Posted on 11/13/2006 1:51:43 PM PST by bigdcaldavis
Anyone can tell you an interesting story, but when it comes to Microsoft and Novell’s recent deal Linux enthusiasts around the world have more than a couple up their sleeves.
Microsoft has a long history at killing competition. They started with Novell’s Server market, they tried to do with Java, and today they are trying to do it against the Anti-Virus vendors. They succeeded against Netscape, gained significant grounds against Sony’s Playstation, and killed a thousand other products that I can’t name because I forgot about them after Microsoft obliterated them out of the market. If any of you are XBox lovers, I don’t have to tell you that in the war over consoles Microsoft has been losing money on every XBox it sells. Zune (the competition to iPod) is said to have a similar strategy. In short Microsoft has a huge bank balance and can pump in a lot of money until the competition goes bankrupt.
As a result of this announcement its not a surprise that the Linux world is almost up in arms against Novell for giving in for a few pieces of silver. I on the other hand have a different prespective on it.
* Microsoft isn’t interested in suing anyone (anytime soon atleast) because of its Vista launch schedule and the tricky negotiations going on in Europe * SCO has already tried the same FUD which Microsoft is accused of trying. In fact if you remember Microsoft had “licensed” SCO unix in a similar deal which was indirectly used to fund SCO’s battle against IBM/Linux * Most of the other visible products Microsoft has went after till now have been markets where Microsoft didn’t really have a foothold. Linux is one of the very few unique products which started up as a competitor to Microsoft has has gradually increased in popularity over the years. [Firefox/Mozilla is the other one which I admire] * The other interesting point to note is that unlike most other commercial vendors who got nailed by Microsoft’s pump and dump strategy, Linux is not a commercial entity which can go bankrupt. They can kill Novell, but it will be very hard for them to kill the whole linux movement.
My personal analysis is that Microsoft is afraid.
* Its so afraid of loosing this battle that in its moment of desperation its ready to do anything short of launching a Microsoft branded Linux distribution. * The Financial deal Microsoft and Novell signed has a few hints of where this might be heading. * To begin with its clear both of them want to integrate each others OS using each others technology to provide a better virtualization experience. * Its also clear that though Novell might use significant portions of proprietary Microsoft technology (for example for authentication, authorization and accounting) Microsoft will mostly be using GNU code to which Novell doesn’t have any rights anyway. * So why is Microsoft paying Novell ? * And what’s the deal with 240 million dollars for linux license subscription cost ? What is it going to do with that many copies of linux distribution ? * Oh wait, they could embed it into your Microsoft operating system ? Have you ever thought which distribution of Linux you would use if your Microsoft OS copy you already have, has a Linux distribution pre-bundled with it? * Novell also mentions that it will pay Microsoft a minimum amount of licensing fees, which can increase depending on its own sales. So may be it will sell Windows as well… who knows. But it will sell something with at least some part of Microsoft code in it. * Finally based on my personal opinion (with no understanding of financial details) it almost looks like Microsoft has kind of bought a share of Novell’s company and wants a piece of the action every year. * May be Microsoft is going to announce something even much more significant which will dramatically increase Novell’s sales. May be Novell is an investment after all… not just a pump-and-dump target.
My thought process finally took me to the one place I didn’t want to go… Its the thought that Microsoft will soon bundle Suse linux with one of its own products.
Coming back to the discussion on whether we should abandon Suse or not, I personally think it doesn’t matter as long as Microsoft is not trying to kill it. Stop acting like a 5 year old kid who doesn’t like the big guys. If anything, you should be excited about more commercial support behind your favourite OS. And if they really do bundle Suse with every Desktop/Server OS thats exactly what I wanted when I joined the revolution. Linux on every desktop… I have said this before, and I’ll continue to say it that I’m not opposed to Microsoft Linux as long as others can innovate and keep Microsoft on its toes.
If you have children, it has some excellent filtering controls.
Regards, Ivan
Thanks, I'll check out ndiswrapper this evening.
Last time I went to the shop to buy thermal grease, there was a box of free Ubuntu CDs. Since I had an extra Compaq PC lying around, I decided to try it.
Everything was fine—even somewhat impressive—except for the fact that the driver for the on-board IBM graphics was awful (60 Hz refresh rate for 1024x768).
So, I checked the Ubuntu forums. Nothing. Then, I Googled and found a driver online. But, it seems to be available in two flavors. Neither gave any clues as to how to install it.
So, for now at least, I gave up. I have enough things to do. Tinkering with video drivers isn't on my list.
Oh brother. I'm going to need to go out and get a 100ft roll for this hat.
I think MS is a fine product and very responsive to the needs of government and business; if the EU or IBM/LINUX were so wonderful (and open source as well), the marketplace would have long ago responded by rewarding these competitors.
Without Microsoft...peeps would probably just buy APPLE.
Me neither--save for one Win2k qcow (runs in qemu). Personally, I swear on Slackware--my primary machine is running Slack 11, with one three-year old laptop running SLED 10.
Though Ubuntu's good--I'll occasionally fire my copy up (6.06) as a live CD...8^)
Regards, Ivan
Regards, Ivan
RE: Apple
Starting with the Lisa in 1983. Remember? Far better and ahead of its time. If only Jobs had been a little bit meaner and hungry!
Believe it or not, we have people here on FreeRepublic that defend Microsoft. You may have one of them pop up.
I decided to keep it running SLED (it's got well over a year and a half on a subscription)--which is why I didn't change it over to Slackware yet...
If my dad can get another old laptop from work, I'll probably throw Ubuntu on it just for kicks...
Anywho, the box with Slack is that crappy emachines I own--and it couldn't be running better (and I was able to get my 2.6.18 kernel installed without a hitch). My only beef is that I can't seem to NX into it like I could with SLED--and I suspect it's because Slack doesn't use a login manager by default.
Rather, you have to login and type 'startx' at terminal to get your GUI. (Though you can obviously add a graphical login and have the init script run X off the bat--which on Slack is runlevel 4).
And what are you smoking? If Microsoft had built a product like Ford it would have worked, been secure, easy to fix (i.e) little need for technical support staff except when things went really wrong. The only reason for MS to be so dominate in the corporate world is that it is a "safe" decision much as IBM was in the mainframe days (no one got fired for buying IBM) and it keeps 2X the number of technical staff employed than corporations need on their recommendations of course.
Thanks but, I don't remember. It's been a few months ago.
Do you run on GNome or KDE?
Regards, Ivan
"Ichthux" and my favorite... "Fixed bug 1480183 - crash when using KJV"
Given that the KJV is the only translation authorized for use in our liturgy, it's nice to know it won't cause a crash.
Linux is only free to those whose time is worth nothing.
LOL
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