October 23, 2007
by sjvn01
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Microsoft’s Mobile Device Manager Is No BlackBerry Killer

The Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 is about as likely as to kill off the BlackBerry as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays winning the 2007 World Series.

How many times do we need to go over this? Just because Microsoft enters a market, doesn’t mean that it’s going to own it.

The latest “Microsoft is coming! Microsoft is coming! Run for your lives!” rumor can be seen in the recent report that Microsoft announced plans for its System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 on Oct. 23.

Where to start? First, we’ve been down the “Microsoft is going to kill off RIM (Research in Motion) and its BlackBerry” rumor road before. In 2005, the RIM killer was supposed to be Windows Mobile 5.0 with Exchange Server 2003 on the backend and the Treo for Windows in users’ hands. Despite a nasty patent lawsuit that bled RIM’s bottom line into red ink, RIM wasn’t worried about Microsoft.

October 22, 2007
by sjvn01
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SanDisk Sansa TakeTV video player and the point is?

I believe media extenders, like the Apple TV, will be the next big thing in home entertainment. These devices are still having trouble catching on, which is why SanDisk’s introducing the Sansa TakeTV video player makes no sense to me.

In a statement, SanDisk senior VP for audio/video, Daniel Schreiber, said in a statement that the Sansa TakeTV video player is “the most easy-to-use, straightforward solution for watching downloaded personal video content and other shows in the comfort of the living room.”

Ah, no it’s not. Here’s why.

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October 22, 2007
by sjvn01
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Oracle Linux is no longer simply an RHEL clone

First, let’s make this clear. Oracle Unbreakable Linux was, is now and is for the foreseeable future going to be based on Red Hat’s Red Hat Enterprise Linux codebase. It is not, however, going to be simply RHEL’s twin in every way.

When Oracle first announced the release of Unbreakable Linux, many people saw it as a purely anti-Red Hat move. Larry Ellison, Oracle’s CEO, doesn’t like competition. What he likes is winning. If that means cutting Red Hat out of the deal for Oracle’s enterprise databases, not to mention getting some revenge for Red Hat stealing JBoss out of his grasp, then so be it.

Something funny has happened along the way. Unlike companies like CentOS, StartCom and White Box Enterprise Linux, which make no bones about simply taking RHEL’s code, taking out the Red Hat branding, recompiling it and selling it, Oracle is taking Unbreakable Linux down a different path.

Some of these additions were only to be expected. For example, Oracle is open-sourcing an OCI (Oracle Call Interface) database driver for PHP. According to Oracle, this brings “breakthrough scalability to PHP applications” and enhances its viability as a development environment for mission-critical applications. This driver supports Oracle Database 11g features such as connection pooling and fast application notification so a single x86 server can support, Oracle claims, tens of thousands of database connections at higher availability.

Prior to this, in June, Oracle also released improved PHP modules for Linux applications. These included new modules for Apache, MySQL and XML that were first made available in Oracle’s own Linux.

The goal here is clearly to not only provide better Oracle DBMS performance, but to gain access to the low-end Linux server market. For Oracle, which usually keeps its eye on the enterprise market, this is an interesting appeal to the SMB (small and midsize business) market, which has proven to be a stronghold for Linux servers.

What is more surprising, though, is that Oracle recently chose to make Yast (Yet Another Setup Tool) part of its distribution. Yast tries to make system administration easier by providing a single utility for configuring and maintaining Linux systems. It’s also tied at the hip to Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise distributions and OpenSUSE. Yast, a tool that tends to gain either fans or enemies, had never before been ported out of a SUSE system.

Still, while this gives system administrators an entirely different way of running a Linux server, it doesn’t fundamentally shift Oracle from its RHEL roots. Indeed, Oracle guarantees that not only will it track the Red Hat distribution closely to ensure compatibility for users, it will also support any ISV’s application that has been certified for use with RHEL3, RHEL4 and RHEL5. Oracle also doesn’t require that an ISV do anything special to test and certify its application against Unbreakable Linux. If a program certifies against RHEL, Oracle will support it on Unbreakable Linux.

As Oracle Vice President of Linux Engineering Wim Coekaerts said, “Oracle Enterprise Linux is compatible with RHEL and what we do is provide a great support service on top of either or both. We didn’t launch a Linux distribution business; we started a Linux support program. I think we have made that very clear many times.”

That is not to say, however, that Oracle doesn’t do its own work on Linux. For example, Coekaerts said Oracle is working with Intel on the LessWatts project to increase the efficiency of Linux systems and make it a greener operating system.

Still, when all is said and done, as Sergio Leunissen, a senior director for Oracle’s Linux Business Solutions, noted in a UK Unix group newsletter, Oracle hasn’t “talked about how our Linux is better than anyone else’s Linux. Oracle has not forked and has no desire to fork Red Hat Enterprise Linux and maintain its own version. We don’t differentiate on the distribution because we use source code provided by Red Hat to produce Oracle Enterprise Linux and errata. We don’t care whether you run Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Enterprise Linux from Oracle and we’ll support you in either case because the two are fully binary- and source-compatible. Instead, we focus on the nature and the quality of our support and the way we test Linux using real-world test cases and workloads.”

So, while Oracle may add features, such as Yast, that sit above the core operating system or improve PHP functionality, at its heart, Unbreakable Linux remains RHEL’s identical twin. On the surface, however, the two can no longer be mistaken for each other.

A version of this story was first published in Linux-Watch.

October 18, 2007
by sjvn01
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Playing Microsoft Patent Poker

It’s become an annual event. Steve Ballmer shoots his yap about how Linux and open source violate Microsoft patents. The open-source community says, “OK, show us your cards, your patents,” and Ballmer shuts up for six months or so.

This time around, though, Microsoft’s FUD campaign is playing out in a different way. First, Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief poobah says those nasty, old Linux and open-source developers are still violating Microsoft’s precious IP (intellectual property). What property?

Come on, by my count, this is the fourth time Ballmer’s made the exact same claims, and not once has Microsoft produced even a solid accusation, much less any proof. And, for the fourth time, the open-source community has asked Ballmer to show his cards, and once more, rather than show his hand, for all intents and purposes, he folds.

This time though, while Ballmer slinks away to try to con … convince people that Microsoft Unified Communications somehow offers people more than what Cisco’s VOIP (voice over IP) been offering customers for years, a patent attack finally launches at Linux. Specifically, IP Innovation, a subsidiary of Acacia Technologies Group, has filed a patent infringement claim against Linux distributors Novell and Red Hat.

So was it just timing, or was it something more? Let’s take a look at the players. Acacia now has two new corporate officers. There’s Jonathan Taub, Microsoft’s director of strategic alliances for the mobile and embedded devices, who’s now an Acacia vice president. And, just days before IP Innovation launched its suit against Red Hat and Novell, Acacia hired Brad Brunell, a top Microsoft executive who was formerly Microsoft’s general manager of IP licensing, as a senior vice president.

Oh, and what’s this? Back in 2006, Jacob Hawley joined Acacia as an engineering VP. Prior to joining Acacia, he was a Microsoft architect.

Of course, it could be mere coincidence that IP Innovation sits down to the table to play patent poker with two Microsoft senior executives helping to guide it. Personally, I’d rather bet on trying to draw to an inside straight. Which, I might add, if you’re not a poker player, is a really, really stupid bet.

Let’s stop pretending, shall we? This is just SCO all over again. We now know that SCO never should have even sat down at the lawsuit table. After all, since Novell literally owned every card in SCO’s hand—the actual ownership of Unix’s IP—the only real reason SCO had to sue was for its insiders to collect money from investors. One of which—Microsoft— bankrolled SCO’s lawsuits with its own roll of cash and with $50 million in chips from BayStar.

SCO is, for all practical Microsoft purposes, completely busted. Microsoft needed a new proxy to throw FUD at Linux and open source, and, whatever else patent troll companies may be good at, they’re certainly great at making good companies look bad.

This time, though, I think that Microsoft has some of its own at the table to make sure that Acacia doesn’t make stupid plays. After all, Microsoft wants to make as much FUD about Linux and patents as it can for as long as it can … just so long as it doesn’t have to sit at the table.

A version of this story was first printed in Linux-Watch.

October 18, 2007
by sjvn01
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Former Linspire CEO switches to Ubuntu

The sincerest compliment a Linux distribution can get is when the onetime CEO of a rival Linux company switches to that distribution. That’s exactly what happened when Kevin Carmony, former CEO of Linux desktop distributor Linspire, publicly announced that he’s switched to Ubuntu.

Carmony, who left Linspire in late July, announced his switch to Ubuntu in the Ubuntu Forums on Oct. 17. In his note, Carmony wrote: “Now that I’m no longer the CEO of Linspire, or under any obligation to use that particular distribution, I thought I should take some time and look around at all the distributions and decide which one was right for me and my PC. In addition to already being quite familiar with Linspire and Freespire, I also looked at Novell/SUSE, Red Hat/Fedora, PC Linux, Ubuntu, and Kubuntu.”

His decision? “Well, after all my research, I have to tell you, it was an easy choice. Ubuntu! I’m excited for the new release [Ubuntu 7.10, Gutsy Gibbon] in a few days, which I will use to replace the many Linux desktop and laptop PCs I own (five).”
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October 16, 2007
by sjvn01
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Ubuntu: It’s not just for desktops anymore

Come Oct. 18, Canonical, Ubuntu’s corporate backer, will be offering the shipping version of Ubuntu 7.10 Server Edition for free download.

According to the company, Ubuntu Server focuses on providing a robust server platform that is both reliable and secure while ensuring that users get the usability and ease of management they expect from Ubuntu. The new release adds an enhanced security capability that protects common workloads and is easy to configure for advanced requirements.

7.10 also comes with three new quick-start profiles so users can automatically set up a server for such typical uses as an e-mail, database or Web server. These profiles are in addition to the existing LAMP and DNS ones and significantly ease deployment, management and maintenance for edge-of-the-network server jobs.

In a Linux-Watch interview, Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical’s CEO and Ubuntu’s founder, said the server team has been, and will continue, to grow. Canonical is also working directly with server OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to ensure compatibility. Specifically, Ubuntu Server Edition is available and optimized for x86, AMD64, EM64T (Intel Core & Xeon), and Sun SPARC architectures.

“There is already a lot of work being done with hardware vendors and there will be a fair amount of hardware enablement after the release,” Shuttleworth said. “We’re confident we can do all the engineering required to just make Ubuntu work on servers.”

Ubuntu 7.10, Gutsy Gibbon, will include several new features. The first will be to improve security by adopting AppArmor. This is a security framework that’s used to protect server applications with security policies. Ubuntu provides pre-set default policies for common server applications such as the Apache Web server and the Postfix e-mail server. Unlike SELinux, AppArmor is regarded as easy to deploy even on applications, which don’t come with a pre-built policy. SELinux is also still available on Ubuntu, but Shuttleworth said “Ubuntu’s focus is on AppArmor.”

It’s because of these security improvements that Shuttleworth has declared that Ubuntu is now a “world-class enterprise operating system.”

Administrators can also implement tailored kernel optimized for use in virtualized environments. This smaller and simpler kernel is particularly suited for virtual appliances. This new kernel includes many improvements for paravirtualization, one of which is VMI (Virtual Machine Interface), a new independent way for hypervisors to relate to the kernel.

Shuttleworth believes that “Virtualization is a key driver for Ubuntu on the server. With this release, it will be easier to use Ubuntu as a virtual machine on Red Hat, SUSE or Windows. In turn, Ubuntu will also be better as a host for other virtualized operating systems.

In addition, Ubuntu has adopted the tickless kernel, which was introduced in the Linux 2.6.21 kernel. This new “tickless” idle mode should result in reduced power consumption and heat emission. The bottom line is that should help a company’s bottom line by reducing energy costs, especially on machines running several virtualized instances.

With improvements to the CUPS (Common Unix Printing System), the Ubuntu 7.10 server can now automatically discover and authenticate many more protocols used by printers, including LDAP with SSL, Kerberos, Mac OS X Bonjour and Zeroconf. Because of this, Shuttleworth said, Ubuntu is quickly getting to the point that it can work out of the box with any Mac OS X compatible printer.

“Ubuntu Server is proving itself as a solid, maintainable platform for business infrastructure,” said Jane Silber, Canonical’s COO. “This release of Ubuntu Server Edition is particularly easy to provision and deploy on large numbers of servers with specific software package requirements.”

“Having established its credibility on the desktop, with millions of deployments worldwide, Ubuntu’s aiming to bring that same strength to the server platform,” said Stephen O’Grady, principal analyst for open-source analysis company RedMonk, in a statement. “With strength in its application repository volume and a focus on virtualization, Ubuntu’s likely to be an increasingly attractive choice for buyers.”

Shuttleworth certainly thinks that’s the case. Shuttleworth said, “We feel confident in saying that Ubuntu now has six-million-plus users. Many of those users are now deploying Ubuntu on their company and organizational servers. For them, it makes it much easier to have a single operating system from the desktop and workstation to the server.”

“Ubuntu,” however, “will not be targeting Red Hat.” Nor will Ubuntu be going to use its model. Instead, Shuttleworth sees Ubuntu “expanding the Linux market. The early adoption of Linux came at the expense of Unix. Today that is no longer a fertile source of growth for Linux. People who are still on Unix today will stay on Unix.”

Instead, Ubuntu will grow not from taking market share from Unix or the other Linuxes, but by “changing the economic model, and making money only from customers who need support at the appropriate places, we’ll represent a challenge to Windows.” It’s from Microsoft that Shuttleworth sees Ubuntu’s customers coming from.

“This will not be happening overnight. The server market is a conservative one. It will take years for certification for IHVs and ISVs, but we can see it happening in the future,” said Shuttleworth. And, after all, “Ubuntu is here for the long run.”

Ubuntu 7.10 updates will be published at no charge to all users of the platform. This free maintenance service includes backports of new hardware support, minor updates and security updates. Ubuntu 7.10 will be maintained for 18 months on both the desktop and on the server upon which users can upgrade free of charge to a new version. Ubuntu 7.10 is not a LTS (Long Term Support) release (three years support on the desktop and five years on the server); the next LTS release will appear in 2008. For more information on the server, see the Ubuntu server site.

For deployments which require additional service guarantees, full telephone and online support is commercially available from Canonical professional support team. Details are available at the Canonical support site.