HP sets up separate Linux unit (News.com) [LWN.net]

News.com reports that HP has set up a new Linux division. "In his new role as vice president of Linux, Martin Fink will report to both ESS boss Scott Stallard and HP's chief technology officer, Shane Robison. Fink had been a vice president in the company's Business Critical Systems unit before the last reorganization. Within the Linux organization, HP plans to add a director of marketing, director of strategy and a director of engineering, although those positions have not been formally named."

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HP sets up separate Linux unit (News.com)

Posted Jun 17, 2003 0:59 UTC (Tue) by einstein (subscriber, #2052) [Link] (2 responses)

hrmph...

should be interesting - a "linux division" where all are forced to use windoze pee cees on the desktop and to depend on ms exchange for email.

HP sets up separate Linux unit (News.com)

Posted Jun 17, 2003 3:51 UTC (Tue) by sidcarter (guest, #12047) [Link] (1 responses)

please be factual.

HP sets up separate Linux unit (News.com)

Posted Jun 17, 2003 16:47 UTC (Tue) by fx (guest, #12077) [Link]

please be factual

I'm afraid the remark is factual. I've worked for HP from 1999 to 2001 (and please don't tell "things changed by now" because I still know people there and from what they tell me things are pretty much the same). At the time they published one Linux related press release after the other, but to use Linux on my desktop PC was a tough uphill battle:

No management support
Increased use of m$ owned document formats (word, excel,...)
Increased use of software running on windows only (time tracking tools, hotel reservation tools, ...)
Increased use of IE-only websites on the intranet. Although external HP websites are tested on Netscape, internally they ran an IE-only shop.
Not a single server running anything half important was Linux based (plenty of stuff running on NT though).
...

HP is deeply dependent on M$. They trashed their own OpenMail product in favour of Exchange. David Hackborn sits on the HP board as well as on the m$ board. All their workstations/desktops have Windows, no way you'll get Linux pre-installed. And on and on and on and on ...

HP sets up separate Linux unit (News.com)

Posted Jun 17, 2003 4:52 UTC (Tue) by einstein (subscriber, #2052) [Link] (5 responses)

Please be factual?

Do you work at HP? If so, please explain what you mean by that.

If not, please look into the facts before arguing - it is generally known that HP is 100% committed to microsoft internally - they use windows pcs on the desktop and killed their own excellent penmail product in order to move their corporate mail system to ms exchange. I know folks who work at HP.

If you have some new information about a change in HP's internal policies, please share it, rather than taking pot shots with mysterious comments about being factual.

HP sets up separate Linux unit (News.com)

Posted Jun 17, 2003 5:25 UTC (Tue) by botsie (guest, #1485) [Link] (3 responses)

> Please be factual?
> Do you work at HP? If so, please explain what you mean by that.

Sid is a Linux SysAdmin who, yes, works for HP. He must have a _lot_ of time on his hands if what you say is true.

HP has been a major supporter of Linux and OSS here in India.

FUD doesn't help anybody, pal.

HP sets up separate Linux unit (News.com)

Posted Jun 17, 2003 18:27 UTC (Tue) by melauer (guest, #2438) [Link] (2 responses)

> Sid is a Linux SysAdmin who, yes, works for HP. He must have a _lot_ of
> time on his hands if what you say is true.

But then fx said something very different. What's going on here? Perhaps external servers are run on Linux, while HP's intranet is almost all Windows?

> HP has been a major supporter of Linux and OSS here in India.

Ah, this might explain the inconsistency (assuming that sidcarter is in India). Will this new Linux division be run out of India, or will it be run out of the US? If the former, then perhaps they will use Linux in the Linux division. If the latter, then it sounds like they won't.

More detailed arguments from the "this is just FUD" camp would be appreciated.

HP sets up separate Linux unit (News.com)

Posted Jun 18, 2003 13:26 UTC (Wed) by fx (guest, #12077) [Link] (1 responses)

In general I think what's going on here is the fact that Windows is the desktop OS of choice. This has certain consequences.
To maximize productivity large companies like HP want a standard desktop for the entire enterprise. Standard applications, standard document formats, etc. All companies I've worked for so far (I've worked for subsidiaries of large american companies in Europe as well as european companies) will set this standard based on Windows and force everybody to use this platform. Using something else is next to impossible.
Once you've decided to standardize on Windows, people building websites for the intranet will only test on IE, because that's what everybody is using anyway.
This explains a lot of the frustration you'll find amoung Linux people at HP or other large companies.
I know only one company that resists m$ on the desktop: SUN Microsystems. Linux enthousiasts who are often critical of SUN better think twice IMHO.

HP sets up separate Linux unit (News.com)

Posted Jun 18, 2003 15:31 UTC (Wed) by einstein (subscriber, #2052) [Link]

Well, you are partly right - windows is the desktop os of choice - for those who make windows the desktop os of choice. However windows is not the desktop os of choice for techies such as myself, nor apparently is it for a growing number of others.

As far as "standardizing on windows" that's something of an oxymoron. Allow me to introduce you to this thing called the internet. Built using open standards, and running mainly on unix systems, it worked wonderfully for any platform which operated under those standards, be it mac, unix, mainframe, windows pc, or other operating system. You see, it worked because it was based on standards, not product lines. Everybody could connect as long as they could speak tcp/ip. Now imagine if microsoft had designed the internet - Nobody would be able to connect except users of windows pcs with a passport membership and other microsoft requirements.

What a nightmare that would be.

I got a taste of what a microsoft-controlled internet would be like, a few years back, when I was webmaster at a large company. I used linux of course, both at home and at the office, as did some other key techies. The management got a wild hair and decided to replace their remote access system with one based on microsoft windows. Bad move. All of a sudden, linux users - IOW the key players - could no longer connect - oopsie! and mac users were locked out as well - surprise, surprise, surprise! Welcome to microsoft networking. The result was a disaster, and I left the company in disgust soon afterwards for a better position.

As for sun, you are mistaken - they are fighting only for the server room - they abandoned the desktop to microsoft long ago, just like the other good little microsoft serfs. Any sun rep I've talked to says that they use microsoft windows internally, although they save money by using star office.

No, don't look to sun for an example - instead look to the city of Munich and other organizations who have finally awakened, and realized they had been flushing millions or billions of dollars a year down the drain. This new breed of IT professional is showing that it's simply not neccessary to continue the insane practices of the bad old days.

HP sets up separate Linux unit (News.com)

Posted Jun 17, 2003 18:21 UTC (Tue) by gsc (guest, #6830) [Link]

Alrighty, I'll be factual. I am, at this very moment sitting in my cube at HP Roseville. I have a HP-UX workstation to do my job, and a windows something or other for my email. I will personally testify that HP runs on MS office products, including email, etc. Although my coworkers are sympathetic to open source solutions, they don't use them.

And if someone influential within the new HP LINUX organization reads this, hire me for your project!