Unilever Ditches Global IT Linux Migration

GP writes "One to stir the open source debate. The CIO of global consumer goods giant Unilever says in this interview with silicon.com that the company has ditched plans to migrate its enterprise IT platform to Linux running on Itanium. He reckons hidden support costs and security issues have emerged over the past two years with open source and that proprietary vendors have also raised their game in response to the 'threat'."

Comments

Just a thought...

[torrents]

You'd be surprised how many high level IT decisions are based more on who the CEO plays golf with than what would be best for the company...

Re:I wonder.

[mrs dogbreath]

Listen man I have had a few Hondas in my time
Honda ain't Linux thats for sure; it's a professional company*
Honda, thank fuck, isn't OS X**
Honda is kind of OpenVMS, certainly not as "stolen" as Solaris**
Daewoo might be like windows in this car == os tosh, I know I sent one back after a week

*Amatures don't get paid, pros do
** BSD clones, nay "Distros"

Great News!

[bmgz]

Linux is for the people! not the Corporatations! Tux will bite you capitalist pigs in the ass every time!

Did I mention it has never been cracked?

[DaedalusHKX]

Oh... umm... I guess now I have.

And the funny part is that when I asked him "why not upgrade?" he asked me "are you nuts?!"

Seems he prefers to build a bastion host the right way, and leave it on, than to constantly patch systems so he can "have something to show".

Linux is constantly getting updated, but it is much like BSD... once you've built an application specific rig... perhaps the ONLY things needing updating are things that are broken... which on truly "secured" hosts, should not be broken. New updates can sometimes introduce holes that break a system... This is why many organizations do not blindly apply patches ESPECIALLY to their Microsoft systems. Microsoft's patches ROUTINELY break functionallity and security on older apps, regardless of the fact that half the world uses them... (*cough* Nmap *cough*)

Anyways, enough of the bitching. If a corporation wants to run something other than Linux, let them. Corporations run whatever they please. They are all the equivalent of psychotic axe wielding murderers for a neighbor... if you base your faith on corporations, you're downright fucked... Look around at what "corporatism" has brought us.

Because we are a corporately owned nation, we can buy, sell and genocide entire defenseless nations (*cough* Iraq *cough*) but we cannot easilly recover from a strike against us... is George Bush going to declare war on weather now? It is sad when one little natural weather event can trash "the worlds mightiest country". Would the Chinese be as crippled as we are? Probably not, because they don't depend on greedy corporations to dictate prices on vital resources... they just take them if they need them. Do you care if Unocal uses Linux and Exxon is a windows shop when they both slap you in the face with 4.25/gallon??

~D

PS - Making critical applications server centric nowadays is like putting 1/3'd of the nation's oil refineries in one VERY EASILY FLOODED valley 60 feet below sea level... in other words... A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN... well... guess what... it happened. Everyone give a hand of applause to idiotic design in action. Perhaps now the morons in charge will notice what guys like me were saying... "don't build a house of straw in a windy valley and worry about the big bad wolf coming to huff and puff... worry about the wind, the valley and the straws". For those of you who are republicans (i.e. unthinking puppets, I will explain my quote: "do not be worrying about a terrorist attack, when the true enemy is the companies that have been fucking the nation with the help of the greedy pigs in the republican party... worry about the fact that our nation can be so easilly hit by a storm and everyone panicks. That is what worries me. If a nuke had gone off, everyone would be up in arms, and invading another helpless country... who're we gonna invade now?! God? Obviously there's a message here that we've been saying to our "leaders" for the last 5 years... **stay the fuck out of other people's business if you can't even run yours right** but rich republican right wingers don't listen... so let them watch nature at work.)