“Although nobody has been able to smuggle out a single screenshot of the top-secret IBM Linux desktop OS—often referred to as Blue Linux—I have friends who have seen it. I am assured that it not only exists, but is being used by large numbers of IBMers. “They are going through a process of eating their own dog food right now,” I was told.” Read the aeditorial from John C. Dvorak .
IBM’s Blue Linux on the Desktop
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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It’s a bad article, but with regard to IBM, it’s good news that they are using Linux internally.
Does anyone know if Dvorak has commented on Sun’s Java Desktop System?
Also, does anyone know how IBM’s Blue Linux (if it really exists) compares to Sun’s Java Desktop System?
And where can I download the Blue Linux ISO?
Perhaps I should just stick with FreeBSD…
They should’ve bought Be in that case. Why go with Linux? Oh come on… Everyone does it. No surprise here. However you package it, it’s still the same inside! Damn… this whole OS thing isn’t going anywhere. Linux is stagnating just as well.
There’s no such thing as Blue Linux. IBM have an internal distribution called “Client for e-business”. This uses a stripped redhat as a base and includes some needed apps that IBM’rs need for doing their day to day business (filling expenses, timesheets, VPN intranet access etc). There is no Blue Linux or if there is, its most certainly is not in any kind of usage internally.
well, i would think that if you dumped a ton of money into one thing, you would be more inclined to use it than something else.
I don’t know if rushing ‘Blue Linux’ out the door would be the best move for IBM, Mac OS * and ‘Longhorn’ will make the current GNU/Linux offering look very antiquated. In my opinion IBM should take it’s time and polish off a good DE, and throw a dev team at one of the XServer projects (IE: FreeDesktop).
IBM is not as dumb as the author would like us to believe, otherwise they would have been out of business a long long long time ago.
Competition is great, we as consumers should be in for a treat
.
Maybe you already knew that , but here’s a link which might be interesting:
http://www.linuxworld.com/story/38661.htm
And , on a side note , this name :”Blue Linux” is already taken
http://www.bluelinux.org
Unless IBM holds some kind of trump card to make Blue Linux something other than YetAnotherLinuxDistro, why would they bother?
If IBM really wanted to make a push for the desktop with a non-MS OS, then their best bet (IMHO) would be to license OS X from Apple and sell PPC 970-based systems including it.
This is just what Linux needs further market fragmentation. This is what killed Unix. The biggest reason Microsoft has been so successful is thier competition has been so incompetent.
“IBM has tried everything to get Microsoft off the desktop. It tried OS/2, and was outflanked by Microsoft.”
This isn’t true. They outflanked themselves. For example when IBM advertised OS/2 on TV they NEVER showed the OS/2 desktop. Instead they showed the back of a computer with the person supposedly using OS/2. In a second ad they had nuns dancing/skipping down a hallway while singing in a non-English language. Then text appeared on the TV saying something like, “OS/2 by IBM” or some other very limited information that left non OS/2 aware people totally confused.
IF they had shown the OS/2 desktop it probably would have had BIG ramifications with Windows ’95 since Windows ’95 had never been seen in any advertising at that time. What would Microsoft have said when their computer system looked almost exactly like OS/2 that would have been out long before Windows ’95?
obviously the best way to differentiate yet another linux distro would be to remove the desktop dependency on X. without X, linux would be much nicer to develop GUI programs for.
Apple learned this lesson, and OSX is miles better than any Linux on the market now.
He’s stretching it. XP Pro is not $299 but $136 (at newegg).
But interesting. I wonder if are going to get another follow up from theinquirer. They are often first with breaking news.
Just to let everyone know about my above post. I started using OS/2 2.0 beta for over a year before Windows ’95 came out. And I used OS/2 and put up with all the stupid things IBM did and didn’t do with OS/2 until a year and a half ago when I switched to a Mac with OS X 10.1 and then moving to 10.2 and 10.3.2.
Before that I tried Linux (Mandrake, SUSE) and found the desktops on them to be horrible (not used lightly) and the environment leaving me with a bad user experience. I support Windows XP at work and just can’t stand its problems. And YES, there are problems. Until I see Windows up and running for over 12 months without having to reboot. There IS problems. I’ve easily done this with OS/2 and Mac OS X with daily use. The only reasons for reboots was system upgrades.
He said almost nothing about Blue Linux aside from the fact that he knows it exists. Then he spent the rest of the article talking about how IBM better watch out for Microsoft. Some article.
KDE or GNOME?
🙂
For that stripped down redhat base.
Linux is not stagnating at all. The 2.6 kernel was released just a few months ago, and it provides new, real improvments. Gnome2.4 was a radical step forward for the Gnome project with new panel placement, and greater HIG compliance.
Meanwhile, before the year is out, we’re going to see remarkable improvments in the 3 Xservers in progress. FreeDesktop’s server, Xorg, and Xouvert will most likely all have some form of a release this year. As a desktop OS, gnu/linux will show much more polish this year than it ever has.
He’s stretching it. XP Pro is not $299 but $136 (at newegg).
It costs 450 Euros VAT (=USD $550) over here, and 189 Euros VAT (=USD $230) for the OEM version (you must buy hardware with it to get the discount). Yes, this is the common/public price in France (and probably in a good bunch of other european countries). Pretty expensive, even for a so-called “pro” version (no support included, one user license…)
Isn’t this the same guy who just *knew* that Apple was going to release an x86 based mac in Jan? Does he have any credibility left?
Seems to me that this guy is paid to just make up interesting stories that are based mostly in fantasy rather than fact.
Um, X is hardly holding Linux back.
1) Very few people develop for X directly. People use GTK+ or Qt. Both are excellent APIs, and very easy to develop for.
2) To the user, there are a handful of things that OS X has that X doesn’t:
– Window effects (transparency/shadow)
– Synchronized resizing/window movement
– Minimize/maximize effects (genie)
The FD.O X server already offers the first feature, and the movement part of the second. It’ll offer all three features by the time it is released, and add a fourth: (OpenGL-accelerated vector graphics via Cairo).
Um, X is hardly holding Linux back.
1) Very few people develop for X directly. People use GTK+ or Qt. Both are excellent APIs, and very easy to develop for.
2) To the user, there are a handful of things that OS X has that X doesn’t:
– Window effects (transparency/shadow)
– Synchronized resizing/window movement
– Minimize/maximize effects (genie)
The FD.O X server already offers the first feature, and the movement part of the second. It’ll offer all three features by the time it is released, and add a fourth: (OpenGL-accelerated vector graphics via Cairo).
since os/2 is DEAD, and it cannot open source the underlying code, i am surprised ibm doesn’t allow people to freely download it. i might want to by an old ps/2 from ebay, and if i were to install and OS on it, it would be os/2 which i cant’ get anywhere except ebay — sellers make no guarantee on compabitility.
For hardware I think a $1 bag of nuts may qualify – but I’ve never tried it. $136 – that’s without VAT and OEM – http://www.newegg.com/software/. Looks like EU is paying $70 more than the US for the OEM version. I’d raise hell, launch a protest and a boycott. Then again, salaries in the EU – for distribution and sales – are probably higher but not by 70/136=50%. You’re being pulled by the nose.
Ok I know IBM has what it calls Client for e-Business, there is a Win2K, Win XP and Linux version. The linux version, just like the others is based on a current distribution (RedHat), and has tools and configurations set to enable the IBMr to work. This includes required security setting, disabling of services, removal of applications not required and installation of required apps.
By default it uses Gnome on the desktop.
I don’t think IBM want to become a Linux distributor, it is working well with RedHat and SuSE and would be better maintaining the partnership rather than competing.
You say Apple the lesson related to not including X? umm, well then I guess XonX doesn’t exist huh?
Apple actually learned the exact opposite, and decided to include there own version of X with Panther.
Ced :It costs 450 Euros VAT (=USD $550) over here, and 189 Euros VAT (=USD $230) for the OEM version (you must buy hardware with it to get the discount). Yes, this is the common/public price in France (and probably in a good bunch of other european countries). Pretty expensive, even for a so-called “pro” version (no support included, one user license…)
As for us here in nz it costs It costs $799 NZD (US $534.29) even with our very good dollar atm. And as with you,thats no support included, one user license. And thats the same price for 2k pro aswell. No wonder alot of people only buy windows with a new pc here
As for this rumor of “blue linux” ,i think its full of crap.What does IBM have that would make their linux distro diff then all the others ?
Or maybe this rumor maybe about a fork of linux as in IBM taking the linux base ,Ripping it to sredds ,and making an completly new OS ? ……unlikely i think
just my 2 cents
When I saw who the author of this so-called editorial was I read it just to see how BAD it could be. PC magazine has gone to the dogs as of late compared to when I first started reading them back in ’94, when they were excellent.
first of all: micro$oft’s SFU has little if any impact on whatever desktop linux IBM might be hatching. SFU has little impact on ANY desktop distro. SFU operates in the back office on servers. Linux desktops compete with windows desktops on users desks. If Dvorak can’t even understand the market placement of the two products then he has no right writing this drivel.
as for linux “consolidation”: again Dvorak shows his ignorance and confusion. variety in the linux world is a GOOD thing. like any healthy competitive market the weak commercial companies/distros will die out and the strong will survive. in that scenario the consumer benifits from a better product. companies (IBM or any other) are not gonna stop making money from linux just because M$ behaves the way they do. educated and informed consumers will continue to choose the appropriate platform for their needs and wants. whether windoze or linsucks.
btw… I love and hate both platforms for their respective good and bad points. and i use and both windows and linux daily. i wouldn’t change that for a world with only one of the two. i need both.
What about opengl acceleration for your list?
IBM is probably waiting for the case against SCO to end before releasing there own version of linux out on the open market.
If it does exist inside it’s not used heavily. Those I know who work at IBM have never used linux, they mainly use win2k or XP, a few people AIX. I don’t think IBM is going down the linux road, just working on it as a parallel path with everything else. For now linux still has some hype in it and can make them a few bucks. IBM is huge, they can dump a lot of money at something and not take a loss, that is, the millions they have spent arn’t much to them. If they see people latching onto it maybe they will go further. They have cranked up their commericals with the obino kid, maybe if people from all areas respond with interest IBM will do more, if not maybe they won’t. IBM has many OS’s at there hands, they will use what people want. IBM could dump the whole linux bit with little issue. They could jump ship and go freebsd. For now IBM mainly seams to be feeding linux some just to keap it going incase it does produce something big, then they are good to go. Nothing they have done even remotely makes them look like they are all gun ho for linux or moving over to it.
I miss seeing Dvorak on TechTV. I remember his show called “Silicon Spin” or something. Now all we have is Leo Laporte holding up the fort. Come back Dvorak, I will make sure my PVR records your first show. That guy Dvorak’s name rhymes with “crack”. Is Dvorak on Crack? Nope I talked with IBM at the linux expo and one of the booth babes told me the secret, Dvorak is right.
So, what is it? GNOME, KDE or Java? A combo – like SUN’s? Something entirely new? Using Eclipse? I’m in suspense here.
Linux is not stagnating at all. The 2.6 kernel was released just a few months ago, and it provides new, real improvments. Gnome2.4 was a radical step forward for the Gnome project with new panel placement, and greater HIG compliance.
Also, one has to take into account that FreeBSD 5.3 is just around the corner as well. With Java 1.4 almost there, FreeBSD and Linux will be on an equal footing.
Meanwhile, before the year is out, we’re going to see remarkable improvments in the 3 Xservers in progress. FreeDesktop’s server, Xorg, and Xouvert will most likely all have some form of a release this year. As a desktop OS, gnu/linux will show much more polish this year than it ever has.
No, there are only two in progress, there is the freedesktop.org version and xorg being the discussion forum front end, and Xouvert which is about incorporating the patches rejected from XFree86 on political grounds.
IMHO, Freedesktop.org implementation has the best chance of success. It is alot easier to grab a small implementation and expand it rather than grabbing a large implementation and trying to cut it down and modularise it.
From what it looks like Freedesktop.org version will have a very basic core and the majority of the work will be done by extensions meaning, we should see quite a modular and slim X server in around a years time.
The interesting part will be whether it is embraced by *BSD and linux distributors. If it is, *NIX/*BSD will definately be pulled ahead in terms of desktop GUI quality.
OS X uses OpenGL in a very limited way. Basically, it uses it just for window compositing. Actual drawing is done via the CPU. You can read about it in Apple SIGGRAPH presentation on Quartz Extreme. The FD.O XServer and MS Longhorn will actually use OpenGL to accelerate 2D graphics.
The pricing for the P4 chip and Win-XP is set way high in the aftermarket to motivate the customer to buy a new box rather than build themselves or upgrade their current box. If HP or Dell pay USD 30 for Win-XP home or pro edition they can sell the pro edition for a premium and pocket the money. MS can then put “hooks” into the pro edition to motivate the customer to buy the pro version pre-loaded on the new box. He’s right about one thing: Longhorn will almost certainly be overpriced in the aftermarket.
AFAICT, IBM did fairly well selling various versions of OS/2 and other software to the banking, insurance, and law enforcement sectors (defence sector) and did some pretty good hardware and consulting business there too. The OS/2 desktop in 1993 had about twice the resource requirements of Win-3 or Win-95. IBM didn’t sell the software at a mass-market price because they didn’t care about the mass-market, they left that for MS to dominate, they knew perfectly well what they were doing. Unlike Digital Research or Word Perfect, IBM seems to doing just fine. Sure IBM could use it’s market power and brand image to compete against anyone and did so 20 years ago when they crushed the Z-80 makers and CP/M, but with the customer base they’ve got, why should they compete with MS when that firm is headed for the consumer electonics space?
Where is IBM and MS next monopoly cash cow? Global domination of the sports betting markets I would guess. MS does the front end handling the wagers, (HDTV) and IBM using it’s Deep Blue technology (or something like it) at the other end to make sure the house always wins. I don’t see IBM and MS beating each other over the head anytime soon.
http://www.drf.com/drfNewsArticle.do?NID=52420&subs=0&arc=1
The article is BS, anyone can rant on hating MS for a while and claim IBM had “Blue Linux”.
The reason IBM failed with OS/2 was that other PC makers thought they could trust an independent OS vendor more than they could trust IBM. Obviously, they were very wrong. Many, like Dell, just jump into bed with Microsoft because its the only way to survive. But its definitely not an equal relationship, and I am sure Dell has no pretentions about it.
If IBM had spun off OS/2, it might have stood a chance. Besides, the main draw of Linux is that no one owns or controls it, at least, no big company. So they could get an OSDL Linux that becomes industry standard, and this could compete more effectively with Microsoft. And no, I wouldn’t call IBM silly, they are the biggest computer company after Microsoft, and the biggest by revenue for a reason. They are also definitely not a small player as far as software is concerned. They should be the second biggest, or third maybe after Oracle. They could cause Microsoft some headaches still.
no manager ever got fired for buying IBM.
So if IBM could manage to brand even a half-decent distribution, that would be considered very interesting in corporate circles. It would probably do more for Linux acceptance than the myriad of local government rollouts we’re seeing right now.
“Biggest computer company after Microsoft..”
In number of buildings owned
In Money taken in?
Total employees
Stock Market ratings
Interlectual Property
Computer goods manufatured
Design and Research
Number of Customers
Number of Industries
Biggest possitive impact on industry
Only in marketing or someones bedroom probably playing on the Xbox is MS bigger.
And yet the Xbox2 processor could be made or desiged by IBM…
Microsoft have been in the business of selling CDs…
with a little design n research in adding patches for the last 20 years…
Cd cost to M$ 0.02£$ etc… charge to customer hundreds or thousands…£$
sorry no euro sign on this keyboard
The guy hasn’t got the slightest beginning of a clue when
it comes to the computer Market.
IBM has no plan to release any Linux distribution and most of their support staff hardly know what Linux is.
I know that for a fact as they are working about 50 metres from my desk,and it has been the case for the last 3 years.
Yes they are learning Linux but as soon as we mention trying anything other than W2000Pro they fall apart.
Even the Apple support they need to subcontract it.
They are the company they are today not by looking at what Microsoft is doing or not doing, but by selling, or building, or supporting, whatever YOU WANT them to sell, build or support.
Dvovark should go back flipping burgers or discussing the next X86 based Macintosh with his friend Rob Enderle from Troll and co incorporated
“Until I see Windows up and running for over 12 months without having to reboot. There IS problems. I’ve easily done this with OS/2 and Mac OS X with daily use. The only reasons for reboots was system upgrades.”
I quite like OSX but I’ve never heard of it staying up for anything approaching 12 months. In my experience it locks up after 10-14 days.
So your complaining about the price of Microsoft software when almost half of the price in your particular country is due to Value Added Tax? How is this a problem with Microsoft? <shakes head>
there is no point in alienating the other linux partners and really no point in distributing IBM’s own version. Independence of an OS is prized.
What might make sense is branding a suse or redhat distro with Ibm all over it. The same could work for ibm and apple.
Smartpatrol, AFAIK the VAT in France is 19.6%, I really
don’t know where you get your “half the price” thing from.
That means is till cost around 460 dollars for a copy of XP pro.
BTW, I don’t see why this VAT thing even gets into question as professionnals do not pay VAT. And the users of XP Professionnal tend to be..Professionnals.
“He’s stretching it. XP Pro is not $299 but $136 (at newegg).”
It’s $136 for the OEM version. (Less at mwave, I believe) He’s talking about the full boxed retail version off the shelf.