[sf-lug] IBM selling Linux computers

[Jesse Zbikowski]

On Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 12:39 AM, Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:
> Quoting Christian Einfeldt (einfeldt at gmail.com):
>
>> Good news --
>
> Not really.

I guess Jef Spaleta over on LWN would agree with you here.  It's too
bad that IBM's new offering is not 100% free open source software.  It
may not be an improvement over running a traditional "pure" Linux
shop, but it is surely an improvement over a straight Microsoft shop.

http://lwn.net/Articles/309656/

For starters it means "standards-based email, word processing,
spreadsheets" as opposed to Exchange and the various
undocumented/patented MS Office formats.  Plus if somebody learns to
use a Linux desktop at work, albeit one encumbered with proprietary
protocols, I hazard to guess they will be more comfortable with the
idea of using "pure" Linux on their home computer or at another job.

I don't want to debate hosted software vs. local installation.  How
this trend plays out remains to be seen, but the clear and present
problem is a desktop monoculture in which both software and hardware
vendors say "We're just going to support Windows because that's all
anybody uses".

Anyway thanks to people like you and Jef who are reading the fine
print, but I don't see this as an occasion for doom & gloom.