Slashdot Mirror
Merill Lynch on Y2K: good for Free Software
Nouvelles Neuves Linux quotes Merill Lynch as stating:
"When all the smoke around the year 2000 has finally cleared
away, the survey suggests there will be a shift away from
the Windows-based client server environment. Within a 3-year
time scale, the majority of users are expected to have moved
to a network computing platform, with Java applications
taking a more dominant role. The survey also notes that
Linux is becoming an important industry trend. What is
missing is an industry leader pushing open software towards
the mainstream, but Merrill Lynch expects that by mid-year
IBM Corp may slip into this role, offering Linux service and
support. This slide towards open source has been backed up
by Sun Microsystems making Java in part open source.
According to the survey, the outcome of these changes could,
in time, have as drastic an effect on software pricing as
the advent of microprocessor did on hardware pricing."
Seperately, on last Friday's
Wall Street News with Louis Rukeyser, the small caps investor
said she was not investing in Software Companies because most
companies would want to stay with software they knew rather
than installing new products until 2000.
Open Source Software has a tendency to accumulate. So once the basics are done, the development moves toward higher end. GUI shells, office suites, graphics and [snip] I see it as a wave that slowly goes over software and liberates it one app at a time.
I happen to agree with this, although I don't think the industry or (un)established user base (that is very "commercial"-centric) is ready (business maturity reference) to embrace the concept.
The "commercial" legitimacy of linux is under debate (despite the peer review process--which other industries such as medical and legal accept)and has defined parameters for acceptance and rejection--commercialization of linux needs help.
I think awareness of the truth is a key factor! Until the bean counters can feel the "warm fuzzy" they have for mainstream "commercial" software, AFE/PO requests will be denied on the basis of fear and ignorance.
Its a bizaar irony that Open concepts provide for core review and Closed concepts don't, yet your average user [generalization] trusts the stuff on the shelf that carries a big name. This is natural, the average user isn't a coder.
I implore our youth and/or activist inclined to empower the message and allow us "dinosaurs" to witness this phenomenon. I see the merits and flaws of the arguments on both sides. I hope this eutopian ideal happens in my lifetime (and I would feel honored to witness such).
TLTCA (To lazy to create account)
Z
As an ex-employee at ML, I'm happy to report that
:) ). Let's hope they go whole-hog on this stuff - they can help fuel service industry companies that support Linux.
their technology dept is HUGELY dependent on free
software. (Think emacs, think apache, think sendmail . . . keep thinking)
It would not be surprising to me to see them go to Linux as an OS on the server-end (I'm sure they have it installed there already). With them, it is not an issue of whether you "trust" their usage or not, they are software _customers_ !
Also, being installed on Wall Street is a huge upturn for your stock (why do you think M$ gives them stuff for free
that applications are moving to the network. open source is a good thing no doubt but more important is migration of apps---all you ms haters take note-- this is what will break the monopoly. with tcp/ip, http, html, xml, etc. you can use linux, mac, windows, bsd, whatever platform you like. win32 apis become less important. this is all good - platform independence benefits us all.
The "bean counters" and HR people would love to see the unix community have provable\sp creditentials.
While I am enjoying the benefits of uncertanity because I happen to be the "guru," I envy those in the MS world that can get "certification."
Can the Open movement come up with some certification in the unix world with respect to competency.
HP has HPUX courses (not certification, I may be wrong), IBM has AIX certification, Sun has Solaris, its plan...blah[this is useless, no need to go into each flavor].
Professionals desire this, HR people are baffled....is unix destined to truely remain the last hold out and maintain the master/apprentice relationship?
Unix is Unix....BSD or ATT derivative is given...can we please centralize and standardize our standards of comparision.....I don't want another MS type bullshit...but if we could test to confirm an RFC # and then accept this as a criteria.....we all could then benefit.
As a managerial type in the IT world (and *ix preferential) I would encourage the youth and advocates to press for a unified unix certification....íe: "This prospect knows the fundamentals of ATT and BSD and is viable...."
I entertain challenges to thus/same.
Z.... you know my style now.
off topic as all hell, but hey, wha da fuck?
anyone remember the Ixians from Dune?
they were the technological 'preisthood' . . .
this isn't gonna happen until most people find replacements for their 56k winmodems. And even if everyone had access to cable modems (I don't) it will be charged by the minute instead of unlimited for $20 a month? that also sucks
In the past, IBM earned money by selling hardware
(and software was bundled for free). Now they are earning (a little less) money by selling services. In both cases, the size of the company (and some business and engineering culture) was essential for their success. However, for software, these properties do not help - which explains why IBM was not successful. Then, why should Free Software NOT fit into their strategy?
The Red Hat Certification looks interesting. It apears to be more of a test for gurus than a certification program however. But if all you are looking for is a piece of paper on the wall.... Problem is, its Red Hat, not Unix in general.
The industry in general doesn't recognize Red Hat as an authority that certification demands.
I call on AT&T, IBM, or (heaven forbid) Microsoft to come up with a Unix certification.
Z
this isn't gonna happen until most people find replacements for their 56k winmodems
Are you on medication or drunk or just stupid?
Speed of communication is moot with reguard to client/server technology. The issue is in a real world business context (not the home child baby context).
This whole speed issue is a silly and irrevelent thread.
Z
Once autocad is ported to Linux, then I can finally show my father the benifits of Linux. He agrees with me when I call Windows shitty software... So since he is very dependent on autocad, once they port it over to Linux I could show him how Linux works and is stable ect.. (unless they make autocad for linux very bloated...) He also would be willing to pay for it if it came along with the Win95/98/NT CD...(since he does currently pay for that anyways)
Dunno who you are but you do have the "Z" attitude.
Kudos my unknown friend.
TLTAC
Z
He has a show on PBS.
Linux is stable enough for the desktop, and it ain't that hard to make it work.
All we need are the Mark Paukers, the Philipe Kahns, the Mark Manzis of the world to publish a Tornado Notes, or a ParadoxDOS, or a Sidekick. Better yet, how about TurboCobol for Linux?
The first one of these will just take off, and it'll be the glory days of the late 80s and early 90s when millionaires were made with DOS with every good and not so good idea.
Just you watch.
So?
This is in response to the two above articles (not necessarily the parent).
It'll be a hot day in Lower Dante's Hell when MS does *nix certification. (Note that in Dante's version of Hell, the top of Hell is burning hot while the bottom of Hell is colder than Antarctica.) That would mean that the corporate mindset believes that Unix is a viable alternative. While MS claims that Unix is a competitor, I don't really see them doing any Unix development. They're concentrating on their own OS.
As for the MSCE... Well, I have objections to it based on the last word, 'Engineer'. I have an engineering degree and while I don't get as upset as others when people say they're engineers because they have a 'MSCE' certificate, I roll my eyes when they say it. I've seen the tests and I agree, the certification is meaningless as far as understanding of the OS.
Meryll lynch *has* been wrong about computers before, espically about Microsoft being aquired by IBM, remember that? =P
Which company has a signed paper from MS saying it won't enter the Unix market?
Considering Merrill is very much a Microsoft shop, the interesting question is are they going to join the party or stay with MickeySoft?
The revolution will NOT be televised.
I don't think Microsoft will ever recover from OSS, when (if? nah...) it hits em in the ass. Just look at their bread and butter suite, Office. Only small OEM's distribute "non-Office" suites because they don't qualify for massive MS discounts, and they're too small to worry about pissing MS off by selecting say Lotus or WordPerfect.
When the industry says "enough" to yearly changes in Office file formats Microsoft will have trouble enough, but if Microsoft loses the choke point called Windows then their apps will suffer also.
Most people use Microsoft products because it is harder not to. Just TRY to work in a mixed-app group with someone using FrontPage, or Office. Lots of deadline-challenged apps will mess your HTML a little bit, but FEW GO OUT OF THEIR WAY like FrontPage. To see what I mean, open HTML containing imagemaps and see it your code "upgraded" to imagemap "bots" that ONLY work on FrontPage-compatible servers. You can get some of these bots for UNIX, but they are not supported even if you pay $, and besides MS server bots leave amazingly big security holes for some d00d to exploit...
No, not from Dune ;-)
-- LaTeX, The Best There Is
I pay $34.95+cable bills per month for my cable modem..
No per-minute fees.
:)
Just about every new computer out these days has a (bleepin') WinModem on it. Those things are worse than useless.
When windows users become Linux newbies, they will think something is wrong with Linux because their modems don't work - and they worked fine before on Windows.
Um... I didn't see this particular episode of
Wall $treet Journal, but I think the post was
referring to a _guest_ on the show.
Just FYI...
Within in a week after the certification tests are released a company such as Trancender will release a Become *nix Certified in 24 hours. MSCE is a joke... people might be certified but all it proves is that they can read and memorize. After working first hand with several of these certified persons it becomes painfully obvious that there is something seriously wrong with the entire certification process. Of course, your mileage may vary.
And yet they're still here, sans concessions. Hmmm... something must be wrong with your logic.
This all sounds good, but does anyone really believe that the computer industry will truly embrace a trend that reduces their profits?
Granted, companies like Netscape have been forced in the past to give away their software, but remember that Netscape's true profit base has always been in their server software, which remains highly priced. High-end server applications will certainly never be free, and I suspect that as Linux becomes standardized, client applications will also begin to be charged. It IS possible to distribute Linux applications without source (as many companies such as id Software do, for good reason). After gaining favor with the rapidly growing Linux user-base, companies will probably begin shifting over to commercial products once again... after all, the most important goal of any company is money for the board and shareholders - the idealist that support "open source" will not last long is such an environment unless they make concessions.