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Win2k delay claimed to be helping spread of Linux
Threnody writes " Great
article about Windows 2000 delay. Apparently Linux has grown from negligible in the '97 poll to 13% today. This is the latest results from IDC, the pre-eminent measuring company. They were measuring business usage. They also talk about the fact that many major organizations are not interested in rolling out Win2k right away, because of being burned before.Update: 08/19 02:08 by H :I've also been informed by a number of people that DevX is currently running a poll along much the same lines.
My favorite newsreader is Agent, but I can't run it on linux w/o a reverse-engineered compatibility layer that doesn't work correctly (WINE)
Have you tried the 073199 version of Wine? Much improved. My Wine works pretty well, except for displaying images, etc. Not sure if there are any settings I can change to fix that.
My long-term hope is for Mozilla's news reader to provide the same functionality. Communicator's definitely needs work, joining of binaries in particular.
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
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* Quarter 4 1999 (that's September to December, for the slower people)
* 1st Half 2000
* Second Half 2000
* Never - the world will explode on 1/1/00
* Never - Microsoft will explode on 1/1/00 or sooner
* I already have a copy of the gold release, I am eleet.
* Jar Jar Sucks
- A.P.
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"One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promotional Ad
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
First, I love this quote: "Past issues with first-release operating systems from Microsoft have caused organizations to rein in their Windows 2000 deployment plans."
I guess you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
Now the clarification: Linux didn't go from 0 to 13% since 1997, at least not the way you are probably thinking.
In 1997 IDC did a survey of business computing users (presumably CTOs and CIOs). 0% of them said they used Linux. At the time this was probably false because they (the CTOs and CIOs) didn't know about it. Furthermore, this only counts business use, clearly there were millions of installations in other settings.
Now they've done another study and 13% of the respondents said they use Linux. It doesn't say they use it exclusively and this isn't a weighted number. That is, it could be that it was the top 13 companies in the world (ranked by size of IT dept) that said they used Linux 100% each OR it could be the smallest 13% that said they had "one test Linux box".
My basic point is that this survey tells us nothing about the real marketshare (measured in number of machines weighted by their purpose) of Linux, but a lot about the mindshare among CIOs.
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Put Hemos through English 101!
"An armed society is a polite society" -- Robert Heinlein
Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
From what I heard a few minutes ago, you are right about the Release Candidates. RC1 aka beta 4 will be available in the next few weeks. There might possibly be several RCs, just to fix embarassing cosmetic bugs or show-stopping fuckups. Only the most trusted people will be getting the RCs to test.
But the guy from micro~1 swears on the Oct 7 date, and I've got 6 weeks to be ready for it. Bleh.
the AC
Hemos is like...sci-fi fans;he thinks technology is cool, but he hasn't bothered to understand the science it's based on
It's true that people are happy with the workstation aspects of Win2000, but apparently the server stuff (Intellimirror, Active Directory) is still having some issues in a larger environment.
One possiblity is that Win2000 Workstation will be out soon, but the server version will be delayed by a couple months, and the "Datacenter" server (which supposedly supports 32-way SMP), much later.
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Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
Just in case anyone is still reading this thread...
I'm not a windoze type, I normally just work on networks, and anything above layer 4 is ignored.
The last couple of days I was sitting in a microsoft building listening to marketing droids spew about Active Directory, and announcing as a fact that win2k would have a big kickoff on October 7th. Of course, they were so uncertain as to what was in AD, I doubt these low-level serfs actually know what redmond will do any more than an outsider. Just because they are badge wearing certifiable microserfs doesn't give them any more insight than the press reports they read.
If you want to know where the next big round of security holes on networks will come from, look to active directory. Closed source bloatware security for micro~1 networks where its own security was added as an afterthought.
the AC
Hemos is like...sci-fi fans;he thinks technology is cool, but he hasn't bothered to understand the science it's based on
I hope either Queen ("One Vision") or the Nazi party got royalties.
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Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
Despite it's problems, NT4 is the "NetWare 3" of the late 90s LAN - the entrenched market leader. (Before anyone makes any comparison, NetWare 3 wins in many respects, but I remember quite a few abends and configuration nightmares.)
Windows 2000 probably will be a compelling workstation for shops struggling with crappy Win9x, but the server version includes a number of complex and difficult to understand network services aimed at the enterprise market.
This poses a big problem: Larger shops won't want to move to Active Directory (etc) for a while until they've tested the hell out of it. Upgrading is no longer a tactical decision (like NT3.51 to NT4 or NT4 to Linux/Samba), and more of a strategic one which will involve considerable planning and budget and the typical interminable big-IS project BS.
(I don't see much good information from MS about how an Domain to AD transition is really supposed to work. They probably don't know themselves. Furthermore, they've magnified the problem by unifying the Exchange and NOS directories, which makes the prominence of fucking up an order of magnitude greater. Maybe I'm missing something, but I also don't see a way to run Win2000 server in 'Domain-emulation' mode.)
Smaller shops (which by-in-large are running NT with loosely pieced together WINS systems and broadcasts) don't want or need Active Directory, et al, and will have considerable fear and uncertainty over an upgrade. Everything is kinda-sorta working -- why break it.
All of this adds up to a lot of fear and confusion for NT shops. Add in an economic downturn, and IT budget cuts will probably stagante any new project or make cheaper alternatives (ahem) look more appealing.
So, NT5/Win2000 has a big chance at being the "NetWare 4" of the early 00s LAN -- A good portion of the installed base might just skip the upgrade or switch to a less complex and cheaper alternative.
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Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
It really depends what you run (or don't run). It's not uncommon for (non-MS) Lotus Domino to be up forever on NT, while (MS) Exchange certainly has it's difficulties.
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Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
Actually, Windows 95 (which was delayed over a year) was suprisingly non-buggy, considering it was built on top of the horrific Windows 3.1. It was no NT/OS2/Unix, but it wasn't intended to be either.
Of course, 4 years of accumulated crap has pretty much got Windows 9x back to the stability level of Win3.1. Time to start over again!
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Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
I upgrade my OS on my server when I need to -- not just to keep it "up to date". I built a new one this spring and brought it up on the new hardware 77 days ago. I don't intend to bring it down until I either upgrade the hardware or a security vulnerability that affects my services is found. And, it's hardly business oriented -- it's a game server. ;)
Uh, that is, unless my 3 year old UPS can't ride out one of our many summer storm-caused power outages. I think I'd better be ready to replace that too...
Geeky modern art T-shirts
Where do you think the press gets these dates? Not Microsoft, certainly.
I recall reading some MS marketing material (aka for press consumption) about "Cairo", aka NT 5, aka Windows 2000 in *1994*. This isn't the press speculating about a release 5 years into the future - this is Microsoft speculating.
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Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
... and don't jump to over-optimistic conclusions.
1) There was a companion article in which IDC stated that corporate W2K rollouts will probably be delayed 6 - 18 months due to customers' wariness about MS' "bad record with the stability of initial releases" (paraphrased).
- This is not a pro-Linux statement, it's just a realistic statement about MS' track record. Good, people are starting to see.
2) Linux has gained a visible installed base. This means people are using it where it's useful. It may (or may not) have anything to do about W2K. It's far more likely that Unix literate IS staff and other techies have managed to use Linux is areas where "big Unix" is overkill and MS is acknowledged crap.
- This is not anti-MS. It's just a statement that people are using Linux and, by extension, OSS. This is a good thing.
3) Even if W2K wary and NT4 weary sites move to Linux as the only viable alternative, the larger process of migration away from MS server platforms, let alone desktops, will take some time. It took years for Unix to muscle upwards from 70's & 80's geek OS into its current midrange stronghold. It will take time for its 90's offspring to push downward into PC land.
This may not be a victory. It's just a confirmation that things are moving the way many of us suspect it is (and want it to).
We can see "open" win. We just have to be patient. Let's also not overly gloat when we do make headway.
-M
Any certified developer who has submitted a bug for beta 3...
So, MS really is opening up their code base now. Beta testers can submit bugs of their choice... they aren't limited to the bugs provided by MS alone.
(Yes, I know AC meant "bug REPORTS", but it was *SO* much fun to take the statement literally.)
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
Now companies are getting more and more dependent on computers. Any downtime is not tolerated and is in fact reason for sensational press reporting(e.g., eBay). The tolerance level for any type of computer failure has shrunk. For instance, I remember a time when the central mainframe computer would fry it's core memory (literally). No computer, no problem. We would do other things.
Now? Failure is not an option. CIO's know this. CIO's who make big bucks and cannot screw up know this. The "old" way of instantly upgrading then fighting the bugs is becoming ancient history. Upper management who decide upgrading decisions are very cognizant of when one of their bretheren gets burned by an unproven upgrade. Before, the mode of operation was keeping up with the Jones. Perhaps, now the stakes are much higher; this leads to more caution.
It is important for linux to maintains "stable" kernel version. Relatively incremental improvements in an OS usually leads to stability.
Was just told today the ship date has been fixed for Oct 7th, and the media machines are to be unleashed immediately.
:-)
Any certified developer who has submitted a bug for beta 3 will be allowed to order a CD with beta 4, which is the final candidate. Beta 4 is timebombed, and won't be DLable from micr~1.com.
This was from a M$ drone, so I'll believe it on Oct 7th, not a day before
the AC
Hemos is like...sci-fi fans;he thinks technology is cool, but he hasn't bothered to understand the science it's based on