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ATT Tests Linux to Replace Microsoft's Windows on 70,000 PCs
Bloomberg reports
that AT&T is considering deploying Linux on tens of thousands of
desktops - or is, perhaps, just trying to get a lower price out of Microsoft.
"A surge in virus attacks on Windows spurred AT&T to consider using
Linux, [AT&T CIO Hossein] Eslambolchi said. AT&T could also save 50
percent to 60 percent on the cost of desktop software by using Linux, he
said."
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ATT Tests Linux to Replace Microsoft's Windows on 70,000 PCs Posted Oct 5, 2004 14:57 UTC (Tue) by ccchips (guest, #3222) [Link] Now, why is it that these pundits tend to assume (or speculate) that these changes are all intended to put pressure on Microsoft to lower their prices? Is there something about Americans that causes this? Maybe that big poster with the $ on it that we wave at all our newborn children?
How long will it be before "In all your getting, get wisdom" will become a catch-phrase here?
ATT Tests Linux to Replace Microsoft's Windows on 70,000 PCs Posted Oct 5, 2004 15:12 UTC (Tue) by AJWM (subscriber, #15888) [Link] Whether that's the case or not (that AT&T is just using this as a bargaining chip), the significant point is that it wouldn't work if it wasn't a credible threat. Eventually even the journalists will grasp that.
ATT Tests Linux to Replace Microsoft's Windows on 70,000 PCs Posted Oct 5, 2004 15:24 UTC (Tue) by bfields (subscriber, #19510) [Link] Whether that's the case or not (that AT&T is just using this as a bargaining chip), the significant point is that it wouldn't work if it wasn't a credible threat. Eventually even the journalists will grasp that. Also, to make the threat of switching credible it sounds like AT&T is putting some not insignificant resources into Linux testing. Assuming they maintain some sort of contact with people in the Linux community, the testing might end up producing useful results even if they don't end up migrating.
AT&T Tests Linux to Replace Microsoft's Windows on 70,000 PCs Posted Oct 5, 2004 15:16 UTC (Tue) by proski (subscriber, #104) [Link] Because if you sell something and people don't buy it, you feel pressure either to lower the price or improve the quality. As for the article, it actually quotes Hossein Eslambolchi saying "If Microsoft solves the security problem, and I think they will, I may not have to switch". In other words, AT&T emphasizes the quality rather than the price aspect.
AT&T Tests Linux to Replace Microsoft's Windows on 70,000 PCs Posted Oct 5, 2004 19:47 UTC (Tue) by jzhao (guest, #2865) [Link] If Microsoft cannot make Windows secure at the first place, how could it make AT&T to believe that it can actually fix the security issues now and later?
It will be interesting to see the development.
ATT Tests Linux to Replace Microsoft's Windows on 70,000 PCs Posted Oct 5, 2004 16:09 UTC (Tue) by iabervon (subscriber, #722) [Link] It makes sense to speculate that this is a negotiating point, becausse Microsoft has been demonstrated to be vulnerable to it, and AT&T is currently using Microsoft products. I doubt it's true, but it's not implausible.
And around we go again Posted Oct 5, 2004 16:38 UTC (Tue) by ringerc (guest, #3071) [Link] Am I the only one who finds this almost excruciatingly funny? Under anycircumstances it'd be pretty amusing, but with a certain ex-Linux-distributor yelling and screaming about Linux and UNIX, it's so funny it hurts.
And around we go again Posted Oct 5, 2004 17:51 UTC (Tue) by allesfresser (subscriber, #216) [Link] It does have a certain aroma of irony...
And around we go again Posted Oct 5, 2004 18:28 UTC (Tue) by ccchips (guest, #3222) [Link] Darn--wish I'd caught that point.
Really---this is an amazing twist.
And around we go again Posted Oct 5, 2004 22:15 UTC (Tue) by jtc (guest, #6246) [Link] Another ironic point is that AT&T is the company within which (at Bell Labs) UNIX originated. If AT&T and its other UNIX competitors had been more savvy about the looming competition from Microsoft, the desktops at AT&T might have ended up running UNIX rather than Windows, and they would be having far fewer worries about security.
ATT Tests Linux to Replace Microsoft's Windows on 70,000 PCs Posted Oct 5, 2004 23:49 UTC (Tue) by kornak (guest, #17589) [Link] I worked for AT&T (Bell Labs) before the Lucent divestiture and I knowthat if you worked in engineering you used Unix. After all, this is the birthplace of Unix. Anyway, corporate (i.e. President, secretaries, etc.) where the PC users. All products where based on Unix or some other variant. I imagine the entire infrastructure is still based on Unix. It is the telephone company after all! I can't imagine the call failure rate if an unsophisticated operating system such as windows would be used in any products developed for such a critical funtion. I imagine this will always be the case. If your requirements do not require any level of fault tolerance windows could be used.
unix is dead Posted Oct 6, 2004 6:04 UTC (Wed) by cypherpunks (guest, #1288) [Link] ... and replaced by linux. as well plan9 and inferno goes to hell.
unix is dead Posted Oct 6, 2004 8:42 UTC (Wed) by khim (subscriber, #9252) [Link] Plan9 was never really intended to be used as Unix replacement. And Linux borrowed features from Plan9 development already (/proc and utf-8 are two good examples) so even if Plan9 will never become real competitor it still was not useless waste of time.
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