Letters to the editor

Total Cost of Ownership and Laura's fallout

This Letter to the Editor was addressed to what appears to be a write-only
site, in that anything else I've addressed to that publishing group has
silently vanished. I've taken the liberty of including LWN in the loop since
they provide a degree of exposure which the write-only publication (BPM
Today) fails to, and since LWN routinely cover exactly this kind of issue:
 
    http://bpm-today.newsfactor.com/bpmtechbrief/story.xhtml?...
 
    Elizabeth Millard appears to have made the mistake of taking
    both Microsoft and Laura DiDio at their word. The Yankee Group
    and particularly Laura DiDio reoutinely makes massive,
    undisputable factual mistakes, technical faux pas, one of which
    is also believing Microsoft.
 
    Money talks, and Microsoft's billions speak very loudly through
    the slanted and highly selective tales on its "Get the Facts"
    website and elsewhere.
 
    Sad to say, loudly is not the same as truthfully, but while the
    "facts" on Microsoft's website have been undermined and disproven
    in scores of places, neither Laura nor Elizabeth seem to have
    noticed this. In other words, they haven't done their basic
    research, so they speak without authority. In the busy world of
    freelance journalism, this is an easy mistake to make, but
    repeating it often is not a long-term career-enhancing move.
 
    Linux is significantly cheaper to own than Microsoft. One of
    today's callers illustrates why.
 
    I have two customers in the one building, with one internet link
    shared between them. A Linux server I set up fronts the real
    world and does everything (DNS for both domains, email, web, VPNs,
    fileshare, domain master, yadda yadda) for Company 1, and forwards
    whatever traffic is required through to an SBS server for Company 2.
 
    The Linux server has been down twice, once for a power failure, and
    once because it was stolen! The SBS server's software has so far
    cost more than the entire setup for the Linux box. The SBS setup
    has so far cost roughly the same amount as the Linux setup on top
    of that, and isn't finished yet. SBS doesn't do as much, and the
    SBS box has had to be rebooted several times already, despite
    having been installed for only a few weeks. Updates on the Linux
    box are fast, painless and automatic; updates on the SBS box have
    to be done carefully and by hand.
 
    I'm about to build Company 1 a new server image, swap it in for
    their main one, and swap the main one out to a backup site. At the
    end of the day, the setup cost for TWO Linux servers will be lower
    than the ONE MS-Windows server - in fact, it will be lower
    including the two sets of hardware, and the cost differential will
    steadily get worse each time SBS needs babysitting and Linux does
    not. Microsoft and Company 2's consultants are getting rich at
    Company 2's expense and providing much lower value for money than
    MandrakeSoft and I are for Company 1.
 
    Needless to say, the decision to install Linux was made by
    technicians, and the decision to install SBS was made by managers.
    Poorly understood technical issues have made a massive difference
    in managerial outcomes - and this is fairly typical in my
    professional experience.
 
Elizabeth, if you regard Laura's reporting as accurate, or at worst harmless,
please consider this:
 
    http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050407113517663
 
Cheers; Leon
 
--
http://cyberknights.com.au/ Modern tools; traditional dedication
http://plug.linux.org.au/ Member, Perth Linux User Group
http://slpwa.asn.au/ Member, Linux Professionals WA
http://osia.net.au/ Member, Open Source Industry Australia
http://linux.org.au/ Member, Linux Australia

Comments (3 posted)

VIA Releases Linux Driver Source Packages

This is in response to your recent article http://lwn.net/Articles/131777 from the unichrome project.

VIA Technologies has made an announcement that it is releasing the source code for its Unichrome video drivers as Open Source: link

This is a welcome move in some respects, it certainly shows that VIA now considers the Linux user as a valuable customer base that must be supported.

However, there is already a thriving open source driver for this platform: link providing code that was based on a version of VIA's code that they released to a limited set of open source developers a few years ago.

It is also worth noting that the "VIA Open Source" package still relies on a proprietary binary library to provide MPEG acceleration on their hardware. This library provides a completely non-standard API that applications must work to implement MPEG support. This contrasts with the Unichrome project's solution, who provide full source code for their MPEG implementation and have implemented the multi-vendor established standard XvMC interface for their driver.

The Unichrome project has also been responsible for implementing support for this MPEG assistance in Xine, MPlayer and MythTV, again this contrasts with VIA's solution to application support which has resulted in them producing forked VIA specific versions of Xine (VeXP) and MPlayer (VeMP) without involving the donor projects or contributing back to them.

It is, therfore, a shame that VIA decided to make this grandiose eye catching announcement, rather than simply getting involved in the existing open source communities and simply helping and contributing to the Unichrome, Xine, MPlayer and MythTV projects. That might have been less eye catching or press release friendly, but it would certainly be a better way to win friends in the Linux community.

The unichrome project can be found at: unichrome.sf.net

Comments (1 posted)

Page editor: Jonathan Corbet