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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cheryl williamson who wrote (20073)	9/21/1999 3:36:00 PM
From: JC Jaros	Respond to of 64865

Speaking of clients, here's an interesting Dvorak piece. zdnet.com The Linux myth By John C. Dvorak, PC Magazine September 21, 1999 10:09 AM PT Everyone likes a good fight, especially if it's won by a beloved underdog taking on an impossible task. Thus has emerged dear Linux, the "little OS that could." More folklore surrounds this OS than just about anything I've ever witnessed in this industry. But what is Linux's real potential? Unlike most observers, I see no evidence that Linux can take on the big server chores. Its real potential may lie in the cheapest low-end desktops. Where Linux shines today is in medium-strain server systems. It's a near-perfect solution for the Web site on a budget. It's close to free, and when combined with the famed Apache server software, Linux can handle almost any medium-size page service chore. This is probably adequate for most uses today, but ask the true networking superstars about Linux on big systems under big loads and they all shake their heads. Ask Linux advocates exactly why no IRC (Internet Relay Chat) server runs Linux. One of my networking gurus said that he has never seen any Linux system on the IRC?probably the roughest networking environment on earth?hold up to the strain. In this instance, we're talking about the three major IRC networks: DALNet, Efnet, and Undernet. With tens of thousands of users logging on at once with numerous clients and multiple con nec tions and with constant attacks from sources around the world trying to shut down the service, Linux can't cut it?period. Why is this never mentioned by the Linux proponents who flood the critics with e-mail anytime anyone says anything to disparage the OS? Just hating Microsoft is not a good enough reason to promote Linux above everything else. When Linux fails in various subsegments of the marketplace, people always assume the problem is its open-source nature. "You can't get support." In fact, many companies support Linux in the same way Sun supports Solaris. Linux often fails, simply because it isn't robust enough. Contractors know this but fear the wrath of the Linux community and blame support. It's a phony excuse. This BS factor is what bothers me. The inadequate-support explanation creeps in for no other reason than to keep the lunatic fringe of the Linux movement from clogging the e-mail system with complaints. The fact is, Linux has yet to prove itself at the top of the food chain, and until it can run eBay, for example, it will remain the "in-between" OS. The low end is where Linux should gravitate. By this I don't mean Pentiums running in offices. I mean on AMD chips in sub-$200 computers with small amounts of memory and $50 hard disks. Under a normal load Linux is quite remarkable. It's small, fast, and stable. It's quite amazing actually. But it's still Unix and used primarily as a command line OS. There are numerous GUI shells for the thing, and there's no reason the Linux community can't standardize one and stick with it (except that there seems to be a rule against even imagining such a concept as agreement). Many like to blame Microsoft's dominance for the death of competition and innovation, but more likely, business simply pooped out. Computers can be used to automate only so many things. Once word processors, database managers, and spreadsheets were invented and perfected, what else was there? Just games. The modem-equipped machine was good for remote access; then the Web was invented, and now there is nothing left to conquer. For at least a decade, the only thing that's been going on is the debugging of old code. Without the Net, the computer business would have been in the toilet years ago. Now that you can combine a free OS with any number of cheap Linux-oriented office suites, it's time for a reemergence of VICs (very inexpensive computers). Microworkz has a $199 machine called the iToaster, which uses the kernel of the BeOS (the true competitor to Linux) to keep prices low. This trend will emerge within the next 12 months and will take the world by storm. Intel and the chip makers know this. In case you haven't noticed, their strategies are going toward the low end in a near panic. On a $199 machine, the OS can't cost more than a few bucks. Microsoft will have to shoot the OS cash cow if it wants to play. Microsoft won't be able to bundle its suites down there either, and it won't give Win CE away. So Microsoft's out of the picture. This new market has Linux written all over it. Get ready.