53511525
submission
jammag writes:
"Whether Ubuntu is declining is still debatable. However, in the last couple of months, one thing is clear: internally and externally, its commercial arm Canonical appears to be throwing the idea of community overboard as though it was ballast in a balloon about to crash." So claims a top Linux pundit, pointing out instances of community discontent and apparent ham-handeness on Mark Shuttleworth's part. Yet isn't this just routine kvetching in the open source community?
51252345
submission
storagedude writes:
Texas Memory and IBM; Cisco and Whiptail; STEC, Virident and WD: the storage industry seems to be in full merger mania over SSDs, but Henry Newman at Enterprise Storage Forum doesn't think the current mania will work out any better than any other great mania of history. Not Invented Here opposition by acquiring engineering teams and the commodity nature of SSDs will make much of the money poured into SSD companies wasted, he says.
'I seriously doubt that the STEC Inc. technology will be seen in HGST/WD SSDs, nor do I think that Virident PCIe cards will be commoditized by HGST/WD to compete with LSI and others,' writes Newman. 'A Whiptail system will likely be put into a Cisco rack, but it’s not like Intel and Cisco are the best corporate partners, and we will likely see other SSDs put into the product. ... It all comes down to what I see as 'the buying arms race.' Company X purchased some SSD company so company Y needs to do the same or they will not be considered a player.'
51161009
submission
jammag writes:
"When the history of free software is written, I am increasingly convinced that this last year will be noted as the start of the decline of Ubuntu," opines Linux pundit Bruce Byfield. After great initial success, Ubuntu and Canonical began to isolate themselves from the mainstream of the free software community. Canonical, he says, has tried to control the open source community, and the company has floundered in many of its initiatives. Really, the mighty Ubuntu, in decline?
49007101
submission
storagedude writes:
As more and more companies move to virtualized, or software-defined, data centers, cost savings might not be one of the benefits. Sure, utilization rates might go up as resources are pooled, but if the end result is that IT resources become easier for end users to access and provision, they might end up using more resources, not less.
That's the view of Peder Ulander of Citrix, who cites the Jevons Paradox, a 150-year-old economic theory that arose from an observation about the relationship between coal efficiency and consumption. Making a resource easier to use leads to greater consumption, not less, says Ulander. As users can do more for themselves and don't have to wait for IT, they do more, so more gets used.
The real gain, then, might be that more gets accomplished as IT becomes less of a bottleneck. It won't mean cost savings, but it could mean higher revenues.
47193129
submission
storagedude writes:
You may have one of the best-known and respected brands in cloud computing, but that may not matter much when it comes time for RFPs, according to a new survey of IT buyers from Palmer Research/QuinStreet. A third of respondents view big names like Google, Amazon and Microsoft very favorably, yet at RFP time, less than 10% of those names get asked for formal proposals. It could be a sign that the cloud is a wide-open market that's up for grabs, as buyers seem much more interested in basics like reliability, technology expertise, pricing, maintenance and customer service, according to the survey. Oh, and trialware doesn't hurt either.
47186303
submission
darthcamaro writes:
One year ago today was the the official 'Launch Day' of IPv6. The idea was that IPv6 would get turned on and stay on at major carriers and website. So where are we now? Only 1.27% of Google traffic comes from IPv6 and barely 12 percent of the Alexa Top 1000 sites are even accessible via IPv6. In general though, the Internet Society is pleased with the progress over the last year."The good news is that almost everywhere we look, IPv6 is increasing," Phil Roberts,technology program manager at the Internet Society said. "It seems to be me that it's now at the groundswell stage and it all looks like everything is up and to the right."
47158201
submission
darthcamaro writes:
The largest open source effort in the history of networking is now facing its first big challenge — as one of the core founding member of the OpenDaylight Foundation is leaving. OpenDaylight is an effort led by the Linux Foundation to build open source Software Defined Networking tech. Big Switch, the founder of the open source Floodlight controller, didn't get everyone to adopt their approach so they are leaving. While Big Switch is trying to paint the story as open source vs goliath, the Linux Foundation's OpenDaylight people don't see it that way. "In this case the developer community combined technology from multiple sources (including BSN), which the company obviously didn't like. Open source is based on compromise and working together. Sometimes strong motivations and investor goals can get in the way of that. In the spirit of open source, we fully expect BSN to honor its commitments to this project."
46706155
submission
jammag writes:
Free sodas, candy and energy bars can be surprisingly important to developers, says longtime coder Eric Spiegel. They need the perks, not to mention the caffeine boost. More important, free sodas from management are like the canary in the coal mine. If they get cut, then layoffs might be next. “The sodas are just the wake-up call. If the culture changes to be focused more on cost-cutting than on innovation and creativity, then would you still want to work here? I wouldn’t.” Are free perks really that important?
45212275
submission
jammag writes:
The question is as old as Hatfield vs. McCoy, but it's taken on new relevance as user loyalties have broken down — and the Linux desktop now has a dazzling array of design philosophies, applications and unique features. Veteran Linux pundit Bruce Byfield awards points for ranking in each category. He tallies them up and recommends what he feels is clearly the best answer. You agree?
