NetFlash: Linux pressures Windows but experts disagree on costs

Linux has grown from being a thorn in Microsoft’s side to more like an entire bush. That has prompted an industrywide debate over costs and benefits that feels like a political campaign, with each side pointing to numbers that show their operating systems are less expensive to deploy and add more value. The truth, as it so often does, probably lies somewhere in between. That is, it depends on your own situation. Linux pressures Windows but experts disagree on costs http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0412mslinux.html?net

Linux has grown from being a thorn in Microsoft’s side to more like an entire bush. That has prompted an industrywide debate over costs and benefits that feels like a political campaign, with each side pointing to numbers that show their operating systems are less expensive to deploy and add more value. The truth, as it so often does, probably lies somewhere in between. That is, it depends on your own situation.

Linux pressures Windows but experts disagree on costs

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0412mslinux.html?net

Mixed results predicted for Q1 hardware earnings

It has been a while since it looked really bleak economically in the technology sector, but things haven’t been that great, either. Investors are still looking for a sign – something to reassure them that the recovery is more than an illusion. This week will provide some indication one way or the other, as several companies – including IBM, Sun, Nokia, AMD and Texas Instruments – release their earnings for the first quarter of this year. Here’s a preview.

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0412mixedresult.html?net

Q&A: Sun gambles big on future chip design

The demise of UltraSparc V appears to have been hastened by Sun’s recent decision to lay off 3,300 employees, including some engineers working on the processor. But according to David Yen, Sun’s executive vice president of processor and network products, the product’s termination is an indication that Sun is betting everything on its throughput computing designs. IDG News Service recently interviewed Yen, asking him to explain the decision to drop both the UltraSparc V and Sun’s first dual-core processor, code named Gemini, which the company had been on the verge of shipping.

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0412sunyen.html?net

Utility computing services catching on

Pay-as-you-go services offer a glimpse into the utility computing world that HP, IBM, Sun and others envision and that they started to promote a few years ago. Utility computing services give companies a way to start exploiting new technologies before all the pieces of an ideal system for automating data centers are deliverable.

https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0412utility.html?net

Today on Layer 8, where we’ve passed Willie Mays on the All-Time Ridiculous Posts List:

The world’s most depressing calculator; Bush supporters aim for search engine spin; music labels ready their monkey wrench; and our Weekly Caption Contest begins once more; all this and more today at your home for not-just-networking news.

https://www.nwfusion.com/weblogs/layer8/?net