IBM Puts $100M Behind Linux Push

IainMH writes "Over at the BBC, there is a report that despite the slow build up, IBM is spending $100m (£52m) over the next three years beefing up its commitment to Linux software. It continues: 'The cash injection will be used to help its customers use Linux on every type of device from handheld computers and phones right up to powerful servers.'" Commentary and coverage also available on TechNewsWorld and ZDNet.

Re:Cough Cough

[Jeremy Erwin]

The "G4" or PPC 7xxx chips are made by "Freescale Semiconductor". IBM makes the "G3" (PPC 7x0) (which isn't used by Apple anymore), the "G5" (PPC 9x0), and the POWERx chips.

Gives a whole new meaning...

[Short Circuit]

...new life, in fact, to... ...IBM-compatible.

IBM supports Notes on WINE

[swillden]

I have the an older version R5 running under wine but wasn't able to install 6.5.1

I'm running 6.5.2 under WINE; works just fine.

Also, until IBM releases a native Linux client, Notes will continue running under WINE. The development team actually tests on WINE and if Notes doesn't run, they track down why and fix it in Notes.

Actually porting Notes to Linux will take a while; in the meantime, IBM makes sure that it runs on Linux via WINE.

(Note: I work for IBM, but I don't speak for IBM, or have any connection to the Notes teams.)

Re:IBM supports Notes on WINE

[metamatic]

Actually porting Notes to Linux will take a while

Actually porting Notes to Linux ain't gonna happen. The legacy codebase is such that it would be prohibitively expensive, or so I was told (as a member of the public) by a product manager a few years back.

What's happening instead is that IBM Lotus Workplace products, the next-generation collaboration products, are getting Domino compatibility and the functionality of the Notes client. The Workplace "rich client" products are built on Eclipse and work natively on Linux (and presumably OS X too).

Re:Kde P4?

[dokebi]

I have an even older PII 266 running on 192MB of RAM. KDE is really slow. So is Gnome. On Slackware. Fedora or Suse is impossible. Windows 2000, however, runs acceptably well so I use that. It even gets security updates (for now).

It used to be that linux was great running on old hardware. But now they are not. What is my alternative besides Windows 2000?

This is what Linux has been waiting for!

[L1nux_L0ser83]

This is great news! Big Brother is finally going to push linux and becuase of that linux now has a fighting chance to really over take windows. Linux has been needing a push like this for a while. Its a great OS for the tech savy. But now with IBM backing its usage, this may be the first step towards standardizing linux to become more user friendly and accepted by the business community. Lets face it, in order for linux to really meet its true potential to be the most used and versitile OS it must be accepted by Corporate America before it will ever be accepted in every home. The time is near where linux will finally prove to be a stepping stone into the future of civilization and computing instead of windows which at this point is still extreamly limited.

IBM mean business

[Anonymous Coward]

Linux is more suitable for corporate IT centers. Linux provides Oracle, ERP, DB2, zSeries [ibm.com], mainframes, hotswapping, failsafe redundancy, scalable processing, NUMA MP, and so much more. This stuff is here on Linux today.

In the context of a corporate data center, BSD has nothing to offer. BSD doesn't have the needed technology.