HP Sets Record With $2.5B in Linux-Based Revenue (and other BREAKING TECHNOLOGY NEWS)

eWEEK ^ | January 15, 2004 | Peter Galli

[fight_truth_decay]

Hewlett-Packard Co. on Thursday will announce that it earned a record-breaking $2.5 billion Linux-based revenue in fiscal 2003, with its Linux services and solutions business posting a 40 percent rise over fiscal 2002.

While the revenue was derived from the sale of Linux-related products and services, the Palo Alto, Calif., company did not specify exactly what was included and counted as Linux-based revenue.

[rdb3]

It's been called "the duct tape that holds the internet together".

Perl definitely makes my life easier. I don't use it much for CGI anymore, though.

[blowfish]

Nonsense. I'm not advocating stealing pirated copies of Oracle or Windows XP, and I wouldn't do that. And I buy *lots* of CDs thank you very much. (And I will not be drawn into an exchange of personal attacks.)
I have years of experience programming with Microsoft, Oracle and Sun products. Sometimes they're the right solution to the task at hand. Sometimes they're not. I'm under no obligation to use their products when I don't deem them to be the correct solution.

[blowfish]

>Yes, because someone writing their own software and distributing it for free is exactly the same as illegally >distrubiting another person's copyrighted work.
This comment is so bizarre that I have to assume it was made tounge-in-cheek.

[RightOnline]

We've had this discussion far too many times, and your arguments continue to be refuted. To suggest that Linux is destroying companies and is the death of US high tech is ludicrous. Yes, the "dinosaurs" who depend entirely upon overpriced, proprietary platforms for their revenues are getting their heads handed to them. This is NOTHING NEW, and anyone who has been around this industry for a while knows that you adapt or die. Fact. Can't tell you how many proprietary systems companies I've worked for who are either gone or mere shadows of their former selves. I now work in worldwide marketing for one significant product line for one of those Big Guys, and we're absolutely kicking a** in the marketplace. Linux enabled that.

How many more economics lessons are you and your ilk going to need???

[Dimensio]

This comment is so bizarre that I have to assume it was made tounge-in-cheek.

It was a sarcastic response to Bush2000. I neglected to quote his words, but you can check the post to which I had replied for them.

[Dimensio]

. You (or any of a thousand others) encounter minor issues and seek help online. Bugs are discovered, are fixed, which in turn benefits the ChiComs.

So reporting on bugs in an operating system that get fixed is how I benefit the Chinese? How the hell is this different than if I reported on a problem with Windows that got fixed? Is your argument that Windows is superior because Microsoft does not listen to consumer bug reports? Windows is superior because Microsoft keeps their operating system unstable and insecure, while Linux is a danger to national security because its maintainers keep it stable and work to eliminate bugs?

That argument is so stupid that I can't tell if you're being silly or if you are really so dumb as think it valid. Really, I don't think that I could come up with a more asinine argument against Linux if I tried, and I've come up with some pretty stupid ideas.

[blowfish]

I figured as much. If B2K had uttered them, I would have believed he meant them.

=8^O

[Nick Danger]

we would be much better served selling them closed source software for a higher profit.

If you weren't such a Microsoft butt-boy you would be able to see this article from HP's point of view, which is that not having to pay Microsoft for a Windows license means that HP gets to sell all that stuff and keep the money for itself, instead of sending a big chunk of it off to Microsoft. That looks like "higher profit" to them. It's just lower profit for Microsoft. But why should HP care about Microsoft? HP is in business to make money for HP's shareholders... not Microsoft's.

Capitalism is not about making Microsoft better off. It's about allocating scarce resources to their highest-valued uses. Apparently operating systems are no longer one of the highest-valued uses for programming talent. That doesn't mean we've run out of problems to solve; it just means that the thing that made Microsoft rich is turning into a commodity. So they need to learn a new trick. Big deal. It happens to everybody sooner or later. IBM was probably pissed when the bottom fell out of the punched-card tabulation machine business. They at least got off their duffs and learned a new trick. Microsoft should do the same. Nothing lasts forever. The Windowed GUI is 20 years old now. How long did they think that was gonna hold up as a "leading edge" high-profit item?

[Bush2000]

We've had this discussion far too many times, and your arguments continue to be refuted.

Said the Black Knight. Missing all his arms and still declaring victory.

To suggest that Linux is destroying companies and is the death of US high tech is ludicrous.

Hardly. Look at Sun.

Yes, the "dinosaurs" who depend entirely upon overpriced, proprietary platforms for their revenues are getting their heads handed to them. This is NOTHING NEW, and anyone who has been around this industry for a while knows that you adapt or die.

Look, if somebody walked into your customers' office and offered to provide your product for FREE, you'd be screaming anticompetitive bloody murder. You know it. I know it. So stop pretending that these companies don't (and didn't) offer something of value. IBM stands accused by SCO of giving away technology in violation of its contract with AT&T.

Linux enabled that. How many more economics lessons are you and your ilk going to need???

No, it wasn't thousands of open source developers who did it. IBM enabled that. Linux would still be a half-assed college dorm operating system, if it weren't for IBM technology. IBM's motives weren't pure. It wants nothing less than to destroy all of its high-end Unix competition.

[N3WBI3]

What hardware is produced in the US now? MS has been outsourceing for a couple of years to India..

[Bush2000]

So reporting on bugs in an operating system that get fixed is how I benefit the Chinese? How the hell is this different than if I reported on a problem with Windows that got fixed? Is your argument that Windows is superior because Microsoft does not listen to consumer bug reports? Windows is superior because Microsoft keeps their operating system unstable and insecure, while Linux is a danger to national security because its maintainers keep it stable and work to eliminate bugs?

Maybe you didn't hear me. I don't support MS in this, either. As far as I'm concerned, trying to open commercial markets in China is like paying tribute to gangsters. But at least Microsoft is charging its customers in China for its products; unlike Linux developers, who are giving away Linux FOR FREE and, thus, enabling the ChiComs to spend more of their resources on their military, prisons, and police rather than computing infrastructure.

[N3WBI3]

Sun got into trouble when they got out of hardware and into the OS. Back when they were just really good hardware and BSD they owned because their hardware always worked....

[Bush2000]

Capitalism is not about making Microsoft better off. It's about allocating scarce resources to their highest-valued uses.

No, Nick. That's Communism. Capitalism promotes private ownership of capital. Linux is all about ripping off IP from private sources and misappropriating it for common use.

Apparently operating systems are no longer one of the highest-valued uses for programming talent. That doesn't mean we've run out of problems to solve; it just means that the thing that made Microsoft rich is turning into a commodity. So they need to learn a new trick. Big deal. It happens to everybody sooner or later. IBM was probably pissed when the bottom fell out of the punched-card tabulation machine business. They at least got off their duffs and learned a new trick.

Yeah, rrrrrrright, Nick. IBM's "new dirty trick" apparently included redistributing IP in Linux that it wasn't entitled to do under contractual obligations with AT&T. I'm not surprised that that's your idea of a "new trick", IBM butt boy.

[Dimensio]

So you advocate a system where all software is controlled, only accessable to an elite few, right? In order to preserve freedom, we need to supress the free flow of information, is that your strategy?

[Dimensio]

Linux is all about ripping off IP from private sources and misappropriating it for common use.

What IP has Linux ripped off. Be specific, and cite sources to support your claims.

[Bush2000]

So you advocate a system where all software is controlled, only accessable to an elite few, right? In order to preserve freedom, we need to supress the free flow of information, is that your strategy?

No, I advocate a system where American commercial interests aren't disadvantaged by the irresponsible actions of a bunch of losers who are sympathetic to our enemies.

[Bush2000]

What IP has Linux ripped off. Be specific, and cite sources to support your claims.

Read up on SCO v IBM. SCO claims that IBM was not entitled to contribute derivative IP to Linux.

[Nick Danger]

allocating scarce resources to their highest-valued uses

That's Communism

OK, so you flunked Econ 101. You don't have to tell everybody.

[Bush2000]

OK, so you flunked Econ 101. You don't have to tell everybody.

Surrrrrrre, comrade. Your scarce resources are needed over in the high-value missile factory. Get moving -- or get on the train to Siberia.

[RightOnline]

You have much to learn, grasshopper.