Linux vs Windows - Conquering a Windows Based World

As reported by SCO 10k on the www.sec.gov website. Apparently if the cases do not make it to jury their business and operations would be materially harmed.

I would guess this means that the company would cease to exist? Anyone  buying SCOX stock right now?

I Did not make this up! This came straight from a Microsoft executive. This came about when Dell was going to offer Linux on its PC’s. Covered over at news.com

“We should whack them, we should make sure they understand our value,” wrote Paul Flessner, a senior vice president in Microsoft’s server applications unit.

And if you, or any other PC makers even think about offering anything other the Windows on a PC. Let this be a lesson to you. Oh, and by the way, we welcome competition. Sigh…

Never thought I would see the day.  Dell is selling computers without Microsoft Windows.  Don’t believe it  either?

Dell is marketing them as a “desktop on which you can run Linux” to “Open Source Customers” .
Anyone think Dell lost a little Vista discount by doing this?

The heavy weights are joining forces to create a standards group to further the adoption of Linux in the business world.  Basically they are going to further fund and merge the Open Source Development Labs and the Free Standards Group.

“We will be a vendor-neutral organization capable of responding to competitors’ attacks and FUD,” Zemlin said in an interview Friday. He is the former executive director of the Free Standards Group. 

Motorola will soon be offering the RIZR Z6 Phone with Linux OS rather than the Microsoft OS for which is was originally developed.

“This shows that Linux is making significant improvements in its suitability to be an operating system for mobile devices, and could give Motorola a significant headstart in the battle to create low power, low cost smartphones. “

The Indian State of Kerala is setting up policy that stresses the use of Free and Open Source Software and open standards in government projects to avoid dependence on single vendors. It will also support private initiatives and IT parks that support FOSS.

So what’s the goal of all this?

“Taking the Right to Information Act in its true spirit, the Government will take up ICT-enabled programmes for efficient flow of information between citizens and the Government. “

I think we should be paying close attention to what other governments of the world are trying to accomplish. Seems to make a lot of sense to me.

Hines Corp, a conglomerate of manufacturers in the Midwest and Texas is migrating all but 2 of its companies to Linux. The reasons for making the switch are pretty much what everyone else has experienced in the Microsoft world.

• High Costs
• Constant Server Reboots
• Security Issues
• Memory Leaks
• Bugs
• Rebuilding Crashed Servers

I have to agree, this is the most consistent feature set that Microsoft provides its users base. You will see this scenario repeated many times in the corporate world over the next few years, and Microsoft knows this.

Harper had a couple of Red Hat boxes; one for a VPN and the other a firewall. He was familiar with the stability and security of Linux. “We didn’t look at anything else,” he says. “It came down to two choices: Microsoft or Linux.”

Linux was always the dirty little secret that was placed in the back server rooms by the IT staff for certain specific projects or tasks. I think it is now becoming evident that “Linux just works”. Guess what? That is what people want more than anything. One more quote from Harper concerning the migration.

He says transitioning to Linux has been easy on his team. “Because we had a Unix background, it wasn’t such a leap. If you have a whole staff trained on Microsoft, it’s gonna be tough. You could see why people are willing to pay the ongoing costs. But if you have some people who are willing to make the change, who aren’t Microsoft bigots, once you make it, that’s it.”

I doubt this just one single company making the leap. It is becoming more of a common occurrence than Microsoft wants to admit.

The rise of Microsoft to become one of the most influential corporations in the world

Here is the link at LiveLeak
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dd26791398

The Australian bureau will be adding a Linux cluster to augment its existing R&D HP-UX system. They are looking for tenders!

The Linux R&D platform will support research in a number of BOM divisions including the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre, National Meteorological and Oceanographic Centre, Space Based Observations Section and data management group.

No one should be surprised at the speed at which governments are dropping Microsoft in favor of Linux. It seems to be that the Linux juggernaut is gaining momentum, especially within government agencies. The newest switch is taking place in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. This is covered by Richard Thurston at zdnet.co.uk.

The state of Tamil Nadu, home to a population the size of the UK, is in the process of deploying 32,600 Linux desktop systems and training 30,000 government officials. Forty-three open source-based servers are also on the way to support key Government applications.

Anyone see Microsoft making an announcement soon about their support of the Linux operating system?