This has got to be the biggest corporate Hail Mary in recent years. SCO knows Linux is the future, so they're making a play to try and own it all.
By bluffing to the corporate world that they will win, they raise capital by selling licenses, which in turn will be used to fight the approaching legal battles. They also attract the favor of those who stand to lose if Linux wins, who will probably join them in the courtroom battle.
"With more than 2.4 million Linux servers running our software, and thousands more running Linux every day, we expect SCO to be compensated for the benefits realized by tens of thousands of customers."
"Running our software?" Running our software? How dare they! This whole issue didn't really bother me until now. I guess that's what SCO's been claiming all along, that they are the rightful owner of Linux. But to now see it in black and white that "2.4 million Linux servers (are) running our software" doesn't just upset me, it makes me livid.
Although Linus chose BitKeeper because he thought it fit the need better then CVS, what's specifically are the problems with CVS that he didn't like?
I'm new to coding, and am just starting to tinker around with CVS (in fact, O'Reilly just published Essential CVS, which just came available under Safari). Since I am not competant enough of a coder yet to even justify using a Revision Control System, maybe some of the guru's here can translate for us neophites this main arguments.
Microsoft is brilliant(as usual) in encouraging people to start making comparisons NOW as opposed to later, because if people are turned off by the complexities of Linux now, they are unlikely to revisit the issue anytime soon. Once Microsoft has their dollars, the battle is over for at least a decade.
Home users don't care who Microsoft thinks is a threat. Only corporate people do, and they're not the ones who deal with the complexities of computers. I've been selling and supporting IT solutions to small and mid-size businesses for over 7 years, and customers do understand that Linux is the best value out there.
Maybe the/. crowd isn't as stupid as you think they are.
Microsoft is taking the Linux threat seriously. So seriously, in fact, that open-source software comes in at the No. 2 spot on the company's top five list of risks.
Microsoft's perceived Top 5 list of threats:
1) Economic Environment
2) Linux
3) Growing the installed base in today's tight-spending climate
4) Litigation
5) Executing plans on multiple fronts.
Microsoft's actual Top 5 list of threats:
1) THEMSELVES
2) Doesn't matter
3) Doesn't matter
4) Doesn't matter
5) Doesn't matter
"Microsoft's biggest enemy is themselves," says Gartner's Silver. "They do things that make people very upset and engenders a lot of resentment."
That about sums it up for me. What upset me the most was the inability to master their products. I've worked with small businesses for over 7 years installing and supporting LANs. I began my career as a CNE with Novell NetWare, transitioned to Windows (which was the worst 4 years of my life), and now work exclusively with Linux. From my experience, It's impossible to avoid huge time-sucking disasters because of Microsoft's constant upgrade and patch cycles. Their End User License Agreements (EULA's) absolve themselves of all wrongdoing, and leave techs like myself holding the bag. After years of blowing out the operating system and reinstalling, hoping that a shotgun approach of service packs and hot fixes would make the problems go away, and reading everything under the sun only to find documentation fraught with errors, I gave up. Which is why two years ago I adopted the mantra "I don't do Windows" and set my mind on Linux. My current job is with a company moving their 2 servers & 22 workstations off Windows NT/98/XP, and onto Debian GNU/Linux.
And I'm happy now:-)
There's no such thing as a Windows expert. There's only "I can flail around in the dark better than you can".
If Machinima becomes popular, the immediate improvement in the artform will be storyline. People will become quickly bored of yet-another-machinima-graphics-fest (YAMGF), and gravitate toward [machinimas|machs] that have stories to tell.
For example, I watched about 5 minutes of Anachronox, then turned it off. The graphics are cool, but the camera pans were too distracting and took away from the story. Hollywood's been guilty of the same thing. There are lots of movies with great special effects that are collecting dust at your local video store. "The Matrix" on the other hand is still a popular title to rent and buy. It worked because the special effects added to the story, and the filmmaking created a larger-than-life environment.
Though drawing parallels between brutal dictators and Bill Gates may seem harsh, the principle is the same. If people think they're safe now from Microsoft's monopolistic practices, they've bought into a false sense of security.
What I'd like to see is a translation of this book without all the marketspeak. Maybe sales and marketing people need lots of buzzwords to make themselves feel smart, but us technical folk find all that extra verbage a waste of time.
IMHO:-)
Sounds like a Business Opportunity to me
on
Linux Usage in the UK
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Techies don't seem to understand that businesses want to have a support contract with their usual supplier before they will buy Linux
Can you say "business opportunity"? I now only install and support only Linux solutions (I don't do Windows anymore - I have other "grunts" with MCSE's who do that for cheap). The sell is simply two points 1) Open Source products use Open Standards, which will interoperate with anything. 2) The business decision to keep, update or upgrade company software is back in the software buyer's hands. If you want to keep your software, or hire someone to [fix|add] features, or upgrade to the latest version - it's their choice.
The Redmond camp keeps hammering on the point that Linux doesn't have support. So hammer back on those two points: open standard interoperabilty, and the return of the business decision. It really shakes people up to realise they _do_ have a choice, and that Microsoft is not the safest choice anymore.
At Microsoft, as part of our drive to create a more trustworthy computing environment, we are significantly stepping up our efforts to fight spam and its pollution of the email ecosystem.
Who cares! Linux doesn't need Novell, or Microsoft for that matter.
I earned my Novell CNE (Certified NetWare Engineer) back in 1996, and since then watched Microsoft's Windows NT steadily eat away their market share. Novell succeeded back in the 80's and early 90's because they filled a need. It didn't matter that their support was bad or their marketing non-existent, because at one time NetWare was the only game in town. But they lost their market share to Microsoft because they did not improve their support or their marketing.
But times have changed. Microsoft may be the leader now, and although they do a good job of marketing, their support is awful, mostly because their products are bloated piles of spagetti code. I ditched working with NetWare because I can do everything and more with NT, and then I ditched NT because I can do everything and more with Linux and can support it or make changes without things blowing up. Linux will never have the marketing that Microsoft has, but it doesn't need it because word of mouth and an ever improving product is the best form of advertising.
Sorry Novell. Sorry Microsoft. You treated guys like me who paid thousands of dollars for your certifications like crap for years, so we left and decided to write our own. Linux doesn't need Novell or Microsoft to succeed in the long run. Anyone who says different hasn't worked in the industry long enough.
Damn, I had to read almost the entire thread before I found the "Blame it on Microsoft" post. But here it is, in all it's shiny glory.
Spoken just like the coward you are, with no identity. Parasites like you need people like me, so you can something to complain against. But I don't need you, therefore I am greater.
And as for complaining about Microsoft, I did Windows for over 7 years with much agrivation and frustration. Now I use Linux, and I don't do Windows anymore. If you've got a problem with that, then be a man and sign your messages.
In the next 15 years Forrester Research predicts that 3.3 million service jobs will move to countries like India, Russia, China, and the Philippines, with the IT sector leading the way
These are the same countries that are keen on supporting Open Source solutions instead of paying Redmond their pound of flesh. So you have non-US companies switching away from Microsoft because of their deceptive and vicious business practices. Now US companies are outsourcing their IT needs to those same non-US companies...
...thanks a lot, Bill. You're obscenely rich, but you've pissed off the rest of the world, and now they're eating US jobs.
I just love how so many people become defensive when the subject of TV or video game violence is brought up. "It has no effect" "It doesn't change me" Blah blah blah.
The fact is sex and violence on TV does affect people. That's why Madison Avenue spends billions on advertising. But the other fact is that every individual has to be held personally responsible for their behavior. To not hold people responsible for their behavior and blame it on something else is to dehumanize a person. People choose. If I watch a violent movie and cannot resist the impulse to then go kill someone, then I should still be held responsible for my actions. I should have known my limitations that violent movies affect me in a bad way, and should have chosen to abstain from watching violent movies.
Whether or not violence on TV affects a person is to miss the point. Maybe you shouldn't play FPS's, but that is your choice. If you play Quake and then choose to attack me or my family, you better believe I'm holding you responsible, not id software.
Best time I ever spent was listening to a series on negotiation (I happen to listen to this guy on the subject of power negotiating
The real issue is not whether to leave or not, but rather to negotiate with the bosses to get the respect and working conditions you want. There's lot of "gambits" you can use like good-guy/bad-guy, higher authority, nibbling and a host of other tactics
For example. the company I'm currently working at desperately needed some fixes to their commercial accounting system. Rather than say "Yeah I can help you" I phrased it as "I might be able to help you, but what are you going to do for me?". Two weeks later I'm sitting in my own office with a $4500.00 PC and a 22" monitor using only Linux - a dream job!
If geeks would learn some basic negotiating skills, Linux would eventually rule, the world would be a better place, and we'd all make more money. (Don't believe me? Talk to an accomplished salesman)
So to answer the question above, what's required to teach programming? A 50 cent CD with Knoppix, a computer and an internet connection. Problem solved. That's a wrap folks! See you next post.
Slashdot Mirror
This has got to be the biggest corporate Hail Mary in recent years. SCO knows Linux is the future, so they're making a play to try and own it all.
By bluffing to the corporate world that they will win, they raise capital by selling licenses, which in turn will be used to fight the approaching legal battles. They also attract the favor of those who stand to lose if Linux wins, who will probably join them in the courtroom battle.
Where do I send my cheque to fight these guys?
"With more than 2.4 million Linux servers running our software, and thousands more running Linux every day, we expect SCO to be compensated for the benefits realized by tens of thousands of customers."
"Running our software?" Running our software? How dare they! This whole issue didn't really bother me until now. I guess that's what SCO's been claiming all along, that they are the rightful owner of Linux. But to now see it in black and white that "2.4 million Linux servers (are) running our software" doesn't just upset me, it makes me livid.
The solution is simple: just install your favorite Linux distribution and don't install Windows.
Sheesh. The answer was right in front of you.
[Flamebait +1]
Although Linus chose BitKeeper because he thought it fit the need better then CVS, what's specifically are the problems with CVS that he didn't like?
I'm new to coding, and am just starting to tinker around with CVS (in fact, O'Reilly just published Essential CVS, which just came available under Safari). Since I am not competant enough of a coder yet to even justify using a Revision Control System, maybe some of the guru's here can translate for us neophites this main arguments.
Microsoft is brilliant(as usual) in encouraging people to start making comparisons NOW as opposed to later, because if people are turned off by the complexities of Linux now, they are unlikely to revisit the issue anytime soon. Once Microsoft has their dollars, the battle is over for at least a decade.
/. crowd isn't as stupid as you think they are.
Home users don't care who Microsoft thinks is a threat. Only corporate people do, and they're not the ones who deal with the complexities of computers. I've been selling and supporting IT solutions to small and mid-size businesses for over 7 years, and customers do understand that Linux is the best value out there.
Maybe the
Microsoft is taking the Linux threat seriously. So seriously, in fact, that open-source software comes in at the No. 2 spot on the company's top five list of risks.
Microsoft's perceived Top 5 list of threats:
1) Economic Environment
2) Linux
3) Growing the installed base in today's tight-spending climate
4) Litigation
5) Executing plans on multiple fronts.
Microsoft's actual Top 5 list of threats:
1) THEMSELVES
2) Doesn't matter
3) Doesn't matter
4) Doesn't matter
5) Doesn't matter
It would make for a very boring movie:
Computer: Scanning complete. Attempting to reconstruct document.
Computer: "SETEC ASTRONOMY". Please enter [Y] to accept or [N] to continue
Operator: N
Computer: "MY SOCRATES NOTE". Please enter [Y] to accept or [N] to continue
Operator: N
Computer: "COOTYS RAT SEMEN". Please enter [Y] to accept or [N] to continue
Operator: N
Computer: "TOO MANY SECRETS". Please enter [Y] to accept or [N] to continue
Operator: Okay Mother, I think we've got it.
Uh....naah. It just doesn't do it for me.
"Microsoft's biggest enemy is themselves," says Gartner's Silver. "They do things that make people very upset and engenders a lot of resentment."
:-)
That about sums it up for me. What upset me the most was the inability to master their products. I've worked with small businesses for over 7 years installing and supporting LANs. I began my career as a CNE with Novell NetWare, transitioned to Windows (which was the worst 4 years of my life), and now work exclusively with Linux. From my experience, It's impossible to avoid huge time-sucking disasters because of Microsoft's constant upgrade and patch cycles. Their End User License Agreements (EULA's) absolve themselves of all wrongdoing, and leave techs like myself holding the bag. After years of blowing out the operating system and reinstalling, hoping that a shotgun approach of service packs and hot fixes would make the problems go away, and reading everything under the sun only to find documentation fraught with errors, I gave up. Which is why two years ago I adopted the mantra "I don't do Windows" and set my mind on Linux. My current job is with a company moving their 2 servers & 22 workstations off Windows NT/98/XP, and onto Debian GNU/Linux.
And I'm happy now
There's no such thing as a Windows expert. There's only "I can flail around in the dark better than you can".
If Machinima becomes popular, the immediate improvement in the artform will be storyline. People will become quickly bored of yet-another-machinima-graphics-fest (YAMGF), and gravitate toward [machinimas|machs] that have stories to tell.
For example, I watched about 5 minutes of Anachronox, then turned it off. The graphics are cool, but the camera pans were too distracting and took away from the story. Hollywood's been guilty of the same thing. There are lots of movies with great special effects that are collecting dust at your local video store. "The Matrix" on the other hand is still a popular title to rent and buy. It worked because the special effects added to the story, and the filmmaking created a larger-than-life environment.
If Japan's running communist open source software, does this mean they're going to abolish democracy in Japan soon?
"Microsoft .NET, the Ford Edsel of Information Technology"
Don Marti, Editor in Chief of Linux Journal
Your US government is trying to appease Microsoft. Appeasement never works. It only buys short term security. It doesn't work in diplomacy with countries, corporations or any relationship..
Though drawing parallels between brutal dictators and Bill Gates may seem harsh, the principle is the same. If people think they're safe now from Microsoft's monopolistic practices, they've bought into a false sense of security.
What I'd like to see is a translation of this book without all the marketspeak. Maybe sales and marketing people need lots of buzzwords to make themselves feel smart, but us technical folk find all that extra verbage a waste of time.
:-)
IMHO
Techies don't seem to understand that businesses want to have a support contract with their usual supplier before they will buy Linux
Can you say "business opportunity"? I now only install and support only Linux solutions (I don't do Windows anymore - I have other "grunts" with MCSE's who do that for cheap). The sell is simply two points 1) Open Source products use Open Standards, which will interoperate with anything. 2) The business decision to keep, update or upgrade company software is back in the software buyer's hands. If you want to keep your software, or hire someone to [fix|add] features, or upgrade to the latest version - it's their choice.
The Redmond camp keeps hammering on the point that Linux doesn't have support. So hammer back on those two points: open standard interoperabilty, and the return of the business decision. It really shakes people up to realise they _do_ have a choice, and that Microsoft is not the safest choice anymore.
At Microsoft, as part of our drive to create a more trustworthy computing environment, we are significantly stepping up our efforts to fight spam and its pollution of the email ecosystem.
Wonderful! I can't wait to reap the benefits of yet another Microsoft promise, like their wildy successful Trustworthy Computing initiative, the results of which can be seen here
Who cares! Linux doesn't need Novell, or Microsoft for that matter.
I earned my Novell CNE (Certified NetWare Engineer) back in 1996, and since then watched Microsoft's Windows NT steadily eat away their market share. Novell succeeded back in the 80's and early 90's because they filled a need. It didn't matter that their support was bad or their marketing non-existent, because at one time NetWare was the only game in town. But they lost their market share to Microsoft because they did not improve their support or their marketing.
But times have changed. Microsoft may be the leader now, and although they do a good job of marketing, their support is awful, mostly because their products are bloated piles of spagetti code. I ditched working with NetWare because I can do everything and more with NT, and then I ditched NT because I can do everything and more with Linux and can support it or make changes without things blowing up. Linux will never have the marketing that Microsoft has, but it doesn't need it because word of mouth and an ever improving product is the best form of advertising.
Sorry Novell. Sorry Microsoft. You treated guys like me who paid thousands of dollars for your certifications like crap for years, so we left and decided to write our own. Linux doesn't need Novell or Microsoft to succeed in the long run. Anyone who says different hasn't worked in the industry long enough.
Damn, I had to read almost the entire thread before I found the "Blame it on Microsoft" post. But here it is, in all it's shiny glory.
Spoken just like the coward you are, with no identity. Parasites like you need people like me, so you can something to complain against. But I don't need you, therefore I am greater.
And as for complaining about Microsoft, I did Windows for over 7 years with much agrivation and frustration. Now I use Linux, and I don't do Windows anymore. If you've got a problem with that, then be a man and sign your messages.
In the next 15 years Forrester Research predicts that 3.3 million service jobs will move to countries like India, Russia, China, and the Philippines, with the IT sector leading the way
...thanks a lot, Bill. You're obscenely rich, but you've pissed off the rest of the world, and now they're eating US jobs.
These are the same countries that are keen on supporting Open Source solutions instead of paying Redmond their pound of flesh. So you have non-US companies switching away from Microsoft because of their deceptive and vicious business practices. Now US companies are outsourcing their IT needs to those same non-US companies...
I just love how so many people become defensive when the subject of TV or video game violence is brought up. "It has no effect" "It doesn't change me" Blah blah blah.
The fact is sex and violence on TV does affect people. That's why Madison Avenue spends billions on advertising. But the other fact is that every individual has to be held personally responsible for their behavior. To not hold people responsible for their behavior and blame it on something else is to dehumanize a person. People choose. If I watch a violent movie and cannot resist the impulse to then go kill someone, then I should still be held responsible for my actions. I should have known my limitations that violent movies affect me in a bad way, and should have chosen to abstain from watching violent movies.
Whether or not violence on TV affects a person is to miss the point. Maybe you shouldn't play FPS's, but that is your choice. If you play Quake and then choose to attack me or my family, you better believe I'm holding you responsible, not id software.
Gates: "All Your DOJ Are Belong To Us"
This pretty much sums it up for me
Best time I ever spent was listening to a series on negotiation (I happen to listen to this guy on the subject of power negotiating
The real issue is not whether to leave or not, but rather to negotiate with the bosses to get the respect and working conditions you want. There's lot of "gambits" you can use like good-guy/bad-guy, higher authority, nibbling and a host of other tactics
For example. the company I'm currently working at desperately needed some fixes to their commercial accounting system. Rather than say "Yeah I can help you" I phrased it as "I might be able to help you, but what are you going to do for me?". Two weeks later I'm sitting in my own office with a $4500.00 PC and a 22" monitor using only Linux - a dream job!
If geeks would learn some basic negotiating skills, Linux would eventually rule, the world would be a better place, and we'd all make more money. (Don't believe me? Talk to an accomplished salesman)
Good call, Knoppix will mean not having to install anything and still access the underlying filesystem to save programs.
For the book though, just point them to How to Think Like a Computer Scientist. It's an excellent tutorial on Python for beginners.
So to answer the question above, what's required to teach programming? A 50 cent CD with Knoppix, a computer and an internet connection. Problem solved. That's a wrap folks! See you next post.
"What we found when we investigated was that PKWare had not fully revealed all of their extensions"
.NET"
Hmm...maybe they should rename the format to "ZIP
"...with no immediate breakthroughs in technology coming..."
Translation: We've run out of other people's ideas to steal.