Linux goes on the lowest cost hardware?
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| number6x Feb 16, 2007 7:13 AM EDT |
Huh? I guess the lowest cost hardware must include 75% of the world's top supercomputers: http://www.top500.org/stats/28/osfam/ Wow! what fud. I wonder why Microsoft isn't on that list? |
| DarrenR114 Feb 16, 2007 7:21 AM EDT |
stupid me!! I clicked on the article before noticing that it's just more drivel from Rob Enderle ... Save yourself, Gentle Reader - don't do as I did. Don't bother clicking on the article! |
| number6x Feb 16, 2007 7:29 AM EDT |
Enderle is so completely out of touch with reality it is amazing his feet stay put on the ground. He has no idea how advanced Linux is over Windows. This guy really has no clue. He seems to make all his judgments based on how things perform on his laptop. He has no idea about the needs of businesses, or the needs of advanced research labs (public or private sector), or the needs of embedded systems vendors, or the needs of content providers. The extent of his cluelessness seems unbound. |
| bigg Feb 16, 2007 7:30 AM EDT |
I think it's safe to say he'll never be a professor of philosophy at Harvard. I remember Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy on Saturday Night Live. Maybe they can have Deep Thoughts with Rob Enderle. Three of my favorites: "To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've wondered where this started and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus, and a clown killed my dad." "It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man." "If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason." I don't think they'd get many laughs about Linux, but his skills should be portable, enabling him to write humorously about any topic. |
| bigg Feb 16, 2007 7:32 AM EDT |
Oh wait, scratch my last post. I just realized that Rob Enderle is trying to be serious when he writes stuff like this. |
| dinotrac Feb 16, 2007 7:37 AM EDT |
>I guess the lowest cost hardware must include 75% of the world's top supercomputers: a. Supercomputers are a small fraction of all the computers out there b. You really need to do your homework. The fact that linux runs on cheap computers is what makes it attractive for supercomputing. Universities and government agencies discovered they could get incredible bang for the buck by tying together lots of cheap boxes to do jobs that used to require very very very expensive specialized hardware. c. Linux will run on just about anything, including IBM mainframes, but it's real strength is the ability to to industrial strength work on commodity (ie, cheap) hardware. Understand that, in this case, cheap doesn't mean a $440.00 tigerdirect special. It means cheaper than Sun box or some such. There is no shame -- only benefit -- to running on cheap boxes. That ability is what gutted Microsoft's plans for the glass house. Their whole appeal was the ability to leverage cheap help and cheap iron. Linux doesn't do much for the cheap help, but still uses cheap iron, saves some money on licensing, takes the vulture away, and is far more bulletproof than anything in Redmond's wildest dreams. |
| DarrenR114 Feb 16, 2007 8:46 AM EDT |
Dino, I didn't take offense to that part of the article mainly because I agree with your conclusions about the attractiveness of Linux *because* it runs on commodity hardware. I did take offense to the part of the article that tries to create a sense of Fear by saying that "You only have to Fear Linux if you want to make money with it". That bit torqued me off. |
| dinotrac Feb 16, 2007 11:25 AM EDT |
>You only have to Fear Linux if you want to make money with it Making money with Linux is a different world, and, in some ways, that's a fair warning. Free software pretty much demands that you offer value if you're going to compete, because anybody can get the software By the same token...while it's hard to make a fortune, it's not so hard to do very nicely. A friend and I have bid a few things where the availability of free solutions (though we also deal with a proprietary product) allows us to undercut the heck out of some vendors without cutting ourselves out. We sell the stability, security, yada-yada, openness (no code escrows required, etc, you can find people to work the code, etc) as premiums . We can put in a nice hourly for ourselves and nobody cares because, well, we beat, say, a Microsoft solution by a hundred thousand dollars. |
| number6x Feb 16, 2007 2:36 PM EDT |
dino, You are correct. I just think that Enderle tries to spin this low cost benefit as a negative. almost as if he is saying "Linux is low-cost trash, not suitable for expensive high performance needs". I still find many people who think Linux is only good for printer sharing and file sharing, but anything 'serious' will need a 'real' OS. pointing them to the supercomputer stats is a quick way to change their mind about Linux. I like to point to the 4 S's: Security Speed Savings Stability You get all of them with Linux. For the "real" OS's you have to sacrifice savings to get the other things. And with Windows, there is always the next version. Its kind of like waiting for the Cubbie's mythical "Next Year". |
| DarrenR114 Feb 16, 2007 5:33 PM EDT |
number6x, Where did you get that list of the 4 S's? |
| swbrown Feb 16, 2007 7:52 PM EDT |
> He has no idea how advanced Linux is over Windows. I doubt that. I think the spin is intentional. |
| number6x Feb 17, 2007 4:57 AM EDT |
I made them up. I like alliteration. I often find myself try to convince clients to implement Linux based servers in many of my projects. If they don't specify, I just use Linux (its what I know the best, If you use BSD or whatever then choose that as your default). Having Sun Open Source Java is going to be a great help. Now every time a client tells me they don't want any Open Source anywhere in their business, I'll have to tell them that they'll have to get rid of all of their Java infrastructure. (Trying that argument with IBM's Websphere just confused them). The clients with beliefs like this are usually just ignorant of the real facts. They are probably victims of Microsoft's ''Get The Facts" campaign. Slogans like "the Four S's" help with these kinds of people. |
| DarrenR114 Feb 18, 2007 7:11 AM EDT |
Number6X - that's interesting, to me anyways, because I've been using the 5 S's myself: http://talkback.zdnet.com/5208-12355-0.html?forumID=1&thread... |
| number6x Feb 18, 2007 12:53 PM EDT |
Now we've got six all together! |
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