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HP May Be Developing Its Own Version of Linux
vondiggity writes to tell us that HP is working on several different ways to make an end run around Vista. Among the plans is also a supposed rumor that certain factions within HP are developing their own flavor of Linux. Executives at HP deny that any meaningful amount of resources are being directed into plans for a mass-market operating system, stating their main goal is to innovate on top of Vista. "Still, the sources say employees in HP's PC division are exploring the possibility of building a mass-market operating system. HP's software would be based on Linux, the open-source operating system that is already widely available, but it would be simpler and easier for mainstream users, the sources say. The goal may be to make HP less dependent on Windows and to strengthen HP's hand against Apple (AAPL), which has gained market share in recent years by offering easy-to-use computers with its own operating system."
They could name it HP-LX!
It occurs to me that they aren't going to do this because they love Linux. They would do it to make money and I'm willing to bet that if they make their own version it would be designed to be difficult to move to other systems. They won't want to develop something at any expense and have someone else under cut their prices.
It might be nice to have the average user know what Linux is though.
lol: You see no door there!
If anyone can kill Linux its HP
For their quick start CD, firmware update CD's etc. System Insight manager and their other management tools are full of GPL software.
It's not rocket science at this point and I'm sure they have enough market data at this point to see that it's a viable niche. After all, a low price is always a viable niche.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
If Linux is going to make it on the desktop this is the way it will happen. Now there is a concentrated effort of programmers (paid ones at that) with a large amount of financial support from a major player in the desktop market.
HP wins because they can now ship a desktop for less and they have more control over the quality of the product which they ship. Win-Win for them unless MS decides this won't do and threaten to increase prices. It will be a long time before a corporate provider of desktops/servers can say no to MS.
Here's my take: it's a press release to put the fear of Jebus in MS. That's all. There's nothing concrete. There's no explicit description of what exactly they're going to do - all HP would need to do is just ship with [insert your favorite distro here]. But instead they make this BIG announcement of how they're going to have their 'own Linux flavor' to 'replace' Windows.
Yawn. Negotiating strategy and they're bluffing.
...stating their main goal is to innovate on top of Vista.
Could we please stop referring to programming as "innovating"? Not every single piece of code anyone writes is a breakthrough.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
I think the smartest route would be to build on debian in this case. While they could cram whatever they like ontop the OS would still both benefit from and contribute back to the community.
Whatever they build upon i hold my thumbs its something new because if one thing is needed today its more OS out there. More diversity demands more standards and interoperations and that would be very good for IT as a whole.
HTTP/1.1 400
...and I've got it right next to me on an Intel machine. I guess they aren't having too hard a time 'getting around Vista.'
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For both Dell and HP the allure of Linux is no need to be dependent on another company to innovate the OS to drive Laptop and Desktop sales. If they are willing to take a short term loss supporting two operating systems (Don't fool yourselves, OEM's support Windows for end users, not Microsoft) then they get to keep another $30-$100 bucks to add to their profits. Until the promise of cloud computing materializes, it will be difficult to sell consumer Linux without setting expectations that you will be using free versions of software or provide the software and support like Apple does. Plus be willing to stick out the growing process until you get 2-3% of the market. By the way, the model has worked for the big three of servers (IBM, HP and Dell) and now Linux is decent, higher margin revenue driver for all three companies.
If desktop linux is ever to be successful, there needs to be a standard and tightly integrated stack. The choice and openness that makes linux so great in the eyes of some is it's bane in the desktop market, and for software support as well.
Similes are like metaphors
Since there is already a great effort to make one linux distro 'easy' why would HP want to reproduce all the same efforts? They should at least take Ubuntu and build upon it, but really... Why bother? They may as well just work on developing hardware drivers for all their hardware and support Ubuntu as an install option (like Dell does). I think Linux is bloody good! The only holding it back now is aplications, wine is a good start, ensuring many existing windows apps will work on Linux, but a beautiful movie maker, photo manipulation, music maker et.al like Apple's iDVD, iPhoto and Garageband are something that Linux could do with. Maybe HP could sponsor one of these?
like phosphorescent desert buttons singing one familiar song
But in the Linux wars, we all win.
The bazaar is selling the steeple from the cathedral on eBay
HP needs what most all of the other OEMs need and that is some market differentiation that isn't based on price. No one wants a perfectly commodotized market to compete in. Windows for all of it's possible benefits carries a huge burden in that when you wish to sell a product built around it your product ends up looking an awful lot like everyone else's product. Leaving price (and profit) as the only real difference
In the end I think that this is survival for HP because I think MS has jumped the shark.
load "$",8,1
i think im liking this idea.
Read radical news here
thought it was the Greeks
rewriting history since 2109
right, but if they want to compete on the desktop, it'll need a snazzy look and a new name. They can call it OS Eleven
It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be working with OS X. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your computer. Where can you go from there? Where?
By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth. -- George Carlin
Let me reword what you said to show how silly it is:
Motives are less important than the freedoms provided. If HP offers the four software freedoms, I hope they make buckets of money. Good faith contribution and use are always welcome, both strengthen software freedom.
"Undercutting" in the free software world is as preposterous a notion as Windoze OEM installs that really don't transfer to other systems or run without permission. Software freedom is about cooperating to meet user needs. No one cares who provides the eventual solution and who profits from it because everyone wins anyway you look at it.
For all of that, I have to agree with your last assertion. It would be good if more people understood software freedom. When that is clear both GNU/Linux and Windows can be seen for what they are.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
They would work on developing WINE. Just another Linux distribution would only be another OS that cant compete with Windows because it cant do wht most people need to do, run windows apps. If HP really was interested in defeating Windows it would help develop Wine, so everyone would be able to compete in the OS marketplace on an even playing field. Microsoft only keeps its market share because apps and drivers which only run on Windows. Allow people to run Windows apps and drivers and then you have an OS that really can make headway against MS.
Being ignorant, that is to say, having little or no knowledge of a subject, does not mean that someone is incapable of learning (stupid.) I have two users I support on a regular basis who know how to do their jobs well, and complicated jobs at that, but don't know much at all about the computer they're using. One was recently quite frustrated that they weren't able to open PDF files with Word, the idea that files required specific applications to be used was a revelation. (Yeah, I might have been able to get it to work, but simple is better.) Another was only vaguely aware that they could navigate to files outside of applications, starting with My Computer was a novelty.
Both have the capacity to learn how to use their computer for more than they have, and they are both capable of doing complex work very well. That said, there is some basic knowledge that IT professionals take for granted. The concepts of files and programs is a distinction that many computer users never make. The OS is a concept that both could grasp, but neither has any motivation to learn since it doesn't help them accomplish their tasks any faster or easier. It proves a distraction in fact to learn the things that they *could* do, since actually doing those things would cut down on their production and learning how to do them would take valuable time.
Just to underscore the point, I recently put in a call to tech support for a complex application that was not functioning correctly. The subject matter was one of moving significant amounts of money that belong to other people, so we're not talking minor stuff. The support technician told me to open up "your Internet" and was quick to blame the oft maligned Microsoft Updates for the problem (and no, it was not an update at fault.) Granted, the reference to Internet Explorer, which is what they really meant, and the assumption that updates applied flawlessly to millions of computers would mysteriously make one machine malfunction did nothing to improve my assessment of their knowledge, but in the end they knew all they needed to in order to fix the issue. Their SOP was sufficient without real understanding of the underlying technology.
The computing industry is still in infancy. Like a two year old taking first steps, the industry has collectively leaned a tremendous number of things and started to make huge headway into new areas. Like a toddler, we are proud and excited and tend to think that whatever we're currently doing (cloud computing, virtualization, ajax, xml) is the coolest thing ever. Often we have no idea what we're going to be excited by next. Note that none of this is bad, but perhaps a little perspective is called for.
In the not too terribly distant future, the computer may be unimportant, the OS may be unimportant and the particular applications may be unimportant. It doesn't take a tremendous leap to imagine systems that look and feel pretty much like a browser but handle any type of content we want to throw at it and can analyze faster and better than we've grown used to expecting. Imagine an AI that could do all the tasks for you, which currently require "basic" computing knowledge. I submit that we'll soon look back on the days of files, applications and operating systems like we do now on the different types of engine building knowledge of a hundred years ago. It won't be unimportant, but users soon really won't need to know and when they don't, and they won't, it will be the most efficient tools that are used, not the best marketed.
B) Eliminate all the stupid users. This is frowned upon by society.
HP will steal it from them claiming that since they (the employees) already work for HP, that HP owns anything they might tend to create and thusly, will kill the project and notify all HP employees that similar skunkworks will get them fired.
Fixed that for you.
Maybe they could "innovate" a version of Linux which stops a laptop booting after a year and a bit of use . Just a second... my HP DV2000 already does that. Thanks assholes.
I was wondering how long before we start hearing rumours about OEMs developing their own OSes to make up for the underwhelming underpeformance of vista.
PC retailers large and small depend fractionally on the sucess of the OSes that will run on them. Especially in light of the competition offered by to Apple which is stealing sales off Dell, HP etc.
If Microsoft's blundering starts hurting the bottom line of these big companies, they will take matters into their own hands
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
Then they would get everyone to switch.. "I'd switch to Linux if I could play my favorite game (insert here)".
HP did buy VooDooPC to get into the gaming market - which is about building really fast machines. Linux is lighter weight than Vista so a high end gaming rig running Linux would blaze.
Apple isn't noted for strong gaming - so HP launching a tweaked version of Linux (probably Ubuntu as it's closest to offering mainstream user OS needs) or Wine so "all popular games" will run on it, turn on default eye-candy in the standard Ubuntu Desktop and HP will be there!
This should be an interesting next couple of years.
No, it would be more like: 'Hippie-Licks'.
Where did you find the 'ck' in HP?
*disclaimer* I don't consider myself a 'hippie' (original definition, nor HP fanboy), but I do run Linux (Kubuntu/Ubuntu 5.04 to 8.04...presently- waiting for 9.04!)
You need a lot of practice. Apparently the current moderator's also think so.
No + Funny for you!
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti