p2pnet - rss feed: IBM to dump Microsoft
p2p news / p2pnet: IBM has cancelled its contract with Microsoft as of October this year, says Andreas Pleschek, who runs IBM’s open source and Linux technical sales efforts in north eastern Europe.
Pleschek was giving a talk at the LinuxForum 2006 in Copenhagen, Denmark, and his statement is quoted by elhaard in Groklaw.
Elhaard goes on, “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.”
Earlier, “Overall, I had the impression that IBM has seen the writing on the wall that proprietary software eventually will be a thing of the past,” elhaard says. “But on the other hand they have a huge investment in proprietary software, and that is still where they get their money. So of course, they cannot just open source it all at once. They have to do it gradually so that they can grow a new business to replace the income of the former.
“Personally, I do not like their closed source/free download idea, but I realize that it is the only way for them to keep the business for the full-blown versions. I think they would open source it if they could. But then again, a more cynical interpretation could be that the ‘community editions’ is just a way to get people dependant on them in the hope that they will upgrade to paid-for versions later on.
“At the end of the presentation, Andreas Pleschek revealed that the laptop he used for the presentation was running a pre-release of their new platform, the Open Client. It is actually a Red Hat work station with IBM’s new Workplace Client, which is built in Java on top of Eclipse. Because of Eclipse, it runs on both Linux and Windows, and they have been able to reuse the C++ code in Lotus Notes for Windows to run it natively on Linux via Eclipse. Internally in IBM, for years, they have had a need to run Lotus Notes on Linux, and now they can. And they will offer it to their customers.”
Also See:
Groklaw - More from LinuxForum 2006 - Day 2, March 6, 2006
March 8th, 2006 at 6:59 pm
IBM dumping a company they’ve been in virtual bed with since the early to middle 1980s? Words fail me (but “evil” <g> thoughts do not).
March 8th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
Funny -
This article is loaded with open source this, open source that - but then it says the IBM guy’s laptop - “It is actually a Red Hat work station with IBM’s new Workplace Client, which is built in Java on top of Eclipse”
Workplace is open source? Is it free? No…
March 8th, 2006 at 8:58 pm
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Microsoft has the unfortunate business model of taking thier OS, tearing it up and starting over every 5 years or so.
Most orginazations should be very interested in a more stable platform with fewer bugs and better security.
Is Linux perfect? No– but it is stable.
March 9th, 2006 at 1:57 am
This “cancellation” may be for the wrong reasons IMHO, but anything that chips away at microsoft’s monopoly on PC OS is a good thing. That monopoly is THE ONLY reason they have been able to get away with so much really crappy behavior. Vista is pure evil. It needs to be REJECTED.
March 9th, 2006 at 4:14 am
Windows XP is also stable (unless you are doing something to make it not so).
March 9th, 2006 at 5:27 am
It seems that we’re not the only ones tired of the throw away your money every few years for something new to keep up with Jones business. In fact many corporations would not change from older versions of win until Microsucks decided not to support them anymore with patches and updates. In this way they are forcing the new buy. While the new buy might not hit you or I as hard as a corporation, the hefty price that comes with new OS’s and the implemention of special programs will.
I think that we’re not the only ones that are having problems with the build in DRM. Microsucks has long wanted a renewal licenses for not only the os but for software applications to be allowed to run on MS products, thereby making mulitple layers of payment necessary for the full features.
We’re not the only ones having problems with the high cost of using MS products and it is showing in many places from corporations to states and countries.
May 13th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
viva la anti capitalism and all of goddamn monopoly of the mikroshit