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IBM

IBM Announces Linux Support 88

Posted by CmdrTaco from the now-its-official dept.
Ilya Berdnikov writes "IBM has finally announced its full support for Linux! Here's the story. " Most interesting is the comments about IBM supporting Caldera and SuSE in addition to Red Hat, as well as a bit about DB2.
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IBM Announces Linux Support More

IBM Announces Linux Support

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  • IBM, you seriously cant be this fucking stupid.

    caldera?!?! like 1% of people run caldera, who gives a shit about that.

    debian has nearly 30% of the linux market and you leave it out.

    ibm can blow me.
  • no, linux is not being fed anything. redhat, caldera, suse and pacific hightech are being fed.

    get your facts straight, moron.

  • Debian? (Score:1)

    by Crow- ( 35 )
    It's great. For instance
    apt-get install communicator-smotif-45 netscape-java-45

    that would install communicator+java.

    and to keep your packages current
    apt-get update
    apt-get dist-upgrade

    best thing since sliced bread
  • How the fuck does IBM make money? By saying "wow, way to support your customers redhat". I doubt that, they can make just as much money supporting debian.

  • Debian, dammit, Debian! With apt-get, it's the best suited of the major distros for industry (imho). Why are the only distros getting formal support commercial? Debian, contrary to what appears popular belief, is up to date, cutting edge, and every bit as stable as (if not moreso) the others. IBM, you out there? Listening? I'd much, much rather be able to put apt-get update apt-get dist-upgrade in a cron job on 100 machines than have to run around and rpm -i 3 patches on each 2 times a week...

    --

  • Umm... IBM has announced that they will support major Linux distributions. So whether Slackware (or Debian, which is also a major distribution) is commercial or not shouldn't matter. Red Hat, SuSE, PHT, and Caldera don't have global support networks, so IBM will have to do the support themselves, anyway.

  • The slightly fuller press release is here [ibm.com]

    M

  • Why not Deep Blue? Now that running on Linux, on a Beowulf cluster of course, would rock!!!
  • If it ever gets created, they might support it.
  • Oh great Penguin, grant that these LinuxWorld announcements never end!
  • This seems to match previous posts where preinstalled Linux is pretty much limited to their UNIX boxes ( without AIX, that is ).

    I am not knocking these statements of support, only I thought I read about each previously other than multi distributor support ( though it was a rumor ) and the global point-of-contact . The latter puts IBM much further out front than any entity supporting Linux, i.e. world wide support. Is that what I was missing?
  • Let me first state that my comments are not meant to be a nasty retort, so if some of the words may seem harsh they are not intended to be heard with a snarl.

    First let me be more explicit about my encounters with IBM and the animosity I held for them for years. In the late 80's I was on one of my early consulting assignments where the MIS director was an ex-IBMer. At the time I was having some sort of hardware problem with a luggable unit I owned. The director gave me an internal number where he thought I would get some advice how I might handle the problem. While the issue now escapes me the tone and nastiness of the IBM employee is not forgotten! Despite my not being a hardware person, my advice was to avoid IBM and their products. I was dead set against PS/2 machines.

    Years later, and partly because I thought early versions of Windows were worthless, I made an inquiry by phone using a public number about a early version of OS/2. My call was pushed up the ladder to an obviously astute technical person that would respond civilly to any and all of my ill informed questions. [I had to end the call because I felt guilty taking so much time to sell one copy of OS/2.] But that's when my view of IBM began to alter.

    I now routinely recommend IBM laptops, perhaps not top-of-the-line but a step down even to those not planning to use Linux. Moreover, I will be doing the same when it's time to replace my current laptop.

    Now let's review your opening comment: "You are most likely the only one ... anything from Microsoft ..."

    Well you don't get around much, do you?

    It happens that I ran across a link where users were requested to vote software they wanted ported to Linux. I was shocked to see how many requested MS packages. Moreover, the packages desired: VB!?!? Let's assume some were MS shills, still too many to be explained by a reverse /. effect at so early a period ( at least 6 months ago ).

    I would suggest too that you check out the WINE project again to see that many of the tested packages are MS products. [Again, this cannot be explained away by MS interference, because the results are not overly favorable - unless this is meant to discourage Windows users!] Why, I do not know, because I could do without Word or Excel (and a myriad of others) without any sense of loss. However, what you may not know is many so called in-house MS products began as external purchases and some are still quite good.

    I will not burden you with my reasons for displeasure (under statement) with MS. Nonetheless, the point is while past behaviour may be a good predictor of current and future actions - we all have the ability to change, even Microsoft.
  • ...that linux will eventually run on the Thinkpad PowerSeries 820 (RS/6000) gathering dust under my desk at work.
  • caldera?!?! like 1% of people run caldera, who gives a shit about that.

    One percent of the people who participate in Slashdot polls use it, but it's quite widely used for internet servers.

    TedC

  • Hey, they let me run OS/2! Win95 was not required. Besides how can you run Linux when it is standard at the company to keep Notes open all the time?
  • if AIX dies, we get

    better working utilities like NFS2 etc...

    CATIA, and other high end drafting
    All sorts of Electical Engineering Packages

    mmmmm high end software,
    ^~~^~^^~~^~^~^~^^~^^~^~^~~^^^~^^~~^~~~^ ~~^~
  • With IBM behind Linux the FUD of "no support" has finally died a deserved horrible flaming death.

    Good news for me, as Linux will now be taken seriously as an OS on the ol' resume. Bad news for my employer (the foolish NT heads), as my worth to them just shot past what they're willing to pay.

    Linux has arrived, when my commitment is up, I am leaving.
  • Does this mean IBM will finally port Visual Age for Java to something other than AIX, OS/2, and (of course) Windows? Neato!
  • Since Linux is free and Windows isn't, does that mean that a computer will cost less if it has Linux preloaded instead of Windows? Somehow, I doubt it.

    --
    Timur "too sexy for my code" Tabi, timur@tabi.org, http://www.tabi.org
  • I think the Linux-preloaded computers will be better for OS/2 users. For one thing, you won't have to pay for a copy of Windows. Also, since Linux HW support is more like OS/2 than Windows (e.g. Winmodems don't work, 3D HW isn't supported), it should be easier to get a computer that's compatible with OS/2.

    --
    Timur "too sexy for my code" Tabi, timur@tabi.org, http://www.tabi.org
  • I don't get it.

    It's Linus' OS, we have kept him in charge of the kernel. If we think he sucks, he goes. He doesn't claim to be perfect. If we think he is no longer trustworthy, he'll step down.

    Do you think this is worth having him step down for? If yes. Tell him yourself. If no. cork it!
  • How does Debian handle the locking and configuration file issues? Is it stable enough to be run on a production system as the system is running If I hit the upgrade button, will the configuration files be untouched, and is it possible to change the, say, bash binary without messing up all the users using bash?



    A RedHat user wishes to know.

  • IBM's support will benefit Debian because the companies mentioned, in particular RedHat, have a commitment to open sourced software. Anything that benefits open-sourced software on Linux benefits Debian.
  • Why the **** couldn't IBM have supported OS/2 like this...or get started with it, even now?

    Beware of IBM, Linux fans...they don't give a damn about operating systems, software or anything else if it isn't selling itself and raking in profits. If enterprise customers don't shell out the big bucks for it, Linux will get dropped from the IBM catalog faster than Monica Lewinski leaving the White House...
  • evolutionary
    .
  • IBM is brain dead. There are WAY more distros than just these 4. Debian is most prominant, but is not the only one they left out.


    This is the same thing as pcdos/msdos. Both the same, yet slightly different; both can be serviced however by one company providing 'dos' support. Linux is the same way.
  • This from a company that less than 6 months ago was *mandating* Win95 with Lotus Notes client and VPBuddy (an ICQ knockoff) and wouldn't allow desktop Linux inhouse (I had to run it on the sly).

    We'll see. The dinosaur's legs may be twitching, but that doesn't mean that it's ready to move.

    -- Cerebus
  • http://www.ibmlink.ibm.com/uspress&parms=P_1999030 203
    Says IBM will be 'delivering' he AFS* enterprise file system for Linux.

    What exactly is the AFS file system?
  • There is a free implementation of AFS on http://www.stacken.kth.se/projekt/arla/ [stacken.kth.se]
  • We should realize that this is not neccesarily a Good Thing -- IBM will no doubt start trying to add Proprietary Extensions to something called IBM Linux... Just you wait and see.
  • Comms Manager rules. =) Actually, I've found HOD isn't bad, although I always preferred TN3270 myself (except that IBM's hosts don't accept TN3270 connections&mdash).

    HOD is pretty and has lots of function, but it is HUGE. It makes Win2000 look svelte!

    The fact that IBM is preparing pcomm for Linux is good, however, because that means that think Linux is a client platform. You don't need emulators on service-only machines. =)

  • I knew this was going to happen today, but it's still too good to be true. Linux is for real! The only problem is... the lineup behind Linux is really reminiscent of OS/2: Corel, IBM, Dell, Compaq... (obviously Unix vendors are excluded)

    If Micrografx announces support for Linux, then I know that we really are all doomed. Long live PM Chart (hi Timur).

    Cheers,
    Joshua.

  • Microsoft may be the 800-pound gorilla, but IBM is King Fscking Kong. I guess it really is true: Be careful what you wish for; you may get it. World domination, here we come, if we aren't squashed in the process. It's going to be an interesting year.

    Watch this page [linuxshowcase.org]

    (And that's a pun, not an error.)

  • Until linux has that, (and the buggy Linux LVM is the closest I've seen) AIX is still better. Runtime manipulation of the filesystem and volume groups is a must for an enterprise based system.

  • One thing I noted on the URL that was in the article was the extension at the HTML page: .phtml
    Here we use exactly the same extension for our PHP generated pages... So it looks like IBM, besides Apache, uses more open/free source tools, even at their corporate website. That is a long way from what I would call the 'IBM philosophy' a few years back. Some things do change.

  • Let's see what the PHB's have to say NOW!

    Gosh. It's only Tuesday, and this is the second high I've had this week. (first was SGI going open-source)

    Our little OS is growing up so fast... *snif* :'-)
  • What is this? And why would I want to emulate LINUX? The real thing works just fine and is very portable? Anybody know more?
  • It's the only non-commercial distribution that's on our list of preferred vendors (which I do intend to add to soon, by the way; the present list is not final).

    Now, if I can only keep us from getting stepped on by IBM like a bug...
    I'm sincerely happy to see a heavy-hitter like IBM getting behind Linux with this level of commitment. I'm a Linux lover first and foremost. However, the entrepreneur in me can't help but worry. I hope this doesn't spell the end for my company.

    Regards,
    Bill Kocik, Blackspring Communications
    http://www.blackspring.com [blackspring.com]

  • ... in a galaxy far away, around the time of the first Star Wars Trilogy, UNIX was freely distributed. Then a big, bad company decided they owned it. Now we have more UNIX flavors than Bill Clinton has scandals (I counted), and none of them (sans Linux) are free.

    Is this going to happen to Linux?
  • IBM had a link to slashdot?

    http://www.software.ibm.com/is/mp/linux/

    -D

  • Another great upshot of IBM going with Linux is
    that were all one step closer to a world without AIX.


  • Now I think they have to supply enterprise solutions based on Linux, to go further and show the way.

    Who aren't supporting a Linux dist. these days?

    ;-)

    Best regards,
    Steen
  • Of course, "the others" will have access. That's good!

    Before, customizations was limited to, say, a OEM logo on the system.cpl i Control Panel, a wallpaper and a logo in a few other spots.

    Now Dell, HP or who ever can build a real "look" or "feel" into their products.

    Everyone can copy, but who can use the ideas in the best way?

    I also think that this ongoing development will simply speed up things quite a bit. It'll give us a better and perhaps a friendlier competition.

    Just imagine which wild and delicious themes for Enlightenment, We'll see...

    Best regards,
    Steen
  • Hopefully this will mean that IBM will write drivers for the MWave modem/soundcard (it trys) combo so that it will work better with Linux.

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