Linux vs Windows - Conquering a Windows Based World

IBM has announced that it will be joining the OpenOffice.org community by making initial code contributions that it has been developing for Lotus Notes, as well as ongoing contributions.   Should also be noted that IBM will be dedicating around 35 programmers to the effort.

“IBM is very pleased to be joining the OpenOffice.org community. We are very optimistic that IBM’s contribution of technology and engineering resources will provide tangible benefits to the community membership and to users of OpenOffice.org technology around the world,” said Mike Rhodin, General Manager of IBM’s Lotus division.

Straight from www.networkworld.com. Not much more I can say than is already summed up below.

Talk about eating your own dog food. IBM today will announce it is consolidating nearly 4,000 small computer servers in six locations onto about 30 refrigerator-sized mainframes running Linux saving $250 million in the process.

It comprises 6 data centers that take up 8 million square feet, or around 140 football fields. If you’re on the fence on trying to decide if Linux is enterprise ready, I think this should make the decision pretty easy.

This is reported by Gartner and covered at www.vnunet.com.

“More interestingly, the platforms on which databases are being deployed are on the move. While Unix (34.8 percent) and Windows (34.5 percent) continue to vie for supremacy, Linux grew 67 percent to account for 15.5 percent of the sector.”

Since database hosted applications need to be reliable, this information seems counter intuitive to Microsoft claims of Linux unreliability. Judge for yourself.

An open letter was published by Microsoft that chides IBM for restricting users choice by their support of the ODF (Open Document Format). Here is the quote and link straight from Microsoft.

“The IBM driven effort to force ODF on users through public procurement mandates is a further attempt to restrict choice. In XML-based file formats, which can easily interoperate through translators and be implemented side by side in productivity software, this exclusivity makes no sense – except to those who lack confidence in their ability to compete in the marketplace on the technical merits of their alternative standard. This campaign to limit choice and force their single standard on consumers should be resisted. “

Obviously, Microsoft is about choice and open standards. Everyone knows this! Just a little ironic, huh?

IBM is releasing a client side desktop application suite that will run on Windows, Apple, Redhat, and Novell Linux Distributions, at a time when CIO and IT managers are trying to decide whether to upgrade to Windows Vista.

“IBM Lotus chief marketing officer Antony Satyadas told SearchOpenSource.com that Open Client was meant for customers whose environments run the gamut from 100% Linux to heterogeneous mixes of Windows and open source.”

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?

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. 

IBM and its partners have just reported a 30 percent year-to-year growth of mainframe customers running Linux. I wonder if IBM owes Microsoft licensing costs for using Linux on their mainframes? Maybe one day the SCO saga will repeat itself again. This was covered in a press release over at IBM The linux virtual servers seems to be driving force behind this growth.

“This increase in Linux application development for the mainframe is being driven by a number of factors, including the overwhelming acceptance of partitioned Linux virtual servers — and the associated great price and performance — which is driving new workloads on System z. “

You can now find penguins in Ohio. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has made a switch from HP-UX to Linux in order to reduce increased maintenance costs.

“Holler was unable to say specifically how much was saved on support, but he estimated the EPA saved 35% overall by migrating from HP-UX to Linux.”

“The difference in the purchase price between RISC-based and Intel-based servers was dramatic, Holler said. Additional RISC-based servers would have cost up to $20,000 each. By switching to Linux, Holler paid $5,000 for Intel-based servers from HP Co. or Dell Inc.”

IBM is throwing more support towards Linux by certifying over 2,500 applications that run on its Power CPU architecture.

“One of the first ports of Linux to the Power platform was Yellow Dog Linux. But IBM saw the potential value of Linux on its high-powered RISC systems, and spent more than $1 billion in 2000 to port Linux to all its server platforms, including its Power-based systems. The company’s milestone for Linux-on-Power application support is a sign that this investment is paying off.”