Penguin cracks Windows servers (IT-Director) [LWN.net]

Penguin cracks Windows servers (IT-Director)

Posted May 4, 2003 8:10 UTC (Sun) by danielpf (subscriber, #4723) [Link]

This is a nice wish, but the reality is a monopolostic
Goliath has to be hurt whenever Linux-David makes any
significant progress. How to ignore this struggle when
Linux remains almost the only menace to the monopole
increasingly many find unbearable?

Dan

Penguin cracks Windows servers (IT-Director)

Posted May 4, 2003 16:52 UTC (Sun) by rknop (guest, #66) [Link]

A good point. I *really wish* I could just never think about Microsoft. I don't use Windows, Office, or any of their stuff, so you'd think I wouldn't have to think about it. But every time somebody sends me a Word attachment, or ASCII text exported with gratuitous cp-1252 characters, and every time some DRM, cable theft, or other intellectual property law is about to be passed that would outlaw free software, I have to think about Microsoft.

I wish it weren't so, but that's the world we live in.

-Rob

Penguin cracks Windows servers (IT-Director)

Posted May 4, 2003 18:50 UTC (Sun) by erat (guest, #21) [Link]

I don't like a lot of what Microsoft does either, but I'm not going to brand them with everything that is evil about technology today. Nothing in life is as simple as that.

My biggest beef is that the promotion of Linux STILL needs the Microsoft crutch. When technologies can't stand up on their own or can only be elevated by lowering the competition, that tells me that the people maintaining/promoting the technologies or the technologies themselves are weak. I know Linux is better than that. I just wish the Linux brethren would learn that as well.

Until Linux can lose the crutch and gain its own identity ("Use Linux because Microsoft Sucks" doesn't fly as an identity, either), I don't see it ever gaining the credibility that it deserves.

Just my 2 shares of VA Linux stock.

Linux promotion?

Posted May 4, 2003 19:59 UTC (Sun) by vonbrand (subscriber, #4458) [Link]

Oh, come on. You know very well that Linux has no PR office, that some people feel Linux needs promoting and "winning over" something else doesn't mean every Linux enthusiast does so.

Linus' reason for Linux is good enough for me: "Just for fun".

Linux promotion?

Posted May 4, 2003 21:32 UTC (Sun) by erat (guest, #21) [Link]

You're correct: there is no official Linux PR office. To date, Linux PR has come from folks like you, me, and Rob.

Hence my comments...

And I don't care if the Linux == anti-MS crowd does not reflect the views of all Linux enthusiasts. Those are the people that the press focuses on, those are the people who make the most noise, those are the people who are PERCEIVED as running the Linux show, Linus' comments aside. (And the fact that Mr. Corbet decided that the anti-MS line was the most important in the article disappoints me. I would have thought the point of the article was the success of Linux, not the fall of Microsoft.)

So, regardless of which self-appointed rep is speaking on behalf of Linux today, if the message continues to be "Use Linux because Microsoft Sucks" Linux will continue to be perceived more as a revolution and less as a viable OS.

Penguin cracks Windows servers (IT-Director)

Posted May 4, 2003 20:09 UTC (Sun) by mattdm (subscriber, #18) [Link]

While I think your point is valid in general, this is an article particularly *about* Linux gaining mindshare vs. Microsoft Windows. It's not a general "Linux is doing well" article with an anti-Microsoft jab stuck in.

Penguin cracks Windows servers (IT-Director)

Posted May 4, 2003 22:13 UTC (Sun) by erat (guest, #21) [Link]

I was refering more to the one-liner Mr. Corbet posted than to the actual content of the article. The first sentence in the article would have not only been more pro-Linux, but it would have also offered a much better summary of the article (which, by the way, is not about Microsoft being downgraded by Merrill Lynch; it's about Linux being validated as an enterprise-ready OS, something that I would think is MUCH more important than what Merrill Lynch thinks about Microsoft's stock).

It's subtle things like this that disappoint me about how some Linux folks choose to promote Linux.

Penguin cracks Windows servers (IT-Director)

Posted May 5, 2003 4:44 UTC (Mon) by ncm (subscriber, #165) [Link]

Mr. Corbet's one-line quote was exactly the right journalistic choice: it was the only surprising, new thing in the article. That made it news. Would that more people could both tell the difference and read kernel code.

Penguin cracks Windows servers (IT-Director)

Posted May 5, 2003 12:39 UTC (Mon) by erat (guest, #21) [Link]

There is nothing unusual at all about Microsoft's stock rating taking a hit, nor is it unusual that Linux is listed as a threat. Microsoft's own people have been listing Linux as a threat since the antitrust lawsuits began.

This is "...the only surprising, new thing in the article"? Hardly.

Penguin cracks Windows servers (IT-Director)

Posted May 5, 2003 16:35 UTC (Mon) by mdekkers (guest, #85) [Link]

I can see where you are coming from, but disagree. The "Linux will hurt MS" truly is newsworthy -- it is more then just a "crutch". There are/were many, many nice OS's out there that had enough quality on their own to outshine the crap MS spews out, however, many / most have failed. Beos, anyone? The fact that Linux is a real threat to MS is newsworthy, and not just an "Anti-MS jab", since Linux is the first OS to threaten MS on much of their traditional home ground. Linux can stand on its own, that goes without saying. If it couldn't, it wouldn't be mentioned at all. And "MS is going down hard, fast and burning up in flames" is hardly free advertisement, is it? You are right that success for Linux does not neccisarily coincide with failure for MS -- today, more often it coincides with failure for UNIX -- news initself as well. Success for Linux is, however, always going to coincide with failure for *something*, given the saturation and composition of the market.