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IBM Puts $100M Behind Linux Push
IainMH writes "Over at the BBC, there is a report that despite the slow build up, IBM is spending $100m (£52m) over the next three years beefing up its commitment to Linux software. It continues: 'The cash injection will be used to help its customers use Linux on every type of device from handheld computers and phones right up to powerful servers.'" Commentary and coverage also available on TechNewsWorld and ZDNet.
... to run linux!??!
Say wah!?!?!?
Might be just what it takes to get a large chunk of hardware manufacturers and software vendors to start offering Linux-friendly products.
Sure, it might not start out as Linux-friendly games and gaming hardware, but this could be a very good start.
I also hope that, when IBM starts making money with Linux, that some moral compass directs them to give something back.
There's a Mercedes gap too. I want one and can't afford one, but it's not government's job to do anything about it.
And develop an easy-install linux that works on virtually every big-vendor box with a good GUI. Something like OSX but free and for that weird instruction set everyone else uses. *flamebait, kill my karma*
My little site.
Note to IBM: MAKE YOUR OWN SOFTWARE WORK FIRST!!!
Linux IT Consulting and Domino Development in Michigan
Why do I get the feeling that in five years you will ask the man-in-the-street what Linux is and they will reply, "That's that IBM stuff, right? Runs on all the 'puters!"
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
The cash injection will be used to help its customers use Linux on every type of device from handheld computers and phones right up to powerful servers.
I pledge to install Linux on at least one PC, one laptop, and one handheld. How much of the $100M do I get?
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
one-hundred-meeelion-dollars!
- passion
I know it fits inbetween handhelds and servers somewhere, but it seems there's more Linux growth on those two ends (handhelds and servers) than in the middle, on desktops of Joe user.
Right now Ubuntu looks OK for the Gnomers and XandrOS is just fine for the KDErs [IMHO]. The most important thing here is to have a desktop that works out-of-the-box.
With companies like IBM putting a lot of effort into pushing Linux, it may make businesses that are reluctant to adopt an OS that has a perceived lack of support behind it more willing to try it out.
This is good news and certainly a major push for Linux.
No, they made $2 billion using and pushing Linux and their products which either run Linux or run on top of it.
You make it sound like they're freeloading by pressing copies of Debian and selling them.
They may have had $2 billion in Linux-related revenues, but the cost of making those $2 billion in sales was significant in terms of engineering, training consultants, sales, cannibalizing other resources which were going elsewhere, etc.
How much did they sell in Windows-related purchases in that time?
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
Question: Why do we commonly call aspirin "aspirin" when it's really acetylsalicylic acid?
Answer: Because it's easier you fucking moron!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
Clearly this is almost entirely focused on the server side aka Workplace which is a huge complex assembly of AIX, Linux, Python, Java and RDBMSs. This is aimed at business space that wants to use Linux for things like CRM, Peoplesoft, SAP, Oracle, Seibel and custom made apps.
For a company that made $2 billion off of Linux in the first year, it would seem that more spending would be appropriate.
Companies don't care how much spending would be "appropriate". They are going with spending that they think is going to be profitable, just the way it should be.
Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
This might seem obvious, but having IBM endorse Linux (by money infusions and advertising) really helps the OS community spread the software into mainstream business. My supervisor is so old-school and tends to favor MS products, but with this kind of support from IBM, I can now at least get a couple of Linux servers up and running without complaints and my supervisor can see the reliability that exceeds Windows in these instances first-hand.
BTM
That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
they'll just end up having one guy go around installing red hat all day and blow the rest of the money on coke and whores.
The thing to remember about IBM is that the are the do-everything company. Where Sun, or Microsoft, or Apple etc. try and sell you one vision of the future, IBM invest in everything, and let you decide what you want.
Want to run Linux sir? No problem! Or Windows? No problem too. Proprietary UNIX? We've got it. Have we got some bizarre other operating systems? Have we ever!
We'll sell you an Intel server, a RISC based unix server, an AMD server, any bizarre server you like. Stuck in the 80s and can't decide whether you want fat clients or thin clients and a mainframe? No problem, we've got mainframes, we've got PCs (until recently, of course).
My point is that IBM may be investing $100m in Linux, but chances are, they are also investing $100m in everything else too. That's the IBM way- because they never stick all of their chips on one technology, they never win big (like Wintel has done), but they never lose their shirts either (like Sun looks like doing, and HP looks like doing with Itanic)
Probably more
The "G4" or PPC 7xxx chips are made by "Freescale Semiconductor". IBM makes the "G3" (PPC 7x0) (which isn't used by Apple anymore), the "G5" (PPC 9x0), and the POWERx chips.
Let me just say that I run Linux on IBM hardware and for the most part it's ok. The hardware is managed to within an inch of it's life and there are a number of propriatary componients to this hardware that just down not play well with "FLOSS" deployments. Ie keeping up to date often means loosing propriatary functionality or control for a while.
I see they are finally making progress on integrating more of the hardware into the software ( IE partitioning is kindof working ). But for the most part I spend 3x the time managing the IBM hardware then real commodity hardware like dell's. With commodity hardware I can find better documentation, better written toolchains ( free toolclains that can be altered ). With IBM's I have to reverse engeneer how the software works just to figure out why it stoped working.
Overall it's just an odd fit. IBM is trying to commodidize the OS so they don't have to worry about it, but the problem with that is it leads to the result that commodity hardware is better supported, not what IBM is selling! So the more they push Linux the more we are moving away from IBM hardware and moving to true commodity hardware like Dell's ( at less than half the price per CPU ). IBM hardware may be reliable, but st some point it's just not worth 2x or more of the price.
they do not hate bill
hate is not as strong as love
they would love more bills!
I have the an older version R5 running under wine but wasn't able to install 6.5.1
I'm running 6.5.2 under WINE; works just fine.
Also, until IBM releases a native Linux client, Notes will continue running under WINE. The development team actually tests on WINE and if Notes doesn't run, they track down why and fix it in Notes.
Actually porting Notes to Linux will take a while; in the meantime, IBM makes sure that it runs on Linux via WINE.
(Note: I work for IBM, but I don't speak for IBM, or have any connection to the Notes teams.)
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
It is the Licence, stupid.
Some could come along and take the BSD changes, incorporate into a closed project and then change things a little so things are not compatible the open project.
Sure noone would ever do that. Kerberos
At least with linux and other GPL stuff noonecan close off any changes.
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
IBM still sells AIX, and Solaris is still the biggest selling UNIX by a large margin. What will hurt MS Windows is the evolution of the Linux Desktop. The current Linux Desktops are basically on par with Windows in usability, now what we need are games and business applications. If companies like Intuit were to step off the Windows bandwagon to make their apps portable to GNOME or KDE, that would be a huge win. If they were to do a good port to Java, the could even support Linux, Windows, and Mac OS with minimal additional effort.
-- Microsoft is the most expensive commodity operating system and office suite vendor in the marketplace.