November 18th, 2009

Google-Microsoft rivalry on with ChromeOS launch

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 6:04 am

Categories: General, Google, Internet, Linux, Linux Desktop OS, Linux Laptop, Microsoft, Strategy, marketing

Tags: Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., Web Browser, ChromeOS, Chrome, Linux, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Web Browsers, Operating Systems, UNIX

The daily competition between Google and Microsoft becomes ever-more direct this week, with Google hosting a demo of its ChromeOS tomorrow, right after Microsoft’s Professional Development conference.

ChromeOS is Google’s version of Linux for netbooks, much as Android is its Linux for handhelds. It is a version of Bill Gates’ nightmares from 15 years ago, as Netscape was rising, visions that led directly to the case of U.S. vs. Microsoft.

Microsoft got through that crisis unscathed in a corporate sense, but its image was transformed from that of a user-friendly upstart to that of “an implacable force for evil,” as one comedy show said recently, exemplified by the famous Boardwatch cover of Bill Gates as a member of the Borg, the Star Trek bad guys.

The fear, old programming hands will tell you, was that Netscape would turn its Mozilla browser into a full-fledged operating system that, because of its dominance of the browser space, could beat Windows in the market.

Chrome is a lot like that. It is centered on the browser, which abstracts the complexity of Linux from the user. And it’s designed to load fast, a real Achilles Heel for Windows on a netbook. An early version could be available for download next week.

When you’re paying $300 for your machine, you don’t want to wait 10 minutes for the thing to start, and you don’t want to be paying a lot for your software, either. ChromeOS is designed to fix both problems, so I am looking forward to it.

The hope is that the industry which supports ChromeOS will make up in services what it loses in up-front fees. And Google will be able to tie all its online services to ChromeOS, increasing its market share in areas like Mail where it is not yet dominant.

So, Mr. Bill, is resistance futile?

November 11th, 2009

Linux to your grandma this Christmas

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 6:38 am

Categories: Distributions, General, Linux, Linux Desktop OS, business models, marketing

Tags: Grandma, British Broadcasting Corp., Valerie Singleton, Linux, UNIX, Operating Systems, Productivity, Open Source, Software, Dana Blankenhorn

It’s really just another demonstration of what Linux can do.

It started with a BBC story and quickly became an Internet detective piece.

(If you recognize this picture you’re either a middle-aged Brit or a trivia expert. The lady at the center is the entry point for what follows. She is shown in her mid-1960s heyday hosting the BBC children’s show Blue Peter.)

According to the BBC former children’s presenter  Valerie Singleton (center at right), now running a Web site of discounts for seniors, got together with a small computer store chain recently to offer a PC for older folks who’ve never touched one before.

On start-up users could first see a video from Ms. Singleton, demonstrating the basics, then face six big buttons for applications that are all built-in.

A BBC reviewer called it both patronizing and expensive, but the 80 year-old computing newbie he brought with him appreciated the gentle learning curve. We all know so much, even kids know so much, about computing, that going back to a time when it was all new is hard to conceive. But for some that’s reality.

Then came the detective work. I wanted to verify what the BBC was saying, after all.

• Singleton’s Discount Age makes no mention of the offer on its home page — you have to go inside.
• The man credited by the BBC as the designer makes no mention of the offer on his own blog — he’s drinking in sorrow over turning 42.
• The computer store is a billboard site.
• The help site referenced in the story makes no mention of the offer.
• There is a Linux called Simplicity, which released a new version last month, but it’s apparently no relation to what Singleton is trying to do.  (Simplicity Linux focuses on making old hardware useful.)

Turns out all this is a sales channel. Valerie Singleton, her site, the computer store, the designer, they’re all acting as a channel for Eldy, an Italian outfit which offers a Linux interface based upon Linux Mint, focused on the needs of old newbies.

Which means our detective story has become A Christmas Carol.

Let’s say you have a grandma, or grandpa, here in the U.S., who has never used a computer, claims not to care, but whom you know is just blustering because they don’t know the first thing of what to do.

Check out Eldy. They have a nice slide show on their home page demonstrating the features and benefits of the software.

Then, if you like, download Eldy to whatever hardware you have, load it on an old laptop, and spring it on them for your Christmas visit, sitting by their side as they learn it.

They won’t have Ms. Singleton, but your American grandma likely doesn’t know Valerie Singleton from Adam’s Off Ox.

Once grandma gets the hang of things, they can turn off the Eldy interface and have a solid, basic Linux to work with. They’ll be programming rings around you by Easter.

Who says Santa Claus has to have a long, white beard, or that he only cares about the needs of children? We’re all children — you, me, Valerie Singleton, and your grandma — inside.

Help one this Christmas.

October 29th, 2009

Ubuntu Karmic Koala launches

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 5:00 am

Categories: Cloud Computing, Distributions, GPL, General, Linux, Linux Desktop OS, Linux Server OS

Tags: Ubuntu, Server, Server Version, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Desktops, Hardware, Dana Blankenhorn

Ubuntu 9:10, known as Karmic Koala, has officially been launched at Ubuntu.

Correction The original story incorrectly identified reviews for the release candidate of Ubuntu 9.10 as being for the final version of Ubuntu 9.10.

It comes in desktop and server editions, which have been getting wildly different reviews.

Reviews on the release candidate of the desktop version are negative, due to the fact you can’t run multiple drives with the current code base. This means a netbook user may be happy but a desktop user (my desktop has three hard drives) will not be satisfied at all.

The server version is getting stronger reviews thanks to its support for clouds. By using Eucalyptus the company has a decent cloud implementation that should make it more competitive with Red Hat, at least in Europe. (Canonical offices are close to the European mainland.)

Drop your own experiences with the new Ubuntu into the talkback thread below. We’ll be waiting.

October 26th, 2009

Ubuntu celebrates Thursday drop of koala desktop and server

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 12:53 pm

Categories: Cloud Computing, Distributions, General, Linux, Linux Desktop OS, Linux Laptop, Linux Server OS, marketing, virtualization

Tags: Ubuntu, Server, GNOME 2.28, Desktops, Hardware, Dana Blankenhorn

Ubuntu held a teleconference this afternoon to celebrate the Thursday launch of its new desktop and server edition, karmic koala.

The new desktop is built around “Ubuntu One,”a collection of backup, note and contact synchronization and file-sharing services integrated into the operating system, offering 2 Gigabytes of free storage and more by subscription.

The Firefox 3.5 browser and improved audio support are also part of the offering. GNOME 2.28 is the shipping desktop interface.

On the server side the situation is more cloudy, but in a good way with the addition of full support for Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud, from Eucalyptus Systems, that lets you create your own mini-cloud based on open source. The clouds feature host and guest virtualization under KVM and guest virtualization under Xen.

Most new features were previewed in April.

A complete online tour of the new desktop is already online. A list of supported netbooks is available, but the company is suggesting you pack a thumb drive with its Ubuntu Netbook Remix when you go to the store, just to make sure. Should make Friday at Fry’s fun.

October 21st, 2009

Ubuntu, SUSE, Fedora Linux updates prepped as Win7 release nears

Posted by Paula Rooney @ 7:37 am

Categories: FOSS, General, Linux Desktop OS, Microsoft

Tags: Ubuntu, Fedora Project, SuSE, IBM Corp., Linux, Open Source, UNIX, Operating Systems, E-mail, Web Browsers

As Microsoft gets set to launch Windows 7,  Linux desktop vendors are trying to make some waves.

Yesterday, IBM and Canonical announced availability of a cloud and Linux-based business desktop alternative for existing PCs or low cost netbooks.

The IBM Client for Smart Work package , which was first introduced in Africa last month, runs Canonical’s Ubuntu and IBM’s Lotus Symphony office suite, Lotus Notes e-mail or LotusLive iNotes for cloud based email and other social networking tools. It can be hosted on site or in a cloud based model.

Canonical, Red Hat, CSS Corp, Compariv, Midas Networks, Virtual Bridges and ZSL are among the selling the package.

Also on Tuesday, Novell introduced SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 Service Pack 3, which offers upgraded Firefox browser and Novell GroupWise collaboration software and updated drivers to support the latest hardware and peripherals.

Meanwhile, Red Hat-backed open source organization Fedora on Tuesday announced the beta release of its next generation Linux code named “Constantine” which includes better video streaming support for the desktop.

October 19th, 2009

SCO story ends with a whimper

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 10:20 am

Categories: General, Legal, Linux, Linux Desktop OS, Linux Server OS, Patents, management

Tags: SCO Group Inc., Open Source, Dana Blankenhorn

Remember SCO?

Back when I started writing about open source and Linux, in 2005, you couldn’t swing a cat without catching someone with an opinion about SCO.

SCO claimed Linux was infringing its patentscopyright. SCO claimed it owned Linux. SCO sued IBM.

CORRECTION: Microsoft claims patent rights on Linux code. The SCO case was about copyright.

Once SCO built a railroad of lawsuits, made it race against time. Now it’s done.

As quietly as possible last week, through a required SEC filing, SCO quietly canned CEO Darl McBride, the architect of its audacious “better luck through lawsuits” business plan.

They didn’t just ease the man out. They eliminated the positions of CEO and president, which McBride held. The top name on the org chart is now COO Jeff Hunsaker (above), whose background includes stints at WordPerfect, Novell and Corel (so he knows from failure).

Anyone have a few words they want to say over the body?

September 25th, 2009

Can Linux beat the bloat

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 7:03 am

Categories: Development, General, Linux, Linux Desktop OS, Linux Handheld, Linux Laptop, Linux Server OS, management

Tags: Linux, UNIX, Operating Systems, Open Source, Software, Dana Blankenhorn

Linus Torvalds shocked the crowd (well, the group) at LinuxCon this week with three words.

“Linux is bloated.” He added it’s even gotten “huge and scary.”

(This fat penguin, by Squiggums at DeviantArt, can likely be licensed by the Linux Foundation for a reasonable fee. Just change the fish in the thought bubble to a Microsoft Windows logo.)

Part of the problem here may be just how close Linus himself is to the project. He was there at the beginning, and here he is with something bigger than any conglomerate’s Unix ever got. The whole world depends on Linux — servers, clients, phones. That’s got to weigh on a person.

Or it could be nostalgia. I get this way some days driving around Atlanta. I remember when that mall was an empty lot, I see the store where that skyscraper now stands. I remember when the Peachtree Road Race course had just a half-dozen skyscrapers on it, before Elton John and Jane Fonda and the Olympics, back in the 20th century.

Imagine if Bill Gates managed the original Windows project 25 years ago and were still managing that architecture today, with every fix or improvement coming personally past his desk. I get tired just thinking about it.

On the other hand, maybe Linus is right. He’s the doctor. Maybe it’s impossible to build something that works on any machine, that works clean, that’s scrubbed regularly for bugs, that has enormous amounts of functionality, and doesn’t get bloated. A modular architecture can only get you so far.

Now it’s true that, as our Matt Asay notes, there’s Linux and then there’s Linux. The Linux that loads onto a Moblin phone bears little resemblance to, say, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. What they have in common is compatibility, a common way of looking at the world, so they can work seamlessly together.

As Linus’ personal blog notes, he does take vacations and has a good, happy family life. But has he thought of, like, a sabbatical? Take six months off and chill, do something else, travel, really get away from it for a while? This project is too big to depend on one man at the center — maybe that’s the problem.

So I want to hear from the real Linux geeks out there. Is Linux bloated? Are there things that can be done, from an architectural or development standpoint, to make it less bloated?

Linus sounds tired. Why don’t you be the boss for a while?

July 13th, 2009

Can VLC 1.0 change the world?

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 5:35 am

Categories: GPL, General, Internet, Linux Desktop OS, mass market, video

Tags: Codec, Video, VLC, VLC Team, Corporate Communications, Linux, Open Source, Marketing, Operating Systems, Software

There’s a new hit on the Web.

VLC 1.0 has about 6 million downloads since its launch a few days ago, and the number was climbing at over 11 per second at last count.

I have had VLC for a few years, and you may be wondering what the big deal is.

Start with the fact it breaks all the assumptions we’ve had about the proprietary video world. It reads anything, and ignores everything producers try to put in front of your video experience. On a Netflix DVD it will skip the previews, for instance.

As Matt Asay notes, VLC records as well as plays video so you can hoard everything Anne Hathaway has ever done on your hard drive. It can be used as a server to stream video to others.

Even while VLC may be a better player than what you have under Windows, its heritage is Linux, and open source. It’s licensed under the GPL V.2 and is compatible with the open source Ogg Theora codec. It supports many other codecs as well.

The VLC team is aware they have something special. They have ditched their old logo, a roadside traffic cone, for a snappy new bulldozer (above).

In summary, the new VLC media player is everything the copyright industries have fought against for over a decade — open source, wide-open access, free, streaming, Linux. VLC ignores all the agendas that have hampered Apple QuickTime, the Real Player, and Windows Media Server over the years.

Now, will it change the media world, or will the media industry work to shut it down?

July 10th, 2009

When you see Chrome OS think business model

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 7:45 am

Categories: Cloud Computing, General, Google, Hardware, Internet, Linux, Linux Desktop OS, Software as a Service, business models, mass market

Tags: Google Inc., Business Model, Netbook, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Strategy, Hardware, Management, Dana Blankenhorn

The trolls are out for Google Chrome OS, months before the first delivery of beta code.

It’s as bad in its way as Windows, stealing your privacy and adding proprietary tweaks. It’s going to destroy Android, Google’s Linux for smart phones. It’s an attack on Ubuntu. It’s an attack on Microsoft.

Here’s my two cents.

Chrome OS isn’t an attack on anyone so much as it is an effort to crack the Netbook business model.

I have tried both Windows and Linux Netbooks and they both have problems.

• The Linux kit can’t deliver a business model that works in the sales channel, so if you’re talking about this attacking Ubuntu there is nothing to attack.
• Microsoft has tweaked its business model to fit the Netbook, but that model doesn’t really work for either Microsoft or users.

The problem is that Netbooks are cheap and, while they will gain in power they will stay cheap. I spent $270 on my HP Mini and that’s about right.

Microsoft has reportedly cut the price of Windows to $3 to capture Netbook OEMs, and it’s offering a cut-rate price on Office, too.

But when you consider the $50/year price to license an anti-viral, the $30/year to license a malware program and the additional $30/year you need for a registry cleaner, the software price of a Netbook gets completely out of line with its hardware cost.

Chrome will solve the channel problem because Google has the cash to subsidize it at retail. Chrome hopes to solve the software problem by moving as many functions as possible into its cloud.

Amazon’s cloud has a great business model, based on Web hosting. Google’s cloud has been struggling to build a business model beyond advertising.

Netbooks, and the Chrome OS, are that business model.

The idea is that the Netbook is a true client, which syncs its files regularly, via WiFi or a cellular data link, with the Google cloud. That cloud, in turn, can sync necessary files back to a Google Android phone.

More important, the cloud can manage the Netbook. Security can be handled centrally, whenever the device is connected.

These are valuable services, well worth paying for. Netbooks will create larger files than phones, they’re editing rather than data gathering devices, so now it starts coming together.

You use Google free, and you use many Google services like mail and calendaring free, but now Google can sell syncing, security, and integration with your corporate resources at a designated price.

Think of it as the third leg of a cost triangle, one being the device, a second being the connection, and a third being the online service behind the connection.

WiFi in a coffee shop can reduce that second cost, but as more cellular carriers (or Clearwire, which Google has invested in) offer all you can eat (or at least high bandwidth and high bit limit) pricing plans you start to see how it works.

A Chrome OS Netbook thus has a revenue stream that can let it subsidize the initial price. Just as Android phones are subsidized by a contract on the cellular link.

We make a mistake in the tech business when we focus too much on the technology and the rivalries among various companies. We should focus instead on the business models, how investments will come back in ways that are attractive to customers.

And in this case it comes back in monthly fees.

They say life is all about the Benjamins, but when it comes to Chrome OS Google’s plan is that we all be Aaron Burr, killing all the Hamiltons. The money comes out of your pocket by tens, for services you’re happy to pay for, because you save hundreds in up-front costs.

June 25th, 2009

Firefox 3.5 final prepped to ship early next week

Posted by Paula Rooney @ 1:53 pm

Categories: Development, FOSS, GPL, General, Google, Internet, Linux, Linux Desktop OS, Microsoft

Tags: Mozilla Firefox, Open Source, Open Source Browser, Web Browsers, Internet, Paula Rooney

The Mozilla team made available another release candidate of Firefox 3.5 last night.

But RC3 is of little interest. What’s most exciting is news that Firefox 3.5 will ship early next week.

That’s the pledge of the development team, which indicated its final ship plans after meeting this week.

Firefox 3.5 should be considered a major update to its predecessor, Firefox 3.0, which shipped last June.

The open source browser is faster, supports many HTML5 capabilities and offers a private browsing mode as well as open source audio/video streaming capabilities.

Initially, developers planned a .1 release but scaled up the plans after Google came out with its own open source browser, called Chrome, last year.

Looks like Firefox has little to fear — as of today. NetApplications cited Firefox’s market share at 22.5 percent, while Google’s Chrome struggles at less than two percent.

Mozilla claims that more than one million people are beta testing Firefox 3.5 at this point. Care to share your thoughts on the near final with this blogger?

June 17th, 2009

Will Ubuntu remain a minor player

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 5:08 am

Categories: Distributions, General, Linux, Linux Desktop OS, Linux Handheld, Linux Laptop, business models, management, marketing, mass market, mobile

Tags: Ubuntu, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Linux, Advertising & Promotion, Telecom & Utilities, Hardware, Operating Systems, Software, Marketing, Dana Blankenhorn

Click2try announced it is hosting a version of Ubuntu, and applications, which people can try free and rent if they like it.

It’s the most innovative thing I’ve seen from Ubuntu in months. And, yes, they didn’t even do it.

It is time for open source advocates to take off the rose-colored glasses and ask if Ubuntu — more appropriately its Canonical business arm headed by Mark Shuttleworth — is ever going to be a factor below the server level.

I have always assumed that Ubuntu was the desktop play, but it has been blown out in netbooks and seems to have no presence in phones.

Part of the problem is the channel because, as I have written here before, there is a price lower than free. Acquiring a retail presence costs money, and since a free operating system has none it’s not happening.

This is doubly true in mobile, where subsidies have to go up the stack to carriers and even manufacturers. The market is a bazaar where everyone wants you to pay before you can play.

This limits Ubuntu’s options. You can only get so far on downloads and the charisma of your chairman. Can Ubuntu get farther, or is it doomed to be a minor player?

I know Ubuntu has many friends here. I like to think I’m one of them. Ubuntu has opened many markets by offering localized versions of its software in many languages.

It can rely on others’ efforts, like the Linux Foundation, to draw in applications by supporting the Linux Standard Base. It is also supporting Moblin, hosted by the Foundation, as its mobile phone solution.

But all this is low-hanging fruit. If Ubuntu can’t gain any retail foothold, if it can’t win share in netbooks or on phones, how far can it really go? And how should it get there?

And please don’t put it all off on this guy.

June 16th, 2009

CompuTex Linux found in Israel

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 11:30 am

Categories: Distributions, General, Linux Desktop OS, Linux Laptop, marketing

Tags: Desktop, OEM, Netbook, Affordy, Linux, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, UNIX, Operating Systems, Open Source, Software

A day after returning from CompuTex in Taiwan I received an e-mail from Yoram Nissenboim. CEO of a Linux distro that was active at the show, called Affordy, based in Tel Aviv with a U.S. office in New Haven, Conn.

Affordy makes TITAN LEV (Linux Extended Version), a distro designed for Windows users. It comes bundled with 150 applications, he said. “It requires less CPU and memory resources than Windows, looks like Windows, runs Windows applications and is fully supported.”

The reason I didn’t see Affordy at the show was because the company did not have a booth, just a meeting room. “The organizers wanted to put us in the software area and we didn’t think it’s the most effective place for us to be.”

I can verify that. The Linux software area was at the Grand Hyatt, miles from the main show floor at the Nangang Exhibition Center. Showing at a Grand Hyatt booth would have found me, but missed the hardware OEMs who spent their time at Nangang.

Better to see customers than a reporter.

So, what happened?

As a result of the show we received an initial order from one OEM for 400 licenses for test purposes.  If the test succeeds, follow-up order will be for 10,000 copies.  Five other OEM’s are in the stages of technical qualification.  Once this step is complete, we expect orders to come in from Taiwan, Malaysia and Latin America.

Nissenboim put his prospects into three categories:

1. Firms looking for an upgrade from Ubuntu, such as J&W Technology Ltd., based in Hong Kong with four offices in China.
2. Companies whose systems are too slow for Windows but can run a Linux, like DIS Technology of Malaysia.
3. Companies that currently have no Linux solution but are considering one, such as Jetway of Taiwan.

Affordy is willing to localize its Linux based on OEM orders, and currently supports English, Russian, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew and Arabic. “We plan pmadding Chinese based on requirements,” Nissenboim added.

So, what’s the pitch? Nissenboim was happy to bring it:

Linux provides good performance on netbooks and every Linux provider has made an attempt to enter this market.

In the rush to enter the netbook market, every Linux provider has taken a similar approach - use their existing desktop distribution and trim it down to be able to fit and run in the constraints of the netbook hardware.

In the case of OpenSuse, for example, Novell’s biggest achievement is to be able to shoehorn their desktop enterprise distribution into a netbook - shoving a three ton elephant into a shoe box.

Even though such attempts were successful, they were all done from the available hardware perspective and not from a user experience perspective.  As a result many customers who bought a Linux based netbook expecting a low cost extension of their desktop computing experience ended up frustrated and disappointed. 

TITAN LEV is the only Linux distribution that was developed from the users’ perspective providing a richer and different user experience than any other Linux distribution. 

So, have y’all seen TITAN LEV, what do you think of it, and do you have any questions for Mr. Nissenboim?

June 15th, 2009

The many faces of small business and open source

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 8:31 am

Categories: General, Linux, Linux Desktop OS, Linux Server OS, Software as a Service, Strategy, business models, marketing, resellers

Tags: Small Business, Small And Medium Business, Smb/Sme, Open Source, Dana Blankenhorn

One of the laziest behaviors of politicians, journalists and analysts lies in how we define a “small business”.

(Most businesses visited by Mike Rowe of “Dirty Jobs” (right) are what I call legacy businesses. For more on that read on.)

We define the term too broadly. Politicians routinely call companies with as many as 500 employees “small businesses” when tax breaks are under threat. Reporters never call them on it.

Analysts are little better. They have this catch-all called “SMB” — small to medium businesses — which can include firms with nearly 1,000 employees.

The definition lumps too many different markets into one.

It includes entrepreneurial enterprises, slow-growing legacy enterprises (often family-owned) and true small businesses, which are single-location shops with only a few employees and a closely-defined mission.

Which brings me to Matt Asay’s latest, a complaint that open source still doesn’t have the SMB market right. It’s a follow-up to a 451 Group effort from December saying open source doesn’t get much from the SMB market.

If we’re talking truly small businesses, this is an immense opportunity for Value-Added Resellers (VARs), as I wrote concerning my own pharmacist a few years ago.

You can give your customer more hardware, and yourself fatter margins, by selling open source and adding Windows through emulation or virtualization when necessary. You also get more control over your customer.

The lesson for vendors is to build their channels. Open source is the best pitch a VAR has to get new business.

Many entrepreneurs are big users of open source, but don’t pay for open source (or anything else) until they have a going concern.

These going concerns are great opportunities for hosted solutions, and the client need never know he’s on Linux at all.

The lesson for open source here is to focus on hosting and clouds that run Linux, selling their software as a service because it’s the best way for entrepreneurs to scale.

The real weakness for open source lies in what I call legacy enterprises.

These are not small businesses, and they’re not usually new businesses. They’re going concerns which scaled their systems when Windows was the only client-server choice.

Switching now may seem like a big, “bet the business” change. And most legacy enterprises are conservative in the best ways — they know what works and resist changing their operations.

These folks are tough to switch. Their budgets can afford Windows, Office and Oracle. The update and upgrade “taxes” these firms impose are just a cost of doing business.

You can’t try to hit these clients up in a crisis, either. If a big client goes toes-up, or a tornado blows through, computing does not top their list of concerns.

Your best chance lies at a time of positive change. When there’s a big new contract requiring a general expansion or a new facility, then these folks can see open source savings coming to their bottom line.

But that’s a rare event. This is the heart of the “SMB problem” for open source.  Legacy businesses may be where the money is, but it’s not where the growth is. Go for the real little guys, and the entrepreneurs, first.

June 3rd, 2009

To Jim Zemlin this CompuTex represents progress

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 10:01 pm

Categories: Events, General, Hardware, Linux, Linux Desktop OS, Linux Handheld, Linux Laptop, Strategy, business models, marketing, mass market

Tags: Computex, Moblin, Linux, UNIX, Operating Systems, Microsoft Windows, Open Source, Software, Dana Blankenhorn

My impressions about a failure of Linux to break through at CompuTex are based on observations of this year’s show floor. I was not here previously

But this is not Jim Zemlin’s first rodeo. The executive director of the Linux Foundation told me he is seeing great momentum for Linux at this show.

I spoke with Zemlin (right, at right) following his talk before a few hundred people in a conference room at the Taiwan World Trade Center (TWTC), a subsidiary venue for CompuTex. The main exhibits are in the Nangang Exhibition space several miles away.

There are really two shows here, he said, one that you see and one that you don’t.

“If you look at the show floor you’re only seeing half the picture,” he said.

“The argument I just made is real and people in Taiwan understand it and are looking for an alternative to Windows. They live in a world of very tight margins, of hyper competition, they struggle every day to differentiate. That comes from software, and Windows does not provide that diferentiation.”

Zemlin’s talk was scheduled after a talk on the Moblin project, which Intel has since passed on to the Foundation. The talk on Moblin seemed to draw more excitement than Zemlin’s discussion of Linux. Dozens of people left the room after he began speaking.

This did not discourage him one bit, just as the Taiwanese habit of listening quietly and offering little reaction to what is heard did not discourage him. Nothing seems to discourage Jim Zemlin.,

In response to a question about Moblin and Android, he admitted that Android currently has an advantage, because of the HTC phones already on the market. But he predict Moblin will shine in the coming “convergence” world where laptops and phones become one.

“In the next 6-12 months, when you start seeing Moblin devices in the market, when it’s productized, you’ll see developer interest go crazy,” he predicted.

While we sat we also compared netbooks. I showed him the HP Mini 1000 I bought at Fry’s, which only had Windows versions. He showed me an identical device (only with more internal memory) he had bought at the HP web site, for the same price I paid, and with Ubuntu Linux installed.

As in so many things Zemlin’s answer to problems in the channel is to find another channel. Actions to live by.

June 2nd, 2009

Sorry Linux but the chicken came first

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 9:05 pm

Categories: Events, General, Government, Hardware, Linux Desktop OS, Linux Laptop, Microsoft, Not Linux, mass market

Tags: Booth, Phone, Smart Phone, Chicken, Linux, Smart Phones, UNIX, Operating Systems, Open Source, Software

In the old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg, I got the answer this week, at least as it relates to computing.

The chicken came first.

I started my day on a hunt for Linux, preferably desktop Linux. 

It was depressing. It’s not just Asus and MSI who have gone Windows in Taiwan, it’s everyone. The Microsoft booth dominates in a corner of the show floor. Instead of bragging on what they have done, they are pushing embedded systems for games and home servers. They are pushing outward, not defending their turf but attacking.

I visited the SUSE Linux booth, the only obvious Linux presence on the main floor. Where is my penguin, I asked. Where is the gear running Linux?

Intel has some, I was told. So I went to the Intel booth. After some shrugs and shaken heads, I was taken to a bank of three monitors showing network applications, under Linux. All were behind glass. You could look but you better not touch.

I wandered over to AMD. AMD dressed girls in high boots and short skirts. They are still showing what is known here as “fighting spirit.” Certainly they would be fighting for the penguin.

Where is Linux, I asked. I was pointed to a corner of the booth, where an AMD embedded system was shown, naked, running Ubuntu. But not for the office. This is an OEM product, I was told. Next to it stood the application. A slot machine, apparently developed for the Macau market.

Read the rest of this entry »

May 13th, 2009

The new Linux.com is open for business

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 9:28 am

Categories: General, Linux, Linux Desktop OS, Linux Handheld, publishing

Tags: Linux.com, Linux Foundation, Firefox Story, Zonker, Linux, UNIX, Operating Systems, Open Source, Software, Dana Blankenhorn

The Linux Foundation has opened the doors on its new Linux.com, a new news, discussion and blogging site which looks a little like ZDNet.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Personally I’m flattered.

My point is that the new site goes well beyond simple discussions of Linux. It’s heavy into applications, even those which, like Firefox, are best known as Windows apps. It follows the news.

The Firefox story is actually a link from a Linux Magazine article by ZDNet’s own Joe Brockmeier. It’s a good article.

Zonker has been following the Linux.com story closely, quoting the Foundation’s promises in March to make the new site a “community resource… for the community, by the community.”

Question. Which community?

The answer can be drawn either narrowly or broadly. Narrowly, it’s about the Linux operating system and applications that run on Linux. Broadly, it’s also about open source, the community ethos arising from it, the values of those communities, and the future of the Internet.

These are questions publishers, editors and writers are constantly fussing over. The editor’s answer is it depends on what the readers want. The publisher’s answer is it depends on what the advertiser wants, what the market the site seeks to serve wants.

It will be fun to see how the Linux Foundation, a non-profit consortium, answers that question over the next weeks, months and years. Y’all are a publisher now.

What do the readers think should be its answer?

April 10th, 2009

Open source and the shrinking waterhole

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 8:29 am

Categories: General, Linux, Linux Desktop OS, Linux Server OS, marketing

Tags: Red Hat Inc., Open Source, Dana Blankenhorn

Matt Asay nods approvingly at a recent study saying more CIOs plan to invest in Red Hat and JBOSS technology.

Well and good. Just don’t break out the champagne.

Open source may be doing well with a shrinking waterhole but that does not necessarily mean it is doing well.

My late friend Russell Shaw did a “shrinking waterhole” tour during the last recession, hitting all the cities where he had contacts, giving them face time, looking for work.

He gained market share but, as he told me many times during those years, it was touch and go. He had to work hard for the money.

That’s a message I think most open source vendors, especially Red Hat, understand. Any order todya is a big order. It’s good that open source is getting orders.

When business grows by orders of magnitude, will open source retain that share? Russell didn’t.

April 4th, 2009

The Linux laptops of 2009

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 7:02 am

Categories: Development, General, Hardware, Linux, Linux Desktop OS, Linux Handheld, Linux Laptop, Strategy, business models, mass market, mobile

Tags: Ubuntu, Linux Laptop, Phone, PC, Cell Phone, Laptop Computer, Linux Laptop Business, Linux, UNIX, Operating Systems

The Linux laptop business represents a Chinese industry trying to serve a Western market and getting lost in the translation.

(Shown is the Dell Inspiron Netbook with a coffee mug, actual size.)

The Chinese like cheap, and they understand the cellphone business model. When Westerners look at the product, however, we want usable keyboards, acceptable screens and compatibility with the files we used last year.

The first generation of Linux laptops ran an Intel Atom chip set. They were underpowered, but Microsoft found a way to get Windows XP on them, at $3 per copy, then Windows 7, at an unknown price, so they are less of an adjustment.

The next generation of Linux laptops will run the same ARM system used in phones, which is why Chinese makers are looking to Android, a phone operating system, as their guide.

The total hardware cost is about $20. Everything else is the case and the bling. With a 1 GHz ARM chip and $200 price point Microsoft may be unable to compete. At least for now.

Ubuntu is able to go there, and announced an alliance with ARM last year. Its kit will sport a version of the Ubuntu Netbook Remix system first shown last year. A beta release of a new version shipped April 2.

Another route to a Linux laptop may be the Qualcomm Snapdragon system, shown running phones during CES. As I noted, at this point the only physical difference between a netbook and a phone is the case.

But there is an enormous difference in the buyers and their expectations. The result could be an historic disconnect between manufacturers and consumers.

All of which  makes June’s CompuTex in Taiwan a very important show. It runs from June 2-6 and it’s already being called the show of the “all in one” PC.

What’s needed here are the views of Western users, not just manufacturers and OEMs. Last year’s product failed because it ignored this viewpoint.

Read the rest of this entry »

March 16th, 2009

Novell finds big promises for open source in 2009

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 8:21 am

Categories: General, Infrastructure, Linux, Linux Desktop OS, Linux Server OS, management

Tags: Novell Inc., Survey, Linux, Open Source, UNIX, Operating Systems, Software, Dana Blankenhorn

Novell is out with its periodic survey of Linux adoption and as always it is filled with big, big promises.

• More than half plan to “accelerate” Linux adoption “this year.”
• That’s 72% are looking at this on the server.
• And 68% looking at this on the desktop.

Personally I’m actively evaluating growing hair this year. There is a huge difference between “actively evaluating” something and actually doing it. I will believe it when I see it.

It should also be noted that, for most of those who participated in the survey, this is not a binary question. Most shops are mixed shops, with some proprietary stuff and some open source software.

It’s easy to virtualize Windows desktops within a Linux framework — this does not mean everyone on the staff can tell the Linux penguin from the one in Happy Feet.

There are serious positive indications here. There’s greater-than-average interest in Asia, and greater-than-average interest in retail.

I can see that panning out, especially the retail segment, as so many VARs can now push a Linux-based solution, with better hardware, for so much less than the Windows price (and with better margins).

I just think we are well past the stage of open source promises, and heavily into the rise of open source in the mass market. Surveys like this need to get more granular to provide really useful data.

March 16th, 2009

What Cisco learned from open source

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 6:37 am

Categories: Applications, General, Hardware, Linux Desktop OS, Strategy, business models

Tags: Hewlett-Packard Co., Margin, Microsoft Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., Linux, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Open Source, Operating Systems, Software, Hardware

An open source company, Vyatta, has taught Cisco and the market that a networking box is really nothing but a computer with software.

Now Cisco is returning the favor, with boxes that combine the functions of networking, computing and storage.

(The picture is from Vyatta.org, specifically a page highlighting users running Vyatta on regular servers. These are Dell servers.)

Just keep your eye on the ball here. This is all about the proprietary business model.

Note please who our fearless leader lists among the Cisco partners at today’s launch — Microsoft.

With HP now heavily involved in Linux, across its product line, there is an “empire strikes back” feel to the Cisco announcement.

The shot will be heard first in HP’s desktop division. The recent launch of the HP Mini 1000 Netbook features a usable keyboard and a choice of operating systems.

You can get an Ubuntu geared to the Intel Atom chip, a simplified Linux geared to Netbooks, or one of two Windows versions — XP or the beta of Windows 7.

The problem for HP is that if a customer chooses Linux its margins are wafer-thin. If a customer chooses Windows its margins are slightly better.

What Microsoft is telling its OEMs is that they can experiment with Linux if they like, but they are going to take a margin hit for it. And that while the OEMs may feel they don’t need Microsoft, Microsoft does not necessarily need them either — anywhere on the product line.

While software is a great cost-cutter, in other words, it is also a great margin-cutter. All companies which make their living on big margins are under pressure, thanks to open source. Brand names require margins to maintain.

Can big brands live on Linux-size margins?