[Charlug] posscon

Mon Apr 20 11:09:55 EDT 2009

Sorry I could not make the event. I think whoever organized the event
gets it. http://www.posscon.org/ I'll try to find the presentations
archives.

Many Linux/Open Source people do not get it. Businesses who use Open
Source have a competitive edge. Tech businesses who use open source
win because they "build on the work of others". My point is not "will
open source win", but "open source has won". E.g. RedHat may be seen
as boring now because they already have won. The G1 phone runs Linux.
Linux is the OS of choice going forward. The battle for the
programming language of choice rages. Maybe it will be Java, Ruby, or
Mono. Which is open source?

TimJowers

On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 8:42 AM, Leam Hall <leam at reuel.net> wrote:
> Yeah, but Nalley crashed the party so he doesn't really count. :)
>
> If you're talking about business in Linux, Red Hat is it. No one else really
> competes well in the datacenter market. I'm pretty solid in my conviction
> that the OS will be a major player for 3-5 years, however, I do agree that
> past that point something else will have the option of causing big change.
> My current guess is the growth of application blades  or 1U boxes where the
> OS is re-built to support a finite set of functions. Cisco moving in to the
> server space is a good possibility.
>
> In that space I think Linux will win because of brain-share. *BSD has great
> value but the business support isn't behind it as much. Whether or not RH is
> the vendor of choice in 2015 remains to be seen. I think it's possible but
> there's too many smart people working on the problem for one place to
> guarantee being the de facto winner. I'd give it 40% for RH, 40% for a
> technology that exists today but is still in infancy, and maybe 20% for
> something not yet developed past the skunkworks stage.
>
> On the zLinux issue, the problem is companies have these huge boxes they
> can't really write off but don't have the skills to fully utilize. I've done
> some work with zLinux that required me understand a little about the
> mainframe. I was blown away! There are some really cool things about the
>  mainframes that make them totally interesting.
>
> The issue with zLinux is that you're using a VM and lose so many parts of
> the frame that are useful. The mindsets are highly divergent and unless
> there's a real and over-whelming business case I feel zLinux is a  solution
> looking for a problem.
>
> That's my thinking, anyway, and what I base my career choices on.  :)
>
> Leam
>
>
> Bob Evans wrote:
>>
>> Well, certainly the Fedora/Red Hat advocates(3)  outnumbered any other
>> Linux
>> advocates(0) in the speaker category. The closest in speaker count numbers
>> were employees of Blue Cross in Columbia, touting their zSeries
>> implementation of Linux.
>>
>> (zSeries = IBM mainframe)
>>
>> Some of you might remember IBM's demo of that little trick several years
>> ago
>> at a LUG meeting at CompUSA on South Blvd. We tried it at BOFA, too...
>>
>> So the nineties have officially arrived at Blue Cross. Good to know...
>>
>> Regarding your other comment, about Red Hat in 3-5...
>>
>> The likelihood of there being a discrete OS, other than in firmware, in
>> 3-5
>> years seems highly unlikely.
>>
>> But we'll see.
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 7:51 AM, Leam Hall <leam at reuel.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Not sure how you see it a Red Hat event. Greg DK pretty much did what he
>>> did at BarCamp Charlotte, and the one Keynote by the RH CIO wasn't enough
>>> to
>>> get you going.
>>>
>>> It was a Collegiate event for people who are new to or maybe even on the
>>> fence about Open Source. Red Hat was just a bit player.
>>>
>>> I think RH will be a major enterprise player for at least 3-5 years and
>>> eliminate most of the commercial Unices.
>>>
>>> More later, breakfast calls...
>>>
>>> Leam
>>>
>>> Bob Evans wrote:
>>>
>>>> I actually talked myself out of going, opting for family time. I was IN
>>>> THE
>>>> PARKING LOT when I realized that this was not something I really care
>>>> about
>>>> any more.....
>>>>
>>>> Looking over the sponsors,it was essentially a Red Hat event.
>>>>
>>>> I'm not anti-Red Hat. I just don't see them being the future of
>>>> software,
>>>> open or otherwise. They've certainly had a degree of success courtesy of
>>>> the
>>>> open source world, so I guess they feel obligated to hold these
>>>> things...
>>>>
>>>> It WAS a nice drive, though. And a beautiful day...
>>>>
>>>> -be
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 6:57 AM, Leam Hall <leam at reuel.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  Well...
>>>>>
>>>>> After being slightly numbed by all the "thank yous" up front I started
>>>>> to
>>>>> nod during the first keynote. The business track I attended in the AM
>>>>> was
>>>>> aimed at "why is Open Source okay". True material but not what I had
>>>>> been
>>>>> hoping for.
>>>>>
>>>>> Spent a little time handing out swag for Fedora, answering questions
>>>>> and
>>>>> doing a little bit of encouraging. Joined in a conversation helping a
>>>>> newbie
>>>>> over lunch, and that was about it. Hopefully the developers track was
>>>>> more
>>>>> useful to the attendees. After musing, munching, and going over the
>>>>> remaining schedule I put time with family over time listening to stuff
>>>>> I
>>>>> already knew.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'd love to hear from businesses that are significantly open source and
>>>>> how
>>>>> they integrate everything together. After so many years in the
>>>>> enterprise
>>>>> level game and seeing so many millions of dollars wasted on tools that
>>>>> don't
>>>>> interoperate I'd like to see someone speak about real business use of
>>>>> open
>>>>> source and real cost savings. One speaker seemed happy that the use of
>>>>> a
>>>>> dozen or so open source tools saved $100,000. Great! I've doubled that
>>>>> with
>>>>> a few lines of Bourne shell in just the right spot.
>>>>>
>>>>> Hopefully the June conference is better.
>>>>>
>>>>> Leam
>>>>>
>>>>> Bob Evans wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>  So... did anyone go to this thing?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  _______________________________________________
>>>>>>
>>>>> CharLUG mailing list
>>>>> CharLUG at charlug.org
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>>>>>
>>
>>
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