[linux-help] Linux slam attached from zdnet

[Michael Holmes <maholmes@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Zdnet used to be very hard on M$ then they got rid of the slammer and every 
since, they have been woowing (however spelled) M$; now along the pike 
comes this major slam!

Mike

ATTACHED:


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        --------------------------------------------------------------
        This story was printed from Anchordesk 
<http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk>,
        located at <http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk>.
        --------------------------------------------------------------
        
Want Linux on your desktop? Nine reasons to forget about it By David 
Coursey, AnchorDesk <http://www.anchordesk.com> June 11, 2001 9:00 PM PT 
URL: 
<http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2773365,00.html?c  
hkpt=zdhpnews02>  Linux is an important part of the computing landscape. 
Important because open standards matter. Important because it creates 
competition and a looming threat to Microsoft. Important because it gives a 
large number of geeks and wonks a religion to belong to--complete with a 
patriarch 
<http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2762177,00.html>. 
 Religion is a good thing, I believe, right up to the moment it makes a 
fool out of you. And a good many Linux?what's the term? Proponents? 
Advocates? No, zealots!--yes, a good many Linux zealots make fools of 
themselves.  I don't have Ninety-Five Theses to nail to the Wittenberg 
Door, as Martin Luther 
<http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?z=1&pg=2&ti=761570003> did, but I 
take my reformation work where I can find it. So here are some ideas for 
reforming people's wrong-headed notions of Linux:  Linux will never become 
common as a desktop operating system, and no amount of believing will 
change that. It only makes adherents look stupid. Why? Because Linux is too 
complex, and there isn't enough money to make it worth someone's time to 
build a really great environment for desktop apps. And then software 
companies would need to build applications, but how large a market is 
there? Yes, chicken-and-egg, but that stops many things, not just desktop 
Linux.  If client-side Java had lived up to the promise of "write once, run 
anywhere" then Linux would have a bigger, but hardly fighting, chance of 
unseating desktop Windows.  Linux, desktop especially but also server, is 
not a major threat to Microsoft. But it is enough of a threat to make 
Microsoft notice, and that is usually a good thing. Microsoft will be on 
the defensive, at least a little, and that gives customers some leverage 
they don't otherwise enjoy.  I don't have numbers to support this, but 
Linux may be a bigger threat to various flavors of UNIX than it is to 
Microsoft server operating systems.  There's at least a 50/50 probability 
that Linux will become Balkanized just as UNIX was. There will be multiple, 
semi-compatible versions of Unix that seem to be one operating system, 
right up until you try to install applications. Surprise! Not the Solaris 
version? Sorry!  People talk about how wonderful it is that Linux is free. 
But over the life of a server, the operating system is such a small part of 
the cost that it gets lost in the other soft- and hard-dollar expenses. And 
you'd think systems offering the lowest total cost-of-ownership would sell 
better than they usually do. Apple, for many years, claimed a big TCO lead 
over Windows. But did it help?  Big hardware companies may yet co-opt 
Linux: Here's an operating system they can load, create add-ons for, and 
then sell support contracts for. Add some minor barriers to switching to 
other platforms and operating systems--either Microsoft or another 
Linux--and you might have something. Isn't this how Sun became King of 
Unix?  Linux is a fine server operating system Use it with my blessing, but 
don't let it define you, your IS shop, or your company. And don't select 
Linux just because you hate Microsoft. That isn't good enough reason to 
pick an operating system.  Linux will be a common operating system in 
places where we don't see an operating system--like home information and 
entertainment appliances. Want Linux? Buy a TiVo digital video recorder. 
Linux makes great sense as an embedded OS, but faces much competition. 
Still, I am betting most people will have some sort of Linux-powered device 
in the lives sometime in the next 5 years or so.  Luther and his followers 
were excommunicated for their beliefs. I don't face anything nearly as 
drastic as that--but I know there are many in the Linux cult ready to 
proclaim me a heretic, or worse.  For my part, I suppose I'm happy there 
are people who define their lives by what operating system they use--if 
only because they're fun to watch. But I am even happier that I'm not one 
of them.  AnchorDesk on radio and television: David is now getting up 
bright and early to visit with Brian Cooley every morning at 7:45 a.m. PT 
on CNET Radio (910AM in the San Francisco Bay Area and at www.cnetradio.com 
<http://www.cnetradio.com> online). He is also co-host of an hour-long 
program every Friday at noon PT on CNET Radio. You can also catch David on 
CNET's News.com TV program, which airs twice every weekend on CNBC (see 
airtimes <http://www.cnet.com/cnettv/0-122653-7-123102.html>) or by going 
to the special CNET TV page 
<http://www.cnet.com/cnettv/0-122653-7-4758609.html> featuring his most 
recent appearances and a link to the Friday radio program.      


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