What's the best operating system in a recession?
So Reuters is reporting that Amazon is claiming, in a regulatory filing, that it saved 25 percent on technology costs last quarter, in part by migrating some of its computer systems to Linux-based operating systems.
The news is worth taking note of. Technology pundits have been wringing their hands of late, noting with great alarm that gross hardware and software sales have been shrinking -- something that the computer industry is not accustomed to. But even as Microsoft is rolling out Windows XP in a classic attempt to get consumers to spend Microsoft back to boom-time growth -- other companies may be discovering that adoption of open-source software is a sensible move in a recession.
For companies like VA Linux, now reportedly changing its name to VA Software, it may be too late. Spending cash on VA's infrastructure for improving software development management may seem unnecessarily frivolous in tough times. But for Red Hat, the leading U.S. vendor of Linux, a recession may be exactly what the software doctor ordered. Cheap software designed to go with cheap hardware is exactly what cash-strapped chief technology officers are on the lookout for -- and Red Hat has long been the market leader in precisely that space. The longer the downturn continues -- and today's news that economic growth contracted .4 percent in the third quarter suggests that we've still got quite a ways to go before we see the bottom -- the better Red Hat, and all Linux-based operating systems, may end up doing. --Andrew Leonard [10:45 a.m. PST, Oct. 31, 2001]
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Plea from the U.N.: Enough with the e-mail, already!
Petition-loving peaceniks be warned: The United Nations doesn't want your e-mails.
The international body's information center has posted a message asking people to stop forwarding e-mails to the agency.
"We have been receiving an overwhelming amount of e-mails as part of a petition -- generated by an unknown source -- urging the U.S. and international community to refrain from going to war," the site states. "While we were heartened by this effort, the United Nations Secretariat (to which we are employed) is an implementing organ for the actions and programs agreed upon and supported by its 189 Member States. Therefore, if individuals really want their voices heard by these decision-makers, they should contact their governments and mission to the UN to express concerns and views."
In other words: Leave us alone!
Some might find the U.N.'s position odd: Does it really want to be seen as an international democratic body that doesn't want public input? But the ban on opinionated e-mail faces a far more concrete problem: Namely, it will never work. The petition in question -- which starts out by asking people to "Mourn the Victims" and "Stand for Peace" -- shows no signs of petering out, regardless of U.N. desires. The copy we received on Tuesday tells recipients to "send a copy of the message to: unicwash@unicwash.org" if the message has more than 500 names at the bottom. Our copy had 374. We didn't forward it along, but we're confident others will do so. The U.N. should be receiving it shortly. -- Damien Cave [9:30 a.m. PDT, Oct. 24, 2001]
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Linux: The best offense is a good defense
What with all the news about war, terrorism, anthrax and a crashing economy lately, we seem to have mislaid our favorite story of the late '90s: Linux's rise to world domination. So our ears perked up when we saw that the operating system formerly known as a Microsoft killer had infiltrated the NFL.
In his weekly humorous rundown of the week's upcoming NFL games, Washington Post sportswriter Norman Chad writes, "Ravens (-7 1/2) at Browns: Ravens Coach Brian Billick faults last week's defensive breakdown on team's switch to Linux operating system. Pick: Ravens."
Never mind that Chad was just making a joke, or that Billick has previously been exposed as a Mac user. The salient point, as all free software or open-source software fans will no doubt agree, is that even as the hue and cry about Linux has faded from the headlines, the software is still percolating through the social subconscious. Now that Linux has penetrated the sports pages, is there any sacred place still immune to its charms?
We do wonder, however, how long it will be before Norman Chad receives a letter from Richard Stallman, recommending politely, and yet with adamantine earnestness, that Chad refer only to the GNU/Linux operating system when making any future jibes. --Andrew Leonard [1:30 p.m. PDT, Oct. 22, 2001]
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Recently in the In Box: KaZaa's FastTrack to Napsterhood. Plus: The assault on civil liberties, continued. The Child Online Protection Act gets a date with the Supremes. Grossest abuse of patriotism in a post-attack spam yet.Got a tip for the In Box? E-mail us