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Re: [TCLUG:4379] Linux threat to Microsoft grows - Mar. 1, 1999
Um...
"... The downside of Linux is it's hard for novices to use and does not work
well on home PCs..."
Strange... I've had better luck getting Linux running on my IBM PoS/1 than
WinAnything. Wasn't Linux developed for the home PC?
hrm...
food for thought......
http://www.cnnfn.com/digitaljam/9903/01/linux/
- att-1.htm
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<B><FONT SIZE=6>Linux threat to NT grows</FONT></B>
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<FONT SIZE=5 COLOR=#008080>Hardware, software firms back new system aimed at 'Net commerce </FONT>
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<FONT SIZE=2 COLOR=#008080>March 1, 1999: 6:43 p.m. ET<BR><BR>
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Big hardware and software makers are expanding their ties to Linux, the free operating system that won IBM's endorsement last month, which could further hamper Microsoft's efforts to sell its NT software to major corporate users.
<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
The race to embrace Linux shows no signs of slowing down. <A HREF="http://cgi.cnnfn.com/cgi-bin/MGI/getinsideticker.pl?QUERY=INTC&REPORT=STOCK">Intel</A> (<A HREF="http://qs2.cnnfn.com/tq/stockquote?symbols=INTC">INTC</A>) and <A HREF="http://cgi.cnnfn.com/cgi-bin/MGI/getinsideticker.pl?QUERY=HWP&REPORT=STOCK">Hewlett-Packard</A> (<A HREF="http://qs2.cnnfn.com/tq/stockquote?symbols=HWP">HWP</A>) said Monday they've expanded their backing of Linux, the brainchild of former University of Helsinki student Linus Torvalds, who now acts as primary architect for the further development of the OS. Published reports said <A HREF="http://cgi.cnnfn.com/cgi-bin/MGI/getinsideticker.pl?QUERY=DELL&REPORT=STOCK">Dell Computer</A> (<A HREF="http://qs2.cnnfn.com/tq/stockquote?symbols=DELL">DELL</A>) and <A HREF="http://cgi.cnnfn.com/cgi-bin/MGI/getinsideticker.pl?QUERY=ORCL&REPORT=STOCK">Oracle</A> (<A HREF="http://qs2.cnnfn.com/tq/stockquote?symbols=ORCL">ORCL</A>) also were stepping up thei!
r !
support for companies backing th
e operating system.
<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
The moves add up to more trouble for <A HREF="http://cgi.cnnfn.com/cgi-bin/MGI/getinsideticker.pl?QUERY=MSFT&REPORT=STOCK">Microsoft</A> (<A HREF="http://qs2.cnnfn.com/tq/stockquote?symbols=MSFT">MSFT</A>) as it seeks to market new versions of NT to big corporations, industry analysts said. Some analysts said that if it lives up to its promise, Linux could end up reshaping the computer software industry.
<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
"Linux is going great guns now," said analyst John Robb at Gomez Advisors, the research firm specializing in consumer e-commerce issues. "Microsoft is a big loser."<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
<CENTER><FONT SIZE=4>Linux server sales surging</FONT></CENTER>
<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
Indeed, in the server market, where Linux competes with Windows NT, Linux sales surged 212 percent last year versus a 27.2 percent gain for Windows NT, according to research firm International Data Corp. The jump gave Linux roughly 17 percent of the market last year, versus almost 36 percent for Microsoft's NT.<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
The latest version of Windows NT, the industrial strength operating system from Microsoft, has been delayed and is now expected to reach the market later this year as part of Windows 2000.<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
Analysts said companies looking to boost computer capacity -- especially those looking for big systems to run Internet-based commerce or data services -- could turn to Linux, which is better suited to those types of applications.<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
"This is the year that Linux gains critical mass," said Jon Oltsik, analyst at Forrester Research, the technology research firm. "It'll be very important in big Internet commerce sites."<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
He noted, for example, that <A HREF="http://cgi.cnnfn.com/cgi-bin/MGI/getinsideticker.pl?QUERY=BKS&REPORT=STOCK">Barnes & Noble's</A> (<A HREF="http://qs2.cnnfn.com/tq/stockquote?symbols=BKS">BKS</A>) Web site, Barnesandnoble.com, is run on Windows NT while online broker <A HREF="http://cgi.cnnfn.com/cgi-bin/MGI/getinsideticker.pl?QUERY=EGRP&REPORT=STOCK">E*Trade</A> (<A HREF="http://qs2.cnnfn.com/tq/stockquote?symbols=EGRP">EGRP</A>) uses Sun Microsystem's Solaris operating system.
<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
"By the end of this year, you'll have a visible household name with an all-Linux architecture," Oltsik said.<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
One attractive Linux feature: It's free over the Internet. It's also fast, reliable and "open," meaning that thousands of computer programmers around the world can add features and improve the software, hoping the changes will be approved by Torvalds.<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
The downside of Linux is it's hard for novices to use and does not work well on home PCs.<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
Microsoft says Linux is just another product in a crowded, competitive marketplace -- the line it's been taking as it defends itself in the government's <A HREF="/digitaljam/9902/26/microsoft/index.htm">antitrust case</A>.
<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
"For us it's not a big change -- there's always been competition out there," spokesman Adam Sohn said. "This is further evidence to bolster what we've said all along -- that there are tons of companies trying to provide better technology to customers," he said of the latest Linux developments.<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
<CENTER><FONT SIZE=4>Intel jumps on the bandwagon</FONT></CENTER>
<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
Intel, for example, just took a <A HREF="/digitaljam/wires/9902/28/intel_wg/index.htm" >small stake</A> in VA Research, a California company that sells computers with Linux. The investment by the world's biggest chip maker was not its first in a Linux supporter. It previously invested in Red Hat Software, a North Carolina company that sells and services Linux, in September.
<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
"If there's software that's popular with customers, we just want to ensure that it's running well on the Intel architecture," one person familiar with Intel's investments said Monday.<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
Separately, Hewlett-Packard, the nation's No. 2 computer maker, announced a new operation to back open systems such as Linux.<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
"HP sees Linux as a significant force in the industry and expects it to emerge as the platform of choice for … the Internet service provider and electronic-commerce software development markets," said Nigel Ball, a general manager in HP's Internet and applications system division. <br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
HP's announcement came at LinuxWorld, a three-day trade show in San Jose, Calif., that is sort of a coming out party for the software. The Intel investment in VA Research was first reported by <I>The Wall Street Journal. </I>The newspaper also said Dell Computer has set a new pact with a company offering technical support for Linux and that database software maker Oracle would announce an investment in Red Hat.
<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
Officials at Dell and Red Hat were not available for comment. An Oracle spokeswoman declined to comment.<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
<CENTER><FONT SIZE=4>Big boost from Big Blue</FONT></CENTER>
<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
Last month IBM and Red Hat said IBM would start selling computers with the Linux operating system. In January, IBM rivals HP, Dell and <A HREF="http://cgi.cnnfn.com/cgi-bin/MGI/getinsideticker.pl?QUERY=SGI&REPORT=STOCK">Silicon Graphics</A> (<A HREF="http://qs2.cnnfn.com/tq/stockquote?symbols=SGI">SGI</A>) agreed to offer Linux on their systems.
<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
The growth of Linux, which Torvalds developed eight years ago, must be sweet to the software's boosters, some of whom are seen as quirky renegades in the industry. Last month, about 100 people showed up outside Microsoft's San Francisco-area offices at a march dubbed "Windows Refund Day" organized by Linux backers.<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
There are other aspects to the Linux appeal. Some experts say cheap software such as Linux and Gnome, another "open" system, could help poorer countries such as Mexico and Pakistan catch up to wealthier countries using costly computer technology to boost economic growth.<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
Still, Linux is far from eroding Microsoft's dominance in PC software; its operating systems are installed on 80 to 90 percent of all personal computers. Linux is not that user friendly, though some people are working to make it easier to download and use.<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
"If Linux works, it affects the whole software industry and that affects Microsoft the most, since they're the biggest fish in the sea," said Forrester's Oltsik. <br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
But support for Linux could hurt "second-tier" vendors of the Unix operating system such as <A HREF="http://cgi.cnnfn.com/cgi-bin/MGI/getinsideticker.pl?QUERY=CPQ&REPORT=STOCK">Compaq</A> (<A HREF="http://qs2.cnnfn.com/tq/stockquote?symbols=CPQ">CPQ</A>), which got a version of Unix when it bought Digital Equipment, Silicon Graphics and <A HREF="http://cgi.cnnfn.com/cgi-bin/MGI/getinsideticker.pl?QUERY=SQNT&REPORT=STOCK">Sequent</A> (<A HREF="http://qs2.cnnfn.com/tq/stockquote?symbols=SQNT">SQNT</A>), a server vendor.
<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
"The pecking order would be Solaris (Sun Microsystem's version of Unix), Linux No. 2 and everybody else in some state of losing No. 3," said Oltsik.<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
"The interesting thing is that in spite of the size of Microsoft -- they're a huge, well run software company -- you can's compete with the mass of people on the Web."<A HREF="#TOP"><IMG SRC="/images/bug.jpg" WIDTH="16" HEIGHT="12" ALT="Link to top" border=0></A>
<br><img src = "/images/spacer.gif" height=2 width = 15>
<I>-- by staff writer Steven Radwell</I>
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