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SGI, others embracing Linux
TitanII writes "ZDNet News has an article about SGI switching to Linux. " The article itself talks about the switchover going on in many of the major tech firms-SGI isn't actually replacing Irix, but is making Linux a major offering across their platforms.
If you think about it they have been planning this a while. Some of thier internal developers have been submitting Kernel patches for a while. The day the 2.2 kernel hit the mirrors support for the Visual Workstation. Now you can run X on the VWS (unaccelerated). They release GLX as Open Source then with redhat started funding precision insight to developent key parts of the new Xfree86 4.0.
SGI really understands Linux and OpenSource and is one of the Greatest Things to happen to linux.
With all that said do you still wonder why Micros~1 is getting scared.
Let me break this down.
Many years ago UNIX started fragmenting. Vender's started maintaining there own versions of UNIX. Do you realize how much this costs? big bucks. Imagine spending some money and porting some inhouse (proven and feature rich) to an OpenSource platform with most basic (if not all) system tools. This can really help SGI focus on what they do best. Incredible hardware.
But it may take a while.
Inorder for them to relase alot of thier code it has to cleaned up (remove parts licensed by other companys... if nes.). I heard this is moving right along.
I don't know that is just my opinion i could be wrong.
Linux (a piece of software) doesn't compete with SGI (a hardware manufacturer that happens to write software). Continued development of Irix just eats at SGI's bottom line. If they can get a high performance OS more cheaply by contributing to Linux, then it makes good business sense to do so. I know they're not abandoning Irix at this point, but they will when Linux offers everthing Irix does (say three years?).
By adopting Linux, SGI is 1/strengthening Linux on high-end hardware, 2/adding to the momentum of the Linux bandwagon, 3/providing more installed seats for Linux which means more applications will be ported 4/making expensive SGI boxes a natural migration path for cheap Intel boxes.
The only major Unix vendor that doesn't stand to benefit from the broad acceptance of Linux is SCO. And, surprise, they are the only major Unix vendor that hasn't come out in support of Linux. I have no idea how they think they're going to compete in the long term.
It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail. - Abraham Maslow