A co-worker of mine recently asked why we use commercial Linux rather than free counterpart software.

This is a great reason: http://www.centos.org/

In a nutshell it seems as if the lead developer for CentOS, which is a free Red Hat Enterprise Linux clone, has disappeared. Now, before I begin, I’d like to point out that – and I come into this information late – it seems to me that step one would be to determine if the guy is actually alright and not stuck between a toilet and a door, or something similarly unpleasant. Maybe they have already done this, but I don’t know.

We’ve certainly lost a little sleep with the likes of LinuxNetworx who went under shortly after accepting payment on a 3-year support contract. Then SGI who stepped in to pick up the pieces but refused to honor the contract also went belly up and invalidated all prepaid support contracts leaving our old SGI machines in the lurch. Still, there’s nothing quite as disconcerting as a project as large as CentOS that relies so heavily on one single individual.

This is just a very brief rant, but if you run your business on or with Linux, use something that is supported commercially.

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This topic has been debated for many years with pontificators claiming that the appliance computer had arrived, yet we still see tremendous progress in processor speed and capability, hard drive space, video cards, and so on. I have usually disagreed with these statements, instead believing that software and people’s desire for and immersive and fluid computing experience, would continue to drive technology beyond the appliance stage. I will now join the ranks and claim that the appliance computer is at hand, however I do not believe that it will take over the computer market. Instead I believe that it is targeted at the next tier of potential Internet users. Three legs of the appliance computing platform now exist – enough to make the platform able to stand on its own. This article discusses the three legs that exist now and the fourth that will complete this platform and usher in the era of appliance computing. Read the rest of this entry »

I was getting excited about the imminent release of Debian Lenny, but it has been delayed again. There are some 200 outstanding release critical bugs left to squash before it can be released. I appreciate the thoroughness put into Debian releases, which is why I use it myself. Some flavors I’ve used are as follows: Slackware, RedHat, Gentoo, Debian, OpenSUSE, Red Hat Enterprise, SuSE Linux Enterprise Server & Desktop. I’m no Linux zealot, but Linux does have a place in enterprise and small business.

I prefer Debian because it is so thoroughly tested, it’s updates and security patches are simple, and it is the best documented flavor out there. I mainly use Linux in a server environment although I have run it as my primary desktop for many years both at home and work. My professional linux experience includes running several HPC clusters and large crunch machines which process large analysis jobs. At work I am currently centered on SuSE Linux Enterprise Server. The business wants to have paid maintenance even though I’ve never taken advantage of it. Part of the theory is that they may need it if I were ever to leave.

A brief summary of the flavors I have used is as follows. Read the rest of this entry »

Saw this article over on Engadget where HP thinks that changing the interface on Linux is equivalent to writing an OS. Original article with more details is at Businesweek.

Just want to clarify something here. RedHat is not an operating system. SuSE is not an operating system. Linux is an operating system. BSD is an operating system. Microsoft Windows is an operating system. If I skin Windows and add in some freeware applications it doesn’t make it a new operating system. I think Microsoft would have an issue with that. The only way people get away with saying things like this is that there is no one who controls Linux from a commercial standpoint.

It is intersting that they think they want to undertake the maintenance duties of developing their own flavor of Linux. I think they would be much better served by using SuSE or RedHat, or even Ubuntu. The major PC vendors have displayed many times that they can’t get open source right. In fact, one of the biggest gripes I have with Dell is that they charge more for their hardware if you buy Linux than if you buy Windows, and they don’t offer their higher end hardware with Linux. I’m the kind of person who always wipes a PC clean and reinstalls the operating system after I get a system, so it doesn’t matter much to me whether or not it comes with Linux, but I think there should be some kind of price break for not having to pay for Windows. Unfortunately it seems that the actual value to the big name PC makers is diminished by having Linux on the box. Apparently they get so many kickbacks from Microsoft that they subsidize the hardware. Right.

Anyway, this rant brought to you because an Operating System is different than a Theme and set of installed applications.