Slashdot Mirror
Lockheed Replaces 10,000 Solaris Seats with Linux
bl8n8r writes "Citing hardware and software TCO, a source close to Lockheed Martin says the aeronautics giant will be replacing 10,000 of its Solaris seats with Linux. The article mentions AutoZone, IBM, SCO and Daimler Chrysler and what may be in store for Lockheed Martin.
'Every engineer has a Microsoft PC sitting next to their Sun Blade,' said their source. 'That's for business applications, and Linux is no threat there. It's Sun who has to worry.' Wait till they find out how much they can save running OpenOffice."
The whole "article" seems to depend on the word of "a Lockheed employee who is close to the transition." I have my doubts about their source. For example, the source says this about Lockheed's lawyers:
According to our source, Lockheed's lawyers "are like a deer in the headlights" because of SCO's legal threats over Linux usage.
Are you serious? Lockheed is a defense contractor, a major government supplier. Their lawyers aren't going to be "deer in the headlights" against these or any other litigious bastards. More like "alligators in the swamp," if you want to use nature as a metaphor. If SCO so much as puts a toe in Lockheed's water, they're going to lose a leg.
So after calling BS on this, can the source be trusted? He's competely ignorant of the real legal threat, but knows a lot about what's on and under the engineers' desks.
I say their "reliable source" is the janitor. He's probably the guy who stole your lunch out of the fridge last week.
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
Haven't we got to the point where these kinds of stories aren't news any more?
Surely we don't need to have any more "another company using linux" news flashes.
Lots of people use linux. Lots more companies use it every day.
In order for the Linux community to accept the level of success that we have achieved already, it's time to realise that we don't need to bash out these stories all the time.
Jolyon
Please read my Canon EOS tech blog at http://www.everyothershot.com
CAD and other engineering apps usually have versions available for linux, or solaris. They are usually very expensive.
From the CAD and Engineering point of view, the advantage of Windows is in a cheap lower quality competition. You can often find a system that doesn 60 percent of the big system for a tenth the price. On linux, you have the choice of contorting yourself around an open source app which is free but does 30 percent of what you need, badly, or shelling out the $10,000 per seat for the real stuff.
CAD and other engineering apps usually have versions available for linux, or solaris. They are usually very expensive.
True, but I just mentioned CAD in passing. I'm sure they use a lot of other specialized stuff that grubs like us know nothing about.
Don't get me wrong, Linux can replace a lot of MS workstations out there now. But a lot of companies use software that isn't available at all on Linux. Maybe it's from a small firm, maybe it's not that well known outside the people that use it, maybe nobody's released a Linux version yet.
I'm just saying, that Lockheed probably had a good reason not to go with Linux on the "business app" workstations. They probably need to run some stuff under Windows, and want a modicrum of support (most vendors will not support their app if it's running under Wine or something).
The very FIRST issue you have with OpenOffice, whether it's a formatting issue, file conversion, or other imcompatiblity, will cost MORE than Microsoft Office in the loss of productivity and IT staff.
I agree, there's a non-zero cost to moving to so-called "free" software. On the other hand, what about the cost of upgrading when Microsoft decides that your version of Office has reached "end of life"?
It's appropriate to put scare quotes around "free" software... but the same thing applies to "purchased" software. "free" isn't completely free, but neither is "purchased" completely paid for.
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
It sounds as if nearly every other news story I read regarding Sun Microsystems make the picture for them look progressively more grim. They have been trying to realign themselves and have changed their strategies somewhat but is it too late?
I recall years ago working with Sun/Solaris systems alongside i86/Linux systems. I was amazed at the hardware costs associated with servicing some of the Sun product line. The prices were outrageous. Something like 5 to 10 times what the i86 servers were demanding. What's the point? I even recall when Sun started deploying supposedly lower-end, lower-cost i86 hardware. The costs were still 3 times what I was expecting.
Can't say I'm sorry to see them hitting hard times. Java will be the only legacy they have left over looking back at this 3-5 years from now.
So forget it. It's not good enough, they have to interoperate with too many subcontracters, government agencies, etc, etc..
And, like it or not, the world uses MS Office formats. OO.o isn't good enough.
They wouldn't save anything. They'd waste a lot of time and effort reformatting documents sent to them, resending documents to others, etc.
Seriously, it's called reality, you all might want to look into it.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
to move clients from MS to Linux on their workstations and servers. My score so far:
Internal Mail Servers: 6
Firewall/Routers: 8
File Servers: 5
Workstations: 1
There used to be more file servers. When we moved them to Linux file servers we would find that a critical software application would migrate to some server-side-critical application (like a run-time of MS SQL) and we would have to move the entire box to 2000 server.
Workstations are even harder. We migrate them and the users bitch about not being able to use their "favorite software". Only once, 2 weeks ago, did we find users overjoyed to get Linux. A local Aquatic Park had the lifegards surfing on their XP box until it was unusable. Since it had to be blown off anyway, I threw a Knoppix 3.4 disk into the CD and did the install, configured the users, their email, the printer and the network, and showed them where the apps were. So far they are still happy with the functionality. Plus no viruses and no spyware.
It is very difficult to move people away from even the "standard" apps (Office, etc.). When it comes to specialized applications it is impossible; for now.
No one ever had to evacuate a city because the solar panels broke!
I retired from a major defense contractor a bit over 6 years ago. If anything, what I observed then is even more true now.
The biggest obstacle to LockMart changing over to OO is the fact that their main customer, the US Government is a big time MS user. If the US government changed over to OO this week, LockMart and the other major defense contractors would change over by the end of next month.
It's not the technical challange, it's the suitability for the job at hand. A good share of a defense contractors work needs to be compatible with the goverment's systems.
Government offices and defense contrator employees tend to do a lot of fancy, unnecessary but pretty and fun BS with Powerpoint, Word and Excel that make their files unreadable by OO. I'm sure the Linux zealots will say they should stop doing that, but that doesn't change reality.
I will confess to doing quite a bit elaborate engineering work in Excel that made them OO incompatible and would have been better done in more specialized packages...but, that would have made it more inconvenient to share my work with others in my organization and in the government. Considering reality, Excel and other MS Orifice packages were the best tools for the job, and still is if you are working at a major defense contractor and communicate with the government.
Sounds like the kind of sabre-rattling corporations do, when they want to negotiate a new contract with better discounts. Have other corporations threatened to move to Linux when they wanted lower license fees from Microsoft?
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
When I do work for Mallinkrodt they are very specific about what file types they accept. They call the shots because they have the deeper pockets. Lockhead is in a similar situation.
That's like saying that everone should be given the freedom of speech only if they say things thing that does not offend anyone. Besides, people don't seem to mind civilian use of technologies that were initally created for the military use.
1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d