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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I kind of like IBM making money out of Linux, it means they have a stake in what happens to it and will more than likly contribute to it's growth and development. since Linux will remain open source it's really both of us that benifit, the company makes money and Linux gets some of the holes filled in with great wads of cash.
I think you're missing the point. They don't need to have a "moral compass" directing them to give something back. IBM and Novell are both betting their business plans on the success of Linux, so the desire to make their business succeed and the desire to profit will direct them to use their time/money/resources to make Linux a success.
Or, more properly speaking, we should not be using the future tense. IBM and Novell are making money with Linux, and they have been "giving back". The good news is not "IBM is being nice and making a large charitable contribution towards Linux development". The story here is, "IBM views Linux as a necessary component for their success, and they are [currently] putting a lot of resources into helping Linux grow."
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.
Give them the razor, sell them the blades comes to mind (and is a good source for a pun). If IBM kicks its fabs into full production, starts putting their power chips into millions of devices, and really nails the world on the whole 'digital convergence' crap, Microsoft's $2000 Tivo will be nothing.
/random speculation
How far could you push a generic box? Linux is a router, is a tivo, is a phone system, is a PC, is a whatever you dream up. Sell a platform for it, do what Dodge did with the K-car, and sit back and count the cash.
Maybe that's why they teamed up with Sony for the PS3?
Actually porting Notes to Linux ain't gonna happen. The legacy codebase is such that it would be prohibitively expensive, or so I was told (as a member of the public) by a product manager a few years back.
What's happening instead is that IBM Lotus Workplace products, the next-generation collaboration products, are getting Domino compatibility and the functionality of the Notes client. The Workplace "rich client" products are built on Eclipse and work natively on Linux (and presumably OS X too).
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak