IBM Archive

MacSlash has an original editorial regarding different PowerPC projects that never made it to shipping. It mentions things like the obscure PowerPC 615 that could run x86 instructions, or the PowerPC 750VX, which would have been IBM's answer to the Motorola G4. This article reads like a requiem, but lest we forget: here, here, here, and of course, here. I'm starting to believe IBM won't miss Apple all that much.

"August 12, 1981 marks the birth of the IBM PC, the computer that single-handedly turned personal computing to the business market. IBM's success forced Apple and others to change their focus, and most personal computer companies from the pre-IBM era have become historical footnotes. By 2006, even Apple Computer had followed IBM's lead and adopted Intel CPUs and built Macs that can boot Microsoft Windows." Yes, boys and girls, she's that old. A 'thank you' is in order, I suppose.

IBM has just released two value-added Eclipse 3.2 bundles that include key projects in the Callisto release: Web Tools Platform and the Callisto Graphical Modeling Framework. In addition to the new Callisto releases, you can also download the IBM Rational Software Development Platform tools for Linux that are built on the Eclipse 3.0 platform.

IBM plans to unveil this week a version of its Lotus Notes desktop collaboration software for Linux. Lotus Notes on Linux 7.0.1, which will be generally available July 24, is based on the Eclipse open-source framework. That technology will also be used in the next update to Lotus Notes, code-named Hannover, which is expected to ship next year.

The no-charge version of the IBM database DB2, is now available for download in its 9th revision. DB2 9 Express-C is a no-charge relational database that can be run on up to 2 dual-core CPU servers with up to 4 GB of memory. Available for Windows (32bits, 64 bits coming soon) and Linux (Intel/AMD and Power; 32 and 64 bits)

A new paper from a group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, "The Potential of the Cell Processor Scientific Computing" , explores the performance of IBM's Cell processor on some specific types of code commonly found in high-performance computing applications. The paper compare Cell's performance on these kernels to the performance of the Cray X1E, AMD Opteron, and Intel's Itanium2. The idea here is that Cell will be a commodity processor (at least that's what the authors and IBM hope), so it'll be a viable HPC alternative for the cost-sensitive academic research market. This paper represents the first formal academic attempt to decide if Cell hardware is something that researchers will want to invest in. So how does Cell stack up in comparison to these three competitors? In a word, it screams.

"If it's the number of cores that gets computers excited these days, then IBM may have its hands on the ultimate processor. Together with Rapport, a Silicon Valley startup, the company previewed the Kilocore1025, a processor with a total of 1025 cores that promises not only to boost processing speed but also to operate at low power levels."

"BM's Thinkpads had a consistent reputation as a solid, reliable business-oriented laptop. With IBM divesting of its PC division to Lenovo, many have wondered what will happen to the ThinkPad lineup. Will the quality decrease? What about performance?" Ars reviews the Thinkpad X60, and concludes: "The X60 is a solid implementation of the new Core Duo platform. Lenovo hasn't lost the ThinkPad 'touch' yet, and is proceeding with development in the same way IBM has. And the new Core Duo platform brings dual-core performance to Centrino, while keeping the same low power usage."

IBM Germany has refuted a Groklaw report that the division has decided to migrate Windows desktops to Linux rather than upgrade them to Vista. Groklaw's story was based on statements reportedly made by an IBM sales executive in a presentation at LinuxForum 2006. This morning, Hans Rehm, of IBM Germany's Press Relations department, emailed DesktopLinux.com the following, somewhat ambiguous, statement.

During a presentation on IBM's involvement with Open Source, Andreas Pleschek from IBM in Stuttgart, Germany, who heads open source and Linux technical sales across North East Europe for IBM made a very interesting statement. "Andreas Pleschek also told that IBM has cancelled their contract with Microsoft as of October this year. That means that IBM will not use Windows Vista for their desktops. Beginning from July, IBM employees will begin using IBM Workplace on their new, Red Hat-based platform. Not all at once - some will keep using their present Windows versions for a while. But none will upgrade to Vista."