[oclug] SuSE Powered Cray Supercomputer

[Brad Barnett]

On Thu, 26 Jun 2003 16:26:03 -0400 (EDT)
Jon Earle <je_oclug at kronos.honk.org> wrote:

> On Thu, 26 Jun 2003, Brad Barnett wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, 26 Jun 2003 14:43:02 -0400 (EDT)
> > Jon Earle <je_oclug at kronos.honk.org> wrote:
> >
> > > On Thu, 26 Jun 2003, Brad Barnett wrote:
> > >
> > > > On Thu, 26 Jun 2003 11:25:31 -0400 (EDT)
> > > > Jon Earle <je_oclug at kronos.honk.org> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > On Thu, 26 Jun 2003, Brad Barnett wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Whilst I do agree that the mass of capital and manpower IBM
> > > > > > and others have donated is helpful, they also have a downside
> > > > > > as well.
> > > > > >  As
> > > > > > discussed before on this list, obviously such organisations
> > > > > > have a reason they make such investments.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > However, when companies like Intel make code donations to the
> > > > > > kernel or other aspects of Linux, they do so without the same
> > > > > > goals that IBM may have.
> > > > >
> > > > > Of course.  Because Intel wouldn't want Linux to run well on
> > > > > it's family of processors and possibly encourage further
> > > > > adoption of Intel technology at the expense of non-Intel brands.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > I believe you have a typo above. ;)
> > >
> > > Aargh.  I hate it when I do that.
> > >
> > > s/it's/its/
> >
> > So, erm, you're saying that "Intel wouldn't want Linux to run well on
> > its processors"?!
> 
> No.. the whole of the sentence must be considered.  Add a dash of
> sarcasm in case you missed it.  :)

Ah ;)

Emoticon, man, emoticon!

> 
> > I'm talking about competition for our jobs ;)  I'm talking about
> > Redhat and SuSE disappearing, because IBM muscles them out of the
> > support market.
> >  That's where they make most of their money, currently.   Intel,
> > as it sits, does not compete directly with Redhat and other commercial
> > Linux enterprises.
> >
> > IBM does.
> 
> Personally, I don't care if RH or SuSU go belly up.  Companies come and
> go.  Sometimes it's a time of rejoicing, sometimes a time of sadness
> (witness DEC).
> 
> Okay, so we'll all work for IBM when they take over the world. 
> Seriously though, if the IBM Linux support group gets _that_ big, the
> smaller companies and independents and Joe Public's won't be able to
> afford them, meaning we still have jobs.  Even though MS has a large
> support organization, there are still plenty of jobs for MS techies. 
> There'll be plenty of work to go around, even with IBM reclaiming its
> place as the OS powerhouse.

Except that in the above scenario, Linux and Open Source development would
be very concentrated, and in IBM's hands.  Sure, they can't control it,
but with enough people coding for them, they can direct and turn many
key projects.

Turned in ways we may not like.

By the way, it is not necessarily a given that a large company can not
compete with a smaller one.  In fact, it's often as much the reverse, and
bigger is better in many, many cases.  A bigger company does not have to
charge more to operate, in fact, they can charge _less_ and provide the
same level of service a smaller company can.

Taxes, infrastructure, all favour the larger company.