IBM's New Linux Advertising 587
Amit Shah writes "IBM is airing a commercial featuring Linux as reported on Economic Times. This could be the first major way to reach out to normal users and explain the benefits of open source and Linux. The ad says, "Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom, but sharing data is the first step toward community""
Mirror (Score:5, Informative)
Martin Studio Slashdot Policy [martin-studio.com]
Want to see the AD ? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Want to see the AD ? (Score:5, Interesting)
Does that make me weird, sad, or both?
Re:Want to see the AD ? (Score:3, Interesting)
The old bad guy is dead, let the the young guys take over type of feeling
Re:Want to see the AD ? (Score:3, Interesting)
Only if you already know what the commercial's talking about. Apple's ad was much better in the sense that it got you hyped about something you haven't seen before. IBM's ad gets you hyped about something you already love.
Re:Want to see the AD ? (Score:5, Informative)
Direct links. (Score:5, Informative)
MPEG version [rbn.com] 8.7 mb
is it just me? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Want to see the AD ? (Score:5, Informative)
mplayer is your friend:
mplayer http://66.246.105.13:80/adcritic/ibm-linux-prodig
check for the file stream.dump
Re:Want to see the AD ? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Don't use mplayer (Score:5, Insightful)
In the Halloween Document [opensource.org], a Microsoft strategist wrote:
> OSS projects have been able to gain a foothold in many server applications because of the wide utility of highly commoditized, simple protocols. By extending these protocols and developing new protocols, we can deny OSS projects entry into the market.
Or consider this evidence in the Java case [sun.com]:
> Microsoft's Executive Vice President, Paul Maritz, outlined Microsoft's strategy to win the browser war with Netscape and simultaneously "neutralize Java" by "tying" the "user interface" and "APIs" "back to Windows,"
This quote also shows us how Microsoft operates:
> at this point its [sic] not good to create MORE noise around our win32 java classes. Instead we should just quietly grow j++ share and assume that people will take advantage of our classes without ever realizing they are building win32-only java apps."
And then there's this little gem [wired.com]:
> "Subversion has always been our best tactic," John Ludwig, Microsoft's vice president in charge of Java development, wrote. "It leaves the competition confused, and they don't know what to shoot at anymore."
Perhaps this quote [com.com] sums it up the best:
> "This is really the core of Microsoft's business," Gartner Research Director Chris LeTocq said. "Microsoft is in business to leverage APIs. That's a key element of the successful market share it has."
If you haven't understood the point, then here it is...
If you continue to accept the ASF format, then you are encouraging websites to use it.
But it's still a protocol that is controlled by Microsoft.
In the future, Microsoft will:
1. Upgrade ASF to an incompatible format.
2. Start enforcing their ownership of ASF by restricting its use to Microsoft platforms (as GIFs started to be enforced).
3. Lock up ASF using Microsoft
And the websites that are using ASF will go along blindly. Why? Because no one has been complaining to them about their use of ASF, so they have no reason to avoid Microsoft's "improvements."
And at that point, the content of those websites will become unavailable to you unless you are running Windows XP.
It really annoys me when people fail to protect themselves, and everyone else, because they are too lazy or short-sighted to put up with a little temporary inconvenience. Are you hoping that someone else will do the work of protecting your freedom? Well, don't.
It's up to you. If you want the Internet to remain free, then stop supporting Microsoft protocols.
Re:Mirror (Score:3, Informative)
On demand business
Linux is like nothing else in the history of computing--the most unique innovation operating systems have ever seen. It's unprecedented integration. It's an open source operating system. Owned by no single company or private enterprise. Constantly improved by thousands of programmers. And it's getting bigger. Last year, according to the IDC, shipments o
Transcript (Score:5, Interesting)
No penguin?! (Score:4, Funny)
Penguin! (Score:5, Funny)
If Linux were a penguin, it would be growing, fast. Taught by the best. Gaining wisdom between its ears. And sharing. It would be in business, education, government and homes. It would be a nine-year-old penguin chasing the world. So be afraid. Be very afraid.
The video will be showing the little kid getting slapped around the head by a 2 meter tall penguin.
Re:No penguin?! (Score:3, Funny)
I always liked the penguin just because it was a totaly different logo, it didn't look as comersialized like some 'bought' logo or something that came out of marketing.
Anyway the penguin is what really made me interested in Linux in the first place. See I figured if the OS I ran on my laptop had a cute logo, then all the girls would like it...well kidding about the girls...they like
"Makes life simpler". Right. (Score:5, Insightful)
Quite so! (Score:5, Insightful)
This is valid point; in fact, it's actually oozing validity. If Linux is going to be presented in mass advertising as a device for simplification, it had better damn well live up to that description.
Like as not, many people already consider things plenty simple with Windows, especially XP and Server 2003. If Linux is going to simplify that, there must be some readily demonstrable ways in which it does so. Disillusionment is typically quick to take hold in folks, and once it's settled, it's monolithic to overcome.
Re:Quite so! (Score:5, Informative)
- no linux msblaster worms
- no linux visual basic for applications cracks
- no trains, planes or automobiles stopped by linux viruses, worms or trojans
- no linux DRM media players
- no linux license fees
- no linux authorization codes when you change hardware
- no forced upgrade cycle
- no having to hunt down 50 cds when trying to rebuild a machine
If it sounds simpler, it's because it is.All right (Score:3, Insightful)
no linux visual basic for applications cracks
no trains, planes or automobiles stopped by linux viruses, worms or trojans
no linux DRM media players
no linux license fees
no linux authorization codes when you change hardware
no forced upgrade cycle
no having to hunt down 50 cds when trying to rebuild a machine
Fine. Get the masses to understand, and, more importantly, care about all that and then there's a shot.
Re:Just to address a few (Score:3, Informative)
Well, is yesterday new enough?
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default
Re:Just to address a few (Score:4, Insightful)
To reply to each of your points:
Any competent sysadmin already had their systems patched against that one. :-)
So, according to you, then, most MS sysadmins aren't competent, because a shitload of businesses were brought down by msblaster (CNX, Air Canada, DMV in several states, etc.) Mind you,we already knew that
When was the last new threat that was directly a result of Visual Basic scripting? By "new" I mean within the last three months or so.
today here [newscientist.com] To quote:
Who says you have to use WMP if you use Windows?
Most of the Windows-based players will have to contend w. any DRM that's integrated at the OS level.
Gross exaggeration, obviously. And like in #1, any competent sysadmin should always know where their original discs are.
So that's why so many companies had to repurchase licenses (because administering licenses is a major headache for them, and staff changes make it harder), and it doesn't negate my point, which is that it can take dozens (or on developer machines, 50 or more) disk swaps to set everything up under Windows.
Come on, that was TOO easy.
Re:Quite so! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Quite so! (Score:5, Funny)
I think Linus's holes are of concern only to Linus and his physician.
It ain't gonna happen. (Score:3, Insightful)
Riiight! Like that's ever going to happen.
When most people buy a computer, they are buying an appliance. They couldn't care less about administering it. It should just "work". Plug in the power, plug in the internet, and away we go. So, until we have machines that are self adminning out of the box, we are going to have problems.
Re:Quite so! (Score:5, Informative)
If you were to go take a vanilla fresh installed Windows 95 machine and stick it on the Internet it'd be hacked in under an hour.
If you were to go take a vanilla fresh installed Solaris 6 machine and stick it on the Internet it'd be hacked in under an hour.
If you were to go take a vanilla fresh installed FreeBSD 2.0 machine and stick it on the Internet it'd be hacked in under an hour.
You can say that about ANY software that has significantly aged and is left unpatched.
Of course:
The only thing all this proves is that operating systems have bugs... ALL of them do, including OpenBSD and a major OpenSSH root exploit in the default install last year.
In most cases it's not the operating system, but the stuff running on top of it. You can't exactly say the same about Blaster, now can ya? This one has been a long time coming. Someone just finally did it.
People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones
No glass house here, more like reinforced steel. Your average joe schmoe has the ability to get a hardware firewall from your local best buy or fry's electronics. They just don't do it.
Re:Quite so! (Score:3, Informative)
Unlike windows, you don't need support from the manufacturer to fix problems w. open source software. That's the big deal, and that's what IBM is pushing. The hood isn't welded shut. And, if you want to install and run many more copies of older versions (smaller memory footprint, etc), you can continue to do so well past their
Re:Quite so! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Quite so! (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd also like to scrutinize your "ingeniously called support fee's (sic)" comment. Of course, this only applies to those of us with "legal" copies of all software, but last I checked, the support fees for Linux are completely voluntary, while license fees for any commercial software are not.
I expect the "forced upgrade cycle" argument is a fallacy on both sides: MS and their ilk push to 'force' upgrades, because they need the revenue. While you're right that Redhat doesn't support verion 6, I'm sure you could find
Finally, most modern distributions require no hunting down of patches. Apt for debian and others, up2date (or even apt) for RedHat.
You're right: The points can be argued, can't they?
Re:Quite so! (Score:3, Insightful)
Have you ever tried logging into a Windows server and upgrading the operating system over a modem line? It's pretty easy with Linux.
Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. (Score:5, Insightful)
It ain't that great. The ad doesn't even say what Linux is.
Call me cynical but an 'ad' that doesn't tell you what it's advertising isn't an ad. The people who already know about Linux are the only ones who are going to get anything from it.
(Note: I'd agree with your point if simply the commercial was better at getting the idea across.)
Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. (Score:5, Insightful)
This isn't the 1950s. Big businesses use commercials nowadays to build brands, not sell products. Consider the most well-known commercials, like Apple's "1984" ad and Coca-Cola's "Mean Joe Green" spot from the '70s. Memorable campaigns don't drill product data into your head.
Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. (Score:3, Insightful)
This advert is just the 'seeder'. It lays the foundation on which the other adverts with more information are going to rely on.
No one can explain the entire 'linux' thing in 30 seconds, however, a series of 30 second adverts, with a new one each successive month - all of a sudden every person and their pet turns into an 'expert.
Regards.
Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. (Score:3, Funny)
That's the beauty of it - they managed to make an ad that the average PHB can understand.
Re:"Makes life simpler". Right. (Score:3, Informative)
And anyway, I find THE BEST ADS, the ones people remember, are either surreal or funny.
I like this ad. It works for me.
First Campaign? (Score:5, Informative)
Re: First Campaign? (Score:4, Funny)
Share the Love (Score:3, Interesting)
Someone gets it, or is doing a good job of pretending to, anyway.
not their first (Score:5, Insightful)
RedHat & IBM (Score:2)
cup holders (Score:2, Funny)
Small print. (Score:5, Funny)
Last 12 frames of the ad, bottom left "Linux is (C) SCO and used without permission."
naw, I made that up.
Ah, but did you hear the disclaimer? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Ah, but did you hear the disclaimer? (Score:2)
From the article (Score:4, Funny)
You mean I can make a phone call . . . from my car?!
Re:From the article (Score:4, Funny)
I was promised flying cars... (Score:5, Interesting)
That and "Where the flying cars? I was promised flying cars!"
Re:I was promised flying cars... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I was promised flying cars... (Score:3, Insightful)
The same way that a Ferrari is a copy of a Ford. Linux used parts of Minix for development, but only loosely "copied" Unix (definitely not Minix).
Joe
SCO is running a commercial... (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, I know, I know! (Score:5, Funny)
Meet SCO, Linux's molester-uncle.
Not so cute. (Score:5, Funny)
I'm going to say it was a wise choice not to use Linus in the commercial.
A bright, philosophical 9-year-old boy? (Score:3, Funny)
When I was a kid (Score:5, Funny)
It feels kind of creepy to be cheering IBM on...
Go IBM!!!!
Re:When I was a kid (Score:2)
Re:When I was a kid (Score:2)
Re:When I was a kid (Score:2)
free beer.
IBM ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Awareness? (Score:2, Interesting)
I will save final judgement for when I see the commercial during football on Sunday but based on that article the commercial doesn't do that. I thin
Great image change! (Score:2, Funny)
I think the image of a little boy being approached and molested by a bunch of creepy strangers sums up the Linux community and ethos to a T.
But shouldn't it be GNU/Linux?
Missing the target (Score:5, Funny)
They're going to advertise Linux during televised NFL games? Isn't that sort of like advertising beer during Oprah?
Re:Missing the target (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't think it's that much of a stretch.
Re:Missing the target (Score:3, Funny)
Missed oppurtunity (Score:5, Funny)
Just picture the two of them together, stoned out of their gourds, with a guy in a big penguin suit behind them.
Why would I need Linux??? (Score:5, Insightful)
Until it becomes easier to use, more compatible with hardware and less nerdy, the majority of computer users will just not use it. Look at MAC's. People are reluctant to use MAC's because in their eyes, its something that they are not used to.
Its great that IBM is marketing Linux, I'd certainly love to see my family and friends use it, but they are totally shut off to the idea.
They are comfortable with using Windows because they just dont have the interest in the learning curve Linux presents.
First Linux commercial? (Score:5, Interesting)
Any information on whether there have been mass Linux commercials before this? We may be witnessing the beginning of a new era of Linux advertising. Marketing, marketing, marketing--we make fun of the people that major in it, and even more fun of the people that work in it, but it's certainly one of the biggest factors that helped propel Microsoft to the very top of the software heap. With a someday-equivalent force of marketing behind it, could Linux perhaps finally obtain the financial and spiritual backing it needs?
Sharks (Score:5, Interesting)
AntiFUD is an important part of this battle, which is why IBM is launching an advertising campaign about Linux. But legally they're like circling sharks. Not a sound. Just water rippling ever so slightly on the surface, a brief glimpse of a fin, as they slowly circle. Until it's time to lunge.
I'd like to add to it by saying that SCO is that loud mouthed kid who's splashing around in the water yelling obscenities and other unpleasantries at the sharks, almost daring them to attack.
Re:Sharks (Score:3, Funny)
Would this be the Finn [timeinc.net]?
Once Upon A Time... (Score:5, Funny)
...who later grew up and, upon reaching manhood, was promptly sued by the RIAA, MPAA and SCO for sharing data with the rest of the community.
Re:Once Upon A Time... (Score:3, Funny)
No kidding. Any parent that teaches their children that sharing is a good thing these days needs to have their head examined. Sharing should be revealed to be the evil deceitful thing that it is: stealing. Whether it's sharing music or sharing answers to homework, children should definitely be discouraged from any kind of sharing. Remember kids, sharing = stealin
Forgot one of the main purposes of Linux (Score:5, Funny)
Are you sure that's not: Collecting data is only the first step toward wisdom, but re-theming your desktop a dozen times while your kernel compiles is the death of productivity."
Bring Back Dennis Leary! (Score:3, Interesting)
Linux. The Future is Open. IBM. (Score:5, Insightful)
The ad closes with the slogan "Linux. The Future is Open. IBM."
My jaw is wide open.
Ok, IBM wants to capitalize on Linux, IBM is a company, in the past IBM has been a corrupt monopoly trying to stranglehold their clients with the proprietary ties after fscking them in the first place.
But the memes passed by this particular advertisement are something radically different than those teached by conventional advertisements and pro-capitalist ethos (consume! consume! don't think about tomorrow! spend now!).
Really, this stuff is jaw-dropping. ;D)
It's not like the cluetrain stopping in front of IBM (now we only need an express train passing in Darl McBride's office like that Athlon vs Pentium III commercial), but it's like someone saying that the time is mature for an economy based on Free Software to be born and TRY to impose herself on a wide-open scale.
Not Eazel Gnome Nautilus and crap like that, not the dotcomboom of 121 different Linux distros, but a wide world collaborating on making better, documented, free, opensource and secure systems with minor tweakings among them just to make sure that they suit individual needs. (2414 different Gnu/Linux distros!!!
Hell, also Microsoft is committed to a large-scale opensource initiative [globus.org].
And I also think that this particular advertisement is what we waited in order to say that GNU and Linux have won.
+ + + + :D (ok, that was a joke)
BSD, on the other hand, is dead...
Re:Linux. The Future is Open. IBM. (Score:5, Interesting)
Not totally true. If they want to sell it as a service then they have to test it TWICE or THREE TIMES than the usual since they can't trust that a single patch don't go over someone else's IP or don't start overwriting the system in an erratical way, trashing everything on the customers system. Still they have to pay a good deal for Quality Assurance.
I don't know what's giving you a warm fuzzy feeling. It's not charity. They're not "supporting the community", they're simply saving tens of millions on software development by letting gullible, naive college kids work for free.
Naive college kids certainly lack the interest to support exotic hardware like IBM's S/390. Also "Naive" college kids usually want MORE to haxx0r the neighbour box or to enter on teacher's pc and change their votes. I know this because I am still a CS student. (No, I am also working in the meanwhile).
Less naive college kids instead want to collaborate on the linux kernel, the gnu system or whatever other project (bsd, reactos, xfree, their own videogame emulator) because:
a) it is a system they use and they want it to work well for them,
b) they want to gain more expertise in security or programming in a certain language, or simply make that grade in the "Operating System Course",
c) they maybe are doing it as an hobby, since they otherwise would get bored with other hobbies,
d) maybe they also hope for a "head hunter" to notice their work, OR to be able to use their software for a private, succesful infrastructure on which they can sell support (see VALinux's Sourceforge for an example).
Helping the opensource community is a balanced act between greed and helping people, between learning and teaching.
It's the same thing that happens at my local food co-op. The food co-op plasters the word "community" on everything, and people stand in line to "volunteer" there. The co-op is a business, and they're just using the same kind of gullible, naive people to work for free for them. Same fucking thing. Fuck it. Labor is expensive.
Yes, labor is so expensive that you have to buy retarded software [caldera.com] that helps your business to be competitive [pointserve.com] by cutting jobs, and sending people with 3 or 4 children to the land of the joblessness.
I bet that at least your local food "co-op" doesn't teach your children that treating people like a mop is rightful a thing to do. Hell, It looks like we got back to the time of the ancient romans, who used to have a philosopher that said that "slaves were talking tools".
Yes, let's go back to the Roman Empire, where if you didn't worship the empereor you were sent to the arena to be eaten by Lions while we are at it.
Maybe I'll convert my business to a "co-op", and let the "community" "volunteer" to run my business while I sit in the back raking in the money.
Why not start a TacoMcStarbucks instead? More or less the it is the same greedy business than a food co-op, Labor is cheap as well, but usually the returns are better than the normal "co-op" with food from the third world. Oh, and you don't also fuck people plastering the place with >, but instead you can honestly do the big bad ugly employer who juggles the careers of very young people. Ask them to work overtime then fuck them giving no extra unpaid holidays.
+ + + +
To be back ontopic: at least "co-op" give you a _good_ dream and _good_ memes as well. With everyone spreading bullshit like "enterprises and capitalism are better than the happiness and completeness of individual", "co-op"s are a useful point for stating that the individual IS the center of the society, and that if the individual is oppressed, the society loses.
Also remember that I reminded that IBM was a bad guy as well in the first place...
BS.. (Score:3)
IBM is most likely in this for themselves, granted. But this paradigm shift is in the software license (something we belabor so much I can see why you'd want to leave it out). This is an important difference, because for once and big company can take advantage of something like this while they are giving something back.
So lay off with the stupid college kids comments and keep your eyes o
Re:BS.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:BS.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course IBM is in it for themselves, but what has actually turned my head were some coments buried in the anti-SCO blast that went out a few days ago walking through SCO's complaint step-by-step refuting it. They talked about how IBM simply swallowed its pride when told by Linus their software wasn't chosen to go into the kernel for some feature. At least for now, IBM is being a "good member of the community."
We just need to make sure they have suff
A Good Move (Score:3, Insightful)
The general public needs to be informed that there ARE choice. Imagine if Microsoft were to actually start feeling the sting of lost sales. They might: Lower prices, improve customer service, and wow... focus on stablizing their software!
Sup with the slogan? (Score:5, Insightful)
Nice slogan. Makes me want to put my hand over my heart and stare knowingly toward the horizon.
What's it got to do with Linux though? Data sharing seems to have more to do with databases and web services, neither of which are explicitly Linux oriented traits. It seems to me it's not data, but functionality that's shared in the Linux community.
It's something like this: we both need to build a house. I'm going to need a ladder and a saw, you're going to need a ladder and a saw. If you build the ladder, and share it with me, I'll build the saw and share it with you. It doesn't mean we're going to tell each other what's inside the house, what's going on with the house, etc. No data is shared, just the tools for organizing and arranging it. Sharing the TOOLS makes a community. Sharing data makes, I dunno, an RIAA lawsuit?
I know, I know. The slogan is meant to strike at executives who make snap decisions and watch golf on the weekends. After all, they're the only ones not using OSS already
Re:Sup with the slogan? (Score:3, Insightful)
Collecting knowledge is only the first step toward wisdom, but sharing knowledge is the first step toward community.
Sounds better to me.
Re:Sup with the slogan? (Score:4, Interesting)
The slogan, folks, is not this Zen-like dialogue that Reuters has quoted; the real slogan "The Future is open" and is a great soundbite for OSS/Software Libre.
Indeed, it is, but one of the many other dialogues on teamwork, G chords, Spanish, aircraft, soccer, bla bla bla... the idea seems to be that folks somehow teach this 9 year old kid, Linux, everything, and that the kid absorbs everything. Which is a great statement to make; next time Joe Superbowlfan reads that, say, they're using Linux while making aircraft, he'll make the connection and hopefully say, "Yeah, it's that intellectual (ie, not just "geek") thing that IBM is advertising".
In effect, IBM seems to be trying to change the perception of Linux from a geek's plaything to being something that's intellectually all-encompassing in its reach. Haven't seen the earlier IBM Linux ads, but it's an interesting brand strategy; wonder how the other Linux companies will advertise now (if they do, that is; I don't quite watch television, but something tells me that IBM is a first-mover here).
None of this, of course, tarnishes your point; the distinction between data and functionality is well-taken.
Re:Sup with the slogan? (Score:3, Insightful)
What's it got to do with Linux though? Data sharing seems to have more to do with databases and web services, neither of which are explicitly Linux oriented traits. It seems to me it's not data, but functionality that's shared in the Linux community.
Depends what you define as data. MP3s? Major Applications? Utilities? Protocols? File formats? Expertise? Source Code?
All of those I consider to be types of data. I think it goes without saying that it won't be buisness data but to the fact that a lot of t
Re:Sup with the slogan? (Score:3, Funny)
*sniff*
thank you
that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me!
Programs are data (Score:3, Insightful)
I think it is clear that data is used in a broad sense, where it includes information, knowledge and skills, a lot of which is embedded in the Linux kernal.
NFL.com (Score:3, Interesting)
So IBM has entered into a sponsorship deal with the NFL... lessee what the League's webservers are running:
yep, NFL.com runs Linux [netcraft.com].
Benefits of Open Source and Linux (Score:4, Insightful)
This is a very tough sell, IMO. I'll also add that lumping the two together--"open source" and "Linux"--maybe isn't a good idea.
With perfect honesty, as someone who has used and programmed various OSes and hardware, the differences between Linux and Windows are few. Both are hugely complex from the user's point of view, and both are arguably incomprehensible on the source level. (Remember, you can't just talk about the Linux kernel, but the entire package including XFree86, drivers, the window manager, KDE, etc.) So it's not like either one is a clear winner in terms of ease-of-use or architectural cleanliness. It used to be that Linux was more stable, but with Windows 2000 that's no longer true. UNIX-alikes are generally more virus resistant than Windows, but that's a tough reason to insist that someone change all of his or her work habits and software. Remember, too, that patches for the recent Windows virii were available before infections started. Proper system administration (sadly!) plays a big role in security.
On the "open source" angle, I think that too much of an association with Linux is hurting the term. The Linux kernel is open source, yes, but we need to stop acting like you have to have one in order to have the other. There is a lot of open source software for Windows, for example. The "Chandler" email program, which is attempting to replace Outlook and Exchange, is going to run under Windows. Heck, Emacs and gcc both run under Windows. So do all of the GNU utilities. And Perl. And Python. And Tk.
As much as we all like to think we have the inside track on the superior OS--and, indeed, it may still be slightly superior--it's a case of it not being so far and away superior that it's clearly so.
Win2000 as stable as Linux? *cough* (Score:5, Insightful)
With perfect honesty, as someone who has used and programmed various OSes and hardware, the differences between Linux and Windows are few. Both are hugely complex from the user's point of view, and both are arguably incomprehensible on the source level. (Remember, you can't just talk about the Linux kernel, but the entire package including XFree86, drivers, the window manager, KDE, etc.) So it's not like either one is a clear winner in terms of ease-of-use or architectural cleanliness. It used to be that Linux was more stable, but with Windows 2000 that's no longer true.
Well, my system uptimes tell a different story. But you don't have to trust my figures - take a look at Netcraft uptimes [netcraft.com]. These aren't the highest uptimes of all - almost without exception, the best uptimes are held by BSD derivatives (around 5 years). For the most popular sites, Linux tends to knock in around 100+ days. Windows 2000 knocks around in the high-20's, low 30's.
Have a nice day.
Toby Haynes
Other IBM Linux Commercials (Score:3, Informative)
http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/linux/fun/
I know you guys are excited about it, except.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Me personally, I'd have at least mentioned that it's free or that it isn't held by a single corporation. This commercial looks more like the sequel to A.I. or D.A.R.Y.L..
If you don't want the Windows Media format... (Score:3, Interesting)
You can go straight to IBM's site [ibm.com] and download Real Media (high [rbn.com] | low [rbn.com]), QuickTime (high [rbn.com] | low [rbn.com]), or MPEG (high [rbn.com] | low [rbn.com]) versions of it.
And of course, if you use MPlayer [mplayerhq.hu], you can watch the movie from the Windows Media stream simply with:
mplayer mms://windowsmedia.dvlabs.com/adcritic/ibm-linux-p rodigy.asf
Enjoy.
Side note: does anyone else get the impression of Nazi era propaganda in this? It's an awesome ad, but come on: a blond-haired, blue-eyed kid? Why would such a child be the pinnacle of humanity? Just a thought, please don't moderate me for it.
First step: Name recognition (Score:4, Interesting)
Spooky Ad (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd rather see the idea that other poster mentioned (show a bunch of geeks with glee in their eyes, each in a different country, and state "They are working on your future; for free. Linux: the future is open.") be implemented, that would give the right message. One of the geeks should be Linus himself, others could be e.g. Andrew Trigell, Brian Behlendorf, etc. and the names could be printed onscreen, to introduce each of them.
The latin teacher says: Res publica non dominetur (Score:3, Insightful)
Thing belonging to the common public, no one person may rule over it.
MPEG! MPEG! (Score:3)
Direct link to MPEG download (Score:3, Informative)
IBM Linux Stories (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd like to hear stories from anyone concerning linux use within IBM. The contractors who are working with me (large credit card company producing banking software) were moaning to me the other day that even though IBM is gung-ho about linux they are still primarily a windows shop (e.g. sales people and even developers [those not doing linux development at least]) are all on windows or aix boxes and not linux. His words (somewhat paraphrased) were "Linux... good enough for our customers, but not us..."
Does anyone have info to the contrary? I love free software and linux (although I'd jump ship the second something "cooler" comes along :) and I appreciate IBMs current posturing, I'm just a little worried by the above sentiments.
Re:IBM Linux Stories (Score:3, Interesting)
There is a large majority of business productivity applications that work on require you to use a windows platform. Nearly everyone in the world uses MS Office on an Intel platform. I know that AIX will no longer be supported by IBM in the not so distant future, and they are in the process of porting the AIX apps to linux. However, their consulting branch nearly without exception uses windows and tools designed for windows. They have to for nearly all of their clients use windows at the desktop level.
Why PHBs frown on Open Source (Score:4, Interesting)
The need to reach a diverse audience is growing, as studies show that technology buying is more frequently decided by business managers rather than technical specialists.
Correct. Which is also why the PHBs frown on use of Open Source in general, even when the company's directors have decided to go in an Open Source direction, unfortunately.
The PHBs can more effectively control the technical specialists when every time the technical specialist turns around to solve a simple problem or do something new, it requires purchasing something .
Purchasing something, in turn, requires providing lenghly explanations to these weasels in middle IT management who have never written a line of code in their lives, but who desperately need to keep justifying their existence by throwing around new buzzwords in *their* management meetings. Take away their purchasing power by using Open Source, and the poor dears will flounder -- and founder.
Also, the way these PHB's get to feel important, is by the sheer number of staff and dollars in their command. Fewer dollars for software that can be supported by fewer people, means the PHB is less important--in both his own eyes, and in the eyes of his peers -- other PHB's.
If the techo can be the hero just on the basis of having acquired, modified, fully tested and deployed something before PHB even gets wind of it, good-bye PHB.
Open Source threatens to take away a whole layer of IT "management" which, in the interest of the company's productivity and profitability is a GOOD thing. But not in the interests of the smarmy layer of IT "management" that is so clearly undermined by the Open Source process.
So IBM has to market to company directors and senior management, because their interest is in the company's productivity and profitability.
Perhaps IBM needs to air a commercial which features a lowly techo and a company director violently agreeing on an Open Source deployment that has saved the company millions, with a PHB middle management drone making increasingly weak arguments against it, while the PHB is taking back-handers and getting his latest round of meaningless buzzwords and lame, losing anti-linux rhetoric from some MicroSlut PR drone.
More than that (Score:2)