Archive for the 'Linux' Category
Thursday, May 21st, 2009
Consider this… Vista vs Netbooks
Why are Netbooks such a threat to Microsoft? It’s not just the abundance of Linux shipping on them. It’s their profitability flying off the shelves (or via UPS these days…)
- Consider: 1 license for Vista Home Basic $199 at Best Buy
- Consider: 1 Dell Mini 9 Netbook with Vista Home Basic for just $299
- Consider: 1 Dell Mini 9 Netbook with Ubuntu for just $249
So, for $199 you can get a software license for Microsoft. For just $100 more, you can get a working netbook with that software license. Or, for just $50 more, you can get that same Netbook with Linux.
If you had just $300 to spend, who wants to pick the software license?
Now, consider what this is doing to Microsoft’s margins… Your premium pricing power has just been put under pressure – not by Linux, but by the hardware underneath the OS that just dropped from days of $1,000 laptops to $299. Microsoft can’t justify doubling the price of the product just for its software license. And Ubuntu is clearly offering hardware vendors a key counterpoint in their negotiations with Microsoft.
Microsoft is also in a bind as enforcing its premium pricing will either
- invite priracy b/c who can look at the offerings and justify paying that much retail for the OS, and which hurts their margins more (a paying customer is better than a pirating one…)
- 2) alienate a new set of younger, price conscious buyers entering the market (not just in the US, but around the world)
Clearly Microsoft is in need of a strategy refresh – and fast. I see the tide turning where their downstream users and upstream suppliers will create a challenging negotiation. Michael Porter would have fun with this analysis.
And with that… I may just order myself a Netbook soon. They’re almost as cheap as iPods now…
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
A Jeopardy Supercomputer … running Linux
I guess when I first heard IBM had a supercomputer (called “Watson”) that was going to compete against humans at an open ended game like Jeopardy, I assumed it was running some very sophisticated, finely tuned, and powerful OS tailored to an IBM hardware platform. Turns out I was right – it’s running Linux.
It may also be accessing Web data stores like Wikipedia (which runs on Linux – Ubuntu I hear) over a router (possibly running Linux), protected by a firewall (likely running Linux). Starting to see a theme?
A great quote from Bob Sutor:
I’ve given several talks in the last two months about the relationship of Linux to the Smarter Planet initiatives. The key elements to that are the three “I”s: being instrumented, interconnected, and intelligent. This Jeopardy! project is definitely related to the last. To borrow from a slide I use: “How can we take advantage of the wealth of information available in real time from a multitude of sources to make more intelligent choices?”
I won’t belabor the point but you get the idea. More and more Linux is being used as the foundation on which innovative applications are being built. We don’t always know it, we can’t always measure it, but it’s there. And someday it just might help beat you at Jeopardy!.
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
Sun – Oracle Analysis
I just read Stephen O’Grady’s classic Q&A on Sun-Oracle. Another through analysis. There are certainly many angles to this one… and many questions that will play out over time.
http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2009/04/21/settingsun/
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Linux kernel 2.6.29/30: with a preliminary Btrfs
I just read a “cute” article at The Register talking about the 2.6.29 kernel release which includes a preliminary release of Btrfs. P
lease note this is still a fast changing filesystem technology and should not be used on anything near production workloads.
I can’t wait to see 2.6.30 release and this is one technology I will try out right away. For more information on Btrfs, you can check out this page.
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
TomTom flexes Linux muscle in Microsoft’s face
Interesting news being covered at The Register
TomTom has belatedly joined a patent holding company, which champions the Linux ecosystem, in a clear message that the GPS maker won’t take its escalating legal with Microsoft lying down.
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The group, which has some big backers in the open source community, including IBM, Novell and Red Hat, was founded with the sole aim of acquiring patents relating to Linux and offering them royalty-free to Linux developers.
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“I’d say the Microsoft/TomTom battle just got bigger, and TomTom is in a stronger position than it was”, wrote Groklaw today in response to the OIN announcement.
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
IDC’s Al Gillen Covers the Red Hat / Microsoft Virtualization Announcement
I just saw Al Gillen covered the news from Red Hat and Microsoft on virtualization. Note the differences between this announcement and the Novell-Microsoft announcement. Two approaches that both achieve the same general customer result – which approach is better is up to you to decide/discuss ;-)
What’s also interesting is that so far, Red Hat has only submitted for Windows certification on KVM and not yest on RHEL/Xen (which is currently shipping).
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=lcUS21686409
The Red Hat and Microsoft agreement simply is about cross-validation/certification and does not have any IP or financial implications.
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
Red Hat and IBM: It’s been 10 years
With the continuing growth and scale of Linux, you would think it was still early in its lifecycle, but today’s blog post by Alex Pinchev at Red Hat reminded me it’s been 10 years since IBM and Red Hat first partnered. 10 years – so much has changed in that time. I was only around for less than half that time working on the IBM side, but it was always an exciting and dynamic area to work in. I think we’ll see many more years of success ahead.
Today we are celebrating a momentous occasion. Ten years ago today, Red Hat and IBM began our global collaborative partnership to expand the use of enterprise solutions on Linux. It was a small but important start to announce that IBM would run Red Hat Linux on its industry-standard systems. Back in 1999, Red Hat was on the eve of its IPO, and IBM was testing the waters of Linux. Only 10 million users ran the Linux operating system at the time, according to IDC Research quoted in our original partnership announcement.
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
Bob Sutor takes on a new (Linux-related) role in IBM
Congratulations to Bob Sutor on his new role in IBM’s Linux team:
Now that it’s been announced internally, I can briefly spill the beans that I have a new and expanded role in IBM. My standards and open source IP/membership/policy team and I are moving to the Software Group, and I am picking up…
Monday, January 19th, 2009
Is Samba 4 going after the Windows Active Directory stronghold?
Admittedly I have neither read or heard much about Samba 4, but it sounds like they’re gunning for Active Directory replacement (finally). I’d be very interesting in seeing a comparison table of what features are supported (and in what DC roles) vs AD… if you know of such a comparison, please let me know. I checked samba.org and wikipedia but didn’t find anything.
Looking at the article /. linked to, this may be a while off with Bartlett saying, “we don’t know what people need”
“Enterprise networks now have an alternative choice to Microsoft Active Directory (AD) servers, with the open source Samba project aiming for feature parity with the forthcoming release of version 4, according to Canberra-based Samba developer Andrew Bartlett. Speaking at this year’s linux.conf.au Linux and open source conference in Hobart, Bartlett said Samba 4 is aiming to be a replacement for AD by providing a free software implementation of Microsoft’s custom protocols. Because AD is ‘far more than LDAP and Kerberos,’ Bartlett said, Samba 4 is not only about developing with Microsoft’s customization of those protocols, it is also about moving the project beyond just providing an NT 4 compatible domain manager.”
Thursday, December 4th, 2008
IBM takes on Desktop cost challenges (with Linux)
Interesting news out of my employer today. Here’s the thing, everyone who hears “Linux desktop” has a knee-jerk reaction and thinks of all the things they do on their own PC, laptop, Mac. The reality is you’re probably not the target market for virtual desktops. The market is large desktop environments that have thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) of users and who are not doing consumer-oriented work (or shouldn’t be). The cost savings of moving from physical PCs in a 1 user to 1 PC model to a managed model with virtual terminals can be significant. We’ll see where the market goes for this model, but I know of a few very large companies that want to make this model very real. The economic situation and the impact on IT budgets may act as an accelerant.
Oh, I forgot to mention that the IBM solution runs on Ubuntu and can be easily deployed on RHEL/SLED too ;-)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/04/ibm_linux_lotus_virtual_desktop/
IBM is working with Virtual Bridges and its VERDE (Virtual Enterprise Remote Desktop Environment) product to ship a virtual Canonical Ubuntu Linux desktop, with Lotus email, word processing, spreadsheets, unified communication, and social networking software included, to a variety of end-point devices. Virtual printing is also included.
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When we look back several years from now, I think we’ll see this time as an inflection point when the economic climate pushed the virtual Linux desktop from theory to practice. The financial pressures on organizations are staggering; the management of PCs is unwieldy, and traditional office software innovation is paltry. Today’s virtual desktop is delivering superior collaborative software, an innovative delivery method, and an open-source operating system that is demanding clients’ consideration.
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
Ubuntu, Gnome Theming
I love this theme NeoDave posted in his screenshot of Ubuntu. I can pick out many of the technologies that he used to create each aspect, but why can’t we have simplified, comprehensive theme packages at this point? I haven’t looked into it, and perhaps it’s more a Gnome issue than any particular distro, but it would be nice to just download his theme in a package and run it easily. Not just the window colors/elements, but the dockbars, the position of elements, widgets, all of it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/neodave/2752500743/sizes/l/
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
TurboPrint releases version 2 with new GIMP printing plugin
Despite using Linux to organize my pictures, I’ve always had to boot into Windows to print them properly. I have a Canon i960 photo printer which Canon has stoutly objected to supporting on Linux. Where there’s a gap, there’s an opportunity and TurboPrint has stepped up to fill a void due to printer vendors’ lack of support.
I’ve tried just about ever trick in the book to get my Canon just to print. Last year I gave up and finally just paid for TurboPrint. It’s a decent program and while it’s not cheap, it is cheaper than buying a new printer. Today they announced a new version 2 with updated features. Take a look if you’re interested. You can download the trial version first and check it out before paying.
I’m not sure what color management and color profiling services do exactly, but they may help with printing pictures. I haven’t seen a great solution for managing color, but perhaps they’ve “fixed the glitch”. The other real challenge I’ve had is doing borderless printing…
New Features:
- color management
- status monitor with panel applet
- duplex printing
- print preview
- ink management & ink saving mode
- color profiling service
Monday, November 17th, 2008
Adobe (finally) releases a 64-bit flash version for Linux
I can’t tell you how long ago I switched to running 64-bit Ubuntu and have been frustrated by the workarounds to get a 32-bit flash player working. While Ubuntu tries to make it painless, it creates havoc when you make changes to the “standard way”.
Well today it looks like my pain may be resolved. Adobe has let loose a 64-bit “alpha” version of Flash Player 10. I will be installing this promptly and report back, but in the meantime, you can get it yourself over here. You can read more about what’s new, etc at Adobe’s announcement page here.
Furthering Adobe’s commitment to the Linux community and as part of ongoing efforts to ensure the cross-platform compatibility of Flash Player, an alpha version of 64-bit Adobe Flash Player 10 for Linux operating systems was released on 11/17/2008 and is available for download. This offers easier, native installation on 64-bit Linux distributions and removes the need for 32-bit emulation. Learn more by reading the 64-bit Flash Player 10 FAQ.
Release versions of Flash Player 10 for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux are now available from the Flash Player Download Center.
Monday, October 27th, 2008
Seen on campus: 2 Ubuntu Laptop Success Stories
I have two younger sisters who are currently in college – both at the same school. It’s a private college and has what I would consider your average IT setup for a campus.
Within the first two weeks, both had their laptops infected by viruses separately – different viruses, different times. One was running XP, the other Vista on you basic Dell laptops. Of course, who did they call? Answer: me.
Well, I took in both laptops and tried to fix them. I found that viruses today are far more advanced – one modified the MBR and the other completely wiped out the Dell recovery partition – savvy indeed. I did my best to try re-installing their respective Windows OSs, but I found that Microsoft’s licensing practices prevented me from succeeding. First, I only had Pro CDs of XP and Vista so the Home license keys on the underside of each laptop were of no use. I’d install the OS, then Microsoft Genuine Advantage would block me… thanks Microsoft.
So I had them try calling Dell – of course, no luck. They wouldn’t send a replacement media for Windows. If I had the time and energy, I’d file a lawsuit against them tomorrow.
So I turned to my laptop OS of choice: Ubuntu. No chance for a license key or media obtainment problem.
My sisters had both seen me using Ubuntu before so they had seen “what it looked like” but they never knew it wasn’t Windows. When I loaded it on their laptops, they actually didn’t know it wasn’t Windows. In fact, the first thing they both did was try downloading/installing iTunes from Apple.com. No luck – Apple, where’s an Ubuntu client?
So I set them up with all the software they needed for iPods. They actually installed their own printers without even calling me (HP printers – great compatibility). They use OpenOffice for their papers/spreadsheets/presentations, Firefox was not new to them, and Evolution is just as easy as Outlook.
They’re now both about to close out their first semester – both made it on Ubuntu alone. And the best news – not a single virus.
More amazingly, the overall number of “support requests” have gone down. Even when they had Windows there were other reasons for calls, but now… only an occassional “how do I?” type question here or there. It’s been great. They easily download from the digital cameras, they manage their music collections (no corrupted iTunes libraries), and they use all the latest social media networks. Now they would both prefer to get a Mac, but that’s the really interesting part – they have no need for Windows.
We’re making progress. Ubuntu is leading the way.
Thursday, October 16th, 2008
Stephen O’Grady covers the Linux Foundation End User Summit
O’Grady’s comments, views and reaction to the Linux Foundation Summit here. Regrettably I couldn’t be there…
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
Adobe releases Linux Flash player with launch of v10
My how far we’ve come when Adobe releases a Linux version of its Flash player concurrently with other platform releases. Great news! Now if only Apple would let them release an iPhone/Safari player..
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/15/200226
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008
Did hell freeze over? Broadcom releases an open source, Linux wireless driver
I had to read this article twice to ensure I was actually reading it correctly. Then I visited the Broadcom website and downloaded it just to be certain this wasn’t a hoax. Yes, Broadcom, the most open only about not supporting Linux has released an open source Linux wireless driver. And it’s really under an open source license. The source files I opened were clearly GPLv2.
So Dell and Canonical forced them into it – but they did it. I’m honestly shocked.
Linux has hit a critical mass. It may not be taking over the desktop world, but it has at least reached “Mac” support status.
http://blogs.computerworld.com/new_linux_broadcom_wi_fi_drivers_arrive
Thursday, September 25th, 2008
NY Times: “Is Sun Solaris on its deathbed?”
Interesting article on the last ditch efforts of Sun to keep Solaris from dying. Personally, I think Solaris will die a similar death as IBM’s OS/2 did – slowly, with stalwarts hanging on as long as they can.
http://www.nytimes.com/idg/IDG_852573C400693880002574CE00371FE1.html
I’m not sure UNIX in general is dead as AIX and I think even HP-UX have seen fairly strong growth recently, but Linux is certainly tearing up the industry like the good disruptor it is. I think another angle that was missed is the outstanding growth of Linux on Power and mainframe platforms – heck, even Sun has tried to put Solaris on an IBM mainframe.
Another point that is often overlooked is that a lot of Solaris migrations also go to Windows. It’s the drive to high volume platforms that triggers the shift.
However, aside from those minor conflicts in views, Jim Zemlin is right on. I think this quote says it all. It amazes me that any company would try to compete with that level of momentum head on and not try to join in on the growth opportunity. Just look at Red Hat’s earnings yesterday if you’re still skeptical.
By contrast, Linux is the overwhelming choice for new deployments on x86 systems, Zemlin says. Sun has had its strength in applications such as ERP systems with a seven- to 20-year life cycle, he adds. “What’s starting to happen is those life cycles are starting to be completed,” and those customers are moving to Linux.
That move to Linux is accelerated by Linux’s strength in Web applications, where developers today are focused, Zemlin adds. “You can’t really talk to any Web-based application company these days that’s not using Linux,” he says.
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
Red Hat beats estimates and Ohio Linux Fest is Almost Here
I can’t make sense of the “all eggs in a Solaris basket” strategy Sun is on especially when I see Red Hat just launched economic concerns back into the faces of Wall St. analysts by posting 24% growth over last year. Jim Whitehurst seems to be doing just fine in the new role – the Qumranet buy was also brilliant. I have high hopes for what we might see come from the acquisition.
And in other news, Oracle launched its own branded storage hardware product (made by HP) that is based on Linux. All around it’s been a positive day for accelerating growth of Linux.
And for those who haven’t registered, Ohio Linux Fest is coming up soon. I’m proud to say that IBM is once again the primary platinum sponsor (thanks for the funding Alena!). You can sign up here. I can’t say for sure yet, but it looks like Brian Warner from IBM’s Linux Strategy team will be joining me in person. If you’ll be present, send me an email and let’s meet up. There’s a great list of speakers for the event. I’ve never met Joe Brockmeier but I’m hoping to introduce myself at some point.
Monday, September 22nd, 2008
Get involved in the Linux Foundation – now accepting individual memberships
The LF is branching out to include individual members interesting in participating and collaborating on Linux topics. For just $50/year you too can become a member.
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS2023858186.html
After announcing its first event for “end users,” the Linux Foundation has begun to promote “individual memberships.” Available now for $50 a year, memberships include a T-shirt, quarterly newsletter, and the “ability to run for and vote for a Linux Foundation board seat,” says the organization.
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