IBM Puts $100M Behind Linux Push 302
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.
A BIG ally like IBM... (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure, it might not start out as Linux-friendly games and gaming hardware, but this could be a very good start.
I also hope that, when IBM starts making money with Linux, that some moral compass directs them to give something back.
Start at home! (Score:3, Insightful)
Note to IBM: MAKE YOUR OWN SOFTWARE WORK FIRST!!!
Businesses and Linux (Score:5, Insightful)
This is good news and certainly a major push for Linux.
Re:Why so little. (Score:5, Insightful)
You make it sound like they're freeloading by pressing copies of Debian and selling them.
They may have had $2 billion in Linux-related revenues, but the cost of making those $2 billion in sales was significant in terms of engineering, training consultants, sales, cannibalizing other resources which were going elsewhere, etc.
How much did they sell in Windows-related purchases in that time?
IBM is on the right track. (Score:2, Insightful)
Clearly IBM sees how usefull small portable devices can be and their future in the work place. This is great for serious developers of small proprietary aps for hand-helds.
If you consider the fact that by focusing on interoperability and flexability OSS and Linux is light years ahead of MS and other closed coded corps. Of course the ability to keep your small sub aps proprietary is important, but as both Linus and Richard have stated this is the key to technological innovation. If you do not like the crap being sold you change it.
Re:Shouldn't we be calling it Gnu-Linux? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Put your money where your mouth is... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:A BIG ally like IBM... (Score:5, Insightful)
Not your desktop, you dolts. The servers. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why so little. (Score:4, Insightful)
Companies don't care how much spending would be "appropriate". They are going with spending that they think is going to be profitable, just the way it should be.
Credibility (Score:5, Insightful)
BTM
Re:Put your money where your mouth is... (Score:2, Insightful)
Heres a point we as a community could learn from microsoft.
Think about the Windows 9x/XP installation process.
Step 1: Put cd in, start computer
Step 2: Read welcome screen, hit 'agree'
Step 3: Wait, reboot machine
Step 4: Create user, and BAM your done.
Seriously, the common person really doesnt give two craps about Partitions, package installation, what a 'resoultion' or 'bit depth' is, or any of the normal basic *nix installation process we are all familar with.
Another part they could work on is some sort of 'auto-play' for cds. Alot of people dont know how to access a cd without it being auto-runed. So we need that sort of function in there as well.
There are plenty of very basic things that need to be done on the most basic levels before your auntie jenna will be using Linux to check her email. This is a good step, but more does need to be done.
Re:A BIG ally like IBM... (Score:5, Insightful)
I think you're missing the point. They don't need to have a "moral compass" directing them to give something back. IBM and Novell are both betting their business plans on the success of Linux, so the desire to make their business succeed and the desire to profit will direct them to use their time/money/resources to make Linux a success.
Or, more properly speaking, we should not be using the future tense. IBM and Novell are making money with Linux, and they have been "giving back". The good news is not "IBM is being nice and making a large charitable contribution towards Linux development". The story here is, "IBM views Linux as a necessary component for their success, and they are [currently] putting a lot of resources into helping Linux grow."
Re:Minix (Score:1, Insightful)
I don't get it... (Score:1, Insightful)
This is intriguing. IBM seems to get it. A bunch of people create free software, which IBM then takes and sells.
1. Do nothing.
2. Take software written for free by enthusiasts.
3. Profit!
http://fromthemorning.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]
Get yourself an Ubuntu CD. (Score:3, Insightful)
And "auntie jenna" will never install an OS on her computer. She will use whatever came with it when she bought it or whatever someone sets up on it.
Re:I don't get it... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Start at home! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:A BIG ally like IBM... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Put your money where your mouth is... (Score:3, Insightful)
Now, compare that to a Fedora Core 3 installation. The Fedora installation is just as easy (I think easier), but, in many cases, it will actually find your hardware without any driver hunting.
If you think it's hard to install Linux, you haven't tried in a while. Or have you been doing stage-1 Gentoo installs?
Kde P4? (Score:3, Insightful)
I have an older PIII 700, 256MB ram.. Running BSD + kde 3.3
Works fine.. XP would be dismal on the same hardware.
Re:Why so little. (Score:2, Insightful)
That they're trying to contribute at all should be seen as a Good Thing(tm). Yeah, maybe the could have spent more, but we're better off that they're allocating anything, no matter what the amount, than we would be if they didn't spend any money...
Re:Put your money where your mouth is... (Score:3, Insightful)
You mention OSX, but the reason OSX doesn't ever lack hardware support is that Apple controls the hardware. How is IBM going to control the hardware that Dell and HP use?
Plus, IBM has said they don't want to develop their own OS, but they'd rather partner with other companies (like Redhat and Novell) and help them to develop Linux. Their stated reasoning being (or so I've read somewhere), if they develop their own distro, then there's internal pressure to use it on all IBM products, whether it's a good fit or not. If they partner with Novell, and Novell's Linux isn't good for what they're doing, than maybe they've wasted money working with Novell, but they can still go with Redhat for their installs.
Why IBM doesn't invest in BSD (Score:1, Insightful)
A simplistic response, but gets most of the reason out there succinctly
Re:A BIG ally like IBM... (Score:3, Insightful)
Look at their share price, for Christ's - do they look like some poor bastards who give everything away and survive on bare essentials?
One word: Services.
Linux becoming successful will mean that software services will be open to any and all comers, with no particular company gaining an advantage due to in-house knowledge of proprietary trade secrets, etc.
The advantage then goes to the company that has built trust with its clients, has a deep broad bench of intelligent staff as talent. Example: IBM.
Business services are even one of the few genuine brightspots for Microsoft itself, IIRC. Their new ventures tend to be money blackholes (Xbox) and the old cash cows like (OS, Office) won't last forever.
With all its experience in UNIX, I'm amazed that Sun hasn't clued into this idea yet and still steadfastly refuses to give up a pipe dream of displacing MS as the king of the software hill (let's put Java in place of Windows and .NET) (the RISC hardware manufacturing business being shown to be on the decline.)
Re:Why doesn't IBM invest in BSD also ? (Score:4, Insightful)
Some could come along and take the BSD changes, incorporate into a closed project and then change things a little so things are not compatible the open project.
Sure noone would ever do that. Kerberos
At least with linux and other GPL stuff noonecan close off any changes.
Re:This is why I don't like Linux (Score:4, Insightful)
IBM still sells AIX, and Solaris is still the biggest selling UNIX by a large margin. What will hurt MS Windows is the evolution of the Linux Desktop. The current Linux Desktops are basically on par with Windows in usability, now what we need are games and business applications. If companies like Intuit were to step off the Windows bandwagon to make their apps portable to GNOME or KDE, that would be a huge win. If they were to do a good port to Java, the could even support Linux, Windows, and Mac OS with minimal additional effort.
Re:Put your money where your mouth is... (Score:3, Insightful)
RPMs are not centrally managed. There are the main YUM repositories (which work nearly as well as the debian and gentoo repositories) but you can also download RPMs from many third parties.
When was the last time you saw a third party offer a
On Windows and OSX, do you install all software directly through Windows Update / Apple Update from their servers? Third party software is an important part of widespread acceptance of an operating system. RPMs could be better but they are important for commercially-oriented distros.
Re:Kde P4? (Score:2, Insightful)
So I assume you're comparing against the 2000 versions of Red Hat and SuSE? Oh, you're not? Well, then, your argument is useless.
Re:Put your money where your mouth is... (Score:3, Insightful)
Linux has been my hobby, and because of that, became my job. I simply love tinkering with it. But hey, my wife, both my sisters, and my parents are more like you (as are most people), and I am reminded daily of what regular people, or half-techie people (as you say) need.
With a due sense of caution, I assert that you could, once installed, manage a Gentoo system quite easily. Indeed, you would find it to be a fabulous investment. The documentation rivals anything put out by anyone else, and the message boards are fantastic. Once you got used to searching for programs and installing them effortlessly using portage, you'd wonder how you ever did it any other way. The commands are simple, though there is a learning curve in other areas (USE flags come to mind - they're great, but can be daunting as hell at first). But it is a great way to spend 10 hours of your life.
Don't get me wrong...I don't recommend Gentoo to Joe Blow, but if you tried RedHat and didn't like it (RPM distros suffer from dependecy hell, a most aptly named syndrome), you may be interested. You brought yourself far enough to pick up Linux in the first place, you may just find that Gentoo has the things you thought were missing from other distros.
In any case, you did not offend me. Your position is far more valid than mine (in terms of how many people it applies to), and we need to find a way to retain the power of a well-designed OS like Gentoo and make it more accessible. So maybe we agree. =) Here's to hoping IBM can help work towards that goal.