Archive for the 'Windows' Category
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
The Register Open Season Podcast
This was another interesting podcast. I’m obviously a fan of Mr. Vance (has anyone ever called him “Mr.”?) - maybe I’m the first. I also need to meet Matt Asay at some point… have much to discuss.
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
Microsoft “Gets the Facts” on Windows Server 2003 (forgets the facts on Linux)
Interesting omission from Microsoft’s energy efficiency comparison ;-)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/11/microsoft_windows_server_2008/
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
NetworkWorld: “Red Hat Linux pulls as much as 12% less power than Windows 2008 on identical hardware”
URL: http://www.networkworld.com/research/2008/060908-green-windows-linux.html
An amazing story of the value the Linux community development process brings to the table in solving user problems. Now that Microsoft knows there’s a problem, their engineers have to spend months identfying where there’s a problem, months identifying who will have to fix the problem and how, and months fixing the issue. Then the issue(s) may have to wait until the next Windows release, or do they roll out in an update.
Either way, the community developing Linux saw the pain point right away a long time ago and built in “green” features that today show up in the stable RHEL kernel. This is just another example of when community based development can outperform because of the open contact with user communities.
For this test, we examined power consumption as a way to judge whether Windows Server 2008 or Linux is, in fact, the ‘greener’ operating system. As the price of power hits record heights, power reduction mechanisms shipping within an operating system should play a key role in you energy conservation plan.
…
The results showed that while Windows Server 2008 drew slightly less power in a few test cases when it had its maximum power saving settings turned on, it was RHEL that did the best job of keeping the power draw in check across the board.
Thursday, June 5th, 2008
Linux to outship Windows by 2013 (Windows Mobile that is)
Wow; just how far has Linux come in the mobile space? It will outship Windows for smartphones in the next 5 years. Consider that smartphones may not even include the Motorola lines that run Linux (but are not “smartphones”).
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/06/05/smartphone_os_linux/
Smartphones running Linux look set to become far more commonplace within the next five years, market watcher ABI Research has forecast.
The firm’s VP, Stuart Carlaw, reckons that Linux will feature on 23 per cent of smartphones by 2013. He added that that share of the market will put the open source operating system in second place in the smartphone popularity stakes, putting it behind Symbian and ahead of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile worldwide.
Monday, June 2nd, 2008
Register: “Windows experiment meets the bottom line”
There are cases where this just makes perfect sense. I think the Linux ISV or open source apps/middleware community could use a dose of attention to the integration and ease of implementation across products. That’s clearly a strength of Microsoft. I’ve always been a fan of SQL Server and Visual Studio - for an average developer working on a small-mid sized project, it’s tough beat the rapid setup and time to live value. Now, those who know their way around could do better with a LAMP stack, but for the average programmer, Windows to Windows upgrades significantly lessens the transition costs.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/02/project_watch_eight/
Where was the horror typically associated with migration, where was the pain? I was expecting - not to say looking forward - to writing about the hair-tearing frustrations and incandescent rages attendant upon working with Microsoft’s community technology previews (CTPs) and early releases of new software. But it was not to be.
Apart from the software installation the project has been pretty much drama-free: the operating system hasn’t crashed, the database hasn’t crashed, stuff just works. As a developer, I am delighted the project has gone so well.
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
Hate to be the skeptic, but…
What does Microsoft gain from making these moves? If there’s anything about open source communities and technologies I’ve learned is that it’s imperative that you understand the motives, the context and the drivers of any vendors’ moves. I hate to be the skeptic, but I suspect Microsoft’s intentions are not pure. Warning phrases from Yoda come to mind… “Clear your mind must be, if you are to discover the real villains behind this plot.”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/19/ramji_microsoft_open_source_strategy/
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron” arrives tomorrow
Unless you’ve been without internet access for days, you should know by now that Ubuntu’s next release is due tomorrow and that is always an exciting time. So fire up your fastest mirror tomorrow and see how much bandwidth you can grab before a billion others do the same ;)
I really like the direction Mark is taking with Ubuntu on the server. One, it offers a competing model for the industry compared to the RHEL/SLES model, two Ubuntu is pushing the technology further (e.g. KVM) and making it very easy for users to adopt (ala Microsoft Windows), and finally, it’s one platform that does well in many circles from desktop to server (ala Windows). So while Red Hat, Novell and Oracle fight over what’s left of Sun’s Solaris install base and grab some of the Windows opportunity, Ubuntu is driving straight into the Windows Vista SP1 Party with a fresh alternative. Now let’s just get those “Apple-like” Ubuntu systems we need with all the Adobe apps on them ;-)
Ubuntu article: http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2008/042108-ubuntu-linux-takes-on-enterprise.html?page=1
P.S. I claim absolutely no insight into what amount of sheer stupidity or drunkenness led to that Microsoft video link. I think sogrady said it best with just, “words fail me”.
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
Mainsoft adds features to port ASP.Net AJAX to JAVA (and onto Linux)
Mainsoft has really cool technology for migrating Windows apps to Java which then lets you run the apps anywhere - Linux, UNIX, Mainframe, cellphone … ok, I’m not sure about a cellphone ;-). Now they’ve added ASP.Net AJAX to their portfolio. I *think* the only thing they do not port today with their product is Windows Forms… I could be wrong, but my golden rule has been if it runs on a Windows server, it will run on Linux or any platform that runs Java.
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Mainsoft-Ports-ASPNet-AJAX-to-Linux/
Mainsoft’s new product lets developers use Microsoft’s ASP.Net to build applications for Linux.
Mainsoft has announced tooling that enables developers to use Microsoft’s ASP.Net AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) on Linux.
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
Swiss Education System to migrate 9,000 desktops from Windows to Linux
Great news for Linux as a desktop platform as the Swiss Education System signs up 9,000 desktops for the move.
http://www.linuxwins.com/9000-swiss-education-computers-drop-windows-for-linux/
From the Google translated page, it appears these desktop were in dual boot setups and are now going to be straight Ubuntu Linux.
What is the use? Candolle In college, it was anticipated the guidelines of DPI. Après des années de « dual boot , c’est-à-dire d’ordinateurs équipés d’un double système d’exploitation Windows/Linux, les machines tournent désormais exclusivement sous Ubuntu, une «distribution» de Linux. After years of “dual boot, ie computers equipped with a dual operating system Windows / Linux, the machines are now exclusively under Ubuntu, a” distribution “of Linux.
Friday, April 4th, 2008
My old neighborhood featured in ComputerWorld for migrating its schools to Linux
I was so proud to see a city that I used to “hang out” in when in high school (usually at a batting cage, on a baseball field, or in a gym for pitchers-catchers practice - see a theme?) has begun deploying Linux PCs across its school district. I’m from the Cleveland, Ohio area originally and Brecksville-Broadview Heights is actually a very nice area so while budgets and schools may always seem to be in conflict, I have no doubt, B-BH’s school district is doing much better financially than others. If it makes sense in a city that could afford Windows, I’m sure it makes sense in many other school districts across the world. I’ll have to try meeting up with John next time I’m in town visiting.
I’m copying/pasting an usually large amount of text from ComputerWorld and recommend reading the entire article here:
http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2008/040108-school-districts-serve-up-lessons.html?page=3
Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District opts for Eee PCs
John Schinker is the technology coordinator for the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District in Ohio, which is comprised of six schools serving some 4,800 students from kindergarten to grade 12.
Schinker oversees all aspects of technology for the district, including hardware, software, instructional applications and networking operations.
Schinker purchased eight Linux-based Eee PCs for the district: one for the technical staff, one for himself, and one for each school, with instructions to pass them around among students and staff to determine how they can fit into the district’s educational environment.
“For us, the price was the major selling factor. If we had gone with Windows, it would have increased the cost by about US$150 and the hardware would be underpowered. Even running XP SP2, we would need more RAM in them. Linux was really the way to go to keep the cost manageable,” Schinker said.
So what do the kids think of Linux compared to Windows?
“So far, it hasn’t been an issue. Other than the Eee PCs and most of our servers, we’re Windows only. But the Eee PC is so intuitive, it hasn’t been a problem. Our experience with the Eee PC has prompted us to look at using something like Linpus on our older desktop hardware too,” he said.
Schinker said one positive outcome from Linux is that it forces the district to limit the scope of the Eee PCs.
“By not running Windows, we can put some limits on the expectations of the little laptops. They’re not going to run Accelerated Reader, or Successmaker or Adobe CS. We can focus the expectations on the things that it does well rather than trying to make all of these other applications work, and that is really nice from a tech perspective.”
What the Linux Eee PC will do for the district is allow kids to access the Web, write essays and stories, collect and graph data, and prepare and deliver presentations.
“My own kids, ages 6 and 8, really like Tux Paint. They say it’s as good as or better than the commercial Kid Pix program.”
But Schinker doesn’t think it matters what OS kids use, as long as it is tailored to their educational needs.
“Certainly the user interface on the Eee PC is intuitive…but there are plenty of Windows front-ends that will do the same thing and are just as easy to use.
“I think the older kids will have concerns that aren’t focused on the OS per se; they’ll be more easily frustrated by the screen resolution and keyboard size than the younger kids, but I don’t think the OS is a concern for them,” he said.
With the education sector typically under funded, the low entry cost to open source has its appeal, Schinker said.
“On the server side, almost everything we use is open source. We run Linux servers with Apache, MySQL, PHP, WordPress, Moodle, Samba, Xmail, Dovecot, SquirrelMail, etc. In almost every case, we’ve been able to implement better technology for less money because of the availability of open source and open standards technologies.”
But the cost savings aren’t always worth the migration efforts.
On the desktop the district tends to use more proprietary software, such as MS Office which costs around US$60 per copy. While OpenOffice would be more economical, Schinker said it is not worth the compatibility issues a migration would result in.
“I do think we focus too much in education on the tools. There’s the argument that we should be using what the ‘real world’ uses to better prepare our students. I argue that we need to focus on teaching concepts rather than specific software applications. Those skills can then be applied to whatever software package they end up using,” he said.
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
Ubuntu 8.04’s “Install inside Windows” option
It’s been one of those things were I kept hearing “Ubuntu” and something about making it easy for “Windows” users but I never really thought it would be much more than some basic migration tool no one would ever use. However, I just read this article and now I get it. Ubuntu has made dual boot without disturbing your NTFS partition in Windows absolutely foolproof. I’m amazed at the simplicity. Now Ubuntu has a huge advantage over Apple… think Apple.. I know Mark doesn’t think the business model works, but being then “open” Apple is the way to go. Sleek desktop deals, Ubuntu-compliant peripherals, Adobe supported apps, Lotus Notes for enterprise users, Zimbra for SMBs…
Sorry about that, I went off course. Take a look at this article which includes the play-by-play screenshots for running Ubuntu “inside” Windows. (and it works with Vista)
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1570&tag=nl.e622
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
Microsoft Windows 7 going to look a lot like Linux?
It seems like Sun and Microsoft, for all their anti-Linux crusading are both sending strong signals that their OS’s will in the future look a lot more like Linux…
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
The SFLC publishes an analysis of Microsoft’s Open Specification Promise
The analysis document can be downloaded here: http://www.softwarefreedom.org/resources/2008/osp-gpl.html
Nonprofit Group Says Microsoft Promise Provides No Assurance for Developers
The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), provider of pro-bono legal services to protect and advance free and open source software, today published a paper that considers the legal implications of Microsoft’s Open Specification Promise (OSP) and explains why it should not be relied upon by developers concerned about patent risk.
Now this Microsoft response is just ridiculous:
“Because the General Public License (GPL) is not universally interpreted the same way by everyone, we can’t give anyone a legal opinion about how our language relates to the GPL or other OSS licenses, but based on feedback from the open source community we believe that a broad audience of developers can implement the specification(s).”
Monday, March 10th, 2008
NVIDIA Quadro Driver runs fastest on… Linux? What, not Windows??
It’s true, the NVIDIA graphics driver for Linux appears to best Windows and Solaris - and by a wide margin. I think the “Linux support” issue can be somewhat put to bed finally - except for ease of updating with kernel revs… now that is usually a pain still. I am somewhat amazed at how strongly Windows secured a last place finish… I wonder how much is due to the driver and how much to the OS…
By the way, if you’re wondering how a company got away with comparing performance with Solaris (which is not allowed per the Solaris license), you should note that they used the Solaris Express Developer Edition which I can only assume does not have the clause preventing non-Sun licensed parties from publishing Solaris performance results (I have not read that license myself, but am guessing Phoronix did - or they secured permission from Sun…).
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia_workstation_perf&num=1
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
Windows Live SkyDrive is actually very awesome
I really like Microsoft’s Windows Live SkyDrive service. It gives you 5GB of online storage similar to Novell’s iFolder. The service requires a Windows Live account, but once you have one it’s painless to setup/use. You can also control access with Personal, Shared and Public folders. It’s very easy and simple which is a good thing. Try it out:
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Microsoft gets slapped by the EU for another record fine - will it really help??
Perhaps Microsoft’s recent, lame “open” announcements were prompted by an impending $1.3B fine… does anyone really think this will stop Microsoft? It’s just a tax and you know who will bear the cost (yes, those using Microsoft’s products, or Microsoft’s investors). I think a better solution would have been to look at what market structure would be necessary to facilitate the behavior that is needed. I think when it comes to Microsoft and its constant run-ins with antitrust regulators it is evident fines are not working. The industry needs regulators to step in with an effective structural change.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/02/27/ap4702025.html?partner=alerts
BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Union fined Microsoft Corp. a record euro899 million (US$1.3 billion) on Wednesday for charging rivals too much for software information.
EU regulators said the company charged “unreasonable prices” until last October to software developers who wanted to make products compatible with the Windows desktop operating system.
Monday, February 18th, 2008
Windows XP SP2 vs Vista SP1: Guess which one wins?
I “heard” Vista SP1 was supposed to be faster, and now I just saw that ZDNet put the claim to the test. It’s not clear from these results that Vista SP1 is any faster than XP SP2… in fact Vista won only 2 out of 15 benchmark tests which signals to me that it’s probably slower. Why should users upgrade again?
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1332&page=4
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
Coverage on IBM’s Open Collaboration Client Solution with Ubuntu
Saw a few articles today on IBM’s OCCS announcement with Ubuntu.
Satyadas said IBM thinks that this year, it will happen. “All the stars are lining up,” he said. “Everybody has been saying that since 2001 except IBM. We never said that, but we are saying that now.”
It’s easy to overlook IBM’s announcement that its Lotus Notes and Lotus Symphony suites will run on Ubuntu. I think this would be a mistake. IBM is not a dumb company. It’s not in the habit of wasting resources. For IBM to be partnering up with Ubuntu says something about the enterprise mindset on Ubuntu.
By porting key software to Linux, IBM is looking to give businesses one less reason to buy products from rival Microsoft — which IBM said offers “a proprietary desktop model.” IBM’s Linux efforts will “further address customer demands around choice,” said Inna Kuznetsova, an IBM executive with responsibility for Linux, in a statement.
Monday, January 14th, 2008
Microsoft under EU investigation (again) for browser bundling
Could Britney Spears have relevance to Microsoft (e.g. “Oops I did it again”)? Reuters is covering a new investigation by the EC into Microsoft’s possible antitrust violations, this time for Internet Explorer.
The European Commission opened a new antitrust probe against Microsoft on Monday into whether it unfairly tied its Web browser to the Windows operating system and made it harder for rival software to work with Windows.
Sunday, January 6th, 2008
Windows Scalability Issues at Xbox Live?
Looks like Microsoft is having trouble scaling to keep up with peaks in demand…. unfortunately being an x86 only platform (I guess Itanic is an option), Windows cannot take advantage of features like capacity upgrade on demand or other UNIX/Linux/Mainframe scalability features… perhaps Microsoft could run its Xbox Live server apps on a Linux mainframe using Mono?
During this past holiday season you helped us break a number of Xbox LIVE records. This included our largest sign-up of new members to Xbox LIVE in our 5 year history and just yesterday you broke the record for the single biggest day of concurrent members ever on the service.
As a result of this massive increase in usage we know that some of you experienced intermittent Xbox LIVE issues over the holiday break. While the service was not completely offline at any given time, we are disappointed in our performance. I would like to take this moment to thank each and every one of you for your patience and understanding as our team has worked around the clock to return the service to a stable state.
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