's have pretty much reached market saturation, it's not nearly as lucrative as it was in the 90s.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    4. Re:Finally... by AchilleTalon · · Score: 1
      Almost two years ago, IBM was shipping Thinkpad with Linux Caldera (kuff, kuff...) pre-loaded. I don't know why they no longer sell them, but maybe support costs were too high, demand too low, too early in the market or all these answers...

      --
      Achille Talon
      Hop!
    5. Re:Finally... by Mephie · · Score: 1

      Eh, sort of. They're called "ThinkCenters" now. Mainly IBM is pushing servers and laptops.

  27. Missed oppurtunity by mao+che+minh · · Score: 4, Funny
    I still say that IBM should have enlisted the Dell dude and the Mac gal together for an unequalled, ground breaking, paradigm changing media blitz.

    Just picture the two of them together, stoned out of their gourds, with a guy in a big penguin suit behind them.

    1. Re:Missed oppurtunity by venom600 · · Score: 1
      Just picture the two of them together, stoned out of their gourds, with a guy in a big penguin suit behind them.

      I can see it now....Linux workstations would be popping up across college campuses nation-wide.

    2. Re:Missed oppurtunity by FurryFeet · · Score: 1

      "Hey, have you looked at that penguin? I mean, really looked at that penguin?"

    3. Re:Missed oppurtunity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Better still, I'd like to see a remake of that famous advert with the girl with the hammer hurling it through the face on the screen.

      How many people would even understand the irony of IBM doing that advert.
      RJG.

    4. Re:Missed oppurtunity by e.+boaz · · Score: 1

      (So much for my good karma, but I had to do this ... my apologies to any who think this post should be burned, or to those to spit the beverage of their choice all over their display.)

      MG: "So, like, I had this computer running Windows and I was typing a really cool paper. The computer went beep, beep, and it ate my cool paper."
      DD: "Dude, that's a bummer. Was it a Dell?"
      MG: "Uh like whatever."
      DD: "Dude, like Dell has Linux. It won't go beep, beep and eat your paper."
      MG: "Like Cool!"
      DD: "Dude, you're getting Linux!"
      MG: Giggles
      DD: "Uh, who's that dude in the penguin suit?" <THC Induced giggling>

  28. Why would I need Linux??? by Shant3030 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I hope these commercials will address one simple question... Why would I need Linux? Most users (non-techies), probably don't need to learn how to use Linux because Windows provides them with everything they need. Maybe they are targeting large companies, in this campaign, and hopefully they will realize the benefits of using Linux in the business world. For regular users(non-techies), I just don't see the point of using Linux.

    Until it becomes easier to use, more compatible with hardware and less nerdy, the majority of computer users will just not use it. Look at MAC's. People are reluctant to use MAC's because in their eyes, its something that they are not used to.

    Its great that IBM is marketing Linux, I'd certainly love to see my family and friends use it, but they are totally shut off to the idea.
    They are comfortable with using Windows because they just dont have the interest in the learning curve Linux presents.

    --
    100% Insightful
    1. Re:Why would I need Linux??? by iSwitched · · Score: 1, Funny

      It doesn't matter that people are reluctant to use MACs -- I mean, really, as soon as they fire up any network enabled PC, they're gonna be using a MAC, it is, after all, part of how network adapters work isn't it? And I'm surprised you're talking about them this way, I mean it's pretty nerdy to even know what a Media Access Control address is, and you seem to discuss them with such authority.

      Oh, wait a minute, were you talking about Macs, as in the 'Macintosh' computer manufactured by Apple?

      --
      "That naive cube! How long must I suffer this!" --Sheldon J. Plankton
    2. Re:Why would I need Linux??? by dnoyeb · · Score: 1

      IBM is adversising to corporations, not individuals.

    3. Re:Why would I need Linux??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      I hope these commercials will address one simple question...


      Ummm... You do understand the concept of a commercial, don't you? Commercials aren't about answering questions, they are about making an impression.

    4. Re:Why would I need Linux??? by Shant3030 · · Score: 1

      I guess you must be perfect.

      --
      100% Insightful
    5. Re:Why would I need Linux??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Dude, it actually would've been funny if you left off the last sentance.

    6. Re:Why would I need Linux??? by Eric+MB+Lard+MD · · Score: 1

      ...because Windows provides them with everything they need This is precisely why you need Linux. Windows provides everything you need, but you will, sooner or later, be forced into an upgrade to a more recent version of Windows. You don't need the upgrade. Switch to Linux and you will upgrade when better tools are available, not when M$ want to extract another licence fee.

    7. Re:Why would I need Linux??? by TheRealSync · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't the first challenge be go get the word 'Linux' well known? I bet most people couldn't tell you what Linux is in the first place. The average consumer doesn't care about what OS he's running, as long as it starts up in a fancy graphical environment, and the label on the front reads something they have heard recently - be that Linux or Windows. In that respect it's just a matter of getting a lot of Linux-commercialt out there. Spread the word. When it comes down to it, selling an OS is not that different from selling detergent.

      --
      -- A good compromise leaves everyone mad. --Calvin and Hobbes
    8. Re:Why would I need Linux??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, he's just not an idiot. How difficult is it to understand how capatilisation and abbreviations work? Since when has MAC ever been the shortened version of "Macintosh"?

    9. Re:Why would I need Linux??? by IamTheRealMike · · Score: 1
      Its great that IBM is marketing Linux, I'd certainly love to see my family and friends use it, but they are totally shut off to the idea. They are comfortable with using Windows because they just dont have the interest in the learning curve Linux presents.

      In the next few years, most Linux users statistically will not have chosen to use it. They'll be people working at the corporate desk, using Linux at work, then going back to Windows at home.

      I've thought about this sort of advertising before. The problem is that in the timeslice you have in an advert, it's basically impossible to communicate exactly what Linux is, why it's good, how it's different - consider that many people don't understand the concept of an OS (and why should they?), and you see the difficulties.

      The best way to get the word out then, is to get people interested. "What is Linux, Morpheus?" If they are naturally curious, they can seek out people they know and trust who can explain it better than a TV ad ever could.

      So IBM have the right idea here. Try and get across the basic philosophy of Linux, namely, openness and sharing - the rest is just minor technical details ultimately of interest to few. Everybody can related to the human story though.

    10. Re:Why would I need Linux??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This ad is mainly targeted towards the less knowledgable mangers that have purchasing power but lack the knowledge that there are better things than microsoft. Most admins and techies already know how good Linux is, but it can be difficult to convince a manger to use the hip kewl new OS. But now that he sees it so blatently supported by IBM, he may put more though into it while making his duh-cision.

    11. Re:Why would I need Linux??? by Shant3030 · · Score: 1

      I am very tempted to just pull a switch on my family and install Linux on all the home computers.

      I'm sure I can customize it so my parents would have an easier time learning Linux.

      Come to think of it, they ask for help with EVERYTHING... so might as well force them to use linux.

      --
      100% Insightful
    12. Re:Why would I need Linux??? by Tony-A · · Score: 1

      So IBM have the right idea here. Try and get across the basic philosophy of Linux, namely, openness and sharing - the rest is just minor technical details ultimately of interest to few.

      It's not just Linux, although Linux is a key ingredient. The real money has to be in business-to-business-to-business-to-business, etc. (OT, Why is "Supply Chain" taken as having just one business-to-business link?) You will not get everybody to upgrade at the same time. You won't even get them to run the same brand of software. You won't even get them to run the same kind of software. But all this mess must communicate. Quickly, reliably, accurately. IBM will be thick in the middle of it all, but it will not be all IBM. With all Microsoft all you get is a mess of worms. I think even IBM is afraid of an all IBM.

  29. First Linux commercial? by Faust7 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Perhaps it's just that I don't have cable (3 channels that I'd watch out of 60 doesn't justify $45/month) but this is the first I've heard of real Linux commercials. Things in print are fine, but everyone knows TV advertising is as kingly effective as it's always been in getting stuff to sell.

    Any information on whether there have been mass Linux commercials before this? We may be witnessing the beginning of a new era of Linux advertising. Marketing, marketing, marketing--we make fun of the people that major in it, and even more fun of the people that work in it, but it's certainly one of the biggest factors that helped propel Microsoft to the very top of the software heap. With a someday-equivalent force of marketing behind it, could Linux perhaps finally obtain the financial and spiritual backing it needs?

    1. Re:First Linux commercial? by Otter · · Score: 1, Troll
      IBM has been running Linux commercials for years, during major network sports and prime-time shows.

      You may well have seen them and noticed them, or quickly switched away from them. If you're used to Linux advocacy as practiced here (LUNIX! $699! LUNIX! MICRO$HIT! LUNIX!!!! NO, IT'S GNU/LUNIX!!!!, they probably wouldn't even register on you at first.

    2. Re:First Linux commercial? by Starji · · Score: 1

      But they haven't really been strict linux commercials have they? As I recall most of them are like "IBM e-servers running linux don't crash!" or that sort of thing. I could be wrong though, I don't watch much tv past law and order anymore ;-)

    3. Re:First Linux commercial? by FrostedWheat · · Score: 1

      I dunno, but IBM have ran a few Linux adverts pn UK TV not that long ago.

      I can't remember exactly what they where, which shows you how effective they were. ;)

    4. Re:First Linux commercial? by chez69 · · Score: 1

      the Heist ad was.

      --
      PHP is the solution of choice for relaying mysql errors to web users.
    5. Re:First Linux commercial? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IBM has been running Linux commercials for over two years now. The first one that was a major "hit" was the "Heist" commercial shown two years ago this week during the US Open. This was the commercial where this guy yells "they stole all the computers!". It ends in a big room with just one (IBM z900 mainframe) server and the tag line "IBM eServers running Linux".

  30. Who will see? by twobturtle · · Score: 1

    I didn't think PHB's watched televison.

    1. Re:Who will see? by venom600 · · Score: 1
      I didn't think PHB's watched televison.

      Sure they do......IBM just needs to purchase ad time during 'Friends' and 'Paradise Hotel'. :)

  31. No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I will continue to post the same listless comments and reap the karmic rewards. Thank you!

  32. Sharks by Alizarin+Erythrosin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The esteemed P.J. over at Groklaw had an interesting analogy related to this IBM campaign:

    AntiFUD is an important part of this battle, which is why IBM is launching an advertising campaign about Linux. But legally they're like circling sharks. Not a sound. Just water rippling ever so slightly on the surface, a brief glimpse of a fin, as they slowly circle. Until it's time to lunge.

    I'd like to add to it by saying that SCO is that loud mouthed kid who's splashing around in the water yelling obscenities and other unpleasantries at the sharks, almost daring them to attack.

    --
    There are only 10 kinds of people in this world... those who understand binary and those who don't
    1. Re:Sharks by invckb · · Score: 2, Funny

      Naw, more like the kid with the fake fin strapped to his back.

    2. Re:Sharks by Bombcar · · Score: 2, Funny
      a brief glimpse of a fin

      Would this be the Finn?

  33. Once Upon A Time... by tds67 · · Score: 5, Funny
    "Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom, but sharing data is the first step toward community," Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr advises the boy in the ad...

    ...who later grew up and, upon reaching manhood, was promptly sued by the RIAA, MPAA and SCO for sharing data with the rest of the community.

    1. Re:Once Upon A Time... by AKnightCowboy · · Score: 2, Funny
      ...who later grew up and, upon reaching manhood, was promptly sued by the RIAA, MPAA and SCO for sharing data with the rest of the community.

      No kidding. Any parent that teaches their children that sharing is a good thing these days needs to have their head examined. Sharing should be revealed to be the evil deceitful thing that it is: stealing. Whether it's sharing music or sharing answers to homework, children should definitely be discouraged from any kind of sharing. Remember kids, sharing = stealing.

    2. Re:Once Upon A Time... by iCat · · Score: 1

      for sharing data

      That isn't data. It is information.

  34. More than that by mao+che+minh · · Score: 1

    More than that, desktop adoption of Linux is going to require a heavy investment in support by a major PC manufacturer. In other words, dropping the price of a PC by $80 bucks and supplying it with Mandrake and no support isn't even going to lure businesses.

    1. Re:More than that by Lodragandraoidh · · Score: 1

      Who gets 'support' from M$?

      We end up supporting ourselves anyway, so - how is that any different with Linux?

      We own alot of licenses for software, and we don't get any support beyond what the public gets - so again, where is the advantage?

      None. There is no advantage of running Windows over Linux. However, there are plenty of advantages of running Linux over Windows (sourcecode, responcive development communities, cost, stability etc...).

      --

      Lodragan Draoidh
      The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
  35. Sure. by Thinkit3 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Use hexadecimal.

    --
    -Libertarian secular transhumanist
  36. Celebrity Deathmatch by niko9 · · Score: 1

    I would love to see a IBM sponsored claymation deathmatch of Linus and McBride.

    You could have RMS and Bill Gates as commentators, where they also interject personal insults at each other.

    Gates: Why don't you get a hair cut, you Hurd hugging hippie!

    RMS:Bite my micro kernel!

    Gates: Well at least my kernel is bigger than yours!

  37. Forgot one of the main purposes of Linux by Bingo+Foo · · Score: 4, Funny
    The ad says, "Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom, but sharing data is the first step toward community"

    Are you sure that's not: Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom, but re-theming your desktop a dozen times while your kernel compiles is the death of productivity."

    --
    taken! (by Davidleeroth) Thanks Bingo Foo!
  38. Want to see the AD ? by ramzak2k · · Score: 5, Informative

    Check this out

    --

    Siggy Say, Siggy Do
    1. Re:Want to see the AD ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While I appreciate your effort, the site only offers the ad in a shi**y decommoditized Windows-only media format.

    2. Re:Want to see the AD ? by gregfortune · · Score: 1

      Anyone had any luck getting this to play in linux? The reference to the actual file appears to be http://66.246.105.13:80/adcritic/ibm-linux-prodigy .asf, but xine won't play it.

    3. Re:Want to see the AD ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      well, when you wget it, you only get the same 74 Byte file over and over again... A Text file, referencing to itself.

      Wonder how one downloads this. Maybe they check the referrer?

    4. Re:Want to see the AD ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      mplayer mms://windowsmedia.dvlabs.com/adcritic/ibm-linux-p rodigy.asf

      -K

    5. Re:Want to see the AD ? by bigjocker · · Score: 5, Informative

      With wget you will keep getting a refference to the same file.

      mplayer is your friend:

      mplayer http://66.246.105.13:80/adcritic/ibm-linux-prodigy .asf -dumpstream

      check for the file stream.dump

      --
      Life isn't like a box of chocolates. It's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.
    6. Re:Want to see the AD ? by Aadain2001 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Damn, that gave me goose bumps :)

      Does that make me weird, sad, or both?

      --
      Space for rent, inquire within
    7. Re:Want to see the AD ? by protohiro1 · · Score: 4, Informative

      See it in what ever format you prefer...the future is open people.

      --
      Sig removed because it was obnoxious
    8. Re:Want to see the AD ? by AchilleTalon · · Score: 1
      Would be nice however, follow this link if you want to know why this is unpractical solution for those not already having it installed...

      --
      Achille Talon
      Hop!
    9. Re:Want to see the AD ? by iCat · · Score: 1

      Or OS X?

    10. Re:Want to see the AD ? by mahdi13 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Both...it reminded me of the ending to Tron for some reason.
      The old bad guy is dead, let the the young guys take over type of feeling

      --
      "Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson
    11. Re:Want to see the AD ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I bet that kid is playing Xbox games as we speak ;)

    12. Re:Want to see the AD ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought Linux was pronounced Lee-Nix. And why isn't this kid a penguin?

    13. Re:Want to see the AD ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damn, that gave me goose bumps...Does that make me weird, sad, or both?

      Definitely makes you weird and sad. It made me laugh, and then feel real good that I wasn't relying on some kid named Linus w/o his blue blanket to carry my product on Football Sunday.

    14. Re:Want to see the AD ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is that a reason, patent issues? NO.

      Practically today, any good working program violates some patent (this includes Xine!). That's why we need to fight software patents, not restrict our own use. That's what the page is saying.

    15. Re:Want to see the AD ? by crazyprogrammer · · Score: 1

      $xine mms://windowsmedia.dvlabs.com/adcritic/ibm-linux-p rodigy.asf

      That worked for me. If you don't have Xine you can download it here

      --
      "the fax machine is nothing but a waffle iron with a phone attached to it." - Grandpa Simpson
    16. Re:Want to see the AD ? by bondjamesbond · · Score: 0

      neither. it brought tears to my eyes!

    17. Re:Want to see the AD ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you have WMP installed, just change mms: to http: mms://windowsmedia.dvlabs.com/adcritic/ibm-linux-p rodigy.asf to http://windowsmedia.dvlabs.com/adcritic/ibm-linux- prodigy.asf

    18. Re:Want to see the AD ? by broeman · · Score: 5, Informative

      a better solution is to use this link instead, it comes from IBM's homepage and is in a slightly better quality (mpeg): click to download (cannot use Save Link As...)

      --

      (yes this can be compared with sex)
    19. Re:Want to see the AD ? by ruzel · · Score: 1

      No kidding. I'd put that on par with the Apple 1984 commercial. That's not just a good commercial, it's a good short film.

      Mplayer for OS X rocks! Keep up the great work!
      ____________________________

    20. Re:Want to see the AD ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or you could just use:
      mplayer mms://windowsmedia.dvlabs.com/adcritic/ibm-linux-p rodigy.asf

      Ironic to publish a linux commercial in a windows format. :/

    21. Re:Want to see the AD ? by AstroDrabb · · Score: 1
      Actually just
      mplayer http://66.246.105.13:80/adcritic/ibm-linux-prodigy .asf

      worked for me.
      --
      If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
      it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
    22. Re:Want to see the AD ? by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "No kidding. I'd put that on par with the Apple 1984 commercial. That's not just a good commercial, it's a good short film."

      Only if you already know what the commercial's talking about. Apple's ad was much better in the sense that it got you hyped about something you haven't seen before. IBM's ad gets you hyped about something you already love.

    23. Re:Want to see the AD ? by AstroDrabb · · Score: 1

      Did you read the page? It is a fake 404 to protest against the possibility of having software patents in Europe. At the bottom of the page is the link into the MPlayer site.

      --
      If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
      it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
    24. Re:Want to see the AD ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First it made me bored, then it made me angry. Then I went to the bathroom before it finished downloading.

    25. Re:Want to see the AD ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shit man, it made me cry!

    26. Re:Want to see the AD ? by EzInKy · · Score: 1

      Does that make me weird, sad, or both?

      At the risk of being redundant...neither. The ad sums up all the benefits of open source in very creative and imaginative way. And I must say, despite their sordid past, I am really impressed with the effort that IBM is putting behind the Linux movement and hope to see their profits soar selling "free" software.

      And yes, it brought tears to my eyes too.

      --
      Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
    27. Re:Want to see the AD ? by MadJo · · Score: 1

      I join you on the weird/sad part. It gave me goosebumps as well :)

    28. Re:Want to see the AD ? by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      Ugh. That's in .asf, a streaming format. What is it about streaming video these days, what happened to letting me, on a 56k, download the fucking thing? My connection's so slow, I can't even see the video on it :-(

  39. Ay, it should be. by EdgeShadow · · Score: 1

    It should be GNU/Linux as Linux is the kernel, and GNU is the shell.
    But most of the general public doesn't even know what Linux is, let alone GNU or the GPL.

    It seems that IBM's goal is to make all that change.

  40. Bring Back Dennis Leary! by Greyfox · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I want another round of IBM Advertising with Dennis Leary! Let him go wild on the topic of the SCO lawsuit! Nothing like Leary's special brand of scorn to set the stage for the legal proceedings!

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  41. Linux. The Future is Open. IBM. by ihatesco · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom, but sharing data is the first step toward community," Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr advises the boy in the ad, recalling the ethos of the programming community behind Linux.

    The ad closes with the slogan "Linux. The Future is Open. IBM."

    My jaw is wide open.
    Ok, IBM wants to capitalize on Linux, IBM is a company, in the past IBM has been a corrupt monopoly trying to stranglehold their clients with the proprietary ties after fscking them in the first place.

    But the memes passed by this particular advertisement are something radically different than those teached by conventional advertisements and pro-capitalist ethos (consume! consume! don't think about tomorrow! spend now!).

    Really, this stuff is jaw-dropping.
    It's not like the cluetrain stopping in front of IBM (now we only need an express train passing in Darl McBride's office like that Athlon vs Pentium III commercial), but it's like someone saying that the time is mature for an economy based on Free Software to be born and TRY to impose herself on a wide-open scale.
    Not Eazel Gnome Nautilus and crap like that, not the dotcomboom of 121 different Linux distros, but a wide world collaborating on making better, documented, free, opensource and secure systems with minor tweakings among them just to make sure that they suit individual needs. (2414 different Gnu/Linux distros!!! ;D)

    Hell, also Microsoft is committed to a large-scale opensource initiative.

    And I also think that this particular advertisement is what we waited in order to say that GNU and Linux have won.

    + + + +
    BSD, on the other hand, is dead... :D (ok, that was a joke)

    --
    "I am slashbot, hear me roar!"
    1. Re:Linux. The Future is Open. IBM. by RevMike · · Score: 1
      Ok, IBM wants to capitalize on Linux, IBM is a company, in the past IBM has been a corrupt monopoly trying to stranglehold their clients with the proprietary ties after fscking them in the first place.

      IBM lost its monopoly because the market no longer neeed what they were selling. They could use servers like Sun's and PCs instead of IBM's big iron. IBM couldn't compete in the PC hardware realm. IBM was just another player in the server realm. Linux gives IBM the ability to knock Sun on its ass and make money selling high margin services that go along with the low margin PCs.

    2. Re:Linux. The Future is Open. IBM. by agent+dero · · Score: 1

      One thing you have to remember, redhat has done VERY well using an open source/free product.

      Same business ethic hopefully, free product, paid support, yet good support

      --
      Error 407 - No creative sig found
    3. Re:Linux. The Future is Open. IBM. by ihatesco · · Score: 4, Interesting
      How naive. It's really simple. IBM is trying to rake in a few billion selling software they don't have to pay for.

      Not totally true. If they want to sell it as a service then they have to test it TWICE or THREE TIMES than the usual since they can't trust that a single patch don't go over someone else's IP or don't start overwriting the system in an erratical way, trashing everything on the customers system. Still they have to pay a good deal for Quality Assurance.

      I don't know what's giving you a warm fuzzy feeling. It's not charity. They're not "supporting the community", they're simply saving tens of millions on software development by letting gullible, naive college kids work for free.

      Naive college kids certainly lack the interest to support exotic hardware like IBM's S/390. Also "Naive" college kids usually want MORE to haxx0r the neighbour box or to enter on teacher's pc and change their votes. I know this because I am still a CS student. (No, I am also working in the meanwhile).
      Less naive college kids instead want to collaborate on the linux kernel, the gnu system or whatever other project (bsd, reactos, xfree, their own videogame emulator) because:
      a) it is a system they use and they want it to work well for them,
      b) they want to gain more expertise in security or programming in a certain language, or simply make that grade in the "Operating System Course",
      c) they maybe are doing it as an hobby, since they otherwise would get bored with other hobbies,
      d) maybe they also hope for a "head hunter" to notice their work, OR to be able to use their software for a private, succesful infrastructure on which they can sell support (see VALinux's Sourceforge for an example).

      Helping the opensource community is a balanced act between greed and helping people, between learning and teaching.

      It's the same thing that happens at my local food co-op. The food co-op plasters the word "community" on everything, and people stand in line to "volunteer" there. The co-op is a business, and they're just using the same kind of gullible, naive people to work for free for them. Same fucking thing. Fuck it. Labor is expensive.

      Yes, labor is so expensive that you have to buy retarded software that helps your business to be competitive by cutting jobs, and sending people with 3 or 4 children to the land of the joblessness.
      I bet that at least your local food "co-op" doesn't teach your children that treating people like a mop is rightful a thing to do. Hell, It looks like we got back to the time of the ancient romans, who used to have a philosopher that said that "slaves were talking tools".
      Yes, let's go back to the Roman Empire, where if you didn't worship the empereor you were sent to the arena to be eaten by Lions while we are at it.

      Maybe I'll convert my business to a "co-op", and let the "community" "volunteer" to run my business while I sit in the back raking in the money.

      Why not start a TacoMcStarbucks instead? More or less the it is the same greedy business than a food co-op, Labor is cheap as well, but usually the returns are better than the normal "co-op" with food from the third world. Oh, and you don't also fuck people plastering the place with >, but instead you can honestly do the big bad ugly employer who juggles the careers of very young people. Ask them to work overtime then fuck them giving no extra unpaid holidays.

      + + + +
      To be back ontopic: at least "co-op" give you a _good_ dream and _good_ memes as well. With everyone spreading bullshit like "enterprises and capitalism are better than the happiness and completeness of individual", "co-op"s are a useful point for stating that the individual IS the center of the society, and that if the individual is oppressed, the society loses.

      Also remember that I reminded that IBM was a bad guy as well in the first place...

      --
      "I am slashbot, hear me roar!"
    4. Re:Linux. The Future is Open. IBM. by ant1832 · · Score: 2

      Yeah, but on the flip side aren't they pumping tons of development time into linux also. I mean isn't that what the whole SCO case is about. IBM developed off of what SCO is claiming to be their code and then released it to the community. I realize their main goal is to profit, but I also beleive they are willing to give back to the community.

      Didn't you see the ad- "Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom, but sharing data is the first step toward community""

    5. Re:Linux. The Future is Open. IBM. by nmos · · Score: 1

      How naive. It's really simple. IBM is trying to rake in a few billion selling software they don't have to pay for. I don't know what's giving you a warm fuzzy feeling. It's not charity. They're not "supporting the community", they're simply saving tens of millions on software development by letting gullible, naive college kids work for free.

      Great rant but it's a fact that IBM has (and continues to) contributed to numerous OSS projects. They may be getting even more than they give but that's the great thing about OSS, almost everyone gets more than they give. It never fails to amaze me how well IBM seems to "get" Linux on a gut level that others (Sun, Corel, etc) never seem to manage. In addition their open support of Linux makes it much easier for those of us in IT to promote Linux and other OSS solutions in areas where they make sense.

    6. Re:Linux. The Future is Open. IBM. by Sphere1952 · · Score: 1

      As far as I can tell, IBM has seen the writing on the wall. They seem to have decided that GPL is the new landscape and that they'd better learn how to walk upon it.

      They do, however, have their own opensource initiative and licencing scheme........

      --
      Big Brother Bush is doubleplus ungood.
    7. Re:Linux. The Future is Open. IBM. by iCat · · Score: 1

      I'm amazed at many of the reactions I am hearing here. OK, Big Blue is a business out for themselves (ie the shareholders). So What! Sometimes the interests of the populace coincide with the interests of a corporation.

      I think this ad is the start of a campaign that will destroy Microsoft (no hard feelings, Bill, but that's business), and legitamise OS software in the eyes of the public.

      IBM's market may expand as a result (they bet) or shrink (in which case they will fire staff to help the share price). The end result is better software for the majority while the money in the markets is shoogled around a little.

      Now, the interesting point to ponder is this: if people adopt Unix-based systems on mass and start to use OS software, don't you think they might start to think about the world in a different light?

    8. Re:Linux. The Future is Open. IBM. by BenjyD · · Score: 1

      What difference does it make? Most of the free software work was going to be done anyway. IBM isn't forcing anyone to work for them for free. They have taken work from the community, and have also contributed to the free software community. They're paying for advertising that helps (a least a little) to bring Linux to a wider audience.
      Partnership with industry can really help open source software. IBM make money selling services and solutions, free software gets support and paid developers for work that was going to be done anyway. Everyone wins.

    9. Re:Linux. The Future is Open. IBM. by Kaki+Nix+Sain · · Score: 1
      And I also think that this particular advertisement is what we waited in order to say that GNU and Linux have won.
      Really? That advertisement would be, IMO, the one the slogan: "Microsoft Winux. We were wrong. Now we have done it right."

      --

      (C) Kaki Sain, 2011. By reading this, you have illegally copied my property to your brain.

    10. Re:Linux. The Future is Open. IBM. by screenrc · · Score: 1

      IBM is supporting the community because
      it is their benefit to support the community.
      It is their benefit to share with others.
      When a company acts like a parasite, the
      system of sharing fails. IBM has seen the
      light, they understand that in order to
      keep the system working (for their benefit),
      they have no choice but to encourage sharing.

    11. Re:Linux. The Future is Open. IBM. by EzInKy · · Score: 1

      IBM pays developers to improve Linux which only makes sense for them because they have to support the software that runs on their machines anyway.

      --
      Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
    12. Re:Linux. The Future is Open. IBM. by ihatesco · · Score: 1
      And I also think that this particular advertisement is what we waited in order to say that GNU and Linux have won.

      Really? That advertisement would be, IMO, the one the slogan: "Microsoft Winux. We were wrong. Now we have done it right."

      That would be pleasing, but you can't shove an ideal that you like down the people's troath and call it a win.

      --
      "I am slashbot, hear me roar!"
    13. Re:Linux. The Future is Open. IBM. by Tony-A · · Score: 1

      IBM selling Linux?
      RedHat, SuSE, and a bunch of others sell Linux. Not IBM.
      There's even a TrueBlue Linux for IBM mainframes, but it's not by IBM.

      IBM is dumping a lot of money into Linux and it's not IBM that's selling it.

      they're simply saving tens of millions on software development by letting gullible, naive college kids work for free.
      And IBM is dumping in the neighborhood of $1b/year into Linux. I fail to see your "savings".

  42. Especially after... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm going to say it was a wise choice not to use Linus in the commercial.

    Especially after he's had more than a few beers.

  43. Quite so! by Faust7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Makes life simpler". Right.

    This is valid point; in fact, it's actually oozing validity. If Linux is going to be presented in mass advertising as a device for simplification, it had better damn well live up to that description.

    Like as not, many people already consider things plenty simple with Windows, especially XP and Server 2003. If Linux is going to simplify that, there must be some readily demonstrable ways in which it does so. Disillusionment is typically quick to take hold in folks, and once it's settled, it's monolithic to overcome.

    1. Re:Quite so! by tomhudson · · Score: 5, Informative
      Siplifications in favour of linux (some just in the last week or so):
      1. no linux msblaster worms
      2. no linux visual basic for applications cracks
      3. no trains, planes or automobiles stopped by linux viruses, worms or trojans
      4. no linux DRM media players
      5. no linux license fees
      6. no linux authorization codes when you change hardware
      7. no forced upgrade cycle
      8. no having to hunt down 50 cds when trying to rebuild a machine
      If it sounds simpler, it's because it is.
    2. Re:Quite so! by Havokmon · · Score: 1
      Like as not, many people already consider things plenty simple with Windows

      Coming from a Netware background, Windows just gives me a big-ass headache. DFS to root map home directories without manually sharing each one? What the hell is that about?

      And the applications.. The Registry? Sure makes moving programs much harder..

      IMHO, the whole Windows model was just created wrong. It may be easier sitting at home, and installing the app you want. But running a network is just made more difficult (unless you invest in other tools).

      --
      "I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
    3. Re:Quite so! by Bob9113 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Server 2003. If Linux is going to simplify that, there must be some readily demonstrable ways in which it does so.

      Have you ever tried logging into a Windows server and upgrading the operating system over a modem line? It's pretty easy with Linux.

    4. Re:Quite so! by AKnightCowboy · · Score: 2, Insightful
      no linux msblaster worms

      No, Linux has the Lion, Adore, Ramen, and Slapper worms. People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Linux is definitely NOT secure by default by any stretch of the imagination. If you were to go take a vanilla fresh installed Red Hat 7.3 machine and stick it on the Internet it'd be hacked in under an hour. The only thing all this proves is that operating systems have bugs... ALL of them do, including OpenBSD and a major OpenSSH root exploit in the default install last year. Any OS should be administered by a competent system admin who patches and/or disables services as necessary to avoid exploitation.

    5. Re:Quite so! by captain_craptacular · · Score: 1, Insightful

      no linux msblaster worms
      I'm so sick and tired of seeing this crap ass argument. There are less worms affecting Linux becaues NO ONE USES IT. I'm not saying that thats a bad thing. But if Linux on the Desktop had 98% market saturation and Windows had 1%, it would have been linuxblaster and the MS fanboys would be laughing and saying "see, no msblaster worms".

      no linux visual basic for applications cracks
      Oh, so there has never been a java exploit?
      Or python, or PHP, or any interpreted language?

      no linux license fees
      Thats because, with linux, they're ingeniously called support fee's.

      no linux authorization codes when you change hardware
      Thats interesting, considering I change my hardware left and right and I've never had to enter an auth code on an XP box.

      no forced upgrade cycle
      Right, only if you don't want support, in which case you never have to upgrade windoze either. But in the probable case that you do want support you're forced to upgrade with linux in many cases. Call RedHat and ask if they're still supporting RedHat 6.

      no having to hunt down 50 cds when trying to rebuild a machine
      Yeah, instead you have to hunt down and download 50 patches/packages. Unless you have a custom CD already made, in which case you could have the same CD made for Windows.

      --
      They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security
    6. Re:Quite so! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please mod parent up. I am so fscking sick of the kind of blind linux zealotry that says that Linux is somehow magically this ultra-secure operating system!

    7. Re:Quite so! by tomhudson · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Oh, come on.
      1. RHat 7.3 release date was May of last year. That's a few release cycles behind, don't you think (8.0, 8.1, 9.0)?
      2. You're refering to holes in Apache, not Linus
      3. Simple firewall script, anyone....
    8. Re:Quite so! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure, that seems like a pretty common task for the average person out in the world. Upgrading their OS from their friend's house in some other state...

    9. Re:Quite so! by tomhudson · · Score: 2, Informative
      I think you're wrong, if only because, as we've seen, linux is usually patched within hours, whereas M$ doesn't want the existence of a hole released so they can ignore it for months.

      Unlike windows, you don't need support from the manufacturer to fix problems w. open source software. That's the big deal, and that's what IBM is pushing. The hood isn't welded shut. And, if you want to install and run many more copies of older versions (smaller memory footprint, etc), you can continue to do so well past their "best-before" date, w/o violating any license agreement.

      The rate of release of new distros is so fast nowadays that , if you're having to rebuild, you don't have to hunt down patches - just snag the latest and greatest and install.

    10. Re:Quite so! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      simplifications in favor of windows:
      1. Cannot connect to server 0:0 no screens found
      2. Alarm Monitor Error, can't load docking tray icon
      3. connecting to eth0 failed, unknown error.
      4. all of the above with no support

      and that was just the last 2 hours...

    11. Re:Quite so! by captain_craptacular · · Score: 1

      You're right about the speed of patches, however It's my understanding of the blaster worm was that the main problem was people didn't patch. That would have affected ANY mainstream OS.

      I see your point on being able to fix your own problems. But I think the issue for most corporations is that they don't want to fix their own problems (or don't want to hire a full time problem fixer), they want to pay for support to have the manufacturer fix those problems.

      New distros do come out fast and the new ones are generally complete. But I was more thinking of installing all your pieces/parts that may not be part of a distro.

      I didn't mean to flame linux. Just saying that most of the parents points were arguable...

      --
      They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security
    12. Re:Quite so! by Azghoul · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm curious to know if you have any sort of proof behind your statement that Linux is at least as "infectable" as Windows. I'm not so sure, I'm wondering why you are.

      I'd also like to scrutinize your "ingeniously called support fee's (sic)" comment. Of course, this only applies to those of us with "legal" copies of all software, but last I checked, the support fees for Linux are completely voluntary, while license fees for any commercial software are not.

      I expect the "forced upgrade cycle" argument is a fallacy on both sides: MS and their ilk push to 'force' upgrades, because they need the revenue. While you're right that Redhat doesn't support verion 6, I'm sure you could find /someone/ who will.

      Finally, most modern distributions require no hunting down of patches. Apt for debian and others, up2date (or even apt) for RedHat.

      You're right: The points can be argued, can't they? :)

    13. Re:Quite so! by clem · · Score: 5, Funny

      You're refering to holes in Apache, not Linus

      I think Linus's holes are of concern only to Linus and his physician.

      --
      Your courageous and selfless spelling corrections have made me a better person.
    14. Re:Quite so! by arkane1234 · · Score: 4, Informative

      If you were to go take a vanilla fresh installed Red Hat 7.3 machine and stick it on the Internet it'd be hacked in under an hour.

      If you were to go take a vanilla fresh installed Windows 95 machine and stick it on the Internet it'd be hacked in under an hour.

      If you were to go take a vanilla fresh installed Solaris 6 machine and stick it on the Internet it'd be hacked in under an hour.

      If you were to go take a vanilla fresh installed FreeBSD 2.0 machine and stick it on the Internet it'd be hacked in under an hour.

      You can say that about ANY software that has significantly aged and is left unpatched.
      Of course:
      The only thing all this proves is that operating systems have bugs... ALL of them do, including OpenBSD and a major OpenSSH root exploit in the default install last year.

      In most cases it's not the operating system, but the stuff running on top of it. You can't exactly say the same about Blaster, now can ya? This one has been a long time coming. Someone just finally did it.

      People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones
      No glass house here, more like reinforced steel. Your average joe schmoe has the ability to get a hardware firewall from your local best buy or fry's electronics. They just don't do it.

      --
      -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
    15. Re:Quite so! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      According to Netcraft's most updated survey, there are about 27836622 servers running Apache, and you can bet most of them are Linux servers, so don't give me that shit that no one uses Linux. There probably wouldn't be Linux blaster because Linux is designed to be secure unlike Windows, which isn't a multi-user system, well an effective one at that. Every 2k/XP desktop I've come in contact with has Admin power right off the bat.

      Thats because, with linux, they're ingeniously called support fee's.

      I don't recall paying for support, it's optional. If I want it ok, if I don't then so be it, with Windows I have to pay for support whether I like it or not.

      Yeah, instead you have to hunt down and download 50 patches/packages. Unless you have a custom CD already made, in which case you could have the same CD made for Windows.

      Yeah what about the countless updates for Windows, that are half-assed and most of the time end up slowing down the system, or crashing something else.

    16. Re:Quite so! by BlackBolt · · Score: 1

      Jeez, dude, get Debian. Your life will be a lot easier and you won't be so bitter.

    17. Re:Quite so! by bruthasj · · Score: 1

      It's simple because once you setup you never have to look at it for years to come. Now that's abstraction!

    18. Re:Quite so! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know, Microsoft makes a nice package called Windows. You sound like you might be ideal for it.

    19. Re:Quite so! by fr0z · · Score: 1

      Possible troll; I'll bite nonetheless.

      There are less worms affecting Linux becaues NO ONE USES IT.

      Going by this logic, Apache, with 64.52% market share, should be exploited to hell and back by now. Why isn't it so? Has it occurred to you that maybe, just maybe, MS is easier to exploit?

      Thats because, with linux, they're ingeniously called support fee's.

      And you don't have to send support fees to MS if you want "premium" support? If you don't, let us know how you did it. At least I don't have to pay both license and support fees.

      I change my hardware left and right and I've never had to enter an auth code on an XP box.

      AFAIK, after you change 3 major pieces of hardware, you'll have to re-activate XP. Not an easy task if what my friends went through is any indication. Correct me if I'm wrong.

      Right, only if you don't want support, in which case you never have to upgrade windoze either.

      Really? How are you gonna patch it up then? For linux users, manual patches are still available. Try finding a win95 patch now.

      Yeah, instead you have to hunt down and download 50 patches/packages.

      Hunt down? If you use commercial distros like Red Hat, RHN provides one simple way of updating your machine. I don't even have to open my browser. And it's still easier than Windows, where I'll have to hunt down the CDs of the apps used, and the patches for those apps.

      I'm no fanboy, but this is the reality of the situation. Just ask any admin worth his salt (not those paper MCSEs).

      I'll go back to my cave now...

      --
      Never underestimate the predictability of human stupidity...
    20. Re:Quite so! by bogie · · Score: 1

      "I'm so sick and tired of seeing this crap ass argument. There are less worms affecting Linux becaues NO ONE USES IT. I'm not saying that thats a bad thing.

      Its not a crap arguement its true. In case your living under a rock or something there are a hell of a lot of servers out there running linux. So no your flat out wrong, people do use it. I recall one worm in the like the last 3 years that did anything. When it comes to MS servers how many more worms that take advantage of IIS and SQL do you need?

      "But if Linux on the Desktop had 98% market saturation and Windows had 1%, it would have been linuxblaster and the MS fanboys would be laughing and saying "see, no msblaster worms".""

      Yea and if a cow had dick it would be a bull. So what? You don't know that and your can' prove that.

      Sorry people ragging on MS's shoddy security practices puts a bug up your butt. This is the way its going to be until MS gets its act together.

      One last point

      "no linux license fees

      Thats because, with linux, they're ingeniously called support fee's. "

      Err no with most linux distros there are NO license fees. With Windows you get to pay not only license fees but support fee's as well.

      --
      If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
    21. Re:Quite so! by Tony-A · · Score: 4, Insightful

      From my very unpatched NT4 Workstation (which doesn't run the latest Microsoft worms very good;), I'd say that it is the tendency for Microsoft to hide as much as possible and the lookee-lookee, clickee-clickee mentality that's causing the majority of the problems. If anything, it seems like the better grade of wormage has been directed at Linux, but it doesn't seem to accomplish much of anything. I'm not saying that Linux or even OpenBSD is immune, but they seem to fare much better, and the reasons are not as simple as fewer of them, better and faster patching, or even better educated users. The idea of smart users, dumb computer still works. Smart computers, dumb users seems to fare even worse than Wyle E. Coyote.

    22. Re:Quite so! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I suggest you actually try it before passing judgement. Indeed, there is life outside of Microsoft. It is much better, even though all isn't complete yet.

      I don't worry about viruses. I have license to use every piece of software on my machine. If I want, I can fix bugs (and I have) in software that I use. I have reinstalled Linux twice in the 5 years that I have used it. In this time I have upgraded the kernel maybe 20 times, the desktop environment gets updated twice a week, since I follow a development tree. The development tree is as stable as any experience I have had with Windows. The only reason I reinstalled was to change distributions. I have a choice. The first one didn't work the way I wanted, the second one was dead stable, but didn't keep up with the bleeding edge. I have two desktop environments available, one stable for the rest of the family, the other bleeding edge for me.

      I haven't had to worry about any security stuff at all. I keep my box up to date. No worms, no viruses, no email viruses.

      Life is good.

      Derek

    23. Re:Quite so! by abe+ferlman · · Score: 1

      None of the problems you describe are unique to linux- on windows boxen, you get those problems *plus* the windows-specific ones.

      Not to mention that Outlook is an electronic Petri dish; Windows support contracts are outrageously expensive; many people are required to enter auth codes for winxp- I've never had to do this with linux even at install time; support-motivated upgrades for linux don't cost you extra, you just download and install the new version of the distro; and the 50 CD's are for all the software that doesn't come standard on Windows but does on modern linux distributions- why make your own when you can just download the free software version without having to worry about licensing issues?

      That's the ultimate benefit of free software in my mind- the freedom to not have to deal with any licensing bullshit before installing my software. No license code entry, etc. Just download to any computer and install.

      --
      microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
    24. Re:Quite so! by InfiniteZero · · Score: 1

      it would have been linuxblaster

      You mean like:

      I just want to say LOVE YOU COWBOYNEAL!!
      linus torvalds why do you make this so hard ? Stop fixing your software and start making money!!

    25. Re:Quite so! by nickco3 · · Score: 1

      "Makes life simpler". Right.

      This is valid point; in fact, it's actually oozing validity. If Linux is going to be presented in mass advertising as a device for simplification, it had better damn well live up to that description.


      I put Debian on my laptop last week with Knoppix. I had a running a system within 5 minutes, all my hardware was correctly detected and configured, including the 2 things that caused the most pain when I previously tried to do them manually, the wireless LAN and the X config. I had Internet access, Open Office, everything I wanted. It took 40 minutes to install to the HDD, but while that was happening I had a fully working, Internet-enabled laptop. It really doesn't get any easy than that.
      --
      -- Nick "Hallo this is Beel Gates, und I pronounce weendows as ... WEENdows"
    26. Re:Quite so! by eatdave13 · · Score: 1

      I'd have to say you suck at Linux. I stopped getting that stuff after my first month of working with it.

      --
      "Verbing weirds language." -- Calvin
    27. Re:Quite so! by sheriff_p · · Score: 1
      --
      Score:-1, Funny
    28. Re:Quite so! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      4. all of the above with no support

      If you're having that much trouble with it, you could just pay for the support. If you don't want to pay for the support then thats fine, but you can't complain that no one will help you.

    29. Re:Quite so! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "no linux msblaster worms"
      Who needs those when we have SSHNuke?

      "no linux visual basic for applications cracks"
      Just lots of dodgy setuid perl scripts :-)'s

      "no trains, planes or automobiles stopped by linux viruses, worms or trojans"
      1 nuclear power reactors safety systems stopped. Although admittedly it was a Microsoft worm upsetting a Linux network.

      "no linux DRM media players"
      Isn't Mac OS 10 a Linux port with bells and whistles. And iMusic is DRM controlled content, therefore there must be 1 Linux player with DRM support. Q.E.D.

      "no linux license fees"
      SCO beg to differ.

      "no linux authorization codes when you change hardware"
      No Linux hardware drivers either :-)'s

      "no forced upgrade cycle"
      If you don't use any of the products frequently mentioned in BugTraq ;-)

      "no having to hunt down 50 cds when trying to rebuild a machine"
      Because every distro worth the bandwidth has the ISO's already for you to spend days happily downloading.

      "If it sounds simpler, it's because it is."
      If it sounds simpler, its because you've forgotten to recompile your kernel to support the soundcard!

    30. Re:Quite so! by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      Yep.

      What is the registry all about, anyway? What's wrong with .ini files? They're much better. They're textfiles, that are local to an application, and application settings should be stored in .ini files and they should NOT be deprecated, as MS seems to be recommending.

      One of the few applications in Windows to still use .ini files for its local settings is mIRC. I love it. I can move its directory anywhere I want, and even run it flawlessly from another OS (WINE in Linux or a Win98 installation) with NO need to set it up again.

      In conclusion, the registry may be suitable for global, system-wide settings, but its only purpose for local application settings seems to be to make things more complicated and less compatible.

    31. Re:Quite so! by tomhudson · · Score: 1
      you wrote:
      Isn't Mac OS 10 a Linux port with bells and whistles.
      Nope. It just wishes it was, sometimes :-) (boy, am I gonna get it for that one)

      you wrote, in relation to no license fees for linux

      SCO beg to differ.
      SCO will be reduced to begging on the street corner pretty soon, as their claims don't stand up to the light of day

      As for the comments about hardware drivers, most distros are pretty complete nowadays. It's been years since I've had to add lines to the header file to support ethernet cards, and all the video cards I've run into lately are supported. As for sound, I've been pleasantly surprised that the integrated chipsets on current motherboards work better under linux than windows (same machines, dual-booted - sound under windows is choppy), and I've had friends who report the same thing.

      It really is simpler nowadays.

    32. Re:Quite so! by AKnightCowboy · · Score: 1
      RHat 7.3 release date was May of last year. That's a few release cycles behind, don't you think (8.0, 8.1, 9.0)?

      Way to miss the point. If I was going to play fair I would've said Red Hat 6.2 or whatever release was out around the time Windows 2000 was released (1999) since that's what the main bitching is about. A Win2k SP2 box is no more insecure than a Redhat 7.3 box that hasn't been patched.

      You're refering to holes in Apache, not Linus

      So? People refer to holes in IE/Outlook/IIS and blame it on poor Windows security. Apache is bundled with every major distro so it's part of Linux. Or should I say, GNU/Linux.

      Simple firewall script, anyone....

      Tiny Personal Firewall anyone... Again, you miss the point of what I was saying. An OS is only as secure as the incompetent system administrator taking care of it. Personally I fscking HATE Windows because these god damn Sobig/Blaster/Nachi infections have us running around in circles tracking down rogue infected machines. All the properly administered machines were patched and virus innoculated a long time ago against this crap.

    33. Re:Quite so! by tomhudson · · Score: 1
      Okay, let's try again, since we seem to be in agreement on some basic things (clueless administrators suck, for example).

      I believe that the reason there are so many dumb admins in the world is that, at least in the Windows world, you don't really have to know whats going on to be an "administrator". Just click, click, click reboot, click, click, click, reboot, ..., and if eventually by some random chance it works, you look like a guru. In trying to force eveerything into a point-and-click paradigm, they've actually made things harder to admin. (And let's not get started on that major fuck-up - the registry).

      Then there's the problem of replicating the series of clicks and reboots on other machines, as opposed to changing the same lines in a few scripts/config files.

      Maybe you'll agree that this is the fundamental difference between the 2 environments, and why its so much harder to keep everything in sync on a bunch of windows boxes, as opposed to linux/bsd/unix boxes :-)

      Which brings us back on-topic. Linux really is simpler in the long run. Its just like anything else - the more you know, the more you can make the system do your bidding. Ignorance is not bliss - like the upcoming IBM ad shows, knowledge is power.

    34. Re:Quite so! by gosand · · Score: 1
      I think Linus's holes are of concern only to Linus and his physician.

      And possibly his wife.

      Hey! I don't know what the guy is into...

      --

      My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

    35. Re:Quite so! by Daengbo · · Score: 1

      Your link answers none of the pertinent questions raised. It, instead, tries to prove that Linux is just as suceptible, while, as the original poster did, offering no proof. Thanks for a glib and useless post.

    36. Re:Quite so! by captain_craptacular · · Score: 1

      I know of no proof either way. I was really just arguing that it could be argued either way. I never directly said that linux was as infectable as windows. But don't you think that if it was the dominant desktop OS we'd be more likely to find out?

      My point didn't have anything to do with the susceptability of either OS. My point was that Windows gets hit hard and often because it's dominant and therefore people take time to write worms for it. Linux on the otherhand is "small potatoes", so most people don't bother trying to worm it.

      If I'm a shock jockey, am I going to pull a stunt in which I throw a rock through a window in suburbia, or one in which I paint a giant penis on the front of the white house?

      --
      They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security
    37. Re:Quite so! by captain_craptacular · · Score: 1

      I do believe I said LINUX ON THE DESKTOP

      I'm not arguing that linux servers aren't more secure than windows servers. I'm arguing that Linux on the DESKTOP probably wouldn't be much more secure than windows is now.

      You want to talk about how linux was designed to be secure. You know what it WASN'T designed for? Desktop use. So whats making it any less of a kludge than windows?

      Furthermore you want to throw numbers around? There are 2.7M apache servers out there. If we assume that 75% of them are linux thats around 2 million boxes. So if we triple that I think we have a fair uneducated guestimate of how many total linux boxen we have out there. 6 Million linux boxen is a fairly large number. How many chips did Intel/AMD ship last quarter? 99% of those will be running windows...

      --
      They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security
    38. Re:Quite so! by Tony-A · · Score: 1

      That should answer most of your questions
      Granted, but then why does the Linux malware never seem to accomplish anything significant? Surely the business of engineering the malware to accomplish something should be enhanced by access to all of the code. And I don't buy the rot about Linux users being better than Windows users. Sure someone with no skill can set up a Microsoft and have something that looks like a system, but it seems like it takes rather more skill to accomplish anything on Microsoft than on Linux.
      Microsoft tends to be a monoculture and to promote the idea of a monoculture as the ideal. Patches are only official patches and they must come from Microsoft. If Linux had its own version of Slammer, several people would be on it and on top of it quickly. I would be downloading something to help (AC link on /.) from somebody I've never heard of before RedHat got halfway woke up. (If that sounds dangerous, realize that that's exactly how the Secret Service selects foodstuffs for the presidential party.)

  44. Obligatory HHGTTG Quote by Durin_Deathless · · Score: 1

    Ford, you're turning into a penguin.

    --
    You should use AdiumX on your Mac.
  45. Yep... the PHBs are the target audience. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yep... the PHBs are the target audience.

  46. Re:Video? its here by ramzak2k · · Score: 1

    check it out before it gets slashdotted :)

    --

    Siggy Say, Siggy Do
  47. Uh..what? by MrR0p3r · · Score: 1

    The ad airs next week during the US Open men's finals and the National Football League's kick-off on Sunday.

    Am I the only one that realizes the NFL kick-off is tonight and not Sunday?

    --
    Whatever man, I spelled it write!
    1. Re:Uh..what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have a better question...
      What the hell is an NFL kick-off?

      /nerd

    2. Re:Uh..what? by BizidyDizidy · · Score: 1

      Oh God, your naivete is so cheeky. That's what makes nerds the babe magnets that they are.

      --
      The safest way to approach lava is to have another person with you and he goes first.
  48. A Good Move by Urantian · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I appreciate what IBM is doing. The average computer user seems to think that Microsoft is all there is, when it come to an OS.

    The general public needs to be informed that there ARE choice. Imagine if Microsoft were to actually start feeling the sting of lost sales. They might: Lower prices, improve customer service, and wow... focus on stablizing their software!

    --
    Urantian -- and proud of it!
    1. Re:A Good Move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful


      The average computer user seems to think that Microsoft is all there is...


      IBM is way cool in its support for Linux, but don't imagine that they care one bit about the average computer user. Linux is a pure server play for IBM. They don't object to Linux on the desktop, but they won't be bothered to do much to help there.

      IBM sees server-side Linux as a great business move (after all, they are a hardware company) and are pouring money into it. (Yeah!) They couldn't care less about the desktop.

  49. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by FlowerPotAdmin · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Eventually we'll get beyond copyright and patent

    ::sigh:: I'd like to think you're just being idealistic and hoping people will develop respect for other people's work to the point where copyrights and patents are truly unnecessary. But instead I'll patiently remind you that copyleft is legally rooted in copyright.

    this is a start--even if it's by a huge corporation

    Answer me this: Who else can afford to pay for such ads?

    --
    -Justin
    That's enough posting for now lads, there're trolls afoot.
  50. Sup with the slogan? by dasmegabyte · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom, but sharing data is the first step toward community.

    Nice slogan. Makes me want to put my hand over my heart and stare knowingly toward the horizon.

    What's it got to do with Linux though? Data sharing seems to have more to do with databases and web services, neither of which are explicitly Linux oriented traits. It seems to me it's not data, but functionality that's shared in the Linux community.

    It's something like this: we both need to build a house. I'm going to need a ladder and a saw, you're going to need a ladder and a saw. If you build the ladder, and share it with me, I'll build the saw and share it with you. It doesn't mean we're going to tell each other what's inside the house, what's going on with the house, etc. No data is shared, just the tools for organizing and arranging it. Sharing the TOOLS makes a community. Sharing data makes, I dunno, an RIAA lawsuit?

    I know, I know. The slogan is meant to strike at executives who make snap decisions and watch golf on the weekends. After all, they're the only ones not using OSS already ;). Doesn't foregive IBM from coming up with a slogan that muddys the already murky question of "What is up with the GNU community?"

    --
    Hey freaks: now you're ju
    1. Re:Sup with the slogan? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All computer software/functionality is data. There is no spoon.

    2. Re:Sup with the slogan? by berniecase · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The word data should've been changed to knowledge, but since this commercial is targeted at the golf-playing executives, data has a more tech-like ring to it.

      Collecting knowledge is only the first step toward wisdom, but sharing knowledge is the first step toward community.

      Sounds better to me.

    3. Re:Sup with the slogan? by The+Cydonian · · Score: 3, Interesting
      You should have watched the ad before posting. :-)

      The slogan, folks, is not this Zen-like dialogue that Reuters has quoted; the real slogan "The Future is open" and is a great soundbite for OSS/Software Libre.

      Indeed, it is, but one of the many other dialogues on teamwork, G chords, Spanish, aircraft, soccer, bla bla bla... the idea seems to be that folks somehow teach this 9 year old kid, Linux, everything, and that the kid absorbs everything. Which is a great statement to make; next time Joe Superbowlfan reads that, say, they're using Linux while making aircraft, he'll make the connection and hopefully say, "Yeah, it's that intellectual (ie, not just "geek") thing that IBM is advertising".

      In effect, IBM seems to be trying to change the perception of Linux from a geek's plaything to being something that's intellectually all-encompassing in its reach. Haven't seen the earlier IBM Linux ads, but it's an interesting brand strategy; wonder how the other Linux companies will advertise now (if they do, that is; I don't quite watch television, but something tells me that IBM is a first-mover here).

      None of this, of course, tarnishes your point; the distinction between data and functionality is well-taken.

    4. Re:Sup with the slogan? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's nothing more important for business than data. That's why it's called the INFORMATION technology sector!!!

    5. Re:Sup with the slogan? by quantaman · · Score: 2, Insightful


      What's it got to do with Linux though? Data sharing seems to have more to do with databases and web services, neither of which are explicitly Linux oriented traits. It seems to me it's not data, but functionality that's shared in the Linux community.


      Depends what you define as data. MP3s? Major Applications? Utilities? Protocols? File formats? Expertise? Source Code?
      All of those I consider to be types of data. I think it goes without saying that it won't be buisness data but to the fact that a lot of them may be frustrated with money being spent re-inventing the wheel. In this case the tools and associated community are the data.

      --
      I stole this Sig
    6. Re:Sup with the slogan? by dasmegabyte · · Score: 1

      Man, if you consider everything to be data, you are a MAJOR geek.

      To most people, data is data when it's touched by a computer...eg, when it's in transit, in processing, or in storage. Source code is data when it's on a disc, running through a compiler, or otherwise touching the "black box" most people computers to be. Data is pretty much worthless to humans...shit, we can't even understand it.

      Once it comes to the screen (printer, speakers, etc), it becomes information. Source code becomes information when it turns into a program, starts spitting output.

      And once it comes into the brain, it becomes that esoteric organic concept: knowledge. And it's knowledge, and information, that can be gleamed from Linux that makes it useful. The data itself is crap. It's all 1s and 0s, waiting to be manipulated, mined, and turned into knowledge.

      This is all backed up by the standard (read: non-geek) definitions of these terms. Quoth Mirriam-Webster:

      Data:
      1 : factual information (as measurements or statistics) used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation
      2 : information output by a sensing device or organ that includes both useful and irrelevant or redundant information and must be processed to be meaningful
      3 : information in numerical form that can be digitally transmitted or processed

      Information:
      1 : the communication or reception of knowledge or intelligence
      2 a : knowledge obtained from investigation, study, or instruction
      b : the attribute inherent in and communicated by one of two or more alternative sequences or arrangements of something that produce specific effects

      Knowledge: (omitting crap definitions)
      1: the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association

      --
      Hey freaks: now you're ju
    7. Re:Sup with the slogan? by quantaman · · Score: 2, Funny

      you are a MAJOR geek.

      *sniff*

      thank you

      that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me!

      --
      I stole this Sig
    8. Re:Sup with the slogan? by usotsuki · · Score: 2, Informative

      Er, that's not Spanish.

      "Respublica non dominatur" (sp) is Latin.

      Close, though ;)

      -uso.

      --
      Dreams, dreams, don't doubt dreams, dreaming children's dreaming dreams. Sailor Moon SS
    9. Re:Sup with the slogan? by The+Cydonian · · Score: 1

      Yup, realised it after I posted that. :-|

    10. Re:Sup with the slogan? by dasmegabyte · · Score: 1

      Hey no problem. Thanks for not pointing out that I appended a post accusing someone of being a geek with annotated quotations I typed from my leatherbound Mirriam Webster's dictionary. The one I had signed by all my English Profs?

      --
      Hey freaks: now you're ju
    11. Re:Sup with the slogan? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "The future is Open"

      I get the feeling IBM's spiffy sound bite may not work in some European countries; it's taken.

      "The future is Orange"

    12. Re:Sup with the slogan? by Alsee · · Score: 1

      What's [data sharing] got to do with Linux though?

      Data from Open-source can easily be moved to and used on any system - Linux, Windows, Mac, Cray, anywhere.

      If you go with a "Microsoft solution" it is often difficult or impossible to properly network with non-Windows computers, or sometimes even with different flavors of Windows.

      I acknowledge that the vast majority of data is generated by applications rather the OS itself, but the point is clearly valid on the "Microsoft solution package" vs "Linux solution package" level. And Microsoft is increasingly shifting the lock-in out of the application layer and into the operating system itself.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
    13. Re:Sup with the slogan? by morie · · Score: 1

      isn't it ".. the future is bright, the future is Orange"? I know the slogan in that way, and did not connect this slogan to only the last part of the Orange slogan. Well, maybe it's just me...

      --
      Sig (appended to the end of comments I post, 54 chars)
  51. eyecon0meter ranges off the scale by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    big blue on top, & an ad for fuddle's whatever that is, in the middle? a six month trial? you have to do that to become a hostage nowadays? what if you're convicted? stuff that matters no DOWt? surroundead buy crunching gnashing corepirate nazi dinosaurs, won would naturally bet on the penguins.

    good night for star gazing & hand waving?

    consult with/trust in yOUR creator.

  52. NFL.com by leviramsey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So IBM has entered into a sponsorship deal with the NFL... lessee what the League's webservers are running:

    yep, NFL.com runs Linux.

    1. Re:NFL.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, NFL.com is hosted by SportsLine. My girlfriend was a programmer there. It was a 100% UNIX shop. They also have lots of Suns as well.

  53. Double standard by Overly+Critical+Guy · · Score: 0, Troll

    It's simply because they're supporting Linux. Otherwise, IBM is a big business and Slashbots would be all over them, because any big corporation is automatically bad in their eyes.

    Sad, but can you really dispute it as the truth?

    --
    "Sufferin' succotash."
    1. Re:Double standard by scotch · · Score: 1

      As far as I can tell, you're a Slashbot of sorts yourself. Not all slashbots spew the same crap. HAND.

      --
      XML causes global warming.
    2. Re:Double standard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh my God, you mean they're only supporting IBM because IBM are doing things they like? That's just totally consistent of them. I can't stand people like that.

  54. Re:Video? its here by tomhudson · · Score: 1

    is not! Just some blurbs and links to other campaigns.

  55. Annoyingly Enough... by Jerk+City+Troll · · Score: 2, Informative

    This page featuring the ad offers it in Windows MediaPlayer format. Is there anyone out there with an MPEG copy?

    1. Re:Annoyingly Enough... by CableModemSniper · · Score: 1

      According to Mplayer its DivX. It does play in mplayer btw. I don't know ab out Xine or anything else.

      --
      Why not fork?
    2. Re:Annoyingly Enough... by x136 · · Score: 1

      IBM does. And then some. :)

      --
      SIGFEH
  56. Got it working in with xine by gregfortune · · Score: 1
    Open a command line and enter
    xine mms://windowsmedia.dvlabs.com/adcritic/ibm-linux-p rodigy.asf
    Obviously, you'll need to remove the space....
  57. Benefits of Open Source and Linux by Junks+Jerzey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This could be the first major way to reach out to normal users and explain the benefits of open source and Linux

    This is a very tough sell, IMO. I'll also add that lumping the two together--"open source" and "Linux"--maybe isn't a good idea.

    With perfect honesty, as someone who has used and programmed various OSes and hardware, the differences between Linux and Windows are few. Both are hugely complex from the user's point of view, and both are arguably incomprehensible on the source level. (Remember, you can't just talk about the Linux kernel, but the entire package including XFree86, drivers, the window manager, KDE, etc.) So it's not like either one is a clear winner in terms of ease-of-use or architectural cleanliness. It used to be that Linux was more stable, but with Windows 2000 that's no longer true. UNIX-alikes are generally more virus resistant than Windows, but that's a tough reason to insist that someone change all of his or her work habits and software. Remember, too, that patches for the recent Windows virii were available before infections started. Proper system administration (sadly!) plays a big role in security.

    On the "open source" angle, I think that too much of an association with Linux is hurting the term. The Linux kernel is open source, yes, but we need to stop acting like you have to have one in order to have the other. There is a lot of open source software for Windows, for example. The "Chandler" email program, which is attempting to replace Outlook and Exchange, is going to run under Windows. Heck, Emacs and gcc both run under Windows. So do all of the GNU utilities. And Perl. And Python. And Tk.

    As much as we all like to think we have the inside track on the superior OS--and, indeed, it may still be slightly superior--it's a case of it not being so far and away superior that it's clearly so.

    1. Re:Benefits of Open Source and Linux by screenrc · · Score: 1
      The main benefit of Free Software is freedom.


      You are no longer at the mercy of Microsoft,
      and your computer is no longer a black box. (Sorry,
      when you use Perl on a non-free operating system,
      it is still dependent on black-box system calls
      that behave not according to they should do,
      but according to what Microsoft decided that
      they should do. They could copy your data
      to Mircosoft, or this innocent system call might
      be directed to freeze you computer because
      that is what Microsoft might want.


      You are missing the entire point of Free Software. Of course,
      if you language consists of "open source" softwaere,
      it is not a surprise that you don't think of Freedom.

    2. Re:Benefits of Open Source and Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How did win2k change the stability of your Linux box? Multiboot?

      My Linux box is as stable as ever, never needing a reboot. My Win2k box however is beyond reinstall-time (I hope to get a new PC soon, so I won't spend time reinstalling), and currently being auto-rebooted every morning, and IT STILL NEEDS TO BE REBOOTET AROUND LUNCH-TIME about every other day.

    3. Re:Benefits of Open Source and Linux by IamTheRealMike · · Score: 1
      As much as we all like to think we have the inside track on the superior OS--and, indeed, it may still be slightly superior--it's a case of it not being so far and away superior that it's clearly so.

      That doesn't really matter though, does it? Linux is clearly not a huge leap forward (well, not yet, but hey, the sky is the limit when you have all the code) - but ultimately what people are interested in is the story of how it was made, and the ideas that led to its creation. That is what makes Linux so interesting, so different. Not the technical architecture, which isn't even finished yet.

      When the slogan of the ad is "The future is open", the last thing anybody is thinking about is the elegance of kernel modules.

    4. Re:Benefits of Open Source and Linux by Junks+Jerzey · · Score: 1

      That doesn't really matter though, does it? Linux is clearly not a huge leap forward (well, not yet, but hey, the sky is the limit when you have all the code) - but ultimately what people are interested in is the story of how it was made, and the ideas that led to its creation. That is what makes Linux so interesting, so different.

      In all honesty, that's not true. Look at the huge backlash to the GNU/Linux nonsense, even though Stallman was right in this case: the Linux kernel was a key piece in a puzzle started many years earlier.

    5. Re:Benefits of Open Source and Linux by Junks+Jerzey · · Score: 1

      Sorry, when you use Perl on a non-free operating system, it is still dependent on black-box system calls that behave not according to they should do, but according to what Microsoft decided that they should do.

      My sincerere apologies, but that's a ridiculous statement.

  58. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    " This is a great move by IBM, just to get the mindset to the masses."

    It ain't that great. The ad doesn't even say what Linux is.

    Call me cynical but an 'ad' that doesn't tell you what it's advertising isn't an ad. The people who already know about Linux are the only ones who are going to get anything from it.

    (Note: I'd agree with your point if simply the commercial was better at getting the idea across.)

  59. Movie available at AdAge.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here it is. (.asf format)

  60. I don't get it by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 1

    ... why'd that kid's parents name him Linux?

    1. Re:I don't get it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      why'd that kid's parents name him Linux?

      Because they wanted to be sure he got beaten up in school. :o)

      I can just hear the conversation now...

      "Hello, Mr. Smith? This is Linux's teacher. I'm afraid Linux got beaten up again at school today."

      "I"m really sorry - I just don't know what came over me."

  61. Other IBM Linux Commercials by aliens · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well, not really commercials, but some weird lil cartoons. Enjoy.

    http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/linux/fun/i nd ex.html?c=eserver&n=linuxfun_callout_servershome&t =advertise#

    --
    -- taking over the world, we are.
  62. remember mac by 514x0r · · Score: 1

    i can't wait to see this. it reminds me of the feel of the first mac comercials--not that it's all that similar, but promoting "sharing data as the first step to community."

    ironic considering the target of those first mac commercials

    --

    !(^((ri)|(mp))aa$)
  63. Not Impressed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They're going to put the AI boy on during the football game, give him the name Linux, then try to show he's learning new things as fast as The Lawnmower Man?

    This thing is going to flop like you've never seen. It's a skit that might work as a commercial during Deep Space Nine maybe, but not the Raiders verses the Steelers.

    Guys like me are going to AVOID that crap like the plague. And yes, guys like me are the ones making the big purchasing decisions, not the technodweebs that think the little boy Linux is cute.

    1. Re:Not Impressed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, I'm the one making the really big buys. Have fun picking out new "workstations," tho.

  64. How about... by bbuchs · · Score: 1

    Here's my idea for a Linux commercial: Jump cuts between a series of shots of geeks, camera placed "behind" the monitor. each of them is bathed in the glow of their monitors, and happily hacking away. Before cutting to the next geek, a caption reads "This [guy|girl] works for you". promote the fact that you've got a virtual army of programmers working on your software. And they're working for free. The target audience is concerned with the bottom line. You can't beat "0".

    1. Re:How about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who wants to look at close-ups of pimple faced hairy geeks?

      The idea ain't half bad, but you'd need some casting magic in there...

  65. Don't use mplayer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What you should be doing is boycotting the use of Microsoft's protocols, and complaining to the website.

    Instead, by using mplayer with Windows binary-only codecs, you are helping Microsoft to destroy open Internet standards, and addicting people to Microsoft protocols.

    You are part of the problem. :-(

    1. Re:Don't use mplayer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WRONG. Running mplayer to play that file does not require Microsoft binary code.

      If you have something against having an ASF, then ask someone with MPlayer to reencode it for you. In the purpose of interoperability, converting is perfectly legal. But, being an ASF should not restrict its viewing. Only closed minded fools would believe that.

    2. Re:Don't use mplayer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Only a fool would be short-sighted enough to not to see the danger of using (supporting) Microsoft protocols, especially over the Internet.

      In the Halloween Document, a Microsoft strategist wrote:

      > OSS projects have been able to gain a foothold in many server applications because of the wide utility of highly commoditized, simple protocols. By extending these protocols and developing new protocols, we can deny OSS projects entry into the market.

      Or consider this evidence in the Java case:

      > Microsoft's Executive Vice President, Paul Maritz, outlined Microsoft's strategy to win the browser war with Netscape and simultaneously "neutralize Java" by "tying" the "user interface" and "APIs" "back to Windows,"

      This quote also shows us how Microsoft operates:

      > at this point its [sic] not good to create MORE noise around our win32 java classes. Instead we should just quietly grow j++ share and assume that people will take advantage of our classes without ever realizing they are building win32-only java apps."

      And then there's this little gem:

      > "Subversion has always been our best tactic," John Ludwig, Microsoft's vice president in charge of Java development, wrote. "It leaves the competition confused, and they don't know what to shoot at anymore."

      Perhaps this quote sums it up the best:

      > "This is really the core of Microsoft's business," Gartner Research Director Chris LeTocq said. "Microsoft is in business to leverage APIs. That's a key element of the successful market share it has."

      If you haven't understood the point, then here it is...

      If you continue to accept the ASF format, then you are encouraging websites to use it.

      But it's still a protocol that is controlled by Microsoft.

      In the future, Microsoft will:

      1. Upgrade ASF to an incompatible format.

      2. Start enforcing their ownership of ASF by restricting its use to Microsoft platforms (as GIFs started to be enforced).

      3. Lock up ASF using Microsoft .Net and DRM protocols.

      And the websites that are using ASF will go along blindly. Why? Because no one has been complaining to them about their use of ASF, so they have no reason to avoid Microsoft's "improvements."

      And at that point, the content of those websites will become unavailable to you unless you are running Windows XP.

      It really annoys me when people fail to protect themselves, and everyone else, because they are too lazy or short-sighted to put up with a little temporary inconvenience. Are you hoping that someone else will do the work of protecting your freedom? Well, don't.

      It's up to you. If you want the Internet to remain free, then stop supporting Microsoft protocols.

    3. Re:Don't use mplayer by halr9000 · · Score: 1

      WOW. I wish I had the mod bit right now, that was awesome.

    4. Re:Don't use mplayer by Hanzie · · Score: 1

      Damn. Mod points twice in the last week. Now I don't have any for the best comment I've seen in a while.

      I'd recommend +1 insightful or +1 informative.

      the parent comment is both, and is clearly on topic.

      --
      ********* sig: If you don't like the law, get filthy stinking rich, and buy a better one.
    5. Re:Don't use mplayer by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      I totally agree with you, however, there's one little point: complaining to the website often results in nothing happening :-(

      I recently fired off an e-mail complaining to the BBC's website that they only offered certain videos in .rm *STREAMING* format (useless for us 56k ers). I got no response. The idiots probably don't even understand the issues involved, and paid their money for the use of the encoding software, and don't see a good reason to change as they'd "lose their investment".

      *sigh*. How do you win a battle that is unwinnable?

    6. Re:Don't use mplayer by spinlocked · · Score: 1

      I recently fired off an e-mail complaining to the BBC's website that they only offered certain videos in .rm *STREAMING* format (useless for us 56k ers). I got no response. The idiots probably don't even understand the issues involved, and paid their money for the use of the encoding software, and don't see a good reason to change as they'd "lose their investment"

      Actually, the BBC (a customer of a former employer of mine) are very technology savvy. When they bought the rights to use Real, it was practically the only cross platform media player available - some might argue that it still is (piece of junk though it is). The reason that it's streaming only is primarily because the BBC outsource a lot of programming to third party production companies who often grant the BBC broadcast rights, but nothing else. The BBC also flog a lot of thier own archive material on tape, video and DVD - so they'd be stupid to give it away in a freely reproducable format.

      --
      # init 5
      Connection closed.


      Oh... ...bugger.
    7. Re:Don't use mplayer by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      When they bought the rights to use Real, it was practically the only cross platform media player available - some might argue that it still is

      The player used is totally irrelevant. The BBC aren't in the business of issuing players; they're in the business of issuing media. All they need is a cross-platform (or open) *FORMAT* to release their videos in, not one that can be played in a player that's available for all platforms (and how cross-platform IS Real? Does it run on BeOS? OS2? The Amiga? A commadore 64? Open *FORMATS* make those all theoretically possible options). Sorry, but I don't call that 'technology savvy'.

      The reason that it's streaming only is primarily because the BBC outsource a lot of programming to third party production companies who often grant the BBC broadcast rights, but nothing else.

      I'm pretty sure this isn't one of those cases. The video in question that I'd like to view is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/videonation/articles/b/beds_m otorneuronedisease.shtml

      I'm pretty sure that's just owned by the BBC, but they still insist it be streamed; this applies to the whole of Video Nation, as well. Why can't it be available in a non-streaming format? It's virtually unwatchable on 56k. Why can't it be available in an *OPEN* format? As a British citizen, the BBC is supposed to have a mandate to represent my views directly; we pay a mandatory licence fee to them. They should be providing all of their archives to the public in as many formats as possible! Greg Dyke, director general, recently announced his intention to do just that. No sign of it so far, though.

      And how rude is just *not responding* to an e-mail I sent? How unprofessional? Not even an excuse for their lack of variety in video formats (although they have '56k' and 'broadband' quality, both are streamed, and somebody obviously doesn't know the speed of an average 56k connection; '56k quality' is unwatchable, without constant pauses, on the vast majority of 56k connections).

      I think this reeks far more of sheer BBC laziness, as usual, than genuine technical savvy.

    8. Re:Don't use mplayer by spinlocked · · Score: 1

      The player used is totally irrelevant...

      No, it's entirely relevent, because as a public service broadcaster, their mandate is to reach the maximum of their achievable UK target market. On the web, it's windows (90+%) and Mac (less than 5% if the surveys are to be believed). This dictates which encoder is used and hence the player. Real, crap as it is, covers this demographic, plus Solaris and Linux and a few others (after a fashion).

      BeOS and OS/2 are commercially dead O/Ss with very, very few users (and I know some). The Amiga - well! The C64 - it can't play FMV to start with.

      I'm pretty sure that's just owned by the BBC...

      I'm sure that the The BBC reserve all rights etc... How do the BBC know that your a UK license fee payer and not some random foreign freeloader? ...As a British citizen, the BBC is supposed to have a mandate to represent my views directly; we pay a mandatory licence fee to them.

      While your views are, of course, of paramount importance (I was forgetting), the TV license is not mandatory and never has been - you don't have to own a TV (I have never owned one).

      And how rude is just *not responding* to an e-mail I sent? How unprofessional?

      They *are* busy - believe me, it's not personal. I often send typo corrections to BBC news online, I seldom get a response, but the error is always corrected.

      --
      # init 5
      Connection closed.


      Oh... ...bugger.
    9. Re:Don't use mplayer by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      Hmm. You almost sound like a troll, but I'll respond anyway.

      their mandate is to reach the maximum of their achievable UK target market ... This dictates which encoder is used and hence the player

      Uh... this is utterly wrong. How does needing to reach a large audience 'dictate which encoder is used'? It doesn't. A far better encoder than Real's would be... well, just about anything, really.

      I'm sure that the The BBC reserve all rights etc... How do the BBC know that your a UK license fee payer and not some random foreign freeloader?

      An utterly invalid point.
      1) They don't seem to have any reservations about offering numerous other free services to 'foreign freeloaders' such as BBC News, etc.
      2) They also don't seem to have any reservations about offering the *streaming* video to 'foreign freeloaders'. What do you think their mentality is; that they will only offer the non-streaming video to UK citizens, but as I can't prove that I am one, they won't offer it at all? Clearly, I think their mentality is that they'll just offer everything for free, as otherwise they couldn't offer anything as proof of geographic origin is near-impossible on the internet. Therefore, what they're offering to everyone (including UK citizens) amounts to no more than a streaming version of the video(s).

      the TV license is not mandatory and never has been - you don't have to own a TV (I have never owned one).

      Nope. But for those of us who like to watch TV, it's some more damn good ammunition against the licence fee, isn't it?

      They *are* busy - believe me, it's not personal.

      It's pathetic.

      I often send typo corrections to BBC news online, I seldom get a response, but the error is always corrected.

      My problem has neither been responded to nor corrected.

    10. Re:Don't use mplayer by spinlocked · · Score: 1

      Hmm. You almost sound like a troll, but I'll respond anyway.

      Ahhh. The infamous opening line. Forget it twat. Get a life etc. etc.

      --
      # init 5
      Connection closed.


      Oh... ...bugger.
    11. Re:Don't use mplayer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's anonymous, dumbass.

    12. Re:Don't use mplayer by cerberusss · · Score: 1
      If you want the Internet to remain free, then stop supporting Microsoft protocols.

      You probably mean: if you don't want to be able to interoperate with the rest of the world, stop supporting Microsoft protocols.

      Some of us want to use Linux/BSD/whatever but would REALLY like to be able to read/write Microsoft protocols or file formats, because of their work, clients or what else.

      The best solution IMHO would be for the open source world to offer flawless read/write filters, so those 'closed' protocols suddenly become open. It's what Microsoft did when they wanted Excel to gain marketshare from Lotus 1-2-3, see also this article by Joel Spolsky.

      When you are a small minority, it doesn't help to 'just say no'. You'll be alone in your nay-saying.

      --
      8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
  66. So umm.. by naelurec · · Score: 1

    Football.. crazy strange ad about computers .. ad not showing computer ... ad with lots of symbolism ..

    Is this IBM's way of celebrating (slightly early) the 20th anniversary of Apple's 1984 commercial?

    Hopefully they follow this up with more TV & Print spots that elaborate as to WHY Linux is better...

    1. Re:So umm.. by yarisbandit · · Score: 1

      Sounds like the guy off the fast show :)

      Football.. Jumpers for goalposts, yeah. Nip down the park for five minutes before tea.. Oops! watch out for the parkie! mmm, yeah. one-nil, who ate all the pies? fantastic. computers? none of your virtual stuff, freshly cut grass, rock hard goalmouth, ooh i cut my knee...

    2. Re:So umm.. by x136 · · Score: 1

      Well, this season's Super Bowl will be the 20th anniversary of the Apple commercial. Maybe this is the beginning of a series, with the last commercial showing during the Super Bowl.

      The kid in this commercial will have grown up, and will be the proud owner of a really big hammer. One day, with his trusty hammer at his side (Did I mention he REALLY likes this hammer?), he'll enter a theater at the local multiplex, seeing a room full of drones staring blankly at a giant image of Bill Gates...

      Yeah, so it's baseless speculation. So what? :)

      --
      SIGFEH
  67. What'd you think of Apple? by Jerk+City+Troll · · Score: 1

    Myself and most people I knew thought they sucked ass. Which is true: compared to alternatives, their hardware was subpar, their operating system was miserable. Now I am the happy owner of a 15" TiPB, and it's the best damn investment I've ever made.

    My point is: there's can always be a turn-around for an individual or a group. Who knows, maybe one day Microsoft will hop on the open source bandwagon, choose honesty as a new collogne and become a major community contributor.

  68. anybody notice the irony by iramkumar · · Score: 2, Funny

    that the harvard prof who says "collecting data .." is called GATES!

  69. IBM & Linux by Lipongo · · Score: 1

    IBM has been a long supporter of linux in the past and I am not suprised by this move as more and more companies are becoming aware and using non-Windows OSes. I am finally gratified in seeing free software promoted on major advertising spots, instead of seeing those stupid AOL and MSN internet ads.

    --
    -Certified TechnoWeinie
  70. Where's his Blue Blanket? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Doesn't little Linux boy need a blue blanket, and his thumb in his mouth?

  71. I know you guys are excited about it, except.... by NanoGator · · Score: 2, Interesting

    .... can you really envision somebody who's uninformed about Linux watching this commercial and making anything of it?

    Me personally, I'd have at least mentioned that it's free or that it isn't held by a single corporation. This commercial looks more like the sequel to A.I. or D.A.R.Y.L..

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  72. IRONY! by swordboy · · Score: 1

    The video is in ASF format!

    --

    Life is the leading cause of death in America.
  73. The Next Generation of Geek by Kircle · · Score: 1

    Welcome to the next generation of Geek, where a jock and a geek can be one and the same. Soon, you will see geek bullies beating up ... err, other geeks!

    And your analogy doesn't quite fit. Beer companies don't advertise on Oprah because they aren't targeting women. IBM is advertising with the NFL because they aren't targeting just geeks.

    --

    -- Kircle

    1. Re:The Next Generation of Geek by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, back in the EARLY 80's I frightened the hell out of the other kids in my H.S. prog classes.

      I could out code them, out toke them, and then kick their asses with one hand holding a J. Those people are the main reason I did not go with an IT career.

      Not all people who enjoy sports are mindless drones...

  74. You mean like this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.peanuts.com/comics/peanuts/meet_the_gan g/images/meet_linus_big.gif

  75. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by generic-man · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Everyone in the IT community has heard of Linux, but most people know it as a community effort. The commercial is targeted at corporate buyers, and seeks to enhance Linux's image by associating the operating system with a well-known, respected company (IBM).

    This isn't the 1950s. Big businesses use commercials nowadays to build brands, not sell products. Consider the most well-known commercials, like Apple's "1984" ad and Coca-Cola's "Mean Joe Green" spot from the '70s. Memorable campaigns don't drill product data into your head.

    --
    For more information, click here.
  76. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by inflex · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Actually, this is a very smart way to do it. I've seen a lot of 'series' adverts do it.

    This advert is just the 'seeder'. It lays the foundation on which the other adverts with more information are going to rely on.

    No one can explain the entire 'linux' thing in 30 seconds, however, a series of 30 second adverts, with a new one each successive month - all of a sudden every person and their pet turns into an 'expert.

    Regards.

  77. Linux Commercial by Rozinante · · Score: 0

    Linux Commercial:

    two words you don't see together much.


    Phil Hagelberg

    --
    "'Tis a small mind indeed cannot think but of one way to spell a word." -Mark Twain
  78. UUGGGHHH..... by greymond · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Ok advertising linux is nice, but it doesn't change the fact that there is no distro "friendly" enough for the "normal" masses. A good example is the fact that the majority of people like Windows (any version) and Mac OS (any version) over Linux for 1 reason and 1 reason only.

    GUI

    The majority of people - read: every person outside of the Programming, Development, and IT fields who use a computer for Accounting, Business, Graphics, Presentations, Email, Web Browsing, etc... want to be able to click and drag and NEVER use a command line. Although KDE/Gnome/Etc... allows people some of these features, they don't allow the installation of hardware (ok Mandrake has the Hard Drake thing, but when I tried it didnt work worth shit and I was still stuck dloading and installing Alsa drivers via the command line)

    THE MASSES DO NOT WANT TO TYPE IN SHIT LIKE THIS:
    bzip2 -d -c alsa-driver-0.5.10b.tar.bz2 | tar -xvf -
    Take this example of me and my friend. My friend whos going to school for programming created a program called UrlToys. It's free, written in Pearl and can run on Linux, Windows, and OS X. It's a great program. BUT it runs out of a command prompt ONLY. Therefore I have to "type" commands in for it work.

    There is me who likes to test out his programs. The first thing that comes ot mind is i'd rather use a software like Packrat because I can copy and paste into the desired field and then click a couple buttons and it does the same thing.

    As someone who comes from a graphic design background, I like pretty shit and want my computer to make things EASIER for me. I dont want to feel like i'm writing a program just so I can grab some porn picks off a site. I want someone else to program shit for me and let me get back to work, whcih in MY case is making pretty shit - NOT fucking with a command prompt.

    1. Re:UUGGGHHH..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That sounds like a great idea! I can't wait to try your first release. Please write back when it's ready.

    2. Re:UUGGGHHH..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >As someone who comes from a graphic design background, I like pretty
      >shit and want my computer to make things EASIER for me.
      >
      >
      Guess what? We don't really give a shit what assholes like you want. Do the genepool a favor. Take a gun and blow you fucking brains out.

    3. Re:UUGGGHHH..... by Lodragandraoidh · · Score: 1

      Why is it so difficult for people to actually use their brain for something other than a beer sponge? The Unix/Linux paradigm is building small tools to do specific jobs very well, and then building scripts or applications to leverage those tools. Instead of having to remember a string of commands that you use often, why not create a script to make it simple to run? People are so used to the DOS shell, that they don't really get the power of Unix/Linux shell programming.

      Pretty does not equate to power. I value power more - so I choose Linux.

      However, understand that Microsloth does not want us to have the choice, they want only one choice - Windows. That is wrong - plain and simple, and is why I will not buy Windows any more on moral grounds.

      You can put money in the hands of an evil corporation, or you can really try to understand something that may be better than you are used to, when you really apply the right mindset.

      --

      Lodragan Draoidh
      The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
    4. Re:UUGGGHHH..... by Chris+Brewer · · Score: 1

      THE MASSES DO NOT WANT TO TYPE IN SHIT LIKE THIS:
      bzip2 -d -c alsa-driver-0.5.10b.tar.bz2 | tar -xvf -


      Well duh, any recent distro has the patched version of tar so you only have to type in this:

      tar xvfj alsa-d[tab] ...and you're done. You do know about tab-completion, right?

      Note: I know, I know, don't feed the trolls. But anyone who actually still uses bzip2 | tar needs their head examined.

      --
      Consultancy: If you're not part of the solution, there's money to be made in prolonging the problem
    5. Re:UUGGGHHH..... by gangien · · Score: 1

      THis complaint was valid a few years ago.. but have you tried Redhat or Mandrake of late? They're awesome or even something like Knoppix. Worked like a charm, even changed my mom's opinion of linux because of how well it worked. Don't need to know how to change directory or anything. Tho they still show all the logs and such on startup, so I guess that's a bit intimidating.

    6. Re:UUGGGHHH..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      An excellent point.

      It is actually *the* excellent point.

      And the replies show that no-one of the idiots here can get the clue.

      If it has a GUI, typing is for producing text.

      What part of "GUI" is so fucking hard to understand, the "G"?

      Idiot zealots.

  79. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh yeah, 'recompiling your kernel' each time you want to install something, how much easier could it get? That is assuming it recompiles properly every time!

  80. Re:Video? its here by CableModemSniper · · Score: 1

    yes it is. Did you not notice the play video button? Sheesh. Here I'll make it easy: mms://windowsmedia.dvlabs.com/adcritic/ibm-linux-p rodigy.asf You can also just do
    $ mplayer mms://windowsmedia.dvlabs.com/adcritic/ibm-linux-p rodigy.asf

    --
    Why not fork?
  81. ObSomething-or-other by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What's so funny about eace, love, and linux? Then again, I'm rapidly approaching old-fartism.....

  82. Just to address a few by Faust7 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    1. no linux msblaster worms

    Any competent sysadmin already had their systems patched against that one.

    2. no linux visual basic for applications cracks

    When was the last new threat that was directly a result of Visual Basic scripting? By "new" I mean within the last three months or so.

    4. no linux DRM media players

    Who says you have to use WMP if you use Windows?

    8. no having to hunt down 50 cds when trying to rebuild a machine

    Gross exaggeration, obviously. And like in #1, any competent sysadmin should always know where their original discs are.

    1. Re:Just to address a few by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey dumbass, this article was recognizing IBM for advertising linux to the masses. Not advertising linux to sysadmins. So when you're at home and your machine needs to be rebuilt/reinstalled/whatever you only need 1 cd instead of all 50. I'm sure you know where every one of your cds are but I doubt everyone in their homes does.

    2. Re:Just to address a few by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      When was the last new threat that was directly a result of Visual Basic scripting? By "new" I mean within the last three months or so.

      Well, is yesterday new enough?

      http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default. asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-037.asp

    3. Re:Just to address a few by tomhudson · · Score: 3, Insightful

      To reply to each of your points:

      Any competent sysadmin already had their systems patched against that one.
      So, according to you, then, most MS sysadmins aren't competent, because a shitload of businesses were brought down by msblaster (CNX, Air Canada, DMV in several states, etc.) Mind you,we already knew that :-)

      When was the last new threat that was directly a result of Visual Basic scripting? By "new" I mean within the last three months or so.
      today here To quote:

      18:12 04 September 03
      NewScientist.com news service
      A string of software bugs in Microsoft products were announced on Wednesday,

      The most serious of the software bugs concerns Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), a software development system that makes it possible to customise VBA-enabled Microsoft applications. This includes Office software and many less well known business programs.

      Who says you have to use WMP if you use Windows?
      Most of the Windows-based players will have to contend w. any DRM that's integrated at the OS level.

      Gross exaggeration, obviously. And like in #1, any competent sysadmin should always know where their original discs are.
      So that's why so many companies had to repurchase licenses (because administering licenses is a major headache for them, and staff changes make it harder), and it doesn't negate my point, which is that it can take dozens (or on developer machines, 50 or more) disk swaps to set everything up under Windows.

      Come on, that was TOO easy.

    4. Re:Just to address a few by spankfish · · Score: 1
      Any competent sysadmin...

      How many windows 2k/XP/whatever boxes out there sitting on DSL and cable modems have competent sysadmins sitting at them?

      It's not the competent sysadmins I pity.

      --

      NO TOUCH MONKEY!
    5. Re:Just to address a few by westlake · · Score: 1
      I found the XP patches ready to install on my machine before the story broke on CNET---and the XP Office patches--a click away--described in an e-mail from Microsoft.

      In five years of running Windows at home and a year of broadband cable, I have never been touched by a worm or virus, never lost so much as a comma to any Windows exploit.

      This isn't rocket science.

    6. Re:Just to address a few by innerlimit · · Score: 1

      I second you on that! W2k/SP4 never been touched, not a single virus/worm eploit or anything.

    7. Re:Just to address a few by peeping_Thomist · · Score: 1

      Faust7, you sound a tad defensive.

      --
      Anything worth doing is worth doing badly -- G.K. Chesterton
    8. Re:Just to address a few by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have just made Windows alot more complicated with your suggestions.

    9. Re:Just to address a few by arkane1234 · · Score: 1

      One sentence pretty much does away with your entire argument.
      And here it is...

      Home users are not sysadmins.

      I'll add another just for clarity in case you thought this was referring to the business world:
      Anyone who's in the business realm already should realize the advantages of using Linux in the business world.

      --
      -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
    10. Re:Just to address a few by be-fan · · Score: 1

      Its a lose/lose situation with Microsoft. When I had Windows auto-update enabled, it downloaded and installed the broken networking update that left several machines on my home network off the internet until I got back several weeks later. After that, I disabled autoupdate on my personal machine (my home machines are behind a firewall) and within 2 hours of being directly connected to the internet at my dorm, I had msblaster. I can't win with Win, and I'm not f*cking going to bother babysitting something that shouldn't need it.

      --
      A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
    11. Re:Just to address a few by IdleLay · · Score: 1

      "Any competent sysadmin already had their systems patched against that one."

      Any competent sysadmin would not have M$ Windows directly connected to the internet or afford the downtime of a reboot that each patch require. Competent sysadmin have moved on know more about securing (against intrusion and ensuring availability) network/systems and worry less about CD storage.

    12. Re:Just to address a few by japhmi · · Score: 1

      1. no linux msblaster worms
      Any competent sysadmin already had their systems patched against that one.


      I'm a competent sysadmin, and I got hit. I was installing WinXP from scratch and got hit before going to Windows Update (all of 30 seconds). Another one of our brand new computers was hit before we even logged on.

      Lots of other sysadmins, who have important things on their computers, have to test all patches in order to make sure they don't brake anything (just got an email that M$'s latest VBA fix brakes PowerPoint's MPEG playback)

      8. no having to hunt down 50 cds when trying to rebuild a machine
      Gross exaggeration, obviously. And like in #1, any competent sysadmin should always know where their original discs are.


      If they are allowed to keep all of their original disks where they want to. I'm happy that most of our stuff is kept in a couple of binders in my bosses office, but I know of others who need to find out who's been borrowing what.

      To get the absolute minimum build, we need 4 CDs (and that doesn't count the more CDs we'd need if we didn't have some installers online)

      --
      "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys" P. J. O'Rourke
  83. Re:I know you guys are excited about it, except... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think what they are trying to do is condition the average person to get used to a product. There is no possible way for IBM to be able to make everyone in the world a bunch of techies, but they can use pop culture to get people. I can see it now: "Oh, yeah, I've heard of Linux. It just came out and its supposed to be sweet."

  84. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by ichimunki · · Score: 1

    I'd like to think you're just being idealistic and hoping people will develop respect for other people's work to the point where copyrights and patents are truly unnecessary.

    I respect other people's work. Quite a bit, in fact. It's this notion that ideas can be owned that has me worried to no end. Indeed, copyrights and patents prevent me from working my own raw materials into an interesting form, simply because someone else did it earlier or had an idea like that before I did. Talk about a lack of respect for work! While copying computer files is relatively easy, imagine making a copy of a marble statue. That's an infringement of copyright, but it takes a similar level of skill to that of the original sculptor and quite a bit of work... but because of the law, that second statue is illegal to make and could even be taken/confiscated, with no recompense for the theft!

    --
    I do not have a signature
  85. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by iCat · · Score: 1

    an 'ad' that doesn't tell you what it's advertising isn't an ad

    No. Advertising is more sophisticated than you think (read up on Edward Bernays sometime).

    In this case, first introduce the name. Then 'tell' people why the need it. Then sell it (or in this case the computers that run it)

  86. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by monique · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well, it might at least make inroads toward legitimizing Linux in the eyes of PHBs who've heard of it, but just don't trust it.

    --
    -monique
  87. If you don't want the Windows Media format... by Jerk+City+Troll · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You can go straight to IBM's site and download Real Media (high | low), QuickTime (high | low), or MPEG (high | low) versions of it.

    And of course, if you use MPlayer, you can watch the movie from the Windows Media stream simply with:

    mplayer mms://windowsmedia.dvlabs.com/adcritic/ibm-linux-p rodigy.asf

    Enjoy.

    Side note: does anyone else get the impression of Nazi era propaganda in this? It's an awesome ad, but come on: a blond-haired, blue-eyed kid? Why would such a child be the pinnacle of humanity? Just a thought, please don't moderate me for it.

    1. Re:If you don't want the Windows Media format... by spektr · · Score: 1

      Side note: does anyone else get the impression of Nazi era propaganda in this?

      For Godwin's sake, no.

    2. Re:If you don't want the Windows Media format... by Yazheirx · · Score: 1

      Side note: does anyone else get the impression of Nazi era propaganda in this? It's an awesome ad, but come on: a blond-haired, blue-eyed kid? Why would such a child be the pinnacle of humanity? Just a thought, please don't moderate me for it.

      I was waiting for the kid to jump up and say he was the real slim shady

      --
      More of my thoughts
  88. Redundant excuses... -_- by ihatesco · · Score: 1
    Oh well, bad formatting here. Sorry people, I left an opened and the error slipped the preview -_-

    + + + +
    I am a moron ;_;

    --
    "I am slashbot, hear me roar!"
  89. Direct links. by sam_doshi · · Score: 5, Informative
  90. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by FuzzyBad-Mofo · · Score: 1

    It worked for Infiniti, dindn'it?

  91. Win2000 as stable as Linux? *cough* by tjwhaynes · · Score: 4, Insightful

    With perfect honesty, as someone who has used and programmed various OSes and hardware, the differences between Linux and Windows are few. Both are hugely complex from the user's point of view, and both are arguably incomprehensible on the source level. (Remember, you can't just talk about the Linux kernel, but the entire package including XFree86, drivers, the window manager, KDE, etc.) So it's not like either one is a clear winner in terms of ease-of-use or architectural cleanliness. It used to be that Linux was more stable, but with Windows 2000 that's no longer true.

    Well, my system uptimes tell a different story. But you don't have to trust my figures - take a look at Netcraft uptimes. These aren't the highest uptimes of all - almost without exception, the best uptimes are held by BSD derivatives (around 5 years). For the most popular sites, Linux tends to knock in around 100+ days. Windows 2000 knocks around in the high-20's, low 30's.

    Have a nice day.
    Toby Haynes

    --
    Anything I post is strictly my own thoughts and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the opinions of IBM.
    1. Re:Win2000 as stable as Linux? *cough* by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uptime doesn't matter much. Downtime does.

    2. Re:Win2000 as stable as Linux? *cough* by Marcelo+Cid · · Score: 1

      Curious, but the top four uptimes sites are www.windowsupdate.com, www.microsoft.com, windowsupdate.microsoft.com and www.sco.com. All running Linux!

    3. Re:Win2000 as stable as Linux? *cough* by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      almost without exception, the best uptimes are held by BSD derivatives (around 5 years)


      The only reason, and I repeat *only* reason my server doesn't have an uptime of five years is that the power went out last summer. Okay, maybe two reasons: it was installed in 2001.


      And yes, it runs Linux.

    4. Re:Win2000 as stable as Linux? *cough* by stor · · Score: 1

      That's probably Akamai.

      Cheers
      Stor

      --
      "Yeah well there's a lot of stuff that should be, but isn't"
    5. Re:Win2000 as stable as Linux? *cough* by geschild · · Score: 1

      Beside the link being wrong (it points to the top requested servers, not the top uptime, select that statistic in the menu on the left hand)...

      BSD variants may be more reliable than Linux machines. An alternative explanation may be that Linux is more popular, therefore more under attack and therefore more prone to be taken down for a (kernel-)upgrade. In that light, 100+ days seems very good to me.

      disclaimer: even though it may be partly security through obscurity, I'll take the FreeBSD solution if it helps uptime. (being pragmatic is the most honest solution).

      --
      Karma? What's that again?
    6. Re:Win2000 as stable as Linux? *cough* by tjwhaynes · · Score: 1

      Beside the link being wrong (it points to the top requested servers, not the top uptime, select that statistic in the menu on the left hand)...

      No - the choice of link was quite deliberate. I wanted a cross section of most requested sites. Top uptimes come from systems not seeing a ton of changes in hardware so they are a little less interesting. For example, Slashdot could not have handled the traffic of this site on 5 year old hardware like the top BSD sites. And Windows 2000 would have no chance to appear on a list of 5 year uptimes through no fault of MS (at least in this case...).

      And I totally agree with your point about Linux admins being more likely to recompile the kernel to pick up the latest kernel tweaks. One of the reasons I enjoy mucking around on these Linux boxes that now litter my existence is the fast changing improvements and refinements that continually arrive. The idea of tying a box down for 5 years is a bit of an anathema for me...

      Cheers,

      Toby Haynes

      --
      Anything I post is strictly my own thoughts and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the opinions of IBM.
    7. Re:Win2000 as stable as Linux? *cough* by geschild · · Score: 1

      Fine with me, but the idea of your original post to me was the part about up-times (BSD>Linux>Windows) so I thought it odd that you'd point to most requested pages. Especially since that particular list is currently contaminated by the news. (Windowsupdate being 'run' on Linux).

      Anyway, no serious site can survive on five year old anything, as can no serious service of any other kind. Chalk one down for 'progress'. Hence the futility of any statistic in this department.

      I'm much more interested in the amount of 'administering' needing to be done on any one system and the needed scheduled and unscheduled down-time for an o/s+service combination.

      The less time I lose on that, the more time I have for new and exciting things. (See? I even like change...)

      --
      Karma? What's that again?
  92. First step: Name recognition by Tsu+Dho+Nimh · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is a good idea to preced desctop migration shove. First they have to get the name in front of Joe Sixpack-per-game, then they can start teaching what it can do for Joe, his wife, the kids and the granny.

  93. Penguin! by MrHanky · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's just a beta! The real text (voiceover) is as follows:

    If Linux were a penguin, it would be growing, fast. Taught by the best. Gaining wisdom between its ears. And sharing. It would be in business, education, government and homes. It would be a nine-year-old penguin chasing the world. So be afraid. Be very afraid.

    The video will be showing the little kid getting slapped around the head by a 2 meter tall penguin.

  94. Answered my own question... by Jerk+City+Troll · · Score: 1

    See my post with links to other formats on IBM's site.

  95. BS.. by msimm · · Score: 2

    I understand your hard edge, but after you let out a couple of long breaths I bet you can figure out how your wrong.

    IBM is most likely in this for themselves, granted. But this paradigm shift is in the software license (something we belabor so much I can see why you'd want to leave it out). This is an important difference, because for once and big company can take advantage of something like this while they are giving something back.

    So lay off with the stupid college kids comments and keep your eyes open. These stupid kids will have professionally written software supported in part by one of the biggest corporations in the world, which isn't all bad.

    --
    Quack, quack.
    1. Re:BS.. by NineNine · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Give back? Sure, they may write OSS software, but it's for their own boxes so that they can SELL more. It has *nothing* to do with "giving back". Sure, they write OSS drivers for the IBM Enterprise Class 123ABC Server. Big deal. All they're doing is adding onto what is already millions and millions of hours of free labor. It's equivalent to renting a commercial building to run a business out of. Even if somebody gave it to you for FREE, you're still going to put money into fixing it up. Is that out of gratitude to the landlord? No. It's to make more money. It's incidental if it helps out the landlord, but the business is there primarily to make a buck. I can tell you, if somebody gave me a run down building for free, and said, "Use it as is", I sure would, and I'd spend money to fix it up because, hey, free building. IBM is not in the business to "give back" any more than OSS writers are in it to line the pockets of IBM execs.

    2. Re:BS.. by Sphere1952 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "IBM is most likely in this for themselves, granted."

      Of course IBM is in it for themselves, but what has actually turned my head were some coments buried in the anti-SCO blast that went out a few days ago walking through SCO's complaint step-by-step refuting it. They talked about how IBM simply swallowed its pride when told by Linus their software wasn't chosen to go into the kernel for some feature. At least for now, IBM is being a "good member of the community."

      We just need to make sure they have sufficient reason to always remain a good memeber.

      --
      Big Brother Bush is doubleplus ungood.
    3. Re:BS.. by Aadain2001 · · Score: 1

      If you had been paying attention for the last year or so, you would have noticed that IBM has contributed a lot in the way of kernel development, mainly in the high level mainframe area. This allows Linux to scale up to Big Iron where there is a lot of important work done, given Linux credibility as an OS that can play with the big boys. That credibility scores more points with PHB than anything else. The more PHB's that start OKing the use of it, the more groups there will be contributing to it to make it work for them. And all that time, those contributions will come back to the community as a whole, who can all benifit. Everyone wins, no one losses. Don't forget, just because IBM can start selling an Enterprise Class 123ABC Server with Linux on it for millions of dollars doesn't prevent you or me or the next person from using Linux and doing the same thing IBM is doing, or just using it in a SOHO setting to get other work done that brings in the money. With FOSS, one's person gain is NOT another's loss!

      --
      Space for rent, inquire within
    4. Re:BS.. by elgaard · · Score: 1

      Check out:
      http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/

      and see "bigiron" stuff like accessing USB devices from java, python, wireless accesspoints, image manipulation, mini-libc for memory-constrained systems, smalltalk, XML, bluetooth, and printer drivers..

  96. Eminem by slyckshoes · · Score: 1

    Is it just me or does this kid look like a young (and calm) Eminem? The jeans, the white shirt, the white hair...

    "Will the real slim shady please stand up?"

    1. Re:Eminem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Naw, it's Edgar Winter's grandson. That's what 60 years of S% and D% and R% and R% will get you. :)

    2. Re:Eminem by arkane1234 · · Score: 1

      LOL I thought *I* was the only one to think this when I first saw it! haha
      He did! It's what Eminem must have looked like in his youth, while taking valium.

      --
      -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
  97. wow! by protomala · · Score: 1

    Man, this commercial almost made me cry! Seriously!

    I think this is the best computer comercial since the classic 1984 from apple! It's just beautifull!

  98. Re:Get onboard the Clue Train... by Lodragandraoidh · · Score: 1

    This is not off topic. If you follow that link, you will see that the idea of treating your customers like people is an idea that is not new...

    Cretin...

    --

    Lodragan Draoidh
    The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
  99. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 1

    "Well, it might at least make inroads toward legitimizing Linux in the eyes of PHBs who've heard of it, but just don't trust it."

    That's certainly a possibility, and I do hope you're right. I'm just concerned that this particular commercial is really only interesting to the people who already know all about Linux. The commercials they did a while back with server racks using Linux did a much better job of making it interesting to PHBs.

  100. Unbelievably BAD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is the little boy from AI, and his name is Linux? OMG, do you know how many football fans actually liked AI? How about maybe 4, in the world.

    It comes off as some sort of diabolical plot by IBM in the end. I'm just waiting for the future scene where they're all running around with robots tyring to avoid laser beams.

    That will go down as one of the worst commercials in history, especially if it's target is NFL fans.

    1. Re:Unbelievably BAD by arkane1234 · · Score: 1

      It wasn't the little boy from AI.

      Though there was a remarkable resemblance with the environment. It gave an AI feel.

      Fortunately, as much as I hate to admit it, not all who watch NFL football are drooling idiots. Just the majority... the rest are the management. Okay okay... so there isn't much of a difference other than payscale.

      --
      -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
    2. Re:Unbelievably BAD by cha0sadddddddd · · Score: 1

      click here to see why you are a moron
      HINT:look near the end, where the Rodin links are.

      --
      Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom. But sharing data is the first step toward community
  101. Spooky Ad by Quietti · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Anybody else thought "Joe 90" and the Aryan Race, while looking at that commercial? IMHO, not the kind of publicity Linux needs.

    I'd rather see the idea that other poster mentioned (show a bunch of geeks with glee in their eyes, each in a different country, and state "They are working on your future; for free. Linux: the future is open.") be implemented, that would give the right message. One of the geeks should be Linus himself, others could be e.g. Andrew Trigell, Brian Behlendorf, etc. and the names could be printed onscreen, to introduce each of them.

    --
    Software is not supposed to be about how to work around a useability issue. - Ken Barber
    1. Re:Spooky Ad by Reality_X · · Score: 1

      What "we" (i.e., open source community) should do is pool some cash together and make an ad that isn't affiliated with a company, with your proposed content.

      Just like "we" (i.e, open source community) should start a global fund to pay for some of the wages/part of the wages of open source developers, or donate to projects and what not.

      Or a protection fund to help out users who get hassled by SCO.

      But then again, the "community" is only convienent when it's free, right?

      Look at blender, they raised $100,000USD. Now that was pretty damn successful.

    2. Re:Spooky Ad by cha0sadddddddd · · Score: 1

      Nope.

      I saw the message, not that the little kid they used happened to be white.

      I'd rather see the idea that other poster mentioned (show a bunch of geeks with glee in their eyes, each in a different country, and state "They are working on your future; for free. Linux: the future is open.") be implemented, that would give the right message. One of the geeks should be Linus himself, others could be e.g. Andrew Trigell, Brian Behlendorf, etc. and the names could be printed onscreen, to introduce each of them.

      That wouldn't have the same meaning or symbolism.

      Wouldnt have brought a tear to my eye.

      Wouldnt have shown WHY they were working on our future;for free.

      did you miss that Mr. Gates as well as Mr. ali are both black???

      you were so worried they used a little white kid, you missed the message.

      You are projecting your(possibly subconsious) racism upon all of us.

      IMHO the message you want to project is crap.(no disrespect to linus, tridge et al)

      look at She who used to be the beautiful Heaulmiere

      I bet all you see is a statue of an old woman.

      You cant even tell she was once stunning.
      or look at The caryatid who has fallen under the weight of her stone

      All fine art requires some abstraction to understand.

      I consider this the first ad I've ever seen that qualifies as "art"

      --
      Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom. But sharing data is the first step toward community
  102. All right by Faust7 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    no linux msblaster worms
    no linux visual basic for applications cracks
    no trains, planes or automobiles stopped by linux viruses, worms or trojans
    no linux DRM media players
    no linux license fees
    no linux authorization codes when you change hardware
    no forced upgrade cycle
    no having to hunt down 50 cds when trying to rebuild a machine


    Fine. Get the masses to understand, and, more importantly, care about all that and then there's a shot.

    1. Re:All right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sadly, this is the only reply which has any merit.....

    2. Re:All right by EvilAlien · · Score: 1

      we're doomed... *sniff*

      --
      perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'
  103. Re: Ogg by i_am_nitrogen · · Score: 1

    It's only a simple matter of transcoding to Theora. You'll need to download the file, then encode it, probably using mplayer.

    Here's a command line to download the IBM ad to a file and play it:

    mplayer -dumpstream mms://windowsmedia.dvlabs.com/adcritic/ibm-linux-p rodigy.asf ; mv stream.dump ibm-linux-prodigy.asf ; mplayer ibm-linux-prodigy.asf

    To transcode, use mencoder.

  104. One more! by siskbc · · Score: 1

    Use of Linux may lead to hairy palms, and in some cases, blindness.

    --

    -Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat

    1. Re:One more! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Use of linux may cause loss of employment, social life, perception of reality...
      but on the plus side you'll get another job

  105. They name "Linux", they mean OSS by Ricin · · Score: 1

    If they'd s/Linux/BSD and perhaps gave the kid horns (kidding and please no Linda Blair jokes) it would amount to the same.

    At least to me it came across as them trying to hammer in that OSS and open development is good because it benefits everybody (not in the least hardware/support vendors). I think its very well thought out. The boy is a methaphor(sp?) on different levels for you AND your boss AND your mum in a changing environment (of IT, the implication is of course) and it emphasises acquiring (new) knowlegde through sharing. And of course, of your own kid.

    Something entirely different than the normal ads indeed as was pointed out. Of course it might also be partially intended to show (without any legal hassle) "we're on your side" towards the linux community. I bet it is ;-)

    Still, well done.

  106. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The commercial is targeted at corporate buyers, and seeks to enhance Linux's image by associating the operating system with a well-known, respected company (IBM).

    Corporate buyers are going to see that and say WTF? Looks like they're building the anti-Christ or something.

  107. first commercials? by RestiffBard · · Score: 1

    Um, I see IBM commercials all the time and I could have sworn that every IBM commercial these days mentions Linux.

    --
    - /* dead coders leave no comments */
    1. Re:first commercials? by Raven42rac · · Score: 1

      I thought that was just me.

      --
      I hate sigs.
  108. Ob Hunter S. Thompson by JUSTONEMORELATTE · · Score: 1

    ... I wondered why he didn't say anything about the Penguin.


    --

  109. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by NanoGator · · Score: 1

    "It worked for Infiniti, dindn'it?"

    Who?

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  110. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by usotsuki · · Score: 1

    You have obviously never used Linux.

    Installing a program is easy.

    $ ./configure
    $ make
    $ su -c 'make install'

    Installing a module doesn't require a rebuild of the kernel either.

    Sorry to say it but YFI!

    -uso.

    --
    Dreams, dreams, don't doubt dreams, dreaming children's dreaming dreams. Sailor Moon SS
  111. Re:UUGGGHHH..... complete lie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > bzip2 -d -c alsa-driver-0.5.10b.tar.bz2 | tar -xvf -

    Why the heck would they be typing that on a modern distribution?

    If they wanted to look inside without using the command prompt they can just click on it in Konqueror. It takes you straight inside.

    If they were going to update their sound packages they could use rpm or dpkg based tools, both of which have gui utilities in modern distros.

    Your mate wrote a "Pearl" [sic] program that's command prompt only but runs on any platform. And this is an anti linux point? In what way? It runs on any platform, you said yourself.

    mods: the parents a blatant troll, 13 years old with half a weeks Linux experience and an attitude. Please mod him down, not "Insightful".

  112. Amusing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It just amuses the hell out of me that the Linux fanboys at /. are cheering on IBM's Linux ads. IBM, who was a Microsoft monopoly before Microsoft was a Microsoft monopoly, if you catch my drift.

    1. Re:Amusing by cha0sadddddddd · · Score: 1

      People (including companies, since they are counted as "people" ine this sick ass world we live in) can and do change over time.

      I used to do all kinds of fucked up stuff as a kid I wouldn't dream of doing today.

      I bet you did too.

      If tomarrow microsoft started being a part of the community, and released this same fucking ad but at the end it said "Microsoft" instead of "IBM" the meaning would still be the same.

      The basic concepts still would have given me the feeling I get looking at some of these or reading a really good SF book, say by asimov or heinlein or explaning to my 4 year old how stars work.

      just because something or someone is evil now doen't make them always and perpetually evil.

      IMO microsoft is NOT beyond redemtion. It would take a lot, but doable.

      The only exception I can think of is SCO. They crossed too far into the "dark side" =)

      --
      Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom. But sharing data is the first step toward community
  113. IBM Ad's by vonsneerderhooten · · Score: 1

    There was an IBM commercial not too long ago, based on the premise of a basketball game. Linux slam dunking over Hacker, etc. I found it pretty funny. Also recently, there were some other funny ad's. The guy claiming "it's the future, i was promised flying cars. Where are my flying cars?" Or who could forget the business lie detector. I can only hope that their new ad campaign is as humorous as their ads have been.

    -D

  114. The latin teacher says: Res publica non dominetur by Shane · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Which in this context I believe means:

    Thing belonging to the common public, no one person may rule over it.

    --
    -- You can be a geeklord too :)
  115. That's me! by siskbc · · Score: 1
    A lot of well-educated business types as well as those who swill mass quantities of beer and scratch themselves on the couch watch football. This translates to a lot of financial decision-makers in the home.

    Damn. You got me. Right now I'm using linux, typing on slashdot while my experiments run. In about 2.5 hours I'll be on my couch, watching football, swilling beer, and the occasional scratch may also be required.

    And you say that like something's wrong with it. ;)

    --

    -Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat

  116. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by TexVex · · Score: 1
    Coca-Cola's "Mean Joe Green" spot from the '70s
    I was 10 years old back then and I recalled it clearly as soon as I read these words. You're talking about the one where the little boy gives him a Coke, and Joe gives the kid his jersey, right?
    --
    Fun with Anagarams! LADS HOST, SHALT DOS. HAS DOLTS. AD SLOTHS, HATS SOLD. ASS HO, LTD.
  117. MPEG! MPEG! by overshoot · · Score: 2

    I found a copy of "The Heist" but all of the other (I'm told great) IBM/Linux ads don't seem to be available. Anyone know where MPEGs of them can be obtained?

    --
    Lacking <sarcasm> tags, /. substitutes moderation as "Troll."
  118. Direct link to MPEG download by PinkX · · Score: 2, Informative

    High quality version here. And there is also a text-only version of the script here.

    1. Re:Direct link to MPEG download by Cnik70 · · Score: 1

      thanks for the link... i've been diggin trying to find it

      --
      -Cnik
  119. Three cheers for IBM by Michael_Jarvis · · Score: 1

    They haven't always made the best marketing moves (e.g. OS/2), but I'm pleased to see them actively supporting Linux on other platforms besides Intel.

    I can't wait to see more support for their iSeries and pSeries servers. IBM has always made pretty good hardware, so this should give another option to companies wanting to migrate away from OS/400 and AIX yet keep the rock-solid enterprise-class hardware.

    In my opinion, the more vendors that support Linux, the better.

  120. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by TexVex · · Score: 1

    Actually I was around 5 or 6 - quite a bit less than 10. Wow.

    --
    Fun with Anagarams! LADS HOST, SHALT DOS. HAS DOLTS. AD SLOTHS, HATS SOLD. ASS HO, LTD.
  121. IBM Linux Stories by ffatTony · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'd like to hear stories from anyone concerning linux use within IBM. The contractors who are working with me (large credit card company producing banking software) were moaning to me the other day that even though IBM is gung-ho about linux they are still primarily a windows shop (e.g. sales people and even developers [those not doing linux development at least]) are all on windows or aix boxes and not linux. His words (somewhat paraphrased) were "Linux... good enough for our customers, but not us..."

    Does anyone have info to the contrary? I love free software and linux (although I'd jump ship the second something "cooler" comes along :) and I appreciate IBMs current posturing, I'm just a little worried by the above sentiments.

    1. Re:IBM Linux Stories by ciphertext · · Score: 2, Interesting

      There is a large majority of business productivity applications that work on require you to use a windows platform. Nearly everyone in the world uses MS Office on an Intel platform. I know that AIX will no longer be supported by IBM in the not so distant future, and they are in the process of porting the AIX apps to linux. However, their consulting branch nearly without exception uses windows and tools designed for windows. They have to for nearly all of their clients use windows at the desktop level. All documentation for their efforts are created using word, excel, and access. It makes sense, most people are familiar with the windows platform and so retraining wouldn't be an issue. Linux to the desktop will probably take longer than linux to the back-office.

      I assume the contractors didn't work for IBM...did they?

      --
      To know is to have knowledge....to understand is to be enlightened.
    2. Re:IBM Linux Stories by ffatTony · · Score: 1

      Hi, The contractors in question *did* indeed work for IBM and I agree with you that AIX will probably not last too much longer due to SCO and other factors.

      You're right about the windows software angle, sadly.

  122. Closed Source Rebuttals? by Lugae · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The nice thing about the commercial is that it's advertising an ideology. It's going to be hard for Microsoft to come back with something that says. "Sharing information is bad. Building community is wrong." Unlike they did with their We Have the Way Out campaign which was mostly aimed at Sun, what with the purple paint and all. In the end, it's advantageous to IBM as well: use Linux, promote open exchange of information, make our lives and yours a hell of a lot easier in the end. I'd say that IBM has pulled a good trick out of the old hat this time.

  123. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by realdpk · · Score: 1

    The reference has been used many, many times in other shows (Sesame Street, Family Guy (best one), etc).

  124. Pre-internet thinking . . . by Idou · · Score: 1

    Ads aren't about informing the public anymore. They are about telling the public what is cool or not. People need only one word to learn about Linux and that is "Linux." If they think it is cool, they will search on the web to find out what it is.

    I'd say The Matrix did pretty well without actually letting anyone KNOW what it was . . .

    --
    Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
  125. Nice ad by Cyno · · Score: 1

    But I think sharing data is the first step towards wisdom.

    If you don't share, you are not wise.

    1. Re:Nice ad by cha0sadddddddd · · Score: 1

      Welcome to my friends list =)

      I agree, however I've got a little modification that keeps the original quote intact and adds your sentiment.

      Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom. But sharing data is the first step toward community, and community is the first step toward truly groking that that is.

      too bad thats too long for my .sig

      --
      Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom. But sharing data is the first step toward community
  126. It ain't gonna happen. by uberdave · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Any OS should be administered by a competent system admin who patches and/or disables services as necessary to avoid exploitation.

    Riiight! Like that's ever going to happen.

    When most people buy a computer, they are buying an appliance. They couldn't care less about administering it. It should just "work". Plug in the power, plug in the internet, and away we go. So, until we have machines that are self adminning out of the box, we are going to have problems.

    1. Re:It ain't gonna happen. by GigsVT · · Score: 1

      Any car should be repaired by a competent mechanic who performs preventative maintenence or repairs as necessary to avoid breakdowns.

      Riiight! Like that's ever going to happen.

      When most people buy a car, they are buying an appliance. They could care less about repairing it. It should just "work". Fill up the gas tank, turn the key, and away we go. So, until we have cars that are self repairing and maintaining out of the box, we are going to have problems.

      (See how stupid that sounds now?)

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
    2. Re:It ain't gonna happen. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem is that a mechanic is a point fix person, an admin is an "overlord" of sorts. If my car breaks down, I can take it to one shop and have it fixed. Something else breaks next week, I can haul it to a different one. In both instances it was worked on by a mechanic, but if I take my computer to two different places, neither person to touches it is an admin. That position requires constant supervision and action; this ain't gonna happen on personal systems. Your analogy is flawed.

    3. Re:It ain't gonna happen. by Minna+Kirai · · Score: 1

      See how stupid that sounds now?

      Nothing sound stupid, except possible that analogy.

      There's a difference between cars and computer software. One of them is firmly limited by physical laws as to what it can do. The other is bounded only by the design imagination of the author.

      There is a good execuse why cars need maintenance. It is unavoidable. There is NO acceptable reason to sell insecure software. It's sold today because developers are too cheap and customers aren't discriminating enough.

      (Someone might be tempted to respond: "You can't get perfect security in either case- a perfectly safe car would be expensive too". But that doesn't work- spending on software security is scalable. It's a fixed design cost. Automotive safety would be a per unit cost.)

  127. But you're forgetting by Exiler · · Score: 1

    No one can be told what The Matrix is... You have to see it for yourself.

    No really, can you imagine explaining it in an hour, let alone 30 seconds?

    --
    Banaaaana!
    1. Re:But you're forgetting by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 1

      "No really, can you imagine explaining it in an hour, let alone 30 seconds?"

      So they should say nothing? They can't say "It's an alternative to Windows."? They can't say "It's Free."? They can't say "It's more reliable."? They can't say "It's a community effort not held by one monopolistic corporation."?

      Sorry, but your answer's not good enough for me. My dad gets on the net and fiddles with Windows all the time. (He always has problems with it too.) I can't imagine him watching this commercial and giving a rat's ass about Linux. Anecdotal I realize, but I can't imagine this appealing to anybody but those who are already informed.

    2. Re:But you're forgetting by Andrewkov · · Score: 1
      Are you talking about the car or the movie?

      ;-)

    3. Re:But you're forgetting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      So they should say nothing? They can't say "It's an alternative to Windows."? They can't say "It's Free."? They can't say "It's more reliable."? They can't say "It's a community effort not held by one monopolistic corporation."?
      Most of those explainations actually seem to scare people that I know. The last one, in particular, just makes people sound like zealots, even if that's not the intention. PHB's don't trust FREE becuase it generally means no liability. And, reliability still has to be proven to those who have heard of it, but don't realize that their system could actually crash less often (i.e., most just believe that's the way it is (reboot and continue)).
    4. Re:But you're forgetting by shellbeach · · Score: 1
      I can't imagine him watching this commercial and giving a rat's ass about Linux. Anecdotal I realize, but I can't imagine this appealing to anybody but those who are already informed.

      I think there's two points you're missing:

      First, that a lot more people know about linux today than did a year ago - anyone who's ever read the computer section of a newspaper will have heard the name. That said, many of those still wouldn't have the faintest idea what Linux is ... BUT ...

      The second point is this: IBM releases a big ad in prime time to a huge audience which demonstrates that whatever Linux is, IBM thinks that it's a damn good thing and they think it's the way of the future (the ad slogan is "The future is open"). So it's not unlikely that the people who have previously heard the word "Linux" without really being interested in it will start trying to find out what Linux is. And this is the power of this type of advertising - you don't bore people with facts, rather, you make them both interested and extremely curious and wanting to know more.

    5. Re:But you're forgetting by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 1

      " And this is the power of this type of advertising - you don't bore people with facts, rather, you make them both interested and extremely curious and wanting to know more."

      I just don't think it'll accomplish that. Frankly, it sounds like some new dot-com startup. They should have done something more like Apple did with the 1984 commercial. At the end say "Today there's an Operating System alternative that will truely make you free", or some other nauseating marketing line.

      It's not interesting if they haven't the faintest idea what it's about. It sounds like another stupid little batch of wallet evacuating empty promises.

  128. Mr. Gates? by Axynter · · Score: 1

    From the transcript: "Mr. Gates: Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom. But sharing data is the first step toward community."
    Rather ironic, don't you think?

    PS. Of course, this is not M$. Gates but rather Mr. Gates.

    1. Re:Mr. Gates? by 1ione1 · · Score: 1
      "Prof. Gates: Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom. But sharing data is the first step toward community."
      The man delivering the line to the boy in the commercial is humanities Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The opening quote of his bio page is:
      I've always thought of myself as both a literary historian and a literary critic, someone who loves archives and someone who is dedicated to resurrecting texts that have dropped out of sight."
  129. "Collecting data is only the first step..." by BigGerman · · Score: 1

    I don't know what the middle steps are but the last one -
    profit!!!

  130. Spin by Tpenta · · Score: 2, Funny

    You have to love convenient ommisions by the marketing folks. IBM point out that Sun has it's own Unix O/S implying "proprietry bad", omitting Sun's linux offerring. They also omit the mention of their own proprietry Unix offering.

    Then again, depending on who you believe, they're not allowed to Sell AIX any more ;)

    Tp.

  131. I'm a cynic me... by darth_silliarse · · Score: 1

    "Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom, but sharing data is the first step toward community" ...and sharing your data is the first step to 0wn1ng your a55

    --
    I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born - Ronald Reagan
    1. Re:I'm a cynic me... by cha0sadddddddd · · Score: 1

      You missed the bus on that one.
      You are thinking of data as zeros and ones.

      The "data" being refered to here is the collective knolege of the human race.

      I think this simple phrase embodies the open source community as well as my own personal feelings. I LOVE learning. Just for the sake of learning. I love sharing what I've learned with my kids(and any other interested party) EVEN MORE.

      NEVER before in my life has a fucking advertisment made me almost cry.

      What's the point of research and experimentation if you dont share that wisdom with others and let them build upon it?

      Where would the state of theoretical physics be had Copernicus, Newton, Einsten, Hawking etc.. just collected wisdom (I.E. "data") and not shared it with the world??

      What state would linux be in today if linus was the only one with the source and the sole contributor?

      The list goes on and on.

      If you cant tell Im very cynical regarding people and corporations whose sole interest and motivation is the dollar.

      Imagine an entire civilization whose primary motivation was the advancement and collection of the collective "wisdom" instead of $$.
      People trying to cure cancer and AIDS and hunger etc.. JUST to cure it. Not to make BILLIONS off the results should they be succsessfull.

      This isn't about your fucking warez and copyright infringing mp3s and movies.

      --
      Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom. But sharing data is the first step toward community
  132. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by FlowerPotAdmin · · Score: 1

    The difficulty is that while you respect other people's work, there are those that just want to make a quick buck. Hence copyright of literary works, etc.

    I agree with you that the copying of a marble statue, for example, should be recognized as a major investment of skill and effort. However there are at least two more questions: 1) Where do you draw the line between works that can be easily reproduced and those that cannot? 2) How much economic advantage does an individual "deserve" for coming up with a concept first, and how much for implementing the concept? These are very fuzzy questions.

    (Despite what this may sound like, I'm not saying we should ignore the issue because it is too tough to consider. I'm merely suggesting reasons why might not have previously been tackled.)

    --
    -Justin
    That's enough posting for now lads, there're trolls afoot.
  133. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    no im already here ;)

  134. Mod parent up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mod it up as "funny".

    I know it's also true, and informative, but the perfection of the comeback had me rolling on the floor.

  135. Wow! by theolein · · Score: 1

    Can you then imagine what those same people are gonna say when they learn what Mac OSX is like?

  136. 3. Yes, simple? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Simple firewall script, anyone..."

    Remember, this is focused on new Linux users. I, for one, have gotten a copy of RH8.1 but have yet to install it. How many days/months(/years?) will it be before I learn enough script to know what "simple" is?

    I really am interested in switching, regardless.

  137. Hey that explains things! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's why everyone rushed out and bought 360's for their living room a few years back. Now they'll be running out and installing Linux.

    Yeah... right. Just like IBM promoting OS2. This will probably make people NOT want Linux.

  138. Top Ten Virus Chart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    According the The Register, here are the Top Ten Viruses for August:

    1. Sobig-F
    2. Blaster-A
    3. Nachi-A
    4. Mimail-A
    5. Yaha-P
    6. Klez-H
    7. Bugbear-B
    8. Yaha-E
    9. Dumaru-A
    10. Sobig-A

    Some of those are exploiting really old security holes in Microsoft software.

    Do you see any Linux viruses on that list?

    And before you protest, let's not forget that the number of Linux and Windows web server platforms are almost equal, and there are over twice as many Apache servers as IIS servers.

    1. Re:Top Ten Virus Chart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > "there are over twice as many Apache servers as IIS servers"

      Not at all. Unlike popularity surveys, a worm doesn't care if it's infesting a real website with a domain name, or a intranet site, or Joe Cablemodem's pirate copy of Windows that he's scared to update. There's a ton of uncounted, unadministered IIS installs out there, and that's why it's wormfood.

    2. Re:Top Ten Virus Chart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which version of Windows would that be, which installs and runs IIS by default?

      If we're going to start making stuff up based on our personal hunches, then I claim that there are 1 Billion Linux users, but they've all been hypnotised into believing they're running Windows.

  139. Bill Gates is pissing his pants by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
    And that's a good thing.

    Seriously. Think about it. This is against everything M$ stands for.

    Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom, but sharing data is the first step toward community kinda puts the damper on M$'s attempts to own the whole damn community, now doesn't it.

  140. Normal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ah finally, they're reaching out to the "normal" people.

  141. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 1

    "This isn't the 1950s. Big businesses use commercials nowadays to build brands, not sell products. Consider the most well-known commercials, like Apple's "1984" ad and Coca-Cola's "Mean Joe Green" spot from the '70s. Memorable campaigns don't drill product data into your head."

    Apple's 1984 ad said "we're introducing a computer."

    Mean Joe Green's ad showed you an athlete drinking a bottle of coke.

    IBM's ad showed you a kid getting babbled at and... well... that's about it.

    Your examples are great ads, but even they were smart enough to at least let you know what it was they wanted you to buy. IBM's ad just doesn't mean anything to the uninformed.

  142. Bush and Buchanan? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Those two need to hear the message of peace, love and freedom more than anyone.

  143. Why PHBs frown on Open Source by stanwirth · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The need to reach a diverse audience is growing, as studies show that technology buying is more frequently decided by business managers rather than technical specialists.

    Correct. Which is also why the PHBs frown on use of Open Source in general, even when the company's directors have decided to go in an Open Source direction, unfortunately.

    The PHBs can more effectively control the technical specialists when every time the technical specialist turns around to solve a simple problem or do something new, it requires purchasing something .

    Purchasing something, in turn, requires providing lenghly explanations to these weasels in middle IT management who have never written a line of code in their lives, but who desperately need to keep justifying their existence by throwing around new buzzwords in *their* management meetings. Take away their purchasing power by using Open Source, and the poor dears will flounder -- and founder.

    Also, the way these PHB's get to feel important, is by the sheer number of staff and dollars in their command. Fewer dollars for software that can be supported by fewer people, means the PHB is less important--in both his own eyes, and in the eyes of his peers -- other PHB's.

    If the techo can be the hero just on the basis of having acquired, modified, fully tested and deployed something before PHB even gets wind of it, good-bye PHB.

    Open Source threatens to take away a whole layer of IT "management" which, in the interest of the company's productivity and profitability is a GOOD thing. But not in the interests of the smarmy layer of IT "management" that is so clearly undermined by the Open Source process.

    So IBM has to market to company directors and senior management, because their interest is in the company's productivity and profitability.

    Perhaps IBM needs to air a commercial which features a lowly techo and a company director violently agreeing on an Open Source deployment that has saved the company millions, with a PHB middle management drone making increasingly weak arguments against it, while the PHB is taking back-handers and getting his latest round of meaningless buzzwords and lame, losing anti-linux rhetoric from some MicroSlut PR drone.

    1. Re:Why PHBs frown on Open Source by Alsee · · Score: 1

      with a PHB middle management drone making increasingly weak arguments against it

      The IBM ad is aimed at seducing those very PHB's. An ad such as you describe would be a disaster. PHB's are going to identify with the PHB in the ad, and the last thing you want to do is make what will be seen as a personal attack your target audience. In "self defence" the PHB will fimly latch on to anything that suggests the ad is wrong, whether it is rational or not. It would turn him into an opponent.

      Actually, something just dawned on me. The IBM ad doesn't have even a whiff of technology. It consists entirely of human contributions. Techies manage technology, they solve problems by applying tech to problems. But managers manage people, they solve problems by applying people to problems. Managers don't need or want to understand "open-source". The IBM ad teaches managers that open-source means people are constantly working to improve Linux. The manager learns he can harness all of those people and all of that work for his own benefit. Open source means all of thouse people are working to solve his problems for him.

      That is an excellent message and an excellent way to describe what open sorce means to non-techines. It means many other people are working to solve your problems for you.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
    2. Re:Why PHBs frown on Open Source by stanwirth · · Score: 1

      The IBM ad doesn't have even a whiff of technology. It consists entirely of human contributions. Techies manage technology, they solve problems by applying tech to problems. But managers manage people, they solve problems by applying people to problems. Managers don't need or want to understand "open-source". The IBM ad teaches managers that open-source means people are constantly working to improve Linux. The manager learns he can harness all of those people and all of that work for his own benefit. Open source means all of thouse people are working to solve his problems for him.

      In an ideal world, yes. In the real world, in order for managers to "apply people to problems" (which means that the technologically clueless one is in charge -- great ) they first must control those people who can solve problems. And controlling programmers is difficult.

      One of the prime mechanisms of control managers have over the in-house programmers is requiring to see a purchase order out front of everything they need to do their job. And one of the prime mechanisms of control managers have over "out-house" programmers is whether or not they get paid .

      As the open source model undermines the most potent mechanism of control these non-programmers have over their technological resources, it also undermines the IT manager who is not able to win the respect of his or her programming staff by dint of having done a great deal of software development himself -- or herself.

      Programmers will respect and follow ESR, Linus, and any number of people for no pay whatsoever, because they respect their judgment . Progremmers will simply put in face-time and a nominal effort, even if they're being paid if they have no respect for the abilities of the person they're working for.

      Unfortunately, since MS crap has spawned a whole generation of IT "managers" who don't have a farking clue -- there is a whole layer of management who simply cannot get with the open source programme.

      I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by Redmond.

      So, quite frankly, I must respectfully disagree with you that there is any way of winning over these glorified secretaries that call themselves managers, because their non-existent technological judgment will never win the respect of either the open source community or their own staff.

  144. Transcript by The+Monster · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Here's the transcript on IBM's site. My favorite bit is the Latin teacher:

    Res publica non dominetur.
    I think that last word is misspelled, (dominatur) but the gist of the translation is something like
    The commonwealth is not owned/dominated
    which sounds like an in your FACE to the Smoking Crack Oraganization and their shadow overlords in Redmond.
    --

    [100% ISO 646 Compliant]
    SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.

    1. Re:Transcript by LeninZhiv · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's not misspelled, it's the subjunctive mood, it changes the weight of the verb a bit so it should be translated something like:

      "The commonwealth must not be owned"

      And yes, that's very cool :)

    2. Re:Transcript by georgeb · · Score: 1

      "Res publica non dominetur."
      which sounds like an in your FACE to the Smoking Crack Oraganization and their shadow overlords in Redmond.


      Well, if you ask me, Muhammad Ali's line, "Speak your mind. Don't back down.", seems even more towards that point. That's a crucial message for the Linux community and it's really nice to hear it from IBM.

    3. Re:Transcript by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This quote is great. By switching to Latin and vaguely sounding like (a quote from) Cicero (or perhaps St. Augustine's City of God), this creates a sense of Linux's historical inevitability and puts it in a bigger context which is refreshing.

  145. Re:I know you guys are excited about it, except... by JeffTL · · Score: 1

    Like the AC said, it's only the start. And it's MEANT to look like AI 2, as the hook. Then people realize it's Big Blue, especially the suits. Noone ever got fired for buying from IBM, you know.

  146. Data? by Sciamachy · · Score: 1

    That's idiotic! IBM did a campaign a while back where hackers shared payroll data around the company, iirc. No client is going to want to share that, nor any other data I can think of, except maybe programs.

  147. Their next commercial will be even better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    It will portray a 28 year old thug called "Microsoft" harassing people in the street, trying to sell them crap for a quick fix.
    Unfortunately, in the end an angry mob beats him into a bloody pulp.

    1. Re:Their next commercial will be even better by trolman · · Score: 1

      Yes, this is not a short term anger 'gosh gotta patch my computer again' but more like a 'the IRS emptied my bank account to pay my back taxes from 1972' kind of anger. There are alot of kids, right now, starting back to school and college that cannot use their WINTEL machines and will remember this event the next time they have a choice. They just need that second option.

  148. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
    Considering the ease of access and use of the Internet today (compared to the 70's and 80's as mentioned in this parent's parent post) Linux is easy enough to perform a search on.

    What IBM has done is to put word into people's heads.

    "Linux. The future is open."

    If I didn't know what it was and was intrigued by the ad, I'd look it up just like I've done for other things:
    • Who's that guy that played in that movie with that other guy?
    • How does that CVT on the new Honda Civic Hybrid work?
    • What other recipes are there for making jello shots?
    Most people seem to know this nowdays and IBM knows people know they can look it up on the net. Their approach was to make you want to know more, "What is this Linux thing?" Maybe it doesn't work for everyone, but I'm pretty sure it will work for a lot of people.
  149. And The Full Text Is... by usotsuki · · Score: 1

    I think you should see this.
    He's just a kid.
    This is a G chord.
    He's learning...absorbing. He's getting smarter every day.
    Homo habilis was the first to use tools.
    A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player.
    Losing yourself in the group for the good of the group, that's teamwork.
    It's happening fast.
    We've always watched the stars.
    If you look at the sky, you can see the beginning of time.
    Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom,
    but sharing data is the first step toward community.
    Poetry. There's not much glory in poetry...only achievement.
    Knowledge amplification. What he learns, we all learn.
    What he knows, we all benefit from.
    One little thing can solve an incredibly complex problem.
    Everything is about timing, kid.
    This is business. Faster, better, cheaper.
    Constant improvement.
    So, you want to fly, huh?
    Wing speed, thrust...it's physics.
    "Respublica non dominatur."
    Plumbing. It's all about the tools.
    Speak your mind.
    Don't back down.
    Does he have a name?
    His name...is Linux.

    -uso.

    --
    Dreams, dreams, don't doubt dreams, dreaming children's dreaming dreams. Sailor Moon SS
  150. too good by Zork+the+Almighty · · Score: 1

    HAHAHAHAHA Damn.

    --

    In Soviet America the banks rob you!
  151. It's Eminem! by Lish · · Score: 1

    My first thought when I saw the ad was "what is this Eminem wannabe doing in an IBM ad?"

    --
    "This message is composed of 100% recycled electrons."
  152. Name Recognition by pyrrho · · Score: 1

    is the holy grail of advertising. Explaining what Linux IS is boring for a TV spot, people don't care, won't understand. But if everybody says "oh, I've heard of that" when IBM is trying to tell them what linux does and is during a sales presentation... people will be interested to learn what this thing they "know about" really is.

    Of course, I just defended a pretty lame ad.

    --

    -pyrrho

  153. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by clem · · Score: 1

    Since when has it been the purpose of advertising to disseminate facts?

    --
    Your courageous and selfless spelling corrections have made me a better person.
  154. Re:3. Yes, simple? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How many days/months(/years?) will it be before I learn enough script to know what "simple" is?

    0. RH8 asks you for the firewall setup on the install, with a sane default.

    But go with RH9 if you're going to install one. It's a bit more user friendly, with a more responsive desktop (thanks to back patches)

  155. They used to have it simple by Mr.+Arbusto · · Score: 1

    Peace, Love, Penguins.

  156. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by Dunark · · Score: 2, Funny

    It ain't that great. The ad doesn't even say what Linux is.

    That's the beauty of it - they managed to make an ad that the average PHB can understand.

  157. Re:3. Yes, simple? by arkane1234 · · Score: 1

    Redhat 8 gives you the option in the beginning as to what type of firewall you want.

    Yeah.. it's that simple.

    --
    -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
  158. Yo IBM! Gimee a decent 600-700$ modular laptop... by konmaskisin · · Score: 1

    ... honed to run linux and with linux honed to run on it ... use SE linux so it's nice and secure and safe from viruses (easy to make a policy where nothing runs without being verified against a checksum, protected stack, all that stuff) and make it easy for me and my mom to set up a public area and a private encrypted partition.

    Now *THATS* "trusted computing".

    Hmm you've got your choice of chips since Linux has been ported to it already :-) Heck put a chip IBM knows well in it ... say PPC or something.

    Let apple have the top end iBook aluminum 4000$ lappies ... I want to buy 5 laptops for the price of one ... and so do 200 of my friends in China.

    ps: IBM could do this and achieve 25% of apple's volume on laptops in a few months

  159. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by brokencomputer · · Score: 1

    its even easier to type emerge openoffice thats it.

  160. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by usotsuki · · Score: 1

    SourceMage - Gentoo without the zealotry ;)

    # cast -c openoffice

    -uso.

    --
    Dreams, dreams, don't doubt dreams, dreaming children's dreaming dreams. Sailor Moon SS
  161. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    IBM Message:
    "Linux. The future is open."

    Microsoft Message:
    "We migrated to Windows 2003 Active Directory and saved lots of money through IT consolidation."

    Dotcom Daze are over, so I'm guessing the latter is more effective.

  162. perfect ad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hire the actors that have been in the microsoft commerical for windows 2003 server and have them in a similar environment. Flash to the next scene , as they are screaming and running around while there server is being crushed by a virii....Flash to a headline Safe, secure , and free Linux...it does a company good

  163. It's not a laptop but by commodoresloat · · Score: 1
    Yo IBM! Gimee a decent 600-700$ modular laptop... honed to run linux and with linux honed to run on it

    If you want something in that price range, I know where you can license a copy of linux to run on that laptop.

  164. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The ad was also run well into the 1980s, long past Mean Joe Green's retirement from football.

    Unlike the Apple ad, which was only aired once or twice.

  165. IBM distro? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So when is IBM going to come out with their own distro? You can't say "well, IBM is behind Linux so Linux must be for real," to your boss until IBM comes out with their own distro.

  166. is it just me? by dollargonzo · · Score: 2, Funny

    or is it ironic that a linux ad is in windows media format?

    --
    BSD is for people who love UNIX. Linux is for those who hate Microsoft.
    1. Re:is it just me? by Anarchofascist · · Score: 1

      "..is it ironic that a linux ad is in windows media format?"

      No, it's sensible, rational, and commercially acceptable. Which is the point they're making.

      If it was only available in a windows format, that would be ironic.

      --
      Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, Or close the wall up with our American dead!
  167. We support it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And Lotus is...where?

    1. Re:We support it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://www-1.ibm.com/linux/news/lotuslinux.shtml
      duh, nevermind.

  168. I meant $CAD by konmaskisin · · Score: 1

    which = .72 USD these days

  169. Re:3. Yes, simple? by jimlintott · · Score: 1

    You managed to find a suitable script pretty quickly. That would be along the same lines as my Linux experience. Plenty of help and stuff all ready to go. Notice how well commented that script is. Pretty easy to make minor changes. You can bet that MS would probably hide it all in a binary file and you'd have to buy a book to make it work.

  170. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by BlackBolt · · Score: 2, Informative

    The mpeg got my sister in law to ask me "What's Linux?". The commercial got her *asking questions*, and that's exactly what IBM wants. If I wasn't here to answer, she would've googled it - she wanted to find out more. But since I was here, I introduced her to Knoppix. What comes of it, I don't know. But it's a Very Good Thing.

    And anyway, I find THE BEST ADS, the ones people remember, are either surreal or funny.

    I like this ad. It works for me.

  171. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 1

    It ain't that great. The ad doesn't even say what Linux is.

    Call me cynical but an 'ad' that doesn't tell you what it's advertising isn't an ad. The people who already know about Linux are the only ones who are going to get anything from it.


    The whole point of modern advertising is to break it up into little chunks and make you feel without knowing what you're hearing about. That way, when you do learn what it's about, all the previous things you saw and heard about are associated with whats presented to you.

    You can't really dispute something if you don't understand what it is, so on some level, you just absorb what you hear.

    --
    -1 Uncomfortable Truth
  172. IBM ... by j_w_d · · Score: 2, Interesting

    realized that Linux has the biggest development staff on the planet, even bigger than IBM. Someone there said, "let's drop AIX. Linux can replace our in-house OS in most areas. Our development costs go down. Support costs won't change. We'll eat the lunch of every major server player on the planet. We can join the OS community AND get a monopoly."

    --
    ------ The only greater hazard to your liberty than n politicians is n+1 politicians.
    1. Re:IBM ... by Sphere1952 · · Score: 1

      Exactly what are they going to monopolize? Linux is a commodity. It's as cheap as a $.25 disk, and anyone can sell it.

      IBM can make a lot of money off Linux, to be sure. They can do exactly what they've always been good at. If something goes wrong at a big customer site IBM has always been able to plop 50 CEs into the computer room at the drop of a hat.

      It's not going to get them a monopoly though.

      --
      Big Brother Bush is doubleplus ungood.
    2. Re:IBM ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They are going to monopolize "taking loads of money from companies with way too much money, and a PHB who refuses to look at cheaper alternatives".

      Apparently there are a lot of those.

    3. Re:IBM ... by j_w_d · · Score: 1

      Thanks. Couldn't said it better.

      --
      ------ The only greater hazard to your liberty than n politicians is n+1 politicians.
  173. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by andcal · · Score: 2, Informative

    Dude, one thing at a time. Surely it is obvious that there is value in a commercial that teases people to make them hungry to learn more. Anyone who already wants to understand Linux can already learn about it any time they want to. The key here is convincing people who would not otherwise pay any attention to listen and become curious enough to want to learn more.

    Most people automatically stop paying attention once they find out that the subject at hand is something that don't consider within their realm of interest. I am quite certain that Linux is one of those things

    I personally feel that this commercial will do a pretty effective job of getting people who may benefit from the use of Linux (and who could also potentially contribute to the OS community), but who would otherwise change the channel to keep watching, while asking, "What could this be about?"

    --
    --something witty
  174. RES PUBLICA NON DOMINE TU by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The subtlety of this commercial is pretty astounding. Sure, not many people are going to get it, but the AI reference, the heavy weight endorsements, and the (semi?)-messianic undertones will no doubt lodge themselves in peoples minds for later recall.

    The ad is a subtle meme designed to plant a seed in the minds of people, execs and maybe even PHBs. It says, 'Linux is not yet mature, but it will be, and it will be great when that happens'.

    This might be a bit rich coming from IBM... they were the bad guys a while back, and they were even badder before that (-> guerrillanews.com - incedently this makes me uneasy about the blond hair, blue eyes thing), but it is concieveable that they've tried all the bad stuff and are the most experienced to understand the long term damage such activity does to society and hence themselves. More likely they are after a buck, but they realise this is the best way to get there, and the best way to sustain business with the public.

    The latin quote "RES PUBLICA NON DOMINE TU" is understated, but important. "You are a public entity, not propriety.". Which is of course obvious to /. ers, but not to the wider public. Perhaps IBM recognise the wider public aren't ready for that kind of shellshock, but have chosen to introduce these concepts into the global collective subconscious before pulling out some obvious punches and explaining what that means for them.

    This sent chills down my spine, if not for vindication for years of saying "no, really!", then for the fact that on a global scale this is the first advertising campaign since the bust which has had a positive, even hopeful spin... not just belt tightening.

    I've been saying it for years... but I'll say it again.

    "Three of these kids belong together, three of these kids are kinda the same, but one of these kids is doing his own thing, now it's time to play our game, it's time to play our game!"

    1. Re:RES PUBLICA NON DOMINE TU by tetrahedrassface · · Score: 0

      That latin should go ON linux or in it. Whichever one is applicable here. Kinda like a penny and E Pluribus Unum. It a way of saying by the people , for the people except it is original. That my friend is brilliant and unobserved!! i like it

  175. Correction by quinnharris · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Linux. The Future is Open. IBM."

    should be

    "GNU/Linux. The Future is Open. IBM."

  176. money versus free software by gustgr · · Score: 1

    Money, that is all about money.

    They [big blue] just want to sell their products, and as Linux
    is the actual 'insight', they are investing on it.

    The Free Software main philosophy is to help your neighboor,
    to help our community [mankind], not making money.

    Money is important, indeed, but it cannot have higher
    priorities than our principles.

    1. Re:money versus free software by screenrc · · Score: 1
      When I receive free services from the Free Software
      community, or when I provide services in return
      (in order to keep this good system going), that is also a form of money.


      It is great to live in the Free Software community.
      As long we all receive benefits, why care
      about principles, why care about convictions?


      I have been fortunate since discoverd the
      Free Software community. The software community
      has been a great benefit to me, not only for their
      gifts, but also meeting great people. (As for
      morality, this I leave it to the moralists.)

    2. Re:money versus free software by Ashtead · · Score: 1
      You're probably right, it is all about the money.

      As is usually the case with large companies like IBM, which have stockholders who want to be pleased every 3 months or so.

      But seeing as this appears to be near the end of a long slow period full of "belt-tightening" as some earlier poster mentioned, there is at the same time more latitude or headroom for a company to think ahead more than what is required for maximizing the current quarter's profit. To some extent, whatever they do is likely to be good in the short term, then the best things to do become the ones which are good for the long term.

      Having said that, I also will point out that IBM has been actively participating in the Open Source process; this is a Good Thing for everyone, not just IBM.

      --
      SIGBUS @ NO-07.308
  177. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > IBM's ad just doesn't mean anything to the uninformed.

    IBM doesn't sell to the uninformed.

    This ad has one simple message: "Screw those twits in Utah, and their little DiDio, too. Signed, the 900-pound gorilla."

  178. Remember OS/2?? by unix+guy · · Score: 1

    IBM produced some amazing adds in support of OS/2. I particularly remember the nuns...

    In the end me, 3 of my friends and MCI actually bought and used it..

    Elegant adds do not a product sell. I can only hope this is the beginning of a better campaign.

    --
    "Straddling the sword of technology..."
  179. Got to give credit to SCO. (Re:Sharks) by screenrc · · Score: 1
    SCO is charging licensing fees for Linux
    in direct violation of the GPL.


    They benefit, while the kernel authors
    are not willing to sue, and Linus
    does not even withhold their use of the
    "Linux" trademark. How pathetic!


    Don't tell me the kernel developers don't have money to
    protect their copyright. If they ask, I am
    sure most linux users will mail them at least $3 each,
    and they should have a few millions within 3 weeks.

    1. Re:Got to give credit to SCO. (Re:Sharks) by amcguinn · · Score: 1

      Free software authors need to be very wary about attempting to enforce their copyrights (or trademarks) for PR reasons.

      SCO's FUD will in due course be destroyed in court, and the end result will be a public perception that third parties are not able to interfere with users of Free Software. Adding more lawsuits will not necessarily speed up this process and could confuse the public perception.

      Meanwhile, it would be a very bad thing if the "FUD Ducks" of the world - MS shills like Rob Enderle - could point to something and say "If the Open Source hackers decide they don't like you, the IP landscape is so complex they can bring all sorts of lawsuits to stop you from using the software you've committed your business to." Any legal action taken against SCO must be tightly targetted against their legal threats, so it is really obvious that they are defending Free Software users and not attacking them. As SCO has produced a much greater weight of press releases than actual legal arguments, that is currently difficult.

      Until the day that SCO actually bring law against Linux users, it's best to leave the legal side of things to IBM, who know what they're doing. They are suing SCO for damages for distributing IBM's Linux kernel code contrary to the provisions of the GPL (scan down to "SIXTH COUNTERCLAIM").

      As a result of SCO's breaches of the GPL, countless developers and users of Linux, including IBM, have suffered and will continue to suffer damages and other irreparable injury. IBM is entitled to an award of damages in an amount to be determined at trial and to an injunction prohibiting SCO from its continuing and threatened breaches of the GPL.
      SCO's motivation
    2. Re:Got to give credit to SCO. (Re:Sharks) by screenrc · · Score: 1
      Thanks for the explanation, there was
      a lot of wisdom in what you wrote.


      It seems IBM's injuction (if granted) is
      enough to ruin SCO, and IBM has he money to post bond.
      That is great.


      Although I am ready to agree with all you wrote (provided
      I think of it again a little more), I am suspect
      that there is nothing we can do for
      cute little idiots like Rob Enderle: they
      will continue to write whatever comes to
      their head -- according to who pays them --
      since their target audience is the uninformed and
      casual readers. That is fine, we can live with it.


      One more thing. Always with reference to your
      link about IBM's counter-suit, IBM is saying
      that SCO no longer has the right to distribute
      Linux since they violated section 4 of the GPL.
      I think SCO has no choice but to drop dead soon.


      Take care, and thanks for the explanation.

    3. Re:Got to give credit to SCO. (Re:Sharks) by Tony-A · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure, but with the patents and all, I suspect SCO will wind up with no rights to distribute anything, including their own software.
      In any event, SCO is functionally dead. There are enough big names who take umbrage at SCO's actions that when SCO systems have problems, all they need to do is get a little bit deaf. It doesn't even take anything overtly identifiable. SCO is dead. It's just a question of how and when they find out about it.

  180. Dennis the Menance by bstadil · · Score: 1
    It's an awesome ad, but come on: a blond-haired, blue-eyed kid?

    Get a grip, whomever could they have used that would not have offended some PC group of people.

    He looks like Dennis the Menace that is as Middle American as you can get. Nuff Said

    --
    Help fight continental drift.
  181. Re:UUGGGHHH..... complete lie by arkane1234 · · Score: 1

    Not to mention that I don't know of too many people who instead of using bunzip2, uses bzip2 with the -d flag. Not to mention piping the output to tar.
    I'd be simpler just to do tar -jxvf alsa-driver-0.5.10b.tar.bz2 and call it a day.

    Or doubleclick on the bz2 file in konqueror as you said, and drag-n-drop the contents out. But if your typing, just use the -j flag in tar.

    --
    -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
  182. Not Quite So. by Niscenus · · Score: 1

    I'm on a GNU/Linux desktop. Though that may seem geeky, in this town, just about every business is...of course, I did install those in particular in the past two...three years. People like them.

    How is Linux (the POSIX environment is your real point) harder to programme for? Have you see the S* you can do with Python? You know how easy it is to explain Python to VBKiddy?

    Actually, signal stations, airports and two embedded systems for cars use Linux as the base.

    Actually, it's only the free stuff doesn't do DRM. I guess you're just one of those Windows free-loaders.....

    If you've never been forced to upgrade your Windows computer, that means ither your Windows system is over 3 years old or your computer is under 3 years old...or both. It's not abnormal for a company that hasn't upgraded in, say, four or five years to upgrade one thing (an accounting programme for example) and suddenly finding themselves needing "new everything."

    Most distros are available on CD's. Distros include software needed to make your computer run. Ergo, gfys.

    --
    "Yeah...it was the numbers that were irrational, not the murderous cult of vegetarians...." -- Hippasus of Metapontum
  183. Not at all (the Linux/BSD comment) by IANAAC · · Score: 1
    If they'd s/Linux/BSD and perhaps gave the kid horns (kidding and please no Linda Blair jokes) it would amount to the same.

    Not at all. They're basing the future of their business on Linux, not BSD.
  184. Re:They name "Linux", they mean OSS -- NO! by screenrc · · Score: 1

    I disagree. IBM could have supported a superior
    product like BSD instead of Linux, but they
    chose Linux. Why? Because Linux is GPL and
    they don't want their work hijacked into
    Microsft products. They chose to share if
    you share model. Saying that GPL is as good
    as any other the Free Software license is
    not a valid argument -- at least, not
    for the companies that want to battle Microsoft.

  185. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by dspeyer · · Score: 1
    I don't think the question can really be answered in terms of how much a person "deserves". What can be answered is how much is fair or how much is most effective. Remember, the purpose of copyright etc. is to "promote the useful arts", no more no less. The appropriate amount of copyright is that which balances rewarding creators with permitting derivitives and creates the most total art/technology. I suspect a copyright of 15 years for literature, 20 for nonfiction, 10 for music and 5 for software (irrespective of author's health or nature) would be about right, though I can hardly prove it.

    But this uestion shouldn't be decided by slashdoters picking numbers out of the ether any more than by vested interests bidding on it. It should be decided by historical study, detailed simulation, or (if nessesary) experiment. I wish someone were trying.

  186. Didn't anyone notice? by MainframeKiller · · Score: 1


    The ad showcases well-known people, including the greatest athlete of all time, Mohammed Ali!

    --
    http://www.club977.com/ - The 80's Channel!
    Your source for commercial free 80's music!
  187. The other people in the ad identified by bartash · · Score: 1

    The coach is John R. Wooden
    Woman who says "One little thing can solve an incredibly complex problem" is Sylvia Nasar
    Wman who says "Everything's about timing kid" is Penny Marshall
    Guy who says "Speak your mind. Don't back down" is Muhammad Ali

    --
    Read Epic the first RPG novel.
    1. Re:The other people in the ad identified by bartash · · Score: 1

      I should have used the preview button. I meant to say that the source is the transcript at

      http://www-3.ibm.com/e-business/doc/content/onde ma nd/prodigy_transcript.html

      --
      Read Epic the first RPG novel.
  188. Drop AIX? Not for awhile (or maybe ever) by pr0ntab · · Score: 1

    Linux has a long way to go to replace all of the midframe support that AIX has, even with IBM's help. Plus it would be bad business to cut off all your long term customers.

    They will probably push Linux for new, distributed operations, using small-mid size equipment, and on VMs running on partitioned machines to provide a widely understood API.

    --
    Fuck Beta. Fuck Dice
  189. Skins won. by pr0ntab · · Score: 1

    I am happy.

    mplayer plays IBM commercial over wifi; I missed it while I got a sandwich.

    I am doubly happy.

    --
    Fuck Beta. Fuck Dice
  190. Is anyone else... by 0x12d3 · · Score: 1

    Is anyone else thinking 2001, A.I., or some other kubrick flick here???

  191. will it have a new cool logo? by mantera · · Score: 1

    I hope they come up with something as cool as the peace, love and linux logo. That was pretty cool on a T-shirt, and it summed up a lot of what might make a person happy. http://t1d.www-1.cacheibm.com/servers/eserver/pll/ images/animate_header.gif

  192. They forgot. by 0x12d3 · · Score: 2, Funny

    They should've cut to a SCO representative strangling the little boy...

  193. Yes, it is simple. by cha0sadddddddd · · Score: 1

    You may want to try the shoreline firewallif you want to learn to use an iptables firewall on linux.(or even if you dont, you can just use shorewall and never actually write your own custom scripts.)
    add wondershaper and you can have a VERY decent firewall/traffic shaper knowing almost nothing of how it works.
    If you have problems editing text files(such as shorewall uses for configuration) you can also use webmin for a point and click interface with most of the funtions.

    --
    Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom. But sharing data is the first step toward community
  194. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    its called 'buzz'.

  195. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by RPoet · · Score: 1

    Call me cynical but an 'ad' that doesn't tell you what it's advertising isn't an ad.
    But, it grows the brand. After all, our enemy will be eaten by squirrels.

    --
    "Oppression and harassment is a small price to pay to live in the land of the free." -- Montgomery Burns.
  196. IBM = Linux by chiasmus1 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It was a wonderful commercial. I realized almost immediately that this commercial is not trying to sell Linux. I got the feeling that IBM already knows Linux is growing quickly and wants to advertise support. IBM wants people who have never heard of Linux to tie Linux and IBM together. If people think of IBM when they hear of Linux then they will remember where to go to get their copy and support. I believe this was a very good move for IBM. I also believe this is a very good ad for Linux.

  197. Goose bumps? by Lispy · · Score: 1

    I learned a new word in english today. Yup, thats what it gave me, too. Wow! Nice spot! In Germany we call it "Gansehaut". That spot is pretty good on the emotional level but also sums up the idea of OS pretty well for the average Joe. Good job, BigBlue.

    cu,
    Lispy

  198. I've been seeing Linux commercials here in Europe by 3.5+stripes · · Score: 1

    For a while.

    They have this basketball game, with one side being hackers, viruses, etc, and the other side Linux, IBM, etc...

    Or is this one somehow not a linux commercial?

    --


    He tried to kill me with a forklift!
  199. Re:No Stallman?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... sorters, tabulators and printers used to kill between 700,000 to 1.2 million ...

    McGyver worked at Dachau? Or were these appliances made sentient and lethal by some mad scientist? If "approximately 24" (heh) of these killer machines could waste 1.2 million subhumans, why didn't the Wehrmacht and W-SS get some tabulators sent to the Eastern Front where they were desperately needed?

    Here's to the Holocaust Industry! Maybe they'll be able to exhort license fees from IBM, like they've done with other companies and even governments and populations? When the Wiesental Centre goes IPO on our stupid goyim asses, I wanna be first in line to buy.

  200. Sure is pretty common unless you're a loner... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > Sure, that seems like a pretty common task for the average person out in the world. Upgrading their OS from their friend's house in some other state...

    Dunno about you, but EVERY FRICKIN HOLIDAY my relatives hit me up with their stupid Windows problems. Kazaa, Weatherbug, Bonzai Buddy on top of the worms and viruses... plus a few "disinfectant" tools that purport to cleanup the system but actually install MORE crap.

    If you believe lightweight remote administration to be the only advantage of Linux, I'm fairly certain you don't use computers much. Maybe you're "too busy" to learn new tricks because you're burnt out. I once worked with an NT guy who *refused* to learn Regular Expressions. I had already installed Cygwin on the box so it's loaded with awk, grep sed and all.

    The point is I watched him spend almost TWO DAYS manually editing text files in some text editor, because he was too pig-headed to STOP, READ the manpage, and do the frickin regex. Allowing for experimentation and failures, the job still would have taken about an hour...

    A lot of entrenched NT guys have an inferiority complex about UNIX. They don't want to learn.. they just want to play the "certification" game and let the manual work pile up, so they can get "helpers" hired to jockey the MS CD's around.

    Which is OK with me. Watch em fail... :-)

  201. MInix? Try SunOS! by Per+Abrahamsen · · Score: 1

    The internal design wasn't a clone of anything, it was brand new. The API tended to be implementations of Posix specifications where available, and clones of SunOS 3/4 when not. SunOS was the most popular operating system in CS departments at the time, and the students wanted their home system to be similar to what they used in school.

  202. You aren't the target audience by Per+Abrahamsen · · Score: 1

    The target audience is the PHB's, who will hopefully be less resistent when the techies advocate a Linux based solution for the server, especially if they remember to say the magic word IBM.

    IBM couldn't care less about the "majority of users", they are not targeting the home users or even the corporate desktop at this point.

  203. Moo by Chacham · · Score: 1

    He said "linuks". When, it is actually, "lee'nooks". Where are the purists?

  204. Programs are data by Per+Abrahamsen · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Just ask any Lisp programmer.

    I think it is clear that data is used in a broad sense, where it includes information, knowledge and skills, a lot of which is embedded in the Linux kernal.

  205. A kid born in Finland by Per+Abrahamsen · · Score: 1

    Which hair and eye color would you expect is most common among kids born in Finland?

  206. WOW!! I AM A GEEK by mt2mb4me · · Score: 1

    I don't know about you but this commerical brought tears to my eyes.

  207. Re:MInix? Try SunOS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Then why does linux feel more SysV than BSD?
    (SunOS 3/4 were BSD)

  208. Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Call me cynical but an 'ad' that doesn't tell you what it's advertising isn't an ad. The people who already know about Linux are the only ones who are going to get anything from it.


    Maybe they're going for the same effect they achieved with the OS/2 Warp ad campaign in 1994: A hippy staring at a monitor that the viewer can only see the back of, going "Cool, dude." Then a "boing" sound effect, followed by a logo that looked like the contents of a flushing toilet. WTF are they advertising here? A monitor? Hair gel? Toilet cleaner?


    They're doing the same thing with Linux now. There's the "Loves the game" thing with a basketball player named "Linux"... Yeah, that really clues Joe User in on things.


    In contrast, MS has simple-to-understand ads that say (for example): "Look here. You can click a button on a Windows machine and remotely control a guy on a forklift in France, making him trash a whole warehouse full of wine bottles. All with .NET Software. Software for the agile business." Simple. IBM should think about doing something like that.


    FWIW, I liked this ad.

  209. Who's Who in IBM's "Prodigy" Television Ad by 1ione1 · · Score: 1
    IBM's web site for their "Prodigy" ad campaign for Linux/OSS includes a copy of the transcript of the television commercial. From the transcript, you'll see they've got a great bunch of cameos. Here's a who's who of the people named in the transcript. Let me know if you can identify the people behind other characters, and whether they're real or actors.

    Coach Wooden: A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that's teamwork.
    That is John R. Wooden, legendary coach emeritus of UCLA's college basketball program.

    Mr. Gates: Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom. But sharing data is the first step toward community.
    The man delivering the line to the boy in the commercial is humanities Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The opening quote of his bio page is:
    I've always thought of myself as both a literary historian and a literary critic, someone who loves archives and someone who is dedicated to resurrecting texts that have dropped out of sight."
    I find that sentiment especially appropriate for the Open Source Software movement. As software maintainers get burned out or lose interest, others who value the work are able to pick it up and carry it forward.
    Ms. Nasar: One little thing can solve an incredibly complex problem.
    That is the economist and author of "A Beautiful Mind", Sylvia Naser.
    Ms. Marshall:Everything's about timing kid.
    That is the comic genius Penny Marshall.

    And finally,

    Ali:Speak your mind. Don't back down.
    Muhammad Ali, the legend himself.

    I predict this ad will win many awards.

  210. Text version of ad: by nacturation · · Score: 1
    Open on young boy sitting in chair, camera pans overhead.
    Male Voice: I think you should see this.
    Female Voice: It's just a kid.

    Cut to young boy sitting in front of rock musician.
    Rock Guy: This is a G cord. (Strums his guitar)

    Cut to boy sitting in chair, side view (overhead).
    Male Voice: He's learning. Absorbing. He's getting smarter every day.

    Cut to boy with anthropologist sitting across from him.
    Anthropologist: Homo habilis was the first to use tools.

    Cut to Coach John R. Wooden speaking to boy.
    Coach Wooden: A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that's teamwork.

    Cut to close-up of boy.
    Male Voice: It's happening fast.

    Cut to astrologer speaking to boy.
    Astrologer: We've always watched the stars. If you look at the sky, you can see the beginning of time.

    Cut to soccer player bouncing ball on knee in front of boy.
    Cut to Professor Gates speaking to boy.
    Mr. Gates: Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom. But sharing data is the first step toward community.

    Cut to side shot of poet speaking to boy.
    Poet: Poetry. There's not much glory in poetry, only achievement.

    Cut to overhead shot of boy.
    Voice: Knowledge amplification. What he learns, we all learn. What he knows, we all benefit from.

    Cut to side shot of Sylvia Nasar speaking to boy.
    Ms. Nasar: One little thing can solve an incredibly complex problem.

    Cut to frontal shot of Penny Marshall speaking to boy.
    Ms. Marshall: Everything's about timing kid.

    Cut to side shot of businessman speaking to boy.
    CEO: This is business. Faster. Better. Cheaper. Constant improvement.

    Cut to camera panning overhead, then to Pilot speaking to boy.
    Pilot: So, you wanna fly, huh? Wind speed, thrust, it's physics.
    Latin Teacher: Res publica non dominetur.

    Cut to plumber speaking to boy.
    Plumber: Plumbing, it's all about the tools.

    Cut to Muhammad Ali.
    Ali: Speak your mind. Don't back down.

    Cut to camera panning over boy's head into white.
    Female Voice: Does he have a name?
    Male Voice: His name is BSD. He's dying.
    --
    Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
    1. Re:Text version of ad: by murrayn · · Score: 1


      How could you moderators have missed this post?

      Glad I didn't, it made my evening.

    2. Re:Text version of ad: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      well, if I had more points left :)