Published by Robert Pogson May 29th, 2010
in technology.
No one likes tax men because they take our money but they are just doing their jobs. The tax man in Czechoslovakia is doing a bit more. Perhaps to increase tax revenue he is supporting the idea that computers bought without software should not give a tax deduction. How cute. He signed a release by the BSA equating using free software as “piracy”. He’s gone too far.
Watch that your tax man does not go for the same idea. Businesses invest in IT to provide/improve productivity. They should choose the best performance/price and if that is FLOSS on generic hardware it is none of the tax man’s business. Someone should give the Czech government a good kick. Hey! They are having an election! Now is a good time to demand FLOSS be respected by government. Oops! Too late. Social Democrats are winning but have a minority. There could be a right-wing coalition. It could be bad news for FLOSS in Czechoslovakia.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson May 29th, 2010
in technology.
Phoronix must have had a slow news day:
The Huge Disaster Within The Linux 2.6.35 Kernel
The comments are about a kernel in development before a release-candidate and in rapid development, as usual for Linux. For one thing, they do not actually specify what kernel they are excited about. At http://www.phoromatic.com/kernel-tracker.php they talk about “This is a test schedule that runs daily after the test system(s) automatically install the latest mainline Linux kernel.“. The current mainline is 2.6.34.
The Linux folks are doing major surgery on BTRFS, the pet filesystem of Phoronix testing.
The testing Phoronix does may have some use but it is not a reflection on Linux in general just the filesystems and hardware that Phoronix uses that are quite narrow. The code in question is just a tiny percentage of Linux.
Pathetic twits…
“We are also more than happy to work with the Linux kernel community or any other software project in establishing more robust test procedures and greater test coverage. We will work with other vendors too, via our commercial entity.
Stay tuned to see how this bewildering performance problem is resolved and whether such a severe performance regression makes it again into the mainline code-base.”
Yeah. I bet. Who would want to work with such twits? They have never heard of debugging or alpha code or whatever. Linus and his crew know there are bugs. That’s why it is not a release-candidate yet.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson May 29th, 2010
in technology.
At the end of the day, chickens like to gather in the shelter of the coop where they feel safe. Novell is having its chickens come home to roost. A couple of years ago they had a pop in business by making a deal with M$. M$ paid them up front and distributed certificates for Suse. Now those relationships are coming up for renewal and Novell is forced to make steep discounts. Customers paying full price might be interested to note that those who obtained the certificates from M$ are getting an 85% discount.
This means Novell is having a bit of a downturn although their other GNU/Linux business is up 46%. Other good news of course is that they have kicked SCO’s butt.
This also indicates that those who tried GNU/Linux are happy enough to keep using it and they do not value the need for support from Novell highly and more continue to ask for GNU/Linux. GNU/Linux is simple, modular and reliable.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson May 29th, 2010
in technology.
Some comments have derided GNU/Linux showing in the server markets. Here are some facts for 1Q10:
- Revenue for all x86 servers = $6.8 billion (33.6% year on year growth)
- Revenue for all servers = $10.4 billion (4.7% year on year growth)
- Revenue for servers with that other OS = $5.1 billion (28.3% year on year growth)
- Units shipped for that other OS increased 28.3% year over year
- Units shipped for x86 = 1.8 million
- Revenue for servers with GNU/Linux = $1.7 billion (20.4% year on year growth)
AH HA! I can hear the fans of that other OS exclaiming that M$ is eating GNU/Linux for lunch. Not so. x86 servers shipped 1.8 million units in 1Q10. $3.6 billion shipped with neither GNU/Linux or that other OS (largely non x86). That’s about a million other servers. How many do you think had GNU/Linux installed in the shop? It’s not likely that any of them had that other OS since it only runs on x86 (or in a virtual machine).
I think the IDC numbers are suspect because all x86 = GNU/Linux + that other OS. You can buy barebones servers.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson May 29th, 2010
in technology.
There are more sources indicating a trivial share of GNU/Linux in the browsing market. Check this out:
“92% of web sites serve a predominantly United States market (this is an area we would looking to add more diversity in the upcoming months)
32% of web sites we classify as e-commerce sites
29% of web sites we classify as corporate sites
20% of web sites we classify as content delivery (blogs, news sites, etc.)
19% of web sites we classify as “other”"
Well, at least they are honest and do not try to represent that their statistics represent the universe of browsing environments. That is how they can with a straight face tell us MacOS has an 11% share and GNU/Linux less than 1%. Come to think of it, how do they get the breakdown of GNU/Linux OS from server logs? My Iceweasel announces Debian but my Google-Chrome browser does not and GNU/Linux is all I use.
These are just more trash statistics telling the world or at least anyone who wants to listen that GNU/Linux is not relevant. Real statistics with pedigree showed that GNU/Linux surpassed MacOS share back in 2003 and has not looked back.
Would IDC produce a 44-page study of GNU/Linux share and charge $4500 for it if the share were 0.5%? I doubt it.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson May 29th, 2010
in technology.
M$ has announced a technical computing initiative to help scientists etc. develop software for cloud/cluster computing. They are a little late to the party... The thought that the maker of the world’s worst OS with the most vulnerabilities and the most restrictive EULA has anything to give the world with respect to high performance computing is ludicrous. M$ has ignored everything computer scientists have been telling them for 25 years. One would be very foolish to do anything in computing their way which involves lock-in and bloat both anathema to high performance computing.
89% of the top 500 high performance clusters run GNU/Linux and 1% run that other OS. That will not change any time soon. High performance computing is not about maintaining M$ in the manner to which it has become accustomed.
Scientist: Here we are today in the final moments of our solution to the problem of cancer… Oh, no, not phoning home, NOW! 535000 nodes phoning M$ because the EULA says they can… AAAGGGGHHHH!
IT Guy: I told you so. With gigabit/s connectivity, it will still take 1 hour 35 minutes. Go have a coffee, and a nap.
Later …
Scientist: Well, M$ did donate the software provided we gave them a hearty endorsement. I guess a few minor inconveniences are worth it.
IT Guy: Now the nodes are insisting on a critical update and re-re-reboot. With ripple-on effects this could take all day.
Scientist: How long would it take to convert to GNU/Linux?
IT Guy: 20 minutes to convert the nodes and 45 days to re-write the programme. The stuff M$ gave you does not work on anything but their OS.
Scientist: Sob! I should have listened to you…
This episode of As the Stomach Turns was brought to you buy the letter “e”, the logo for the world’s worst browser/OS integration as determined by the Internation Brotherhood of Malware Artists, and the number 67, the average number of re-re-reboots a node running that other OS needs every year just to stay warm.
- Robert Pogson
17409
12737
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3
2
23845 
11832 
11684 
4616 
4236 
1642 
198 
14 
2 
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