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Open-source software seen as threat to company's dominance SEATTLE — Microsoft Corp. executives have called the open-source software Linux a cancer. They've even described the increasingly popular operating system — an alternative to Microsoft's proprietary Windows — as un-American. But now they're hoping to attach a different word: costly. As businesses increasingly adopt Linux to run their computer servers, Microsoft is shifting the battleground from schoolyard insults or techie-speak to corporate notions of "business value." "There has been a lot of debate in the Linux space that has been focused on the emotion and focused on the technology," said Peter...

..., But Not for Itanium or IT Services FRAMINGHAM, Mass., December 23, 2002 – Wireless LANs, Linux, and messaging are all poised to make important gains in the year ahead. Meanwhile, project-based IT services and 64-bit computing will face ongoing challenges in 2003. These are just a few of the prognostications from IDC’s sixth annual Predictions telebriefing.“We expect to see a return to spending growth in 2003 in both the IT and telecommunications sectors,” said John Gantz, chief research officer at IDC. “However, these gains will not lift all sectors of the industry equally. Hardware spending and wireless services will...

Linux security is as strong as ever, despite recent statistics that say otherwise. Perhaps in response to the excessive publicity given to the strong security associated with Linux and open source software, it's no surprise that a number of commentators are making a high-profile argument that Linux, just like every other platform, does indeed have security issues. Members of the open source community have always known that Linux is not immune from security threats, so there is no argument there. What is in question is the final conclusion that these commentators are drawing, which is that Linux is less...

In a well-publicized memo either earlier this year or sometime during last, (I can't remember exactly which, I admit), executives at Microsoft admitted they considered Linux and open source software to be the biggest threat to their dominance and continued expansion into a variety of markets, from the home desktop and business office to the emerging TabletPC and notebook market.After watching Microsoft closely for the last eighteen months or so, I've got to disagree.  Microsoft's biggest threat isn't Linux, OpenOffice, or any piece of software at all--its themselves.  Over the last eighteen months two distinctly different Microsoft cultures have emerged,...

After creating a program that makes Linux as easy to use as Windows, Miguel de Icaza is trying to make it just as simple to produce open-source versions of thousands of new Windows applications. http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,45454,00.html

An Interview With Andy Hertzfeld (9/20/2000) Andy Hertzfeld was a member of the original Apple Macintosh team back in 1981, at which time he designed and implemented much of the original Macintosh system software. In that light, it's not surprising that he's still on the cusp of GUI development today as cofounder of Eazel. Eazel's first project, Nautilus, is one of the first open source development projects to aim for commercial success; its innovative file and system management model is poised to open up the world of Linux to a much wider audience. At this year's LinuxWorld Conference in San...

As happy as I am to see something finally displace the disgrace that TPC-C "benchmarks" have become over the years, the new favorite faux-analytical geegaw that Microsoft's marketing droids are giggling over isn't any better. I think you know what I'm talking about: it starts with a T, ends with an "Oh!" and spells trouble right here in River City. That's Austin, dude. Texas. On the face of it, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) sounds like it should be a valuable tool to project cost-estimates of various software solutions. There is certainly truth to the notion that purchase-price alone doesn't...

Dec. 18--Another wave of new computers will enter homes this holiday season and trigger the usual backwash of discarded systems. The new ones will soon be considered outdated -- long before they stop working -- as new versions of Microsoft's Windows operating system are released. But consumers might not spend $1,000 or more for a PC with the current Windows XP if older versions of Windows ran reliably. They might hold on to their old PCs. And they can -- if they're willing to use a dependable operating system that just happens not to be Windows. The Linux operating system...

Linux has emerged as the darling of the "technical crowd" but interest is more emotional than realistic, according to Meta Group analyst Kevin McIsaac. In a research paper released this week, McIsaac says interest in Linux is based on a "questionable" lower total cost of ownership (TCO) argument. Consider All Costs "The Linux OS license is free but that does not ensure that TCO will be reduced; for example, Linux requires more staffing resources and effort to match the reliability, availability, and scalability of high-end Unix and Windows 2000 or XP servers," the analyst said. Users must purchase high-availability add-ons...

Linux maker Mandrake: We need cash By Stephen Shankland Special to ZDNet News December 20, 2002, 10:11 AM PT Linux seller MandrakeSoft issued a plea for cash Friday, encouraging people to buy products, MandrakeClub memberships or company stock. The company, based in Paris but drawing much of its revenue from North America, needs $4 million to pay debts and cover expenses in order to attain profitability. It's the second time this year the company has sought help from its customers. "A very difficult time has arrived for us: We have a very big short-term cash issue," co-founder Gael Duval said...

North Pole - Citing concerns about security and licensing costs, Santa Claus is considering migrating his computer systems from Microsoft Windows to Linux. With several thousand computers and the largest database in the world, Santa's Workshop is one of the largest and most important clients for Microsoft. It is expected that the software maker will do whatever it takes to keep Claus in their corner. "If some naughty kid was able to break into my systems and change his status to nice then the whole integrity of the Claus empire would be called into question," said Kringle. "I also have...

Red Hat's revenue increased 14 percent to $24.3 million for its third fiscal quarter with a small profit of $305,000, the Linux seller reported Tuesday. The Raleigh, N.C.-based company's performance for the quarter, ended Nov. 30, did slightly better than projections from analysts surveyed by First Call. Revenue was higher than the consensus expectation of $23.4 million, with break-even earnings per share meeting the estimate. It's the first time Red Hat has reported a profit using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), according to the company. In the year-ago quarter, it posted a net loss of 9 cents per share on...

Could a wily little penguin disrupt Microsoft's desktop empire? The Linux operating system has made impressive gains on corporate servers, but so far has failed to crack the desktop market. More than 90 per cent of the world's personal computers run on Windows. And Linux is still considered too technically complex for the average computer user. But that is changing, especially outside the United States. Government agencies in Europe, China, India and South America have started to encourage Linux over proprietary software because it provides cost savings, freedom from reliance on a single software vendor, and flexibility. Linux is Open...

<p>Today, Sun and CERT announced that many of Sun's Cobalt RaQ 4 Linux servers can be completely taken over by a local user or via the Internet. Ironically, the vulnerability is only present if the vendor's optional "Security Hardening Package" is installed. The package is quite popular and is installed on a large percentage of these servers.</p>

In a major strategy shift, Microsoft Corp. will introduce software based on the Linux open source operating system in 2004 for Web services and server software, market researcher META Group predicted on Monday. Microsoft, which denied that it had any plans to develop software for Linux, is facing a growing threat from the open source software standard as it gains share in the corporate server market used to manage networks and data. META Group predicted that Linux will be used on nearly half of new servers by 2007, up from its current share of 15 to 20 percent, making it...

Largo love Linux more than ever by Robin Miller, NewsForge We're back in Largo, Florida, checking on advances in the Linux-based network they use to run the city's computers that we wrote about last year. True to Largo's "City of Progress" motto, these guys have not been standing still. Now they're talking about Linux-based terminals in all the city's police cars. Microsoft has tried -- and failed -- to bring them into the proprietary fold. And, possibly most important, we have an amazing cost figure that ought to make you ask your local politicians why their IT operations aren't as...

We're back in Largo, Florida, checking on advances in the Linux-based network they use to run the city's computers that we wrote about last year. True to Largo's "City of Progress" motto, these guys have not been standing still. Now they're talking about Linux-based terminals in all the city's police cars. Microsoft has tried -- and failed -- to bring them into the proprietary fold. And, possibly most important, we have an amazing cost figure that ought to make you ask your local politicians why their IT operations aren't as efficient as Largo's. Last time we visited, we spoke mostly...

BILL GATES' recent mission to India seems to have backfired.At the time, His Billness was rightly nailed for cynically exploiting a largely manufactured AIDS "crises" on the subcontinent -- coincidental with his flying counterstrike against the Indian government's earlier declaration to employ Linux throughout its offices and in education.Now Reuters reports that the Vole's announced $400 Million in investments and *cough* gifts to India's schools seems to have had the opposite of its intended effect of stifling Indian interest in Linux.In its coverage of a three-day Linux conference attended by 2,000 users in Bangalore last week, the wire service wrote:...

IBM will announce a new low-end server Wednesday, its first Power processor-based system that can run the Linux operating system without needing IBM's AIX as well. IBM's pSeries machines already are available with Linux but have also required AIX, IBM's version of Unix. Now, as expected, Big Blue has modified Linux sufficiently that its p630 servers will start up without AIX. The p630 is the lowest-end product to use IBM's 64-bit Power4 processor, and Big Blue is positioning the product as a lower-cost Linux alternative to Hewlett-Packard's Itanium-based offerings. Itanium, like Power4 and Sun Microsystems' UltraSparc, is a 64-bit processor...

Windows 2000 servers are cheaper to run than Linux ones, sometimes, says an IDC study which was by strange coincidence sponsored by Microsoft. The study will come as welcome relief to Microsoft salespeople who have been parroting the 'cheaper than Linux' line to general disbelief, but whether anyone else will believe it is another matter. Nor indeed should we take the study at anything like face value. IDC set itself the task of measuring total cost of ownership of the two server operating systems over a five year period, segmenting this into five areas of server operation. Over a...