USA Today and NYT on Linux rising 157
prostoalex writes "USA Today notices significant rise of Linux in the high-end enterprise environment. Although it doesn't provide obligatory pretty pictures, the paper mentions the projects at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and NASA. Also if you've missed the New York Times Google article of the day, the expose on John Doerr from Valley's venerable KPCB talks about venture fund investing $12 million in LinuxCare. NYT quote: "That's a freight train I wouldn't want to get in front of," said Mr. Doerr, explaining the importance to having a stake in a Linux-based venture. "Probably get run over.''"
King of the Unbiased (Score:4, Funny)
Slashdot.org: King of the unbiased quotes
Next article: We ask Linus if Linux is l33t and Windows sux0rz
Government using unix derivative - not newsworthy (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:King of the Unbiased (Score:3, Funny)
Re:King of the Unbiased (Score:2)
Linux is crap.
It's just that it's free crap. You don't pay an arm and a leg for crap like Windows makes you do.
Which is why Linux will reduce Bill Gates to blubbering incoherence.
Oh, wait, that was "The Road Ahead"...
Freight train? (Score:5, Funny)
NYT quote: "That's a freight train I wouldn't want to get in front of," said Mr. Doerr, explaining the importance to having a stake in a Linux-based venture. "Probably get run over.''"
Unlike all those other fluffy freight trains that one could "get in front of" with no consequences. I imagine his last name is pronounced "derrr" (see 'duh' [colloquial]).
Re:Freight train? (Score:5, Funny)
-fren
Re:Freight train? (Score:2)
Well, thank God he clarified that for us. I thought the freight train would start prancing and singing show tunes.
Actually you know what I thought was funny was the "probably"
-matt
Re:Freight train? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Freight train? (Score:3, Informative)
KC Article on Doerr [kansascity.com]
From the article: His investment into Google might qualify as the best venture investment ever made -- a huge return of roughly $3 billion, or 240 times the initial $12.5 million he invested.
I think it is Doerr, pronounce ka-ching.
Re:Freight train? (Score:2, Insightful)
Not that I think Google will fail...but a massive rush of investment into Linux businesses could lead to another serious round of hype.
Re:Freight train? (Score:2)
Old! :) (Score:5, Funny)
What I was going to say:
Eh? Hasn't 2.6 been officially stable for quite a while? Does it run quite of a lot of production systems?
Oooooh!
A two month old article! Well done slashdot!
What I realised just before I hit submit:
Ngggg! Why can't people use ISO date format? That is the silly month/day/year format.
Re:Old! :) (Score:1)
Re:Old! :) (Score:1)
My logs and other files that I archive are named "foo_yyyymmdd" so they easily sort by year, month and day. Month/day/year is just stupid.
Re:Old! :) (Score:2)
Or am I wrong on this? Do people who use the standard DD/MM/YYYY still say "Month/Day" when refering to a date?
Re:Old! :) (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Old! :) (Score:2)
In writing dates, though, it's definitely dd/mm/yy.
Re:Old! :) (Score:2)
Screw that. I'd much rather have yyyy/mm/dd. It's easier to read (since you know that you're in the right year before you get to the month) and it sorts much easer.
Re:Old! :) (Score:2)
It's always made sense to me to use D/M/Y as it's in some sort of order: Day is smaller than Month is smaller than Year. You wouldn't say 15:00:10 to represent quarter-past ten would you?
Re:Old! :) (Score:1)
Re:Old! :) (Score:2)
Re:Old! :) (Score:3, Interesting)
How would you normally write 16 minutes and 35 seconds after 3 pm? Either 3:16:35 or 15:16:35 (depending on 24-hour time being used or not). Here in USA we would say this time as "three-sixteen pm" or maybe "three-sixteen pm and 35 seconds".
The American format is annoying, I agree. (I'm American). In my computer data files and scientific notebooks I use
Re:Old! :) (Score:2)
I definitely prefer the 'YYYY-MM-DD' format. To me, it makes sense and is easier to read in a listing view.
Re:Old! :) (Score:2)
Personally, I like the YYYY/MM/DD format. Makes for easy sorting when viewed as a 8-digit number.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
Re:Old! :) (Score:2)
I use DD-MMM-YYYY (ie., 24-Mar-1562) when writing it for human consumption though, because the day is the most commonly needed part, followed by the month, followed by the year. The first two digits of the year are almost looked at, and a lot of people omit it, but I use 4-digi
Re:Old! :) (Score:5, Interesting)
The ISO format [cam.ac.uk] is YYYY-MM-DD. Big-endian, like how we write other numbers, or times. Sorts easily.
See the ISO date format campaign. [demon.co.uk]
An interesting alternative is to do what VMS does: 4-MAY-2004 No ambiguity when you spell out the month (VMS uses three letter abbreviations). But it's not culture neutral of course...
Re:Old! :) (Score:2)
Any date representation that picks one calendar system as canonical, Gregorian included, is not "culture neutral". Someone's bound to be upset that ISO dates don't look like Prickle-Prickle, Discord 51, Year of Our Lady of Discord 3170.
I think you fnord meant "locale neutral".
Re:Old! :) (Score:2)
Got that right.
I learned the good ole USA way of date +"%m/%d/%y" and was de-modularized when I encountered the European way of date +"%d.%m.%y" .
I immediately realized that I had to do something that was less ambiguous. The European way is at least monotonically endian, while the USA way is not. But I have to write stuff down for fellow Americans.
Thus, date +"%Y/%m/%d" so that USA folks recognize the last 2 parts and the UK folks think "Oh! Backwards!" upon seeing the 4 digit year.
Re:Old! :) (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Old! :) (Score:2)
The next thing you know, we'll all be using the metric system and speaking lojban.
Posted on 5/4/04. Deal.
Re:Old! :) (Score:2)
Because our date format was designed for humans, not computers.
Seriously, people know what year it is, so saying "Two-thousand four, May fifth" is a big fat waste of time. By the time you're done telling what year it is, a normal, non-ISO date using person would havegiven me all the info I needed to know.
If I ask you, "What's the date?" and you start in telling me what year it is, I'm going to think "Asshole! I kno
Re:Old! :) (Score:1)
'Umm... Boss, it's already March.'
'Wha... What? No.. No, I need that in July.'
'And then, in 02/02/04 -'
'Feburary 2nd, 2004?!?'
'No. Moron. March 4th, 2002.'
Because humans insist on using shortform when it's confusing as all hell.
If I say 2/4, is it US notation? European? April 2nd or March 4th?
If I say 2004-02-04, you instantly know March 4th, 2004.
Of course, that wouldn't happen in spoken word, but I can't remember the last time someone made a audio-post to
Re:Old! :) (Score:3, Insightful)
Given the context is the written word, and that documents will (hopefully) persist beyond one week - the reader probably won't know that the document was written in 2004 unless the document says so.
Re:Old! :) (Score:2)
What is this iso format? Is there another common date format other than MM/DD/YYYY?
Re:Old! :) (Score:2)
Re:Old! :) (Score:2)
You mean the American MM/DD/YYYY =)
Re:Old! :) (Score:2, Funny)
begs the question ... (Score:4, Interesting)
Or is this just Silicon Valley Russian Roulette all over again?
Re:begs the question ... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:begs the question ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:begs the question ... (Score:2, Informative)
Please not another linux rising story... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Please not another linux rising story... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Please not another linux rising story... (Score:3, Insightful)
Say. You don't suppose Slashdot expressed a pro-Linux bias well before OSDN got involved, do you? Funny, that.
Especially since... (Score:2)
Hasn't that happened already? (Score:2)
This isn't suprising now, is it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure, it can also be the *BSDs, but there's no denying that Linux is where the growth is much, much more rapid.
Within the space of a few years, Linux already has feasible clustering technologies and tremendous kernel-level improvements (as can be seen in the 2.6 series).
Those who can't see "the Linux advantage" in this area are just blind, or choosing to see it as a competitor to their traditional solutions, and not as a potentially profitable and cost-effective tool that it really is.
Re: USA Today and NYT on Linux rising (Score:5, Insightful)
However, $12 mil is too small in today's world. The LinuxCare website does not have any customer testimonials listed. Neither is the website itself too impressive - gives you the impression of a startup. Will it crawl, walk and run? Only time will tell.
But what's important is the disparate, yet collective impetus for individuals and organizations far and wide, into a solution that doesn't exist as a single dominant entity, but feeds upon the ever-increasing converts (or zealots).
Let's hope, with time, not only is Linux's use spreads to corporations, but also it becomes usable and acceptable by newbie users. We all know how great and brilliant Linux is, but the true acceptance will come the day first time computer buyers will go and buy a Linux pre-installed PC.
They already do! (Score:2, Informative)
Please also try KDE 3.2 and GNOME 2.6, you will be SHOCKED how EASY THEY ARE!
The Year of Windows XP (Score:2)
Microsoft Sells 210 Million Copies of Windows XP [forbes.com]. The number, based mostly on OEM installs, equates to about 10 million OEM system sales a month, up from 6 million a month last July. That does not leave much breathing room for any newbie oriented OEM Linux distro.
Wal-Mart's add copy describes Sun's JDS desktops as dedicated Star Office machines "based on Linux."
Re: USA Today and NYT on Linux rising (Score:3, Informative)
LinuxCare has been around for five years, and Kleiner Perkins was involved from the begining. It's been through multiple rounds of scandal and executive reshuffling already. It wasn't clear whether the $12M and the freight train quote are recent or from 1999
Another Day... (Score:3, Redundant)
Re:Another Day... (Score:4, Informative)
But FINALLY, it's an article about where Linux should be the OS of choice, and not where the desktop zealots think it should be.
You did RTFA before posting now, did you?
Re:Another Day... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes I did. My comment on the desktop was slightly off topic, yet still related. But my point is still valid. How long have people been saying that linux/unix is the OS of choice for corporate servers? It's not that admins don't know about linux, it's that they just don't know how to use it. You wouldn't want to install an OS as a server that you knew nothing about, now would you?
I've talked to many other admins, and they all love the performance Linux adds to servers. But again, they just don't know how to administer linux, so they use IIS or whatever. Plus, in college, they don't teach Linux. I know at Purdue, all the classes are Visual Studio, IIS, etc. Why? Because MS gives the bookstore education copied of all their software. MS keeps the market cornered not because they are a better OS, or because linux is unknown. They dominate because they target the prime group. Students studying to be the future admins of the world.
Re:Another Day... (Score:2)
Heck, I find configuring Apache to be far more easier than IIS (ok, so mod_rewrite and a handful of other obscure modules don't count
I also agree that MS has made the proper approach in "cornering" the students, but as far as it goes in Asia (at least), MS
Re:Another Day... (Score:2)
Re:Another Day... (Score:2)
I know this is going to sound like a flame, but I don't mean it to, but if you can graduate from a Purdue CS curiculum and honestly can't admin a Linux machine, you may have mis-invested your tuition dollars. I suspect that it is far more likely that you can admin a Linux box but feel uncomfortable about it. 80-90% of the differences are going to be user-interface stuff; your windows
becomes
Re:Another Day... (Score:2)
Or perhaps he spent his time and tuition money on learning Computer Science? That's what I did when I got my CS degree (not at purdue). I think if you went to school to study cs and instead learned how to be a network admin, it may be you who wasted your tuition. Rather than speding your time learning specific technical facts that will be obselete in a few years anyway and th
Re:Another Day... (Score:2)
Our IT department said flat-out, "we're not implementing Linux as a solution because I lack expertise in that OS."
Hopefully we'll hire competent IT soon, but I'm not holding my breath.
The Linux Fault Threshold (Score:2)
Big corporations (Score:5, Interesting)
I am not intrested in IBM urging SUN to gpl Java as IBM *easily* could provide assistence to the GNU Classpath project. And what about Jikes?
Or Nat Friedman's anti-KDE Fud machine. Novells Suse supports KDE and he will not change that committment.
Business stories may delight some reader, I found it rather unintresting.
I don't think that despite for propaganda reasons big business was of any real importance. When they want provide help it's letter stamp money for them. I would like to see a real committment, i.e. manpower, code and support. I am not intrested in campaigns from the PR office.
(While IBM's patent attorneys lobby in BXL for swpats...)
Freight Train (Score:1, Insightful)
Or be riding it on if it derails.
The best quote! (Score:5, Interesting)
At the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., Linux has all but taken over, said Scott Studham, associate director for advanced computing there. "When I got here three years ago, there were circa 1,000 processors here, of which four ran Linux," he said. "Now there are circa 2,000 processors, and maybe 64 of them don't run Linux."
If this doesn't show that Linux has gained over the years then I don;t know what will.
Gripe: Use of "circa" (Score:3, Funny)
When did the words like "around", "about", and "roughly" become inadequate to convey an approximation?
Re:Gripe: Use of "circa" (Score:1)
Re:Gripe: Use of "circa" (Score:2)
"Our customer set is not a monolithic body of like-minded individuals."
Allow me to decrypt:
"Our customers are not the Borg."
Re:Gripe: Use of "circa" (Score:2)
Re:Gripe: Use of "circa" (Score:2)
Re:Gripe: Use of "circa" (Score:2)
around: I'm about to round this number up to make it sound more impressive
about: this is really a shot in the dark
roughly: I counted ages ago, it can't have increased by much
circa: I think I know but I'm using this word as a disclaimer just in case
Phillip.
Re:The best quote! (Score:4, Funny)
Ahh.. so what he's saying is that when he got there, they had abacuses (abaci?), and now they have Pentium-IIs?
circa: in approximately: born circa 1900 [reference.com]
My question (of course), is how the hell did they get an abacus to run Linux?
Re:The best quote! (Score:5, Informative)
While not as common, "circa" is perfectly reasonable to apply to numbers.
Re:The best quote! (Score:2, Insightful)
Linux is future (Score:5, Interesting)
- Developer commnunity
- Intelligent software and equipments (Embedded software)
- Governments
- Expert level users
However, for common users linux still is away as
- For various applications, it is not yet common to have linux version and linux drivers
- Level of expertise (not that it is difficult but there always is resistance to change)
- Maturity in linux.
One thing is sure, linux march will prompt microsoft to do better in terms of price and quality.
um (Score:2, Informative)
Read about those drivers on their Sourforge page:
http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/todo.php
The WEP code is unstable.
If WEP is enabled (CONFIG_IPW2100_WEP=y), it will eventually crash.
Occassionally[sic], packets start failing decryption.
Firmware restarts are still occuring too frequently.
WHOO!! Go open source111!!!
Linux is DYING (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd be full of shit, but it would be about as substanciated as some of the articles posted here on Linux lately.
Re:Linux is DYING (Score:1)
Stop spreading bullshit man, they aren't "moving" anywhere. They offer different contracts for different needs. WHY do so many slashdot readers spread so much Red Hat fud. So now its not they killed the desktop but we have to pay them $5 a month! OMG what happened to $60 a year!.. oh wait 5x12 is $60, move along..
Progress (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Linux is DYING (Score:5, Funny)
As the result of a comment with the subject "Linux is DYING" being moderated to "+5, Insightful", Slashdot will now spontaneously implode.
Thank you for your time.
Re:Linux is DYING (Score:2)
The difference is that the insubstantial articles used to all be about why Linux will fail. Then there were a few insubstantial articles about companies experiementing with Linux. Now insubstantial articles about Linux gaining footing in corporate, scientific, and entertainment markets are fairly common.
Granted - it's all mostly dross. So are the majority of other technical articles (re
Research lab != enterprise computing (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Research lab != enterprise computing (Score:4, Informative)
This is why real "high-end enterprise environments" that run such applications are deploying Linux clusters. Oracle is much better at scaling on multiple 8G systems than one 100G monster.
Another Close Call! (Score:5, Funny)
As some may now Bill Gates invests in companies like John Deere. I thought, "so that's how he's gonna get in, through the back door". Then I RTFA and said Whew!
They play that damn Nelly and Chingy to much, when something like DEER reads as DERR and vice versa.
Didn't they already go bankrupt once? (Score:5, Informative)
Heck, google doesn't even have a snapshot of text for linuxcare.com indicating it's been down for a while and was recently brought back up. In fact, the top hit for which there is a snippet is an article about linuxcare laying people off [oreillynet.com].
Seems like some people are getting a bit too excited about the Google IPO and thinking that once again companies with no real business plan can do IPOs worth hundreds of millions of dollars. I'm sorry, but you're going to check your enthusiasm in favor or results for a little while at least.
Re:Didn't they already go bankrupt once? (Score:3, Insightful)
You present a mixed message there that really is not fair to Google. They have been private and profitable for quite some time and to lump them in with "companies with no real business plan" does not help your point.
What you point should be, imo, is that many people walking around with capital, with MBAs, or those wr
What's new about this trend? (Score:2)
Windows: UP
Unix and Sun Microsystems and SCO: SHARP DOWN
Considers... (Score:4, Funny)
Hardly obligatory then, are they?
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:New applications of Linux (Score:2)
At the expense of HP-UX (Score:5, Insightful)
The rising tide of Linux at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory came at the expense of the HP-UX. And why not? The PNNL (and NASA) employ a significant number of engineers and computer scientists at high expense. They can justify having them work on computer projects such as customizing or modifying the operating system. I would expect them to "roll their own". Using open source probably has saved taxpayers a significant amount of time and money, and may benefit us all.
Most fortune 500 companies do not have the FTE allocations to bring in computer scientists, and instead look for packaged products and solutions.
Bottom line: Yay for Linux!, but this is not business news.
Other NASA uses of Linux (Score:3, Informative)
The laptops on the spacestation that are used for command and control are also moving to Red Hat from Solaris.
Also there is a project in work to move the Mission Control Center workstations from Dec/Compaq/HP alphas runing True64 to a new platform. The two options under consideration are HP-UX and Red Hat.
Re:At the expense of HP-UX (Score:3, Insightful)
Which is why outfits like RedHat and IBM offer their services.
Re:At the expense of HP-UX (Score:2)
I agree.
I work at the PNNL and there are damn few scientists or engineers who use Linux (or any UNIX) day in, day out. The majority of systems are Wintel, with a wonderfully amazing level of Mac use. I am the only Linux user in a building of approximately 150 staff.
Not exactly taking over the world.
I like linux as much as the next guy (Score:2, Insightful)
USA Today and Linux (Score:3, Funny)
Just another example of us little guys being shut out from an IPO. Not only that, it's been kept secret until now...
NASA Global Hawk UAV's will use linux (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Wow. what is Microsoft going to do? (Score:5, Funny)
Their response? Bankrolling SCO for a few more years.
Re:Wow. what is Microsoft going to do? (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe they'll just advertise on
Re:Wow. what is Microsoft going to do? (Score:2)
I wish this were an indication that Microsoft was going to become more like Sun, but unfortunataly all I see is Sun becoming more like Microsoft (and I'm a strong Sun Advocate -- at least for the next few weeks ...