Toshiba certifies Linux for servers

Anon Y Mouse writes "Click here for the press release." Toshibia has gone ahead with their plans and certified the entire Magnia line of servers, for use with Red Hat Linux, according to the press release.

Never mind the monitors, what about the laptops?!?

[Denny]

When are they going to sell laptops that dual-boot straight from the shop?

Hmmm

[Trashman]

It's good to see that Toshiba has com to their senses.

After what happened between them and the Linux IR project a couple of months ago I would never have imagined that they would actually do something like this.

I've alway's liked their (and IBM's) laptops.

Dual booting issues

[CarlPatten]

You mean like Compaq does when they let you choose to set up either Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 on first power-up? In that case you're only getting one OS because the other one is blown away during install.

Selling laptops that dual-boot between Win95 and Linux, or NT and Linux, would require more setup at the factory to manage the boot partition and multiple installs, would probably be of little demand, and knowing Microsoft, would most likely violate their license agreement. Also you'd be paying for support on two operating systems for the first 30 days.

It would be much easier for them to just certify a laptop as Linux-compatible and let the user do the dual-boot setup.

WebObjects...

[noy]

Anyone else notice that they are running WebObjects, on Apache, on Solaris?

I like these guys...

desktops

[stealthbob]

I hope the toshiba servers don't suck as much as the desktops did. Being able to run linux can't save everything.

Designed for Linux

[krog]

does that mean Toshiba computers will get neat little metallic penguin "Designed for Linux" stickers on the front?

Monopoly? or a Penguin Stampede!

[ghibli]

Red Hat has recently made efforts to fully support various open source projects and Linux consortiums. Instead of bundling huge chunks of proprietary code in their distribution (a la Caldera), the advancements of the Red Hat team often benefit the entire Linux community.

Let the guys at Red Hat get their foot in the door. Then a herd of Penguins behind them will kick it wide open!

Both the Chicken AND the Egg!

[ghibli]

It is GREAT to see another vendor certifying a line of PCs as Linux-ready! As Linux gets more and more visible corporate backing, the entire computing community will improve with increased OS Competition and Choice.

Linux tends to suffer from the "Chicken or the Egg" Syndrome: Major IT department heads do not request Linux-equipped boxes for mass deployment because major vendors do not certify it, and (until recently) major vendors do not Linux-certify their equipment because major customers do not request it! Until we get both the Chicken AND the Egg, Linux will continue to suffer from a lack of open corporate acceptance.

The Linux community should acknowledge Toshiba's choice of the Red Hat as a ligitimate business decision. To protect their careers, IT buyers often must justify their purchases. In the Linux community, it is much easier to make a business case with the Red Hat distribution than any other version. Remember, IT heads report to CEOs who are MBAs and accountants, not technicians and network admins. They listen when you say that "IBM and Oracle back it" and "Dell installs it". They don't really care what you feel about non-business-related technical advantages or customizable options.

Don't be upset that Toshiba chose the Red Hat distribution over your personal favorite!
Spread the word that yet another vendor wakes up and acknowldges Linux as a viable OS choice!

New Monopoly?

[JuliaK]

As Red Hat gets more server OEM agreements, is it likely that they will become the standard / monopoly player in the Linux server market?