By
Special to ZDNet News
January 21, 2003, 4:56 AM PT
Posted on 01/29/2003 7:45:10 AM PST by Illbay
| HP-Lindows tussle clouds desktop Linux show |
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Special to ZDNet News January 21, 2003, 4:56 AM PT |
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Hewlett-Packard and other participants have withdrawn from a February conference on the use of Linux on desktop computers, casting a shadow on the show's debut. At the root of the spat are objections to the main sponsor's prominence in the Desktop Linux Summit. News site DesktopLinux.com had been a sponsor, and open-source advocate Bruce Perens was scheduled to deliver the show's opening keynote speech. But both pulled out after the conference's sponsor and organizer Lindows decided its chief executive, Michael Robertson, would give the first talk.
"DesktopLinux.com is withdrawing our support for the Desktop Linux Summit," said publisher Rick Lehrbaum in a posting Thursday, objecting to Lindows' decision to change the event agenda without consulting the show advisory board. "Lindows.com is certainly within their rights to host a conference on any subject whatsoever, but DesktopLinux.com is committed to the principle of vendor neutrality in its editorial content and initiatives, and our continued support for the conference as its major media sponsor would constitute a violation of the trust that the community places in our objectivity."
An HP representative confirmed Friday that the company had withdrawn from the conference. Sun Microsystems, another big-name exhibitor, appeared on an earlier exhibitor list, but its name isn't on the current lineup. A Sun representative couldn't immediately confirm that it had withdrawn. Robertson was unrepentant, saying he wasn't obliged to follow the advisory board's recommendations.
"Lindows.com is paying to put on this conference, and like any conference planner, we ultimately have the obligation to make the choices to insure the success of the conference," he said in an e-mail interview. "The Desktop Linux Summit is heavily consumer-focused, which not everyone agrees with, but it is what will make this conference very unique. It's not about the politics or the philosophy, but about affordable Linux products available to consumers today." "Every company in attendance wants to talk about their products or services to advance their agenda, so I'm not sure Lindows.com is different in that regard than any company or organization in attendance," Robertson added. Intel, EarthLink and Epson have joined as participants, Robertson said.
Intel was approached Thursday to participate in the conference and plans to send a representative from its wireless networking group, said spokesman Scott McLaughlin. The company is not a sponsor, he added. The news comes on the eve of another show, the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in New York. At that event, larger Linux companies such as SuSE are expected to announce their own versions of Linux for desktop PCs.
Lindows sells a version of Linux designed for average computer users. Robertson, the founder of MP3.com, also has funded a $200,000 prize for any programmer who gets Linux working on Microsoft's Xbox game console. Perens, whose influence reaches widely into the computing industry, said he's told Robertson he's no longer attending. Lindows' founding and funding status gives it a say in how the show runs, but "they just haven't figured out how to share the toys and play with others. It's a power grab," Perens said in an interview.
Lindows spokeswoman Cheryl Schwartzman said the company wanted to concentrate on desktop Linux for customers who'll use it, not for programmers who'll develop it. "If you want to talk about the Linux kernel, this is not the conference for you," she said. Lindows spent about $100,000 organizing and catering the conference, she added. The company expects a sold-out show with 600 attendees. The show is scheduled for Feb. 20 and 21 in San Diego, where Lindows is headquartered. On Friday, the list of exhibitors included desktop Linux software companies such as Xandros, Ximian, theKompany, SuSE, StepUp Computing and Lycoris. |
Still, he's trying to do a Bill Gates, twenty years after. He's taking an OS that he didn't invent, put slick packaging and marketing on it, and calling it a revolutionary breakthrough.
I wanted to try out LindowsOS, just to see if it might be worth using, but you CAN'T get it for free download AT ALL, unlike Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE, etc.
You can only get it by purchase.
I don't know if that's going to work, but I believe in the free market. However, his attempt to hijack the industry is going to rile some folks up, I think.
The industry needs a second choice in PC OS's, but the timing is bad.
I have a Sony VAIO notebook computer that I can use if I just HAVE to use a Windows version of a program, but for most of the stuff I do--Internet browsing, email, office documents, etc.--I can just use Linux.
I have NOT been a proponent of Linux on the desktop before now, but Red Hat 8.0 has won me almost completely over.
Now, instead of posting this with MSIE, I'm using Mozilla. It's sweet.
Sorry, but you have that exactly backwards. The entire linux community runs on social contacts and interactions. As far as anti-capitalist, you obviously don't seem to know what "open source" means. It doesn't mean "free as in beer" software. It means "free as in speech" software. Once I download, or purchase a software program, I should have the right to modify it to suit my needs better.
Once I purchase a car, I am allowed to modify it in any way I choose. Once I purchase a computer, I can modify it in any way I choose. Once I purchase a house, I can modify it in any way I choose.
Since all of the above examples are exposed to the public, I obviously need community permits, etc in order to do most of the work.
BUT I CAN DO IT, LEGALLY, WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE SELLER!
The whole business model of "license it, not purchase it" is anti-capitaist, and very much anti-social.
In fact, one of the best illustrations of this I have seen recently was in the old George Lucas film "THX 1138."
In that film, the ubiquitous voice of "big brother" or whomever, constantly exhorted the masses to "consume more." In a couple of scenes Duvall's character purchases stuff at the store on the way home from work, then discards it in the trash can as soon as he gets home.
FWIW, I don't see "the Linux crowd" the way you do AT ALL--in fact, I look at them as far more like Free Republic: Unwilling to bend to the will of the "masters."
For myself, I just can't stand the fact that I have spent so much money over the years on MS products, and they don't work worth a ****.
I have (or had) three XP machines here at home. Of the three, two are by "name" manufacturers--HP and Sony--that came with XP preloaded. The HP machine works flawlessly. The Sony and my own home-built computer (using high-quality, standard components, btw, like ECS motherboard, AMD processor, VIA chipset, ATI video card, Crucial memory, etc.) crash constantly. It's the home-built machine that I just converted to Red Hat.
In fact, I just now had to reboot the Sony because I (the horror!) dared to bring up my Fax program--WinFax by Symantec--and the whole system froze.
MS is sh*t, there's no two ways about it. Okay, they're only 2/3rds sh*t; the HP machine doesn't have many problems.
Funny, that's what Bill Gates says. Not too many others, but Gates, for sure.
Worked for me, anyway.
Red Hat 8.0 and Blue Curve/Gnome. What a beautiful marriage.
Obviously the NT stuff is much more stable than the DOS-based Windows, but still has issues. I find it interesting that the NBMers never have any problems with XP and 2K while many other people do... and they're dismissed as driver problems or users having been "screwing around". I figure (1) you're very fault-tolerant, (2) you're lying, or (3) you know something the rest of us don't.
Which is it?
as is Microsoft's vulnerability laden software...
If you'll think about it, this makes sense.
I wouldn't be so down on MS if I didn't have a long history of problems getting their junk to stay up. It is this continual hassle with Windows over the years that has soured me on them, and wishful for an alternative.
BTW, I used to be a "Team OSer," I used OS/2 from the 2.0 version through OS/2 Warp. In the early days of OS/2, I also had problems with it. It was NOT as stable as many were professing it to be, and I got a lot of the same "it must be user error" comments from that crowd as well. Eventually, though, OS/2 DID become quite stable, at least by my own experience, and I attributed that to the desire for the OS/2 developers to incorporate feedback from people such as myself. I was even a Beta-tester for OS/2 3.0, because I was always nagging them about stuff.
I have not had much success with MS in that department. Oh, a patch or a fixpack will come out, and it might address some concerns, but others always remain and new ones appear.
The people who claim that all my problems must be "user error," are just being thick, though. By definition, and OPERATING System ought to be able to handle day-to-day activity, which is what I do. I'm not doing video editing, or real-time data processing, or anything like that; I'm trying to use spreadsheets, CAD software, email clients, applications of all kinds.
Saying that I "err" because I can't do that without rebooting from time to time (to time) is just lame.
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