Germany, IBM Sign Major Linux Deal

Skip Franklin writes: "IBM and the German government are getting together to implement Linux as the government's computing platform of choice. The deal is being touted as a big blow to Microsoft, although personally I prefer the glass-half-full perspective of a big win for Open Source. The BBC has the story."

Incredible!

[Asikaa]

"Any policy that favours one thing over another isn't helpful," a Microsoft Europe spokeswoman told the Journal.

"It limits choice rather than increasing choice."

Yet another jaw-droppingly hypocritical statement from a Microsoft spokesperson.

Yet another journalist without a Linux clue..

[XaXXon]

Linux is a variant on the 30-year-old open source Unix operating system, which is generally held to be almost indestructible and by far the most reliable core for computer systems for whom crashing is not an option.

Unix? Open source? I don't think so.

While the software itself is free to download from the internet, companies - such as SuSE, the German distributor whose version of Linux IBM is using - can still charge for technical support and other services.

They can, of course, charge any amount for any part they want. They just can't restrict your rights to sell it again (at least on the GPL'd portions)

In proprietary software such as Microsoft's Windows, on the other hand, a single company controls the code, setting licensing terms for users but blocking outsiders from accessing the code.

They'll let some select few view the source code... but it's a look, don't touch sort of relationship. "Shared Source" and all that crap.

I really wish people that wrote about this stuff had more of a clue about what they were writing.. :(

Re:Why IBM?

[Tom]

If you'd read the article, you would've noticed that they are, in fact, using SuSE's Linux.

IBM is the service company doing all the work, though. I guess the government wanted to go with a big guy (either for support reasons or in order to take the "unreliable partner" argument away from M$).

Feel The fear from the WinTrolls!

[NZheretic]

How come Linux, Free Software and Open Source advocates can provide answers to the "difficult" questions but Microsoft's advocates CANNOT? [google.com]

Re:But, I thought: Open source poses security risk

[Svartalf]

That's not a Government think tank. It's an independant organization- I don't even think the government uses their services. Mitre, on the other hand, does get used- and they USE Linux quite a bit

Re:Open Source Unix?

[alsta]

While I agree that the argument was incorrect as a whole, there is some truth in it.

AT&T did sell source code to corporations and gave it away for virtually nothing to Universities and other educational institutions. Hence one could say open source. Open Source however is indicative of the Open Source Initiative (OSI http://www.opensource.org). If one would be nit-picking, it isn't incorrect to say that UNIX was `open source'.

To further go into matters, some historical AT&T code is now released with a less restrictive license, thanks to Caldera. SCO used to govern the code and provide it for a fee to enthusiasts, which I believe was $100. While it has little value for todays computing, it is nevertheless out there. (At this time I can't seem to find the site, perhaps some kind soul can provide that).

Re:In fuhrer news...

[Anonymous Coward]

Connecting someone to the Nazis is not considered funny in Germany, even if you mean it in an humorous/artistic way. You may hate Microsoft as much as you like, this was inappropriate.
Seb

Don't get to excited, it's"only" the servers...

[Anonymous Coward]

They're migrating the servers only to, i think, suse. The commission that had to decide which way to go came to the conclusion that, in a nutshell, linux is not ready for the desktop and that trainig expense would be way to high...

servers on Linux, desktops on Windows

[Anonymous Coward]

As far as I know, the idea is to migrate the servers to Linux and keep Windows XP on the desktops. Sound more like Tux has one foot in the door and the glass is about 1/8 full.
Check out http://www.bundestag.de/aktuell/presse/2002/pz_020 2285.html
[sorry, German]

Re:Oh joy.

[SerpentMage]

"Linux ist Koenig", which translates into Linux is King. Would I say this not likely? However you could say "Linux is geil", which translates into Linux is cool, but with emphasis on the cool factor. But I would say "Linux is cool, man!". And yes it translates into what you think. But a few years ago there was the Milka commercial with a "typical" Swiss old guy who said "Its cool, man" with a Swiss accent.

Re:Someone at the Beeb loves Linux... ;))

[wizkid]

The original Unix code, written by Bell Labs, who couldn't sell it, gave it away free, to universities, and whoever wanted it. Eventually Berkley got thier hands on the license, and BSD was born. In the early days, it was free, then it got licensed. Now, a version written from scratch is free again, thanks to our friends in the Linux Community :)

So there was, and then there wasn't but now there is now again free UNIX's.

I almost forgot to mention, there is now freebsd. Which is BSD with the copywrited stuff filtered out and re-written under a new bsd license that is a free for use license.

What was the first IBM/German deal?

[Jon Howard]

A lot of folks believe IBM provided Nazi Germany with electronic cataloging support which allowed for the Unpopular to be shipped-off to death camps:

• Probing IBM's Nazi Connection [com.com]
• How IBM Helped Automate the Nazi Death Machine in Poland [emperors-clothes.com]
• IBM Warns Against Nazi Book [go.com]

Since its publication in February, Edwin Black's book "IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation" has stirred unprecedented controversy among students of the Holocaust, American enterprise and information technology.

Of course, an informed person might not believe every little thing they read. ;)

SuSE involved too

[iguild]

The BBC article does not mention the fact, that SuSE is actually involved in this deal. The German Linux Distributor will deliver its Linux software while IBM will manage the IT infrastructure.

And in Taiwan...

[dirvish]

In a somewhat related story, Taiwan is pushing free software [kuro5hin.org].