backtop

Print E-mail del.icio.us 75 comment(s) - last by MarioJP.. on Aug 8 at 12:22 AM
LinuxWorld: IBM outlines its plans to help companies shift away from Microsoft Windows and towards open source Linux

Another computer show, another bull’s-eye painted squarely on the chest of Microsoft and its Windows operating system.

During the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, IBM announced it will work alongside several different Linux vendors to help offer middleware through several different distributions.  

IBM has tweaked its Lotus Foundations software suite to run on Ubuntu Linux, Red Hat and Novell SUSE Linux.  The software suite includes Lotus Notes, Symphony and Sametime.

"Linux has always been about choice," IBM Linux Director Inna Kuznetsova said during a press conference.  "We're providing a well-recognized alternative for the desktop."

Because many users still tend to rely on the software that ships with their products, Microsoft has had a great advantage by providing Office and other services with each notebook and PC shipped.  IBM said it hopes this latest partnership with Linux vendors will help companies make a switch away from Microsoft Windows towards different Linux distributions.  This strategic move could also help IBM try and break Microsoft's control of the Small Business Server (SBS) software, with the Redmond-based company having great success selling its software.

IBM has supported Linux and open source technology for more than 10 years, and hopes this announcement will help Linux improve further.  Even though open source products such as Mozilla Firefox and OpenOffice have become popular among Windows-based users, a full transition towards Linux from Windows has been a bit slower due to lackluster user friendliness.

The Ubuntu and SUSE Linux distributions have joined the likes of Mandriva and Red Hat in becoming more user-friendly for green Linux users.

The IBM software bundle will be included with IBM's selected Linux partners and will be shipped to PC makers with an estimated goal of 2009.  IBM did not announce specific PC partners at the moment, but said the company is discussing possible agreements with several companies.

Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
Hard times ahead for Microsoft.
By Clauzii on 8/6/2008 8:42:35 AM , Rating: 1
The only thing really missing in Linux is gaming stuff, but since a small percentage of all users are actually gamers that doesn't hurt so much. But more applications would be nice.

OpenOffice has come a long way, and I see no reason why Linux as a whole won't do that too. Ubuntu for one, shows that it's possible to make nice, easy distributions that work for normal PC usage like surfing, mailing, writing etc. Iow. what 90% of users use their machines for anyway.

Nice to see competition getting tuffer :)




RE: Hard times ahead for Microsoft.
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 8/6/2008 8:46:47 AM , Rating: 1
quote:
Nice to see competition getting tuffer :)

That would be "tougher" but that is beside the point. The reality is that competition isn't getting any better. Microsoft still commands greater than 90% market share. Sure some people have tried Ubuntu, but the majority of the computers those same users use are running Windows. At work, Windows. At School, Windows. At home, probably at least one Windows machine there too (if not more). Rather than Linux shooting for the moon and taking on Microsoft, it would probably be better for them to try and beat Apple first, heck even Apple on a 100% closed system beats Linux into the ground.


RE: Hard times ahead for Microsoft.
By jithvk on 8/6/2008 10:05:31 AM , Rating: 2
i agree..
I think the most important issue with linux is the availability of drivers. There is nothing like a "Linux compatible" sticker to be pasted on to the front panel. Why don't the hardware vendors start shipping machines with 100% driver compatibility with Linux? That will be a much better thing to do than to port a crappy software to linux hoping every one will move to linux because of that..

Another area where linux lag behind is working out of the box. i have to spent at least one day for downloading and installing all the drivers and softwares i need.. (still many things like wifi wont work)


By glitchc on 8/6/2008 11:18:43 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Why don't the hardware vendors start shipping machines with 100% driver compatibility with Linux?


There is no economic incentive to do so. Since the OS is free, there is nothing the Linux community can offer manufacturers in terms of support contracts, subsidized APIs and the like.


RE: Hard times ahead for Microsoft.
By omnicronx on 8/6/2008 2:20:16 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Why don't the hardware vendors start shipping machines with 100% driver compatibility with Linux?
Because there is no single Linux entity. There are numerous amounts of distros that although they have the same base kernel, they can be totally different from one another.

I think the greatest fallback of linux is there is installing programs is just far too difficult regardless of the distro. I love linux, don't get me wrong, but even for ubuntu, an unskilled or even a medium skilled user is going to have no idea how to install an app manually (i.e without using the provided app)without detailed instructions, where both Mac and Windows is as simple as a double click and pressing enter a bunch of times.

Making matters worse is every major distro packages its binaries differently. From RPM, to DEB, there is no cross the board way to install an app unless you compile it from scratch, which even hardcore users know can be a painful process if things go wrong. Until each distro gets their act together and starts working with each other, linux is going to go nowhere in terms of a workstation replacement OS.


RE: Hard times ahead for Microsoft.
By BansheeX on 8/6/2008 6:51:31 PM , Rating: 2
If linux really wanted to seriously compete with Microsoft, it HAS to create an "official" distro with a standard API set that also mimics as closely as possible the Windows layout. It's a total clusterf*ck right now, they can't even decide on a sound API. ALSA, OpenAL, OSS, etc. No wonder no one wants to develop drivers and games for it. Linux people may be smart with computers, but they are absolutely terrible at understanding why these three things have to happen. In order to get more gaming development, non-savvy Windows users must be converted in greater numbers. In order to convert these people, you CANNOT present them with a choice of a thousand distros and no standard modus operandus. Unlimited customization destroys the ability to have a standard modus operandus to troubleshoot and develop drivers for. And when linux starts getting elitist and cute and doing things its own way like using / instead of \ in folder paths, making users learn effing command line to install things, you assure failure in converting the established and familiar Windows market to your side.


By quickk on 8/6/2008 7:18:52 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
And when linux starts getting elitist and cute and doing things its own way like using / instead of \ in folder paths


Actually, Windows is the one that is "elitist and cute and doing things it's own way." Before Windows came along, the forward slash (/) was always used in folder paths. Linux, Unix, OSX all use forward slashes for directory paths.


RE: Hard times ahead for Microsoft.
By quickk on 8/6/2008 7:21:51 PM , Rating: 2
Another thing: you don't need the command line to install most things. The reason why you see so many command line things out there is that it's a lot easier to tell someone to cut and paste these commands and press enter, than try to explain how to navigate a bunch of menus.


RE: Hard times ahead for Microsoft.
By omnicronx on 8/6/2008 9:51:20 PM , Rating: 2
Someone has never had a dependency issue...


By quickk on 8/6/2008 10:23:59 PM , Rating: 2
With ubuntu I haven't. Dependencies are all magically taken care of. I wish I could say the same about opensuse though...


By CheesePoofs on 8/7/2008 2:24:09 AM , Rating: 2
I've actually found Linux to be better with drivers than Windows, for the most part. Ubuntu had my laptop working with sound, wireless, and video drivers before I even rebooted (rather impressive IMO).

What many people fail to see is the Linux community, for the most part, is not trying to beat Microsoft. They're just making the product they want to use, which in many instances isn't what the average user wants.


RE: Hard times ahead for Microsoft.
By Clauzii on 8/6/2008 10:18:50 AM , Rating: 2
I think beating Apple would be more difficult because of the whole concept of making both the hardware and software.

But true, given that Windows is everywhere (like it or not), very sound arguments are needed to make people >change< to Linux. I tried, and for normal PC-usage, I see nothing in the way of running Linux for most people.


RE: Hard times ahead for Microsoft.
By phusg on 8/6/2008 10:57:32 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
I see nothing in the way of running Linux for most people.

Nor did I until I actually tried the latest Ubuntu and found that the dang thing doesn't even remember the size and positions of my windows. Apparantly this is the case with all gnome based linux distros! This and plenty of other little issues I noticed have convinced me that linux is unfortunately still a long way off desktop usability for most people. Small business servers, yeah I can see that having more potential.


By Clauzii on 8/6/2008 12:33:08 PM , Rating: 3
Speaking of Desktop. Have You seen this?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC5uEe5OzNQ

As I said earlier, we need more applications and games. Looks like the rest is WAY ahead :)


RE: Hard times ahead for Microsoft.
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 8/6/2008 10:59:56 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
I tried, and for normal PC-usage, I see nothing in the way of running Linux for most people.

Your only catering to the Web/Email/Document mindset which is also a false assumption over the everyday user.
The following apps are road blocks to Linux Adoption.
-Office (Open Office doesn't compete, sorry)
-Adobe Reader (The linux ones don't work the same way, generally requiring the download of the PDF file and subsequent opening through the desktop, rather than native browser support)
-Random Software obtained at the store (Big problem guys)
-Turbo Tax/MS Money/QuickBooks (Huge problem given the number of people that use Turbo Tax alone each year)
-iTunes (Yea, deal with it, alot of people use this, alot of people own iPods)

You can't expect people to "use the linux equivalents" or "do some minor tweaking to make things work the way they want them". People want it to work the way they think it should or rather the way it "did on windows/mac" and no tweaking. Tweaking is for guys like us, not regular users. Going out to "support forums" to "find help" is also not acceptable. Sorry man but Linux still suffers from the same problems it always has.


RE: Hard times ahead for Microsoft.
By Seemonkeyscanfly on 8/6/2008 11:36:43 AM , Rating: 1
I'm not a Microsoft hater - I have both Linux and Microsoft OSs on my home systems. However, as I read your comment it just made me laugh a bit:

office (open office doesn't compete, sorry)

You do understand this is why Steve Ballmer was very pissed off. He found out that Microsoft does not write it's own program for office. They were just taking open office and altering the program to make Office.
I can not blame him, I'd be pissed too, if I found out the software company I was heading up was not writing our own programs from scratch.


RE: Hard times ahead for Microsoft.
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 8/6/2008 1:15:04 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
He found out that Microsoft does not write it's own program for office. They were just taking open office and altering the program to make Office.

I'd love to see the proof to back up such a claim. If I recall correctly, Office has been around far longer than Open Office.


By Seemonkeyscanfly on 8/6/2008 5:32:45 PM , Rating: 2
you should know bett