Political Crossfire Forums

[FCTE]

Pretty bold move for IBM, that's gonna leave a mark on MS.

Quote: IBM will not use Windows Vista - but will move to Linux desktops
William Henning - Monday, March 6th, 2006 | 2:13PM (PST)


IBM switching to Linux destops in Germany according to a Linux Forum 2006 presentation by their head of open source and Linux sales in Germany.

Interesting news from LinuxForum 2006

During a presentation on IBM's involvement with Open Source, Andreas Pleschek from IBM in Stuttgart, Germany, who heads open source and Linux technical sales across North East Europe for IBM made a very interesting statement...

"Andreas Pleschek also told that IBM has cancelled their contract with Microsoft as of October this year. That means that IBM will not use Windows Vista for their desktops. Beginning from July, IBM employees will begin using IBM Workplace on their new, Red Hat-based platform. Not all at once - some will keep using their present Windows versions for a while. But none will upgrade to Vista."

The question is, does this only apply to IBM in Germany, or IBM world wide?

If ALL of IBM switches to Linux desktops and OpenOffice... that would be a very significant loss to Microsoft; not only in direct licensing revenues, but also in speeding adoption of Linux by other companies. After all, if IBM can run on Linux desktops...

http://www.neoseeker.com/news/story/5436/

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/08/158247

[John Galt]

They were probabbly appalled at the requirements to run Vista and thought "We don't need 3-D rendering of desktop items; such a waste of computer, and to pay extra for it? Let's get something easier, and cheaper."

[FCTE]

The requirements are insane and most businesses don't need all that crap. My company just got done upgrading to XP and most companies are still using 2000 Pro. They think companies can drop all that money like nothing to upgrade perfectly good PC's and OS's? :?

[PricklySponge]

will they be selling linux based desktops?

[FCTE]

PricklySponge wrote: will they be selling linux based desktops?

They already do sell a whole line of Linux PC's and servers as well as computers without an operating system so you can load your own operating system without having to pay for a copy of Windows. Dell now has an open source PC line out too.

Government agencies, other businesses, and IBM complained when XP first came out that an upgrade copy cost $185 and a full version cost $299 in 2002. They saw no reason to pay those prices when a barebones PC cost less than a copy of Windows, add in a full professional version of the latest office and your talking an extra $500, so about $700 in software per PC, plus upgrading your PC's to handle the demands of the new OS. It's outrageous and government agencies, businesses, and schools, are now considering Linux as a viable alternative.

Some of the latest distros of Linux are just as user friendly and come with Open Office that can translate office documents into Word and Excel Documents perfectly.

Vista and it's insane resource consumption is only going to make matters worse for MS customers.

[bob.appleyard]

It looks as though MS has seriously messed up with Vista. I suspect this is why Billy boy has renounced his executive post... getting out before the s**t hits the fan.

[Pelagius]

Basically if you are running XP you can run Vista.


Windows Vista Capable PCs

Computers with the Windows Vista Capable PC logo will meet or exceed the requirements to deliver the core Windows Vista experiences such as innovations in security, reliability, organizing and finding information. They can also deliver key business features found in the Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Enterprise versions, such as domain join.

However, some premium features may require advanced or additional hardware. If a PC is not Windows Aero capable, for example, the desktop graphics experience in Windows Vista will be comparable to Windows XP with regards to visual features, stability and performance.
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Windows Vista Premium Ready PC

If a PC is Windows Vista Premium Ready it delivers an even better experience than a Windows Vista Capable PC. PCs meeting the Windows Vista Premium Ready requirements can deliver the Windows Aero user experience that includes additional benefits:
Improved productivity (e.g., real-time thumbnail previews, new 3-D task switching, interface scaling)
Enhanced visual quality (e.g., glitch-free window redrawing), and
Visual style (e.g., translucent window frames and taskbar, enhanced transitional effects)


Detailed requirements can be found here

[Pzatchok]

I've tried the Vista beta and it will not run on my XP capable box.

Not enough video card.

[FCTE]

Pzatchok wrote: I've tried the Vista beta and it will not run on my XP capable box.

Not enough video card.

Not enough room for all their spyware to police you. :lol:

[FCTE]

Pelagius wrote: Basically if you are running XP you can run Vista.

XP is already more than any average user or business user could use, so why even bother with Vista? That's what IBM is getting at.

Oh wow I can spin the windows around and see through them, that will really up my productivity. :lol:

[Pelagius]

FCTE wrote: Pelagius wrote: Basically if you are running XP you can run Vista.

XP is already more than any average user or business user could use, so why even bother with Vista? That's what IBM is getting at.

Oh wow I can spin the windows around and see through them, that will really up my productivity. :lol:

The new interface may be pretty but there is A LOT that is new under the hood that is directed solely at the enterprise. The average user won't know it's there but Vista is designed to accelerate the adoption/purchase of the various enterprise solutions MS has been creating and enhancing such as BizTalk, Indigo, Windows Server, SQL-Server 2005, WS* 3.0, CardSpace, Active Directory, MS Dynamics to name a few. Counterparts to all of these products may exist in the Linux / Open source world but MS has taken a unified platform approach which makes it very compelling to the enterprise to standardize upon the Windows OS for enterprise computing and mission critical systems. IBM may be looking at saving money on their desktops but MS is looking at how it can take business from IBM. The difference in business models is interesting and it will be very interesting to see how it plays out.

[FCTE]

Pelagius wrote: The new interface may be pretty but there is A LOT that is new under the hood that is directed solely at the enterprise. The average user won't know it's there but Vista is designed to accelerate the adoption/purchase of the various enterprise solutions MS has been creating and enhancing such as BizTalk, Indigo, Windows Server, SQL-Server 2005, WS* 3.0, CardSpace, Active Directory, MS Dynamics to name a few. Counterparts to all of these products may exist in the Linux / Open source world but MS has taken a unified platform approach which makes it very compelling to the enterprise to standardize upon the Windows OS for enterprise computing and mission critical systems. IBM may be looking at saving money on their desktops but MS is looking at how it can take business from IBM. The difference in business models is interesting and it will be very interesting to see how it plays out.

I think they jumped the gun and they are going to hurt when businesses have no need to upgrade. Most companies are still on 2000 Pro and they haven't even bothered with XP yet. Not only that but when jumping to Vista they are basically going to have to upgrade hardware and whole PC's just to run it, very costly for businesses. Companies are looking at ways to cut cost more than ever now and the server market and super computer market are dominated by Unix, any MS servers are Server 2003, which is more than enough for most people.

I think they put out an uneccessary product at the wrong time, whenever that is, with the way they keep pushing it back it will be 2030 before they release it. They already ditched many of it's features anyway making the gap between XP and Vista smaller in terms of difference.

The initial sales of Vista will only be people who buy new PC's with it pre-installed and it's sure to be plagued with bugs galore.

[Pzatchok]

All the eye candy for Vista has already been done in Linux/unix anyway. Spinning 3d icons have been around for 10 years in other systems.
3D desktops are out now.

As for it being a conduit for even more adoption of even more and more expencive MS products. Who wants it? With MS a desktop office costs what 200.00 bucks plus the hardware. And thats with XP.


I beleive that the latest version of Open Office is now compatible with the latest MS documents plus everything else in the world.


Untill they rewrite the whole OS to be closer to unix its just the same old thing wrapped in a new package. Just as insecure as ever.

The problem is as soon as they make it like unix in order to be secure all the next games will run in linux and that will remove the last reason to use it at home for the kids.