TheHon.IANGILFILLAN
obtained leave and introÂduced a bill for an act to amend the State Supply Act
1985. Read a first time.
TheHon.IANGILFILLAN:
I move:
That
this bill be now read a second time.
In spite of its rather
ponderous title, the bill is about the use of open source software by the
government of South AusÂtralia. Open source software is an unusual concept and
one that will take a little time to explain. I will deal first with ordinary
products. When we buy something, we usually buy the right to use that thing in
any way we see fit. For example, if you buy a car, you can add roof racks or a
tow bar and you can even paint the car a different colour. The key thing about
buying something is that it becomes your property and you can do with it as you
will, even to the point of selling it on to someone else. You can even break up
a car into pieces and sell the pieces to different people.
518 Software: somehow we have
been tricked into believÂing that software is a different kind of thing and
many have accepted the idea that we do not own a piece of software once we buy
it. In fact, some of the major suppliers of software have moved to a revenue
model whereby it is necessary to continually pay rent for the right to use a
product that has been purchased. Even stranger, we are not allowed to see the
workings of the software so that we can check to make sure that it is doing
what we expect or want it to do. If I continue with the car example, this would
be equivalent to buying a car but never being allowed to look under the bonnet
to see what is inside. It is indeed a very strange situation where people are
paying astonishingly large amounts of money on an on-going basis for very few rights.
In many cases people are not even allowed to talk about their experiences with
using a piece of software because of the narrow terms of the licence agreement
that comes with that software.
The open source movement:
in response to this and many other problems in the computer software industry,
a worldÂwide movement of people has developed a set of competing software
products that do not have restrictive licence agreements. In fact, the most
common clause associated with open source software is that you can use the
software in any way and modify it as you see fit, provided you include a full
copy of the source code every time you sell the software to another party. As
the source code of this software is available for anyone to see at any time,
this code is robust and secure.
In South Australia this
open source software movement is a vast opportunity for us. Our universities
could be teaching computer science around open source products, allowing
students to examine in intimate detail the workings of established products.
Every student assignment has the potential to contribute to the body of
functioning open source systems. Simply by forwarding their completed work to
the relevant open source project, their code could become part of a greater
work in publication. It is worth noting that some of the most widely used and
recognised pieces of open source software have been developed here in
Australia. As an example, the Samba project, which allows Linux computers to
seamlessly integrate with windows networks, was develÂoped by a team primarily
based in Canberra.
Because the open source
paradigm uses a different business model, it is possible for student computers
to be fully programmed with operating systems, developmen
not that I'm grousing, but I did submit this EXACT same story over a month ago.... :
2003-05-08 05:46:45 New South Australian Government law to prefer Open Source (articles,announce) (rejected)
from a lobbying point of view, wouldn't it make sense that the OS movement had an extra month of visibility, rather than what has actually happened.. ??
it looks like what happened in this case, is that/. has only picked up the story AFTER the mainstream media has picked it up (The Age) - now that's sad.
I always though that the whole point of/. is that it LED the mainstream IT media in breaking stories, obviously I've been labouring under a misaprehension.
More precisley, Linux and open source s.w in general will together form a powerful butress against the big-media inspired DRM crackdown we are seeing - ala DCMA and the mooted M$oft Palladium initiatives.
Between India and China there will be around a 1/4 of the world's people. Thier governments won't be hamstrung by US media inspired laws that lock up content, takes away people right to fair use and most importantly put $$ into the pockets of American companies.
Do you really think that a paltry USD$400m "donation" by BillG to India will convince a *billion* people to use Windows - no way !
Do you really think that China will put Palladium h/w controls into their PC's ?? , or DRM limitations into hardrives ?? No way !
My prediction is that within 10 years, if you want to use a computing platform that is truly free (as in speech, not beer) , then you may well be using a Chinese made PC running RedFlag Linux (English edition)
Of course you may have trouble importing these non-DCMA v2 "anti-circumenvention devices" into your Western country , certainly the US, where congress have sold out to big-media , and sadly probably into Australia as well shortly (US and Oz are currently in free trade negotiations and the US want to talk about equitable IP laws..);-(
We should all be thankful that the national strategic interests of India and China will happily coincide with the asprirations and ideal of all those who identify with the aims and ideals of the EFF
Like Lessig said at OSCON 2002 , what have YOU done about it ?? - Donate to the EFF !!
I do remember this box - I actually got to play with a few when I worked for DEC back in '97
We had about 6 in the room - all were labelled "Shark" back then.
I think the server ran a FreeBSD derivitave, and yes - you are correct that managment was scared off by MS.
It wasn't just the NT/Alpha thing, it was the whole pre-loads agreement. Remember, DEC sold PC's with 95, 98 and NT on Intel as well !
But then PC's just got cheaper, and the whole NC scene just died out anyway.
You'll notice that there's still no way for anyone to author a DVD and distribute it without the blessing of Sony.
With my end-user hat on , I think this is a good thing, as I know that all commercial PS2 bootable DVD will have at least some sort of minimum quality control
With my hacker/geek hat on, I'm kinda disappointed that this won't allow non Sony sanctioned s/w to be produced for the PS2
I'm not sure which way to lean on this one, so it's just an observation at this stage !
I'm a Windows user at work
I'm a Cisco IOS "OS" user as my profession
I'm a OS X user at home (with Mozilla)
I'm a PS/2 user when I play games
I don't use linux for any of the above because in all cases I'd rather be productive than spend time recompiling kernals, finding the right video driver patch, and just generally fiddling and fighting with the OS instead of it "just working"
Please have a read of this
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/12/31/188254 &mode=thread
and this http://www.birdhouse.org/macos/beos_osx/
I use my hotmail address in large, anonymous forum where I'm likely to be flamed by people.
And my views are just as relevant as yours.
So, what are they ?? - where's your opinion ? :-) darren.
Well, that's it guys, you've just read the obituary of commercial gaming on linux.
Go and buy a X-Box, PS2 or N-Cube, 'cos that's the only place that the majors will pour dev money into in the future, esp as these games get more and more complex, ie approaching Hollywood $$ levels of investment to deliver.
Why ? It wouldn't surprise me if M$oft stop developing DirectX etc on the Windoze PC platform and only dev/push it on the X-Box in order to drive sales towards the X-Box.
From the end user POV, with gaming on PC's - why should I spend 2x or 3x as much for a souped up games PC that can play modern games.
I did that analysis , then went out and bought a PS2 with GT3 - works for me:- )
No impact, ineffectual legislation is poor law, and just ends up making us aussies look silly.
My guess is that the government is too embarrassed to show how pitifully few sites have been taken down for the money expended
Refer to this EFA report : Government Net Censorship Reports - Facts or Fallacies?
7th September 2000 The censorship regime is highly costly in view of its ineffectiveness in
protecting children using the global Internet. The explanatory memorandum
to the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Bill 1999 states
the total ongoing cost to the Commonwealth of the regime was estimated at
AUD$1.9 million per annum.
Graham remarked "If the ABA has only received 201 complaints in six months
as the government report states, and the government's cost estimate of $1.9
million was correct, it's costing taxpayers around $4,700 per complaint.
Only 93 of those complaints resulted in a finding of prohibited content, a
small fraction of the billions of pages on the Internet, and less than 20
concerned pages hosted in Australia."
Fantastic value for money there , AUD$100,000 per page....
You need to remember that Alston et all are only really interested in pandering to the popular press, and not in actually making any real changes.
Also, now that the balance of power has changed in the senate (ie Senator Harradine has gone) , the Libs will now be pandering to the Democrats, so we may see an end to these silly, unenforceable censorship laws
As far as I can make out, I still have unrestricted access to everything I have ever had
I say this because:
I have NOT been forced to install blocking
software
My ISP is not running blocking software (nor any others to my knowledge
If the ABA has taken down a site, I'm sure it's just popped up again overseas
If the key question is "What should administrators really be watching for if they are concerned with potential hostile activity over the net? " - then, this assumes a lot of things of the administrators.. to whom I would like to address these 8 questions
That you have an idea of your security risk (otherwise, how would you know if you should be concerned ?)
That you have an idea of your security exposure (otherwise where do you look , for what and how deeply / suspiciously ? )
That you have the spare time to look for something that is not there most of the time (ie can you handle 6 months of boredom and 4 hours of panic ??)
That you have the technical expertise to do this (do you really understand all the syslog messages from the various vendors ?, or, assuming that you are router-access-list god, then how good are you with spotting a cgi attacks ??)
That you can you really correlate a single , isolate port scan with a connection attempt a week later ??)
That you can ALSO devote the time to ongoing self-education ? (re the new and interesting attacks coming up weekly..)
That you have a written response plan formulated should you do detect an attack in progress ?
That you have senior management support for a highly technical, time-consuming activity that 90% of the time shows no results and that discards 98% of all captured data ?
We build and install networks for corporate clients and our experience is that the answers to the above questions is generally - "No"
We therefore advocate an ongoing process of risk assessment and penetration testing leading to a consultants report.
If the report indicates that they are an "at risk" target, then an ongoing, outsourced IDS service is offered,
Of course, this is assuming that a corporate security policy is in place. Again, generally the answer to THAT question is either "No, we don't have one" , or some feeble "Well, I know how the firewall is configured, and I wrote all the router access-lists.."
I'll stop the "Security is a process, not a product" rant at this point.
The point I really want to make is that before the slashdot-admins go racing into Tripwire, Snort, Netranger and nmap-land, they should take a long hard look at these questions and answer them with critical honesty.
Visio has always been totally useless for network diagramming as IMHO it is missing a key feature.
MUTILAYER - DRILL DOWN
I tried this again with the latest release and it still doesn't do it easily or automatically.
If you want to do good, multilayer network digrams then the only usefull tool I've found is
NETVIZ : http://www.netviz.com
It even exports to mutilayer HTML - including all the inter-diagram links.
This means you can start at a state level, showing just city/town blobs with WAN links between them, and then DRILL DOWN into the city/town blobs to se the buildings and then into the buildings to see the routers and then into.....
aahhhhh stop me !
in any case , I'm quite thankful M$oft didn't buy NETVIZ.
This document somehow leaked out of compaq - darn pesky email... enjoy the "official" compaq position.. indaba...
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxXXXXXXXXXXXX Here is part of the communication package around Alpha NT.
No more NT4 on Alpha past SP6. No 32 bit Win2000 on Alpha. No 64 bit Win2000 on Alpha.
Alpha is purely for Tru64 Unix, OpenVMS and Linux.
Windows NT Alpha Strategy Q & A Version 1 - 25 Aug 99
General Questions:
Q. Exactly what has Compaq changed in its Alpha Windows NT Strategy? What has Compaq announced? Why has Compaq decommitted from Windows NT on Alpha systems?
A. Based on the extremely good scalability of our 4- and 8-way ProLiant servers with 32-bit Windows NT, Compaq believes that this platform can satisfy all market requirements for 32-bit Windows NT. We have therefore been able to simplify our strategy and offerings. Compaq will end 32-bit Windows NT Alpha systems development with V4 SP6, late in 1999, and will not support either 32 or 64-bit Windows 2000 on Alpha systems.
This change will enable us to sharply focus our Alpha strategy and resources on our aggressive plans to grow Tru64 UNIX market share, support our loyal OpenVMS customers, extend our Himalaya range, and drive volumes for Alpha systems with Linux.
Q. What is Compaq's Windows NT strategy going forward?
A. As the leading provider of Windows NT-based platforms and solutions, Compaq is a strong supporter of Windows NT and will remain at the forefront of moving Windows NT into the enterprise as its capabilities continue to mature. We will maintain our leadership role in providing the environment in which Microsoft is developing its 64-bit capable versions of NT as well as our extensive involvement in assuring the best performance and reliability on Microsoft's current and future 32 bit offerings. The only change in strategy is that all of Compaq's efforts on behalf of 32-bit Windows NT will now be built around our industry-leading IA32-based systems. The recent very strong performance results achieved with Compaq's new 8-way ProLiant servers demonstrates that we can meet 100% of the market requirement for 32-bit Windows NT systems with these platforms.
Q. Will Alpha support for 64-bit Windows NT also be discontinued? Why?
A. We will continue partnering aggressively with Microsoft on development of 64-bit Windows NT, utilizing Alpha systems. We do not plan to offer 64-bit Windows 2000 on Alpha systems, and will focus our efforts on offering the very best 64-bit IA32 Windows NT platforms in the market at the time of its introduction.
Q. Is this a sign of Compaq slowly backing away from Alpha?
A. Absolutely not. Alpha still remains a vital component of Compaq's NonStop eBusiness strategy for the enterprise. As evidence of this, the previous commitment to move the NonStop Himalaya and Integrity system architectures to Alpha is intact, as is the recent commitment by the senior management to spend an incremental $100M to further the position of Tru64 UNIX/AlphaServer in the marketplace. There is also strong market interest in Linux running on Alpha, and this will be a major focus for driving volume based on the Alpha architecture. Finally, the Alpha chip roadmap continues advancing, with "shrinks" of the 3rd-generation of Alpha architecture (the 21264), the finalization of the EV7 design, and early design of EV8 technologies all presently underway.
Installed Base Impact Questions:
Q. Am I "dead-ended" with the current investment in my AlphaServer? What options do I have?
A. No. Compaq is putting in place programs and growth paths to satisfy our customers' requirements through this change in plans.
For already installed AlphaServers running Windows NT: In the short term, customers can continue to use their existing systems with current applications and have the option to upgrade to Service Pack 5 and then Service Pack 6. In the long term, customers can continue to use their current systems with Windows NT 4, and will be supported by Compaq Customer Services until at least Q1 CY2001. For future needs (including Windows 2000), customers should take advantage of trade-in programs and migration services to Windows NT or Windows 2000 on ProLiant servers, or to Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS or Linux on their AlphaServer systems.
For customers considering new AlphaServer systems running Windows NT: Customers can move to ProLiant Servers and run Windows NT 4 or Windows 2000, depending on their requirements.
For each of these circumstances, Compaq will provide attractive programs, upgrades and migration services to fit the individual customer needs. Details on these programs are available from your regional representative.
Q. I bought my Tru64 UNIX or OpenVMS AlphaServer with the promise that it would run Windows NT in the future. What do I do now?
A. Compaq will provide upgrade and trade-in programs to ProLiant Servers for customers who chose to move to Windows NT in the future. Details of these programs are available from your regional representative.
Q. I have an Alpha Windows NT-only DIGITAL Servers (white box), what options do I have?
A. Customers with Alpha Windows NT-only DIGITAL Servers can continue to run Windows NT V4 with support provided up through at least Service Pack 5. For customers who wish to move to Windows 2000, Compaq will provide attractive upgrade and trade-in programs to new ProLiant Servers.
Q. How long will my current Windows NT Alpha system be supported?
A. Our Customer Services organization will continue to support both hardware and software, for the foreseeable future and at least through Q1, 2001. Hardware support will be offered under standard terms & conditions. As a demonstration of this commitment, Compaq Customer Services still supports VAX and PDP technology.
Q. How long will you ship new Alpha systems running Windows NT V4?
A. A specific roadmap that details the last ship dates for each system model is provided in supporting materials.
Q. I have a large investment in Alpha for UNIX, why won't Tru64 UNIX be next to be dropped (when Merced ships)?
A. The market for enterprise servers running UNIX remains a very strong and vital one, and Compaq intends to be a leader within the segments of this market we focus on, in order to service the needs of our enterprise customers. Tru64 UNIX is widely acknowledged to be one of the finest UNIX operating systems in the market. The recent commitment by senior management to spend an incremental $100 million to fortify the position of Tru64 UNIX/AlphaServers in the market is tangible evidence of our intentions.
Q. I am in the middle of Y2K validation and am planning to move to Windows 2000. Why has Compaq dropped Alpha support for Windows NT at this critical time?
A. Customers will continue to be able to run Windows NT Service Pack 4 for Y2K conformance and have the ability to upgrade through Service Pack 6. This will enable customers to run current Alpha systems through CY2000 without impacting their Y2K readiness. As customers begin to move to implement Windows 2000, they have the option to re-deploy their current AlphaServer to run Tru64 UNIX or OpenVMS, add ProLiant Servers running Windows 2000 or take advantage of upgrade and trade-in programs being put in place by Compaq.
Q: How will this decision affect StorageWorks? Will Compaq StorageWorks products continue to support NT on Alpha?
A: The Raid Array 8000 and Enterprise Storage Array 12000 product lines will support 32-bit Windows NT on AlphaServers in FCAL configurations. Customers will have the option to upgrade to Service Pack 5 and then Service Pack 6. Compaq is making beta versions of the FCAL drivers available today and will have a production FCAL driver available for AlphaServers 32-bit Windows NT in October, 1999. This solution will support both clusters and high availability single system configurations. In the long term, customers can continue to use their current systems with Windows NT 4, and will be supported by Compaq Customer Services until at least Q1 CY2001. For future needs (including Windows 2000, support for FC Switched Fabrics, and value-added features such as Data Replication Manager), they can move to ProLiant Servers or consider trade-in programs and migration services to Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS or Linux.
Q. What will happen with my ISV software licenses as I move to another platform?
We are working closely with key ISVs, for example Oracle and SAP, to assure that there are migration plans in place. Our key ISVs are supportive of this decision and are also committed to taking care of customers in the very best way. More details will be provided as each ISV develops their plans.
Business Questions:
Q. Was Compaq counting on Alpha Windows NT to drive volume?
A. No. There is enough Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS, Himalaya and Linux business to sustain a competitive Alpha processor for the long term, along with our partners such as Samsung/API.
Q. What is Microsoft's position on this decision? Does this reflect a weakening of the Compaq/Microsoft relationship?
A. Microsoft supports this decision. It in no way reflects a weakening of the Compaq/Microsoft relationship. Compaq is working quite closely with Microsoft in the development of 64-bit Windows NT, in support of our drive to address more demanding enterprise requirements with Windows NT.
Q. How have Samsung and Alpha Processors, Inc. reacted to this decision? What will happen to other OEMs who are developing systems utilizing Windows NT on Alpha?
A. Recognizing the opportunity that exists for Alpha on Linux, Alpha Processor, Inc. has already made all its products available for Linux. Most recently they've been assisting an effort in bringing leading Linux tools and libraries to Alpha. API's and Samsung's resources will continue to support Linux-based solutions. With respect to OEM's who have been utilizing Windows NT on Alpha, API and Samsung are working closely to help those who wish to transition to other platforms. We'd recommend contacting API for further discussion regarding their platform strategies.
Q. What proportion of AlphaServer business is on Windows NT today? Has that fraction been increasing or decreasing?
A. Less than 2% of AlphaServer current business. Tru64 UNIX has become the predominant choice for Alpha systems, with OpenVMS in second position. While Tru64 UNIX and OpenVMS customers have benefited from Alpha's accelerated performance with EV6 technology, 32-bit Windows NT customers needs can be met with the performance and capabilities of the superior performing ProLiant servers.
Q. What proportion of AlphaServer business is on Linux today?
A. Small, but growing very rapidly. B. Q. What has been the reaction of ISV's? What about those ISV's who have made significant investments in Alpha/NT?
A. Our key ISVs support this decision. We will be working closely with our ISVs to offer trade-in and migration programs, to take care our mutual customers needs. In addition, Microsoft has committed to support ISVs with all aspects of their 64-bit development program.
Q. What is the impact of this decision on Compaq's workstation business?
A. The decision regarding Windows NT and Windows 2000 affects both AlphaServer systems as well as Alpha-based workstations. Attractive migration and trade-in offers will also be in place to IA32-based Compaq Professional Workstations or to other operating systems on the current platform.
Q. How will this announcement impact Compaq's focus on the ISP market?
A. It does not affect our comprehensive and aggressive focus on the ISP market, addressed with a combination of Tru64 UNIX on AlphaServers and Windows NT on ProLiant servers.
Overall Server and Competitive Positioning Questions
Q. How are Tru64 UNIX AlphaServer solutions for ISPs, ASPs and eBusiness positioned in the market? A. Compaq Tru64 UNIX AlphaServer solutions are competitively positioned. Unlike any other RISC UNIX platform on the market, solutions delivered on Tru64 UNIX V5.0 AlphaServer systems offer our customers the highest availability with the lowest cost to implement, operate and manage. Additionally, eBusiness applications require the ability to scale to meet the peak demands placed on them. Unlike other UNIX platforms, Compaq's Tru64 UNIX AlphaServers have the power to meet the peak load requirements. Your systems will not slow down during a critical time of network traffic. Q. Compaq appears to be positioning the ProLiant 8-way server against Sun. Isn't that in conflict with the positioning of Tru64 UNIX AlphaServer solutions? A. Not at all. Compaq has a stronger set of products than Sun since we have both superior UNIX and Windows NT products, offering the customer more choice! The newly announced ProLiant 8000 and 8500 servers were announced to compete directly against Sun in the ASP and low-end of ISP markets, complemented by Tru64 UNIX for the higher end requirements. Compaq Tru64 UNIX AlphaServer solutions continue to compete effectively against Sun as demonstrated by numerous industry standard benchmarks and with the extremely high levels of availability and scalability. Q: What are the benchmarks and how do Compaq ProLiant and AlphaServer offerings compare with Sun? A. As an example, Compaq's AlphaServer DS10 with Tru64 UNIX, featuring 2GB memory and up to 54 GB disks, outperformed Sun's dual- and quad-processor servers running Internet applications at less than half the price on the SPECweb96 benchmark. The AlphaServer DS10 with Tru64 UNIX delivered results of 3404, outperforming both the Sun E450(2963) and the Sun E250 (2625). There are many other examples in other target market segments. The ProLiant 8000 running Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 on Windows NT 4.0 offered more than double the performance at 30 percent better price:performance than the Sun E450. Our key strength versus Sun is that no matter which OS our customers chose, either Tru64 UNIX on AlphaServers or Windows NT on ProLiant servers, they can be assured of the best absolute performance as well as price/performance across a range of applications and systems. Sun only has UNIX and cannot offer their customers the Windows NT choice. Q. Isn't Compaq's strong support of both Windows NT and UNIX solutions confusing to the market? A. Compaq is committed to solving the full range of business and technical challenges throughout the enterprise. Analyst reports estimate that 90% of all IT environments will be using both UNIX and Windows NT. Compaq, a leader in 64-bit UNIX and the market share leader in Windows NT solutions, is not only committed to offering a broad range of solutions for each operating system, but also to continuing to enhance its leadership position in UNIX/Windows NT interoperability. Compaq allows its customers to take advantage of both systems - without two support and development staffs, and a host of cross-platform application issues.
Workstation Alpha NT Strategy
Q: Why did Compaq decide to discontinue Windows NT on the Alpha workstation platforms?
A: Compaq re-evaluated the Windows NT strategy for workstations because of vastly improved graphics capabilities on Compaq AP and SP Professional Workstations and limited Windows NT sales on the Alpha workstations.
Q: How does this announcement effect Alpha Windows NT customers?
A: Compaq continues to ship and support Windows NT version 4.0 (Service Pack 3) on current Alpha workstation platforms (DPW500a, 600a, and XP1000/500MHz).
Compaq will qualify, release, and support Microsoft Service Pack 5 and Service Pack 6 for current Alpha workstation products (DPW500a, 600a, and XP1000/500MHz).
Q: How will this announcement effect Alpha workstation products?
A: Compaq will not support Windows NT or Windows 2000 on future Alpha products.
Platform upgrades and future Alpha workstations will support Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS, and certified Linux operating systems.
Q: Will Compaq support 64-bit Windows NT on the Alpha workstation platforms?
A: There are no plans to deploy or support 64-bit Windows NT on Alpha workstations.
Q: How does this announcement effect Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS, and Linux Alpha customers?
A: This announcement does not directly affect Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS, or Linux Alpha workstation customers. We expect to re-deploy certain resources from Windows NT to these operating systems in order to provide a higher level of support there.
Q: How does this announcement effect Compaq Intel workstations?
A: This announcement does not affect Compaq AP and SP Professional Workstation customers.
Q: What is the migration path for Windows NT Alpha workstation customers?
A: Compaq will work with customers to help them migrate to the optimum AP or SP Professional Workstation or to one of the other operating systems supported on Alpha.
Q: What does this decision mean for Windows NT Alpha workstation OEM customers?
A: Compaq will work with OEM customers on an individual basis to determine how best to meet their short and long term needs. This can include OEM specific last buy dates and technical support for hardware and/or software migration plans.
Slashdot Mirror
TheHon.IANGILFILLAN obtained leave and introÂduced a bill for an act to amend the State Supply Act 1985. Read a first time.
TheHon.IANGILFILLAN: I move:
That this bill be now read a second time.
In spite of its rather ponderous title, the bill is about the use of open source software by the government of South AusÂtralia. Open source software is an unusual concept and one that will take a little time to explain. I will deal first with ordinary products. When we buy something, we usually buy the right to use that thing in any way we see fit. For example, if you buy a car, you can add roof racks or a tow bar and you can even paint the car a different colour. The key thing about buying something is that it becomes your property and you can do with it as you will, even to the point of selling it on to someone else. You can even break up a car into pieces and sell the pieces to different people.
518 Software: somehow we have been tricked into believÂing that software is a different kind of thing and many have accepted the idea that we do not own a piece of software once we buy it. In fact, some of the major suppliers of software have moved to a revenue model whereby it is necessary to continually pay rent for the right to use a product that has been purchased. Even stranger, we are not allowed to see the workings of the software so that we can check to make sure that it is doing what we expect or want it to do. If I continue with the car example, this would be equivalent to buying a car but never being allowed to look under the bonnet to see what is inside. It is indeed a very strange situation where people are paying astonishingly large amounts of money on an on-going basis for very few rights. In many cases people are not even allowed to talk about their experiences with using a piece of software because of the narrow terms of the licence agreement that comes with that software.
The open source movement: in response to this and many other problems in the computer software industry, a worldÂwide movement of people has developed a set of competing software products that do not have restrictive licence agreements. In fact, the most common clause associated with open source software is that you can use the software in any way and modify it as you see fit, provided you include a full copy of the source code every time you sell the software to another party. As the source code of this software is available for anyone to see at any time, this code is robust and secure.
In South Australia this open source software movement is a vast opportunity for us. Our universities could be teaching computer science around open source products, allowing students to examine in intimate detail the workings of established products. Every student assignment has the potential to contribute to the body of functioning open source systems. Simply by forwarding their completed work to the relevant open source project, their code could become part of a greater work in publication. It is worth noting that some of the most widely used and recognised pieces of open source software have been developed here in Australia. As an example, the Samba project, which allows Linux computers to seamlessly integrate with windows networks, was develÂoped by a team primarily based in Canberra.
Because the open source paradigm uses a different business model, it is possible for student computers to be fully programmed with operating systems, developmen
2003-05-08 05:46:45 New South Australian Government law to prefer Open Source (articles,announce) (rejected)
from a lobbying point of view, wouldn't it make sense that the OS movement had an extra month of visibility, rather than what has actually happened .. ??
it looks like what happened in this case, is that /. has only picked up the story AFTER the mainstream media has picked it up (The Age) - now that's sad.
I always though that the whole point of /. is that it LED the mainstream IT media in breaking stories, obviously I've been labouring under a misaprehension.
9 rejections over 3 years and going strong !
well said , I'm sorry I've not got mod access today
I thought your initial post was spot on as well BTW.
Between India and China there will be around a 1/4 of the world's people. Thier governments won't be hamstrung by US media inspired laws that lock up content, takes away people right to fair use and most importantly put $$ into the pockets of American companies.
Do you really think that a paltry USD$400m "donation" by BillG to India will convince a *billion* people to use Windows - no way !
Do you really think that China will put Palladium h/w controls into their PC's ?? , or DRM limitations into hardrives ?? No way !
My prediction is that within 10 years, if you want to use a computing platform that is truly free (as in speech, not beer) , then you may well be using a Chinese made PC running RedFlag Linux (English edition)
Of course you may have trouble importing these non-DCMA v2 "anti-circumenvention devices" into your Western country , certainly the US, where congress have sold out to big-media , and sadly probably into Australia as well shortly (US and Oz are currently in free trade negotiations and the US want to talk about equitable IP laws..) ;-(
We should all be thankful that the national strategic interests of India and China will happily coincide with the asprirations and ideal of all those who identify with the aims and ideals of the EFF
Like Lessig said at OSCON 2002 , what have YOU done about it ?? - Donate to the EFF !!
The US and Australia have a treaty on this.
We had about 6 in the room - all were labelled "Shark" back then. I think the server ran a FreeBSD derivitave, and yes - you are correct that managment was scared off by MS.
It wasn't just the NT/Alpha thing, it was the whole pre-loads agreement. Remember, DEC sold PC's with 95, 98 and NT on Intel as well !
But then PC's just got cheaper, and the whole NC scene just died out anyway.
Interesting bit of history.
With my end-user hat on , I think this is a good thing, as I know that all commercial PS2 bootable DVD will have at least some sort of minimum quality control
With my hacker/geek hat on, I'm kinda disappointed that this won't allow non Sony sanctioned s/w to be produced for the PS2
I'm not sure which way to lean on this one, so it's just an observation at this stage !
Darren Kruse CCNP CCDP
WAN/LAN Networking Consultant
mailto://darren_kruse@hotmail.com
www.geocities.com/darren_kruse
A MAME DVD would have enough space on it for all the most popular MAME's game ROMS
BUT, would Sony allow such a distribution ???
Checkout MAME here : http://www.mame.net
And for all your ROM needs here : http://www.mame.dk
Galaga,Outrun,Spy Hunter,Xevious,Rolling Thunder - ahh !! my childhood !
Darren Kruse CCNP CCDP
WAN/LAN Networking Consultant
mailto://darren_kruse@hotmail.com
www.geocities.com/darren_kruse
I'm a Cisco IOS "OS" user as my profession
I'm a OS X user at home (with Mozilla)
I'm a PS/2 user when I play games
I don't use linux for any of the above because in all cases I'd rather be productive than spend time recompiling kernals, finding the right video driver patch, and just generally fiddling and fighting with the OS instead of it "just working"
Please have a read of this4 &mode=thread
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/12/31/18825
and this
http://www.birdhouse.org/macos/beos_osx/
I use my hotmail address in large, anonymous forum where I'm likely to be flamed by people. :-) darren.
And my views are just as relevant as yours.
So, what are they ?? - where's your opinion ?
thanks - I didn't think it was flamebait either ! ;-)
got modded back up by some more "Insightful" soul
Go and buy a X-Box, PS2 or N-Cube, 'cos that's the only place that the majors will pour dev money into in the future, esp as these games get more and more complex, ie approaching Hollywood $$ levels of investment to deliver.
Why ? It wouldn't surprise me if M$oft stop developing DirectX etc on the Windoze PC platform and only dev/push it on the X-Box in order to drive sales towards the X-Box.
From the end user POV, with gaming on PC's - why should I spend 2x or 3x as much for a souped up games PC that can play modern games.
I did that analysis , then went out and bought a PS2 with GT3 - works for me :- )
Darren Kruse CCNP CCDP
WAN/LAN Networking Consultant
mailto://darren_kruse@hotmail.com
www.geocities.com/darren_kruse
"You are in an open field west of a big white house with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here
If you have never played these fantastic text based adventures, do yourself a favour , and download a free copy !
Darren Kruse CCNP CCDP
WAN/LAN Networking Consultant
mailto://darren_kruse@hotmail.com
www.geocities.com/darren_kruse
the crime is the uploading and the maintainence of the "illegal" content, not the location of the server...
other than that, I agree with you comment - these laws have next to zero impact, but they DO cost signifcant dollars !
My guess is that the government is too embarrassed to show how pitifully few sites have been taken down for the money expended
Refer to this EFA report : Government Net Censorship Reports - Facts or Fallacies? 7th September 2000
The censorship regime is highly costly in view of its ineffectiveness in protecting children using the global Internet. The explanatory memorandum to the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Bill 1999 states the total ongoing cost to the Commonwealth of the regime was estimated at AUD$1.9 million per annum.
Graham remarked "If the ABA has only received 201 complaints in six months as the government report states, and the government's cost estimate of $1.9 million was correct, it's costing taxpayers around $4,700 per complaint. Only 93 of those complaints resulted in a finding of prohibited content, a small fraction of the billions of pages on the Internet, and less than 20 concerned pages hosted in Australia."
Fantastic value for money there , AUD$100,000 per page....
You need to remember that Alston et all are only really interested in pandering to the popular press, and not in actually making any real changes.
Also, now that the balance of power has changed in the senate (ie Senator Harradine has gone) , the Libs will now be pandering to the Democrats, so we may see an end to these silly, unenforceable censorship laws
As far as I can make out, I still have unrestricted access to everything I have ever had
I say this because:
I have NOT been forced to install blocking software
My ISP is not running blocking software (nor any others to my knowledge
If the ABA has taken down a site, I'm sure it's just popped up again overseas
It's probably just more boring pr0n anyway ..
ho , hum , back to work...
Darren Kruse CCNP CCDP
WAN/LAN Networking Consultant
mailto://darren_kruse@hotmail.com
www.geocities.com/darren_kruse
My guess is that the government is too embarrassed to show how pitifully few sites have been taken down for the money expended
You need to remember that Alston et all are only really interested in pandering to the popular press, and not in actually making any real changes.
As far as I can make out, I still have unrestricted access to everything I have ever had
i saw this because:
I have NOT been forced to install blocking software
My ISP is not running blocking software (nor any others to my knowledge
If the ABA has taken down a site, I'm sure it's just popped up again overseas
It's probably just more boring pr0n anyway ..
ho , hum , back to work...
none of the features that you mention seem vital to running an ISP
I made this claim after being told last week the UUNET (in Oz) are running 11.2 SP code.
I was try to get them to to do RFC 1483 ATM half bridging.- no go ....
so, sorry, I don't work for an ISP, so I can't give you a sh ver..
IOS 11.2 why NOT ? - you tell me a feature that IS vital to an ISP in 12.x !!
Darren Kruse CCNP CCDP
WAN/LAN Networking Consultant
mailto://darren_kruse@hotmail.com
www.geocities.com/darren_kruse
an Anonymous Coward who
1. is ignorant of the reality of IP Phones
2. is biting the hand that feeds him
3. claims to be a CCIE !! - yeah right...
Remember, you always have the option of running rock solid GD code, and forgoing fancy new s/w features.
Most ISP's run GD releases of SP code, that is 11.2.x , where x is large number - ie > 20
Darren Kruse CCNP CCDP
WAN/LAN Networking Consultant
mailto://darren_kruse@hotmail.com
www.geocities.com/darren_kruse
EIGRP is Cisco proprietry routing protocol.
Refer : http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/cisintwk/
Darren Kruse CCNP CCDP
WAN/LAN Networking Consultant
Email : darren_kruse@hotmail.com
www.geocities.com/darren_kruse
EIGRP is Cisco proprietry routing protocol.
Refer : http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/cisintwk/
Darren Kruse CCNP CCDP
WAN/LAN Networking Consultant
Email : darren_kruse@hotmail.com
www.geocities.com/darren_kruse
This is a VERY good question, and I don't think that there is a positive answer - sorry.
As a network engineer/designer , over the years I've used lots of different network drawing tools and their associated file formats :
Visio is easily the best of these, with Visio 2000 really working for me.
I always had a fear of losing my Netviz pictures as Netviz was/ is a relatively small company that might go under one day.
With MS buying Visio a few year back, that fear is now gone. I imported all my Netviz pictures in Visio.
Exporting: I can always export my pictures to .gif , jpeg or pdf's -
but that's no good for further editing.
From a commercial viewpoint, I tend to export to .gif , jpeg or pdf's as I don't want
people messing with the IP I've created.
In an ideal world, I would not use a closed source proprietary product to produce my work, but I don't see any viable alternatives at this moment.
cheers,
darren.
Darren Kruse CCNP CCDP
WAN/LAN Networking Consultant
Email : darren_kruse@hotmail.com
www.geocities.com/darren_kruse
I'm a network engineer and I live with a whiteboard marker in my hand.
So , ask them to draw you some pictures. Like:
OSI model
Operation of at least 2 IGP's , ie OSPF, RIP, EIGRP
Route redistribution
Spanning tree
Multicasting
Split horizon
etc .. you get the idea
Ask a few dumb questions :
what's ARP ?
difference between a router and a switchname me a layer 4 IP protocol
what does NAT do ?
who's Jon Postel ?
who's Vint Cerf ?
what's the IETF ?
whats an RFC ?
etc .. you get the idea
Finally, if you have the time, give them 2 routers and switch :
Get him/her to configure
PPP, and CHAP
RIP, or OSPF or EIGRP
IPX
a simple access-list
basic router authentication
etc .. you get the idea
Also, certifications DO help you weed out the rubbish.
Darren Kruse CCNP CCDP
WAN/LAN Networking Consultant
Email : darren_kruse@hotmail.com
www.geocities.com/darren_kruse
ps, I'm alway's looking for work :-)
here at eBay !
If the key question is "What should administrators really be watching for if they are concerned with potential hostile activity over the net? " - then, this assumes a lot of things of the administrators .. to whom I would like to address these 8 questions
We build and install networks for corporate clients and our experience is that the answers to the above questions is generally - "No"
We therefore advocate an ongoing process of risk assessment and penetration testing leading to a consultants report.
If the report indicates that they are an "at risk" target, then an ongoing, outsourced IDS service is offered,
Of course, this is assuming that a corporate security policy is in place. Again, generally the answer to THAT question is either "No, we don't have one" , or some feeble "Well, I know how the firewall is configured, and I wrote all the router access-lists .."
I'll stop the "Security is a process, not a product" rant at this point.
The point I really want to make is that before the slashdot-admins go racing into Tripwire, Snort, Netranger and nmap-land, they should take a long hard look at these questions and answer them with critical honesty.
Visio has always been totally useless for network diagramming as IMHO it is missing a key feature.
.....
MUTILAYER - DRILL DOWN
I tried this again with the latest release and it still doesn't do it easily or automatically.
If you want to do good, multilayer network digrams then the only usefull tool I've found is
NETVIZ : http://www.netviz.com
It even exports to mutilayer HTML - including all the inter-diagram links.
This means you can start at a state level, showing just city/town blobs with WAN links between them, and then DRILL DOWN into the city/town blobs to se the buildings and then into the buildings to see the routers and then into
aahhhhh stop me !
in any case , I'm quite thankful M$oft didn't buy NETVIZ.
This document somehow leaked out of compaq - darn pesky email ... enjoy the "official" compaq position .. indaba...
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxXXXXXXXXXXXX
Here is part of the communication package around Alpha NT.
No more NT4 on Alpha past SP6.
No 32 bit Win2000 on Alpha.
No 64 bit Win2000 on Alpha.
Alpha is purely for Tru64 Unix, OpenVMS and Linux.
Windows NT Alpha Strategy Q & A Version 1 - 25 Aug 99
General Questions:
Q. Exactly what has Compaq changed in its Alpha Windows NT Strategy? What has Compaq announced? Why has Compaq decommitted from Windows NT on Alpha systems?
A. Based on the extremely good scalability of our 4- and 8-way ProLiant servers with 32-bit Windows NT, Compaq believes that this platform can satisfy all market requirements for 32-bit Windows NT. We have therefore been able to simplify our strategy and offerings. Compaq will end 32-bit Windows NT Alpha systems development with V4 SP6, late in 1999, and will not support either 32 or 64-bit Windows 2000 on Alpha systems.
This change will enable us to sharply focus our Alpha strategy and resources on our aggressive plans to grow Tru64 UNIX market share, support our loyal OpenVMS customers, extend our Himalaya range, and drive volumes for Alpha systems with Linux.
Q. What is Compaq's Windows NT strategy going forward?
A. As the leading provider of Windows NT-based platforms and solutions, Compaq is a strong supporter of Windows NT and will remain at the forefront of moving Windows NT into the enterprise as its capabilities continue to mature. We will maintain our leadership role in providing the environment in which Microsoft is developing its 64-bit capable versions of NT as well as our extensive involvement in assuring the best performance and reliability on Microsoft's current and future 32 bit offerings. The only change in strategy is that all of Compaq's efforts on behalf of 32-bit Windows NT will now be built around our industry-leading IA32-based systems. The recent very strong performance results achieved with Compaq's new 8-way ProLiant servers demonstrates that we can meet 100% of the market requirement for 32-bit Windows NT systems with these platforms.
Q. Will Alpha support for 64-bit Windows NT also be discontinued? Why?
A. We will continue partnering aggressively with Microsoft on development of 64-bit Windows NT, utilizing Alpha systems. We do not plan to offer 64-bit Windows 2000 on Alpha systems, and will focus our efforts on offering the very best 64-bit IA32 Windows NT platforms in the market at the time of its introduction.
Q. Is this a sign of Compaq slowly backing away from Alpha?
A. Absolutely not. Alpha still remains a vital component of Compaq's NonStop eBusiness strategy for the enterprise. As evidence of this, the previous commitment to move the NonStop Himalaya and Integrity system architectures to Alpha is intact, as is the recent commitment by the senior management to spend an incremental $100M to further the position of Tru64 UNIX/AlphaServer in the marketplace. There is also strong market interest in Linux running on Alpha, and this will be a major focus for driving volume based on the Alpha architecture. Finally, the Alpha chip roadmap continues advancing, with "shrinks" of the 3rd-generation of Alpha architecture (the 21264), the finalization of the EV7 design, and early design of EV8 technologies all presently underway.
Installed Base Impact Questions:
Q. Am I "dead-ended" with the current investment in my AlphaServer? What options do I have?
A. No. Compaq is putting in place programs and growth paths to satisfy our customers' requirements through this change in plans.
For already installed AlphaServers running Windows NT: In the short term, customers can continue to use their existing systems with current applications and have the option to upgrade to Service Pack 5 and then Service Pack 6. In the long term, customers can continue to use their current systems with Windows NT 4, and will be supported by Compaq Customer Services until at least Q1 CY2001. For future needs (including Windows 2000), customers should take advantage of trade-in programs and migration services to Windows NT or Windows 2000 on ProLiant servers, or to Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS or Linux on their AlphaServer systems.
For customers considering new AlphaServer systems running Windows NT: Customers can move to ProLiant Servers and run Windows NT 4 or Windows 2000, depending on their requirements.
For each of these circumstances, Compaq will provide attractive programs, upgrades and migration services to fit the individual customer needs. Details on these programs are available from your regional representative.
Q. I bought my Tru64 UNIX or OpenVMS AlphaServer with the promise that it would run Windows NT in the future. What do I do now?
A. Compaq will provide upgrade and trade-in programs to ProLiant Servers for customers who chose to move to Windows NT in the future. Details of these programs are available from your regional representative.
Q. I have an Alpha Windows NT-only DIGITAL Servers (white box), what options do I have?
A. Customers with Alpha Windows NT-only DIGITAL Servers can continue to run Windows NT V4 with support provided up through at least Service Pack 5. For customers who wish to move to Windows 2000, Compaq will provide attractive upgrade and trade-in programs to new ProLiant Servers.
Q. How long will my current Windows NT Alpha system be supported?
A. Our Customer Services organization will continue to support both hardware and software, for the foreseeable future and at least through Q1, 2001. Hardware support will be offered under standard terms & conditions. As a demonstration of this commitment, Compaq Customer Services still supports VAX and PDP technology.
Q. How long will you ship new Alpha systems running Windows NT V4?
A. A specific roadmap that details the last ship dates for each system model is provided in supporting materials.
Q. I have a large investment in Alpha for UNIX, why won't Tru64 UNIX be next to be dropped (when Merced ships)?
A. The market for enterprise servers running UNIX remains a very strong and vital one, and Compaq intends to be a leader within the segments of this market we focus on, in order to service the needs of our enterprise customers. Tru64 UNIX is widely acknowledged to be one of the finest UNIX operating systems in the market. The recent commitment by senior management to spend an incremental $100 million to fortify the position of Tru64 UNIX/AlphaServers in the market is tangible evidence of our intentions.
Q. I am in the middle of Y2K validation and am planning to move to Windows 2000. Why has Compaq dropped Alpha support for Windows NT at this critical time?
A. Customers will continue to be able to run Windows NT Service Pack 4 for Y2K conformance and have the ability to upgrade through Service Pack 6. This will enable customers to run current Alpha systems through CY2000 without impacting their Y2K readiness. As customers begin to move to implement Windows 2000, they have the option to re-deploy their current AlphaServer to run Tru64 UNIX or OpenVMS, add ProLiant Servers running Windows 2000 or take advantage of upgrade and trade-in programs being put in place by Compaq.
Q: How will this decision affect StorageWorks? Will Compaq StorageWorks products continue to support NT on Alpha?
A: The Raid Array 8000 and Enterprise Storage Array 12000 product lines will support 32-bit Windows NT on AlphaServers in FCAL configurations. Customers will have the option to upgrade to Service Pack 5 and then Service Pack 6. Compaq is making beta versions of the FCAL drivers available today and will have a production FCAL driver available for AlphaServers 32-bit Windows NT in October, 1999. This solution will support both clusters and high availability single system configurations. In the long term, customers can continue to use their current systems with Windows NT 4, and will be supported by Compaq Customer Services until at least Q1 CY2001. For future needs (including Windows 2000, support for FC Switched Fabrics, and value-added features such as Data Replication Manager), they can move to ProLiant Servers or consider trade-in programs and migration services to Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS or Linux.
Q. What will happen with my ISV software licenses as I move to another platform?
We are working closely with key ISVs, for example Oracle and SAP, to assure that there are migration plans in place. Our key ISVs are supportive of this decision and are also committed to taking care of customers in the very best way. More details will be provided as each ISV develops their plans.
Business Questions:
Q. Was Compaq counting on Alpha Windows NT to drive volume?
A. No. There is enough Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS, Himalaya and Linux business to sustain a competitive Alpha processor for the long term, along with our partners such as Samsung/API.
Q. What is Microsoft's position on this decision? Does this reflect a weakening of the Compaq/Microsoft relationship?
A. Microsoft supports this decision. It in no way reflects a weakening of the Compaq/Microsoft relationship. Compaq is working quite closely with Microsoft in the development of 64-bit Windows NT, in support of our drive to address more demanding enterprise requirements with Windows NT.
Q. How have Samsung and Alpha Processors, Inc. reacted to this decision? What will happen to other OEMs who are developing systems utilizing Windows NT on Alpha?
A. Recognizing the opportunity that exists for Alpha on Linux, Alpha Processor, Inc. has already made all its products available for Linux. Most recently they've been assisting an effort in bringing leading Linux tools and libraries to Alpha. API's and Samsung's resources will continue to support Linux-based solutions. With respect to OEM's who have been utilizing Windows NT on Alpha, API and Samsung are working closely to help those who wish to transition to other platforms. We'd recommend contacting API for further discussion regarding their platform strategies.
Q. What proportion of AlphaServer business is on Windows NT today? Has that fraction been increasing or decreasing?
A. Less than 2% of AlphaServer current business. Tru64 UNIX has become the predominant choice for Alpha systems, with OpenVMS in second position. While Tru64 UNIX and OpenVMS customers have benefited from Alpha's accelerated performance with EV6 technology, 32-bit Windows NT customers needs can be met with the performance and capabilities of the superior performing ProLiant servers.
Q. What proportion of AlphaServer business is on Linux today?
A. Small, but growing very rapidly.
B.
Q. What has been the reaction of ISV's? What about those ISV's who have made significant investments in Alpha/NT?
A. Our key ISVs support this decision. We will be working closely with our ISVs to offer trade-in and migration programs, to take care our mutual customers needs. In addition, Microsoft has committed to support ISVs with all aspects of their 64-bit development program.
Q. What is the impact of this decision on Compaq's workstation business?
A. The decision regarding Windows NT and Windows 2000 affects both AlphaServer systems as well as Alpha-based workstations. Attractive migration and trade-in offers will also be in place to IA32-based Compaq Professional Workstations or to other operating systems on the current platform.
Q. How will this announcement impact Compaq's focus on the ISP market?
A. It does not affect our comprehensive and aggressive focus on the ISP market, addressed with a combination of Tru64 UNIX on AlphaServers and Windows NT on ProLiant servers.
Overall Server and Competitive Positioning Questions
Q. How are Tru64 UNIX AlphaServer solutions for ISPs, ASPs and eBusiness positioned in the market?
A. Compaq Tru64 UNIX AlphaServer solutions are competitively positioned. Unlike any other RISC UNIX platform on the market, solutions delivered on Tru64 UNIX V5.0 AlphaServer systems offer our customers the highest availability with the lowest cost to implement, operate and manage. Additionally, eBusiness applications require the ability to scale to meet the peak demands placed on them. Unlike other UNIX platforms, Compaq's Tru64 UNIX AlphaServers have the power to meet the peak load requirements. Your systems will not slow down during a critical time of network traffic.
Q. Compaq appears to be positioning the ProLiant 8-way server against Sun. Isn't that in conflict with the positioning of Tru64 UNIX AlphaServer solutions?
A. Not at all. Compaq has a stronger set of products than Sun since we have both superior UNIX and Windows NT products, offering the customer more choice! The newly announced ProLiant 8000 and 8500 servers were announced to compete directly against Sun in the ASP and low-end of ISP markets, complemented by Tru64 UNIX for the higher end requirements. Compaq Tru64 UNIX AlphaServer solutions continue to compete effectively against Sun as demonstrated by numerous industry standard benchmarks and with the extremely high levels of availability and scalability.
Q: What are the benchmarks and how do Compaq ProLiant and AlphaServer offerings compare with Sun?
A. As an example, Compaq's AlphaServer DS10 with Tru64 UNIX, featuring 2GB memory and up to 54 GB disks, outperformed Sun's dual- and quad-processor servers running Internet applications at less than half the price on the SPECweb96 benchmark. The AlphaServer DS10 with Tru64 UNIX delivered results of 3404, outperforming both the Sun E450(2963) and the Sun E250 (2625). There are many other examples in other target market segments.
The ProLiant 8000 running Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 on Windows NT 4.0 offered more than double the performance at 30 percent better price:performance than the Sun E450.
Our key strength versus Sun is that no matter which OS our customers chose, either Tru64 UNIX on AlphaServers or Windows NT on ProLiant servers, they can be assured of the best absolute performance as well as price/performance across a range of applications and systems. Sun only has UNIX and cannot offer their customers the Windows NT choice.
Q. Isn't Compaq's strong support of both Windows NT and UNIX solutions confusing to the market?
A. Compaq is committed to solving the full range of business and technical challenges throughout the enterprise. Analyst reports estimate that 90% of all IT environments will be using both UNIX and Windows NT. Compaq, a leader in 64-bit UNIX and the market share leader in Windows NT solutions, is not only committed to offering a broad range of solutions for each operating system, but also to continuing to enhance its leadership position in UNIX/Windows NT interoperability. Compaq allows its customers to take advantage of both systems - without two support and development staffs, and a host of cross-platform application issues.
Workstation Alpha NT Strategy
Q: Why did Compaq decide to discontinue Windows NT on the Alpha workstation platforms?
A: Compaq re-evaluated the Windows NT strategy for workstations because of vastly improved graphics capabilities on Compaq AP and SP Professional Workstations and limited Windows NT sales on the Alpha workstations.
Q: How does this announcement effect Alpha Windows NT customers?
A: Compaq continues to ship and support Windows NT version 4.0 (Service Pack 3) on current Alpha workstation platforms (DPW500a, 600a, and XP1000/500MHz).
Compaq will qualify, release, and support Microsoft Service Pack 5 and Service Pack 6 for current Alpha workstation products (DPW500a, 600a, and XP1000/500MHz).
Q: How will this announcement effect Alpha workstation products?
A: Compaq will not support Windows NT or Windows 2000 on future Alpha products.
Platform upgrades and future Alpha workstations will support Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS, and certified Linux operating systems.
Q: Will Compaq support 64-bit Windows NT on the Alpha workstation platforms?
A: There are no plans to deploy or support 64-bit Windows NT on Alpha workstations.
Q: How does this announcement effect Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS, and Linux Alpha customers?
A: This announcement does not directly affect Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS, or Linux Alpha workstation customers. We expect to re-deploy certain resources from Windows NT to these operating systems in order to provide a higher level of support there.
Q: How does this announcement effect Compaq Intel workstations?
A: This announcement does not affect Compaq AP and SP Professional Workstation customers.
Q: What is the migration path for Windows NT Alpha workstation customers?
A: Compaq will work with customers to help them migrate to the optimum AP or SP Professional Workstation or to one of the other operating systems supported on Alpha.
Q: What does this decision mean for Windows NT Alpha workstation OEM customers?
A: Compaq will work with OEM customers on an individual basis to determine how best to meet their short and long term needs. This can include OEM specific last buy dates and technical support for hardware and/or software migration plans.