SuperSite Blog : Linux

Ubuntu Says Microsoft's Netbook Claims are True

pthurrott — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:57:52 GMT

Chris Kenyon from Ubuntu sponsor Canonical has posted a rebuttal of sorts to Microsoft's netbook market share claims, which it calls "FUD." Most of it is an opinion piece, so let's just jump straight to the relevant bits. It requires a lot of cut and paste, because he intersperses little bits of data--data that is rarely backed up--with lots and lots of side discussion.

To be clear, Microsoft recently made the following claims:

1. 96 percent of netbooks sold in the US are sold with Windows, according to NPD.

2. The return rate for Linux-based notebooks is 4x the return rate of Windows-based notebooks, according to leading netbook vendors.

The Ubuntu claims are:

The price of XP crashed last year due to competition. So even if you bought a netbook last year with XP - feel free to smile when you see an Ubuntu PC. It’s amazing what an open market can achieve.

... True, but this just backs up what Microsoft is saying and what the data suggests: Once the price of XP fell to accommodate low priced netbooks, Windows market share on those machines skyrocketed at the expense of Linux.

The really big news for the industry is that well-engineered Linux netbooks have similar return rates to XP.

... but he offers no data to back that up. (Emphasis on "well-engineered" was mine. "Well-engineered"?)

Not too long ago, not a single PC manufacturer was shipping Ubuntu .... [Today] Dell, HP, and Toshiba are all shipping Ubuntu.

... True. And completely irrelevant to a discussion about netbook marketshare, however. Obviously, Linux market share on regular computers is even lower than that of netbooks. But again, that's not part of this discussion.

And my favorite bit, which of course comes right at the end:

If we are going to compete, let’s do it on real facts and actual statements. You’re better than that, Redmond.

Apparently, Canonical is not better than that. Please read the entire post. There isn't a single shred of evidence or data in there that refutes the claims Microsoft made, just a single baseless line stating that "well-engineered" Linux netbooks have similar return rates to XP. Interesting qualifier.

So let's be clear about what this really is: Ubuntu/Canonical felt it had to respond to Microsoft's widely reported claims. But all it really did was implicitly agree that Microsoft's claims about netbook market share and return rates are, in fact, true.

Looked at another way, it is Canonical, not Microsoft, that is guilty of FUD. Microsoft offers evidence where Canonical offers prose and opinion. That's FUD.

Linux Integration Components for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V

pthurrott — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 13:24:26 GMT

Looks like Microsoft has released an update for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V so that it can work more efficiently with Linux guest OSes.

Brief Description

A set of drivers that enable synthetic device support in supported Linux virtual machines under Hyper-V.

Overview

When installed in a supported Linux virtual machine running on Hyper-V, the Linux Integration Components provide.

Driver support for synthetic devices: The Linux integration components include support for both the synthetic network controller and synthetic storage controller that have been developed specifically for Hyper-V. These components take advantage of the new high-speed bus, VMBus, which was developed for Hyper-V.

Hypercall adapter: The Hypercall adapter is a thin layer of software that translates the Xen-specific virtualization function calls from a Xen-enabled Linux kernel to Microsoft Hyper-V hypercalls. This results in improved performance for the Linux virtual machine.

Fastpath Boot Support: Boot devices now take advantage of the storage VSC to provide enhanced performance.

Thanks, Rafael.

Time to queue up 2009's first 'Year of the Linux Desktop' joke

pthurrott — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 14:17:05 GMT

Well, maybe not.

In this New York Times article, Ubuntu Linux is the focus, and I'm OK with that: Ubuntu is, by a wide margin, the only Linux version that has any chance (albeit one of the snowball in hell variety) of succeeding with consumers. But I think the key here is not "consumers in the US and other developed nations" but rather "new computer users in emerging markets."

Created just over four years ago, Ubuntu (pronounced oo-BOON-too) has emerged as the fastest-growing and most celebrated version of the Linux operating system, which competes with Windows primarily through its low, low price: $0.

More than 10 million people are estimated to run Ubuntu today, and they represent a threat to Microsoft’s hegemony in developed countries and perhaps even more so in those regions catching up to the technology revolution.

“If we’re successful, we would fundamentally change the operating system market,” Mr. Shuttleworth said during a break at the gathering, the Ubuntu Developer Summit. “Microsoft would need to adapt, and I don’t think that would be unhealthy.”

The article is worth reading. But I'd like to point out that, for the mainstream tech market, the notion that Linux is ever going to compete effectively with Windows is somewhat laughable. In fact, most people feel that Linux has been bypassed by Mac OS X in that regard, even though Apple's system continues to hover below the 4 percent market share figure worldwide.

But I wonder if that's fair. As I noted in an earlier blog post, Keith Curtis, a former Microsoft employee, has just published a book in which he argues that Linux and other open source software solutions will eventually bury the software giant. You can find that book, After the Software Wars, here.

I've run numerous kinds of Linux since the mid-1990s, but maybe I need to be paying more attention to this stuff.

A Microsoft Veteran Embraces Open Source

pthurrott — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:56:39 GMT

John Markoff of the New York Times blogs about an interesting new self-published book by a former Microsoft employee:

Keith Curtis has just written a book about the future of software.

That in itself isn’t unique. More unusual is that Mr. Curtis, an 11-year veteran of Microsoft, the world’s largest software company, believes deeply that open source is the future of software.

And while he says he holds no grudge against his former employer, in the long run, the company “is toast.”

His book, “After the Software Wars,” was published last month by Lulu.com, a Web-based publishing service that makes it possible for Mr. Curtis to give the first 1,000 readers the option of downloading a free version of the book (590 people have already taken advantage of the offer) or purchasing a paperback version for $19.97 (so far he has sold 11 copies, five of which were purchased by his mom).

He takes a programmer’s approach in “Software Wars,” attempting to systematically build a case that software can help pave the way for a 21st-century renaissance in many fields ranging from artificial intelligence (cars that drive themselves) to the human journey into space (space elevators).

For Mr. Curtis, the strength of open source software, and why it’s the future, is all about leveraging our collective intelligence.

After he left Microsoft, he installed a copy of the Linux operating system on a lark. His world was turned upside down. He spent three years exploring the open source world — reading, attending conferences, looking at source code and talking to the rank-and-file members of the open source community.

Mr. Curtis says he’s not bitter about his time at Microsoft, but the world has moved on. “I loved working there, learned an enormous amount, made a few shekels, and enjoyed the privilege of working alongside many brilliant minds. Like many things in life, it was fun while it lasted.”

I grabbed an electronic version of the book (PDF format). Looks really interesting.

VirtualBox

pthurrott — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:14:41 GMT

I must somewhat sheepishly admit that I'd never heard of Sun's VirtualBox virtualization solution, but a few people recommended it today on Twitter so I thought I'd give it a look. What I see looks promising. On Windows (client), there are two traditional virtualization solutions that most people are familiar with, Microsoft Virtual PC and VMWare Workstation. Virtual PC is free, which is a plus. But it's limited in some ways compared to VMWare WS, including such things as support for USB, and it doesn't perform as well. I use both, for whatever it's worth, but most of my VMs are in Virtual PC format.

Anyway... VirtualBox is also free. But like VMWare, it supports USB. It also natively supports a lot of Linux distributions which is yet another problem with Virtual PC. So it's worth looking at.

Here's what the VirtualBox site has to say about the product:

VirtualBox is a family of powerful x86 virtualization products for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software.

Presently, VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh and OpenSolaris hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), and OpenBSD.

VirtualBox is being actively developed with frequent releases and has an ever growing list of features, supported guest operating systems and platforms it runs on. VirtualBox is a community effort backed by a dedicated company: everyone is encouraged to contribute while Sun ensures the product always meets professional quality criteria.

I'm installing Ubuntu Linux under VirtualBox as I write this. If this works as advertised, it could be a compelling alternative.

Seven client OSes that won't replace Windows

pthurrott — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:18:44 GMT

But what the heck, it makes for a cute article.

Not to ruin the surprise, but they are:

1. Mac OS X

2. Linux

3. Solaris/Open Solaris

4. FreeBSD

5. Midori (Which isn't even an OS)

6. iPhone OS/Symbian/Android

7. The Revenge of Netscape (Web)

So, what's the real take-away here? That ...

1) None of these client OSes will ever replace Windows. (or)

2) How the heck did he even find seven non-Windows client OSes? :) Oh, wait. He didn't. Only the first two are viable desktop OSes, maybe the first three. Maybe.

But numbers 6 and 7 actually do point towards an interesting and believable future: Certainly, PCs will be outpaced by mobile and Web devices. Arguably, they already are.

Pure fluff piece.

Thanks Joe R.

The Perfect Desktop - Ubuntu 8.04 LTS

pthurrott — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:46:19 GMT

Seeing the title of this article, I assumed it was a review. Instead, we get something far more valuable: A very in-depth look at how to install and configure Ubuntu Linux 8.04 in an optimal fashion. I recently installed Ubuntu 8.04 on the Shuttle PC I've been testing, and I'll try out at least some of these suggestions today:

This document describes step by step how to set up a Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) desktop. The result is a fast, secure and extendable system that provides all you need for daily work and entertainment.

This how-to is a practical guide without any warranty - it doesn't cover the theoretical backgrounds. There are many ways to set up such a system - this is the way I chose.

Ubuntu 8.04 around the Web

pthurrott — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:51:21 GMT

In keeping with my ongoing look at Ubuntu Linux 8.04, here are some interesting articles I've seen about this new release:

eWeak: Ubuntu 8.04 Is Ready to Take On Windows

I used my second test machine, an Athlon 64-based desktop running Windows Vista, to try out Ubuntu 8.04's newest installation option, in which Ubuntu installs itself in a couple of large files on a preexisting Windows installation. The last few Ubuntu releases have shipped in a LiveCD format that enables users to boot into a temporary Ubuntu desktop suitable for trying out the system before either devoting an entire system to Ubuntu or resizing existing Windows partitions to make way for Ubuntu in a dual-boot configuration.

The Ubuntu desktop I'd installed within Windows seemed no different from the one I'd installed on its own hardware, and I was pleased to find that the files from my Windows instance were accessible from Ubuntu. According to documentation on the Ubuntu Web site, there's a performance hit associated with this sort of install, but I didn't detect an appreciable slowdown.

I have seen a big performance hit with this type of install. And it was quite noticeable. Still, it's a great option for testing.

Mark Shuttleworth: The Heron takes flight

Hearty congratulations to the entire Ubuntu community on the successful launch of 8.04 LTS. This was our best release cycle ever, from the planning at UDS-Boston last year, at which we had many different teams and companies, to the beta process which attracted so much in the way of testing and patches. I think we can be justifiably proud of the quality of 8.04 LTS. From the code to the documentation, from translations to advocacy, this has been a team effort with the shared goal of delivering the very best free software experience to the very widest possible audience. May Hardy be both enduring and endearing.

I’m very conscious of the fact that Ubuntu is the pointy edge of a very large wedge - we are the conduit, but we exist only because of the extraordinary dedication and effort of thousands of other communities and projects. We all owe a great deal to the team who make Debian’s “unstable” repository possible, and of course to the upstream projects from GNOME and KDE through to the Linux kernel. We hope you will be proud of the condition in which we have carried your excellent work through to the users of Ubuntu.

It's nice to see Shuttleworth extending this thank you to Debian. Few mainstream computer users are probably even aware of the link between Ubuntu and Debian.

Jason Perlow: Ubuntu: I’m extremely impatient

The demand for downloads and updates to the newly released Linux distribution was so tremendous, that the repositories are totally overwhelmed — you can’t connect to the US or central Canonical archives if your life depended on it today. According to a close industry source, Ubuntu saturated 20 Gigabits of bandwidth from both its main repositories and download locations over the last 24 hours. It’s like the Seinfeld episode where they go to the Chinese restaurant and the bunch are stymied by every attempt to get a table.

Obviously, this has since cleared up significantly. You should have no issues downloading Ubuntu 8.04 now.

Kubuntu Hardy: Mildly disappointing

Kubuntu Hardy has a lot of nice welcome features. First, there's a KDE 4 version, which packs the latest and greatest (but very unstable) desktop environment, as well as the default version with the rock solid KDE 3.5. Compiz Fusion support has (finally) come to KDE with the new Desktop Effects app. Wubi has been bundled as well, making it dead simple for Windows users to install and uninstall Kubuntu.

As far as looks, Kubuntu is basically the same.

Konqueror is the most awesome file manager in the world (Finder and Windows Explorer have nothin' on it), but it is a horrible web browser. KHTML (the engine that powers it) is most possibly the worst renderer ever. It's not quite as fast as WebKit (the Safari engine) and won't render everything like Gecko (the Firefox engine) will.

Overall, I'm not as excited as I originally was about Kubuntu Hardy. The Compiz Fusion enabler was especially nice, since I never quite got Compiz to work on previous distros. Wubi is certainly nice, but only for switchers (not old-time Linux users like me). And with problems that should definitely not be there, Kubuntu Hardy is rather mediocre.

I tend to focus on the meat and potatoes "Ubuntu" product, but there of course other variants including Kubuntu (utilizing the KDE environment rather than GNOME), Edubuntu (a kid-friendly version with "school-related applications"), Xubuntu (utilizing the lightweight Xfce environment), and Gobuntu (containing only modifiable and redistributable open source code).

Ubuntu 8.04 feature tour

pthurrott — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:46:47 GMT

I've been working with Ubuntu 8.04 in my spare time over the past weekend, and I'm definitely going to be reviewing it sometime soon. (I don't know how or why I let so much time slip by, but the last time I reviewed an Ubuntu distribution was almost three years ago [!!!] with version 5.04.)

As always, Ubuntu is interesting stuff. But I think moving forward it may make sense to look at this thing not so much as a "Windows replacement" but rather as the basis for a second PC and/or a PC that is aimed primarily at cloud computing activities: Email via Gmail, calendaring via Google Calendar, document creation and management via Google Docs, and so on. The world is moving on, and in some ways, Linux is more relevant than ever as a result.

Anyway, in relation to last week's release of Ubuntu 8.04, Ubuntu has set up a nice tour of the new features in the Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop Edition, which is the version with which I'm most interested. There's some good info here:

The latest Ubuntu release brings the best of open source together on a platform that is here to stay with 3 years of free updates. With hundreds of improvements and the addition of the latest version of Firefox amongst other outstanding applications, more and more users are assessing why Ubuntu wins more and more converts with every release. This tour will help you discover this for your self.

Productivity tools: Ubuntu supports all of your favorite web-based mail programs like Yahoo(TM) or Gmail (TM). But for the office, Evolution provides all the calendering, contacts and full function office email you need. Pidgin IM also puts you in instant touch with colleagues and integrates with your personal IM services simply and easily.

Browsing: Including Mozilla Firefox (Beta 5) - tested and stabilized for a platform. Faster, safer and themed for Ubuntu.

Photos: Upload from your camera or phone to F-Spot and manage, tag, share and sort your photos and upload easily to you favorite social networking sites.

Music and video: Plug in your PSP, iPod, MP3 player; share playlists with your friends; buy in the creative commons online music stores, stream more live radio and plug in more devices with UPnP.

Office applications: Word processing, spreadsheets and presentations can all be delivered through Open Office. And, they completely integrate with the proprietary office applications out there. The big difference is that they are free.

Accessibility: At the core of the Ubuntu philosophy is the belief that computing is for everyone and access should be free and complete whatever your economic or physical circumstances. Ubuntu is one of the most accessible desktop operating systems around.

Things I'm waiting for

pthurrott — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:41:26 GMT

Offline access to Google Docs
OK, I admit that Google Docs is mostly useless. (In fact, I'm surprised no one has pointed out that the silly little text editor in Microsoft's Office Live Workspace pretty much provides all the functionality of Google Docs' word processing component.) But I'm quite interested in offline access to Web apps and this will be a good test of a truly useful one. (Gmail or Google Calendar would be much better.) Some people do have access to offline Google Docs already. I keep checking every day.

Ubuntu 8.04
Ubuntu is going to ship version 8.04 of its Linux distribution, lamely code-named "Hardy Heron," on Thursday. It's been too long since I've reviewed Ubuntu, so I'll do so with this version. In fact, that might be a good use of that Shuttle KPC I just reviewed.

Microsoft "Albany"
Last week, Microsoft owned up to its Albany project, which combines Office Home and Student 2007 with Windows Live One Care and a bunch of Windows Live and Office Live services:

“Albany” is the codename for a new all-in-one subscription service of essential software and services consumers told us were most important to them. We’ve pulled together the productivity tools people need to organize their lives, security to help keep their personal information safe and online services that make it easy for them to keep in touch with friends and family, and folded them all into a single service that also ensures the user’s PC is running the latest security and productivity software.

With just a few clicks, “Albany” subscribers will be able install the whole package, which includes Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, giving them the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote for their personal and school projects; Windows Live OneCare to help keep viruses at bay and their computer fast and healthy; and Windows Live Mail, Messenger and Photo Gallery so they can connect and share with others. Albany also installs the Microsoft Office Live Workspace connector on the Microsoft Office toolbar, so users can save documents to their own dedicated online workspace and invite friends and classmates to collaborate and share.

Additionally, with “Albany” consumers get the latest versions of Microsoft Office Home and Student and Windows Live OneCare as they’re released. Combined with ongoing security updates, consumers can have the peace of mind that they have protection from the most recent security threats and that their PC is running at its peak.

Albany just entered beta and while I do know a few people with access to it, I'll probably wait until Microsoft reaches out formally to the press (usually around the next beta) before taking a look at it. From a personal perspective, Albany isn't that interesting to me. But I do believe that subscription software is a rest stop on the road towards cloud computing, where the evolution of software distribution can roughly be seen as:

Distribution of software via physical media (floppy, CD, DVD) exclusively.
Electronic distribution of smaller applications and utilities only with physical media still used for commercial software applications.
Subscription availability of commercial applications with physical media component or option.
Full electronic distribution of virtually all software, where much software is downloaded but still installed locally.
Full adoption of software as a service (i.e. "cloud computing") where most software isn't downloaded per se but rather accessed fully online.

Albany exists at about number 3 on this list, as does much volume license software for enterprises. Interestingly, Microsoft tried number 3 with Windows Anytime Upgrade, but backed off to number 2 because of consumer complaints. I'll post an editorial about this phenomenon later today.

Windows Vista One Year Vulnerability Report

pthurrott — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:00:13 GMT

Microsoft takes a look back at the security implications of Vista's first year on the market:

This paper analyzes the vulnerability disclosures and security updates for the first year of Windows Vista and looks at it in the context of its predecessor, Windows XP, along with other modern workstation operating systems Red Hat, Ubuntu and Apple products.

Summary

Windows Vista shipped to business customers on the last day of November 2006, so the end of November 2007 marks the one year anniversary for supported production use of the product. This paper analyzes the vulnerability disclosures and security updates for the first year of Windows Vista and looks at it in the context of its predecessor, Windows XP, along with other modern workstation operating systems Red Hat, Ubuntu and Apple products. The results of the analysis show that Windows Vista has an improved security vulnerability profile over its predecessor. Analysis of security updates also shows that Microsoft improvements to the security update process and development process have reduced the impact of security updates to Windows administrators significantly compared to its predecessor, Windows XP.

Note that this report is an update to the previously published Windows Vista 90-Day Vulnerability Report and Windows Vista 6-Month Vulnerability Report. However, since one year is a more informative time frame, this report contains the results of a deeper level of analysis.

Download the report in PDF format

So I'll break the suspense and note that, as expected, Windows Vista performed amazingly well compared to both its predecessor (XP) and the competition. You should read the entire report, of course. But I think this table says it all. (I added color for emphasis.)

Metric	Windows Vista (year 1)	Windows XP(year 1)	Red Hat RHEL4WS (year 1)	Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Reduced (year 1)	Mac OS X 10.4 (year 1)
Vulnerabilities Fixed	36	65	360	224	116
Security Updates	17	30	125	80	17
Patch Events	9	26	64	65	17
Weeks with at least One Patch Event	9	25	44	39	15

The Great Windows Collapse of 2011

pthurrott — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:40:32 GMT

I've gotten a lot email this week about the over-hyped Gartner report that said, essentially, that Windows is collapsing under its own weight. My reaction to this is two-fold. Before we get to that, here's a typical story about this report from ZD's Larry Dignan, who, I'm happy to report, is still with us. I'm making a number of comments in-line here. I have to, the apparent cluelessness of some of the Gartner comments here are to obvious to ignore...

Microsoft’s Windows juggernaut is collapsing as it tries to support 20 years of applications and becomes more complicated by the minute. Meanwhile, Windows has outgrown hardware and customers are pondering skipping Vista to wait for Windows 7. If Windows is going to remain relevant it will need radical changes.

That sobering outlook comes courtesy of Gartner analysts Michael Silver and Neil MacDonald. "Windows is too monolithic," says Silver.

... This despite the modular, componentized architecture that debuted in Windows Vista, was productized as Server Core in Windows Server 2008, and will become MinWin in Windows 7 ...

MacDonald argued that Windows may need multiple kernels to support increasing demands from customers and hardware makers. "One size doesn’t fit all," says MacDonald.

... This, despite the fact that Microsoft's product bifurcation strategy with Windows Vista has been roundly criticized by pundits, analysts, and users. By my count, there are almost 20 different versions of Windows Vista from which to choose right now ... I'd also point out that Microsoft offers Windows XP Home (for ULCPCs), Windows Embedded, Windows CE, Windows Mobile, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008, among several other variants, to satisfy different markets; most of these products have different kernels ...

.. And while we're at it, Gartner has no issue with Apple moving the Mac OS X kernel and basic OS to the iPhone, right? Right ...

But the big issue, of course, is backwards compatibility.

Gartner argues that Microsoft should use virtualization to solve the backward compatibility issue plaguing Windows.

Fair enough. I actually agree with that bit.

OK, here are my two points about this silliness.

1. I've been saying that Microsoft needs a new OS platform for several years. One bit of evidence of this is my April 2002 article, not so coyly titled, Maybe It's Time for a New Platform. This article was written in the wake of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates' US antitrust case testimony, in which he said that removing key middleware from Windows would force Microsoft to take that OS off the market. There are also references to the huge and unrelenting security issues facing XP back then, issues that people conveniently forget today in their efforts to rip Vista to shreds (despite the fact that it's never had any major security issues):

For the past decade, we've watched as Microsoft melded its legacy Windows products with NT technologies, and the latest Windows version, XP, is the ultimate combination of these two product families. XP's core is all NT, of course, since that platform provides the sophisticated low-level services needed in a modern operating system. But a lot of the fluff--the user interface work, Internet Explorer, the digital media functionality, and so on--came from outside the NT team. And it seems, sometimes, that in giving us the best of both worlds, Microsoft has stripped the soul from NT by layering it under mountains of other garbage.

I've written about the origins of NT before, and the ways in which this OS has been compromised over the years, such as when the then-buggy and unreliable IE was made a required component in order to install key server products, such as SQL Server or IIS. And with XP, it seems that the inmates have taken over the asylum in some ways, that the needs of consumers now outweigh the needs of the enterprise. NT, once the domain of businesses, developers, and other technical users, has been relegated to the barely mentioned underpinnings of a system designed to not crash while Johnny is blasting space aliens or mom is ordering groceries online. It's a sad state of affairs.

Maybe it's time for the company to walk away from Windows in the enterprise and work up a replacement that offers binary compatibility but none of the foundational problems. Remember, NT was a brand new world when it was being developed in the early 1990's, but back then, the big connectivity issue was LANMAN-based networking in small businesses, and security wasn't exactly one of the top three bullet items. Perhaps Microsoft needs to start thinking about another grass roots development project, one rooted in security, which could replace NT. It's been almost fifteen years since Dave Cutler sat down and wrote up the requirements for NT, and that product was supposed to offer MS-DOS, OS/2 and POSIX compatibility, support for RISC processors, and other technologies so far out of date today as to be almost ridiculous. You can only tack features on an existing product for so long before its time to start over from scratch.

I don't think Windows is going away any time soon, but it's possible now, more than ever, to find viable alternatives. If Microsoft is serious about embracing security, it may be time to let go of its Windows cash cow and start anew. XP might be secure enough for the home, but it's seems increasingly insufficient for the needs of the enterprise. And if the company doesn't start working on a solution now, it may find Windows collapsing under a mountain of security exploits and vulnerabilities far more damaging than any non-settling states plan.

The point here is simple: Gartner is just playing catch-up in this case. Now you can see why I never quote analysts. They're always late to the party.

2. Gartner is wrong. When I made the assertions quoted in the article above, Microsoft had just melded the insecure parts of the Windows 9x platform to underpinnings of the more secure NT platform and created Windows XP. As noted above, a lot of people conveniently forget today that XP's first year on the market was even more controversial than Vista's thanks to an unbelievable series of major security exploits. These exploits led directly to Microsoft's security initiative, the halting in development of Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008 (then called Longhorn), and the creation of Windows XP Service Pack 2, a major Windows release that Microsoft gave away to users in an unprecedented mea culpa.

Jump ahead to today and the world has changed. The Windows Vista platform, as an extension of that XP SP2 platform, is far more secure and, more important from an architectural standpoint, far more modular and componentized (read: less monolithic) than its predecessors. In fact, you can see how its becoming even more modular and componentized (and thus less monolithic) over time via technologies like image-based setup and deployment (Vista, 2006), Server Core (Windows Server 2008, 2008), and MinWin (expected Windows 7, 2010). So Windows is actually evolving over time from an architectural standpoint. And it is doing so by sacrificing backwards compatibility as little as possible. (Though, oddly, everyone is complaining about how poor a job Vista does in this regard.)

I'd also like to point out that every single one of the problems Gartner has with Windows is true of other desktop operating systems as well. Yes, Apple is more aggressive about killing off older technologies (read: Classic) but then that has also come back to bite them (read: Adobe can't make a 64-bit version of Photoshop on OS X for this very reason). One might argue--I will--that Microsoft's approach makes more sense for users and is more appropriate for a company that, incidentally, does have a user base that's over 1 billion users strong. It's easy to be aggressive when your audience is just a tiny fraction of that size.

All that said, it should be obvious for those who read this blog and this Web site, and listen to my podcast, that I feel that the future of computing is cloud computing. But again, that's not a unique problem for Windows, nor is something that's going to happen overnight. If anything, Microsoft's "Software + Services" initiative is, to me, the most logical model for moving the legacy computing world to the future. (It's like the x64 platform, when you think about it: One eye on the future, one eye on the past.) My point is that Microsoft, unlike say Apple, actually gets it when it comes to managing a humongous user base and is actively working to ensure both that its desktop OS makes sense as we move to this future and that its online services business is poised to capitalize on this change as well. I don't see anyone else doing this, and if anything Microsoft should be applauded for taking care of its users, advancing the Windows architecture in ways that make sense, and embracing a future computing model that, frankly, will one day spell the end of the products to which it owes all of its past successes.

As for Gartner and others of their ilk? Pfft. They'll collapse under the weight of their own pomposity by 2011. You read it here first.

Related: Mary Jo Foley has written a nice post about Gartner's report. She also touches on some of the modularity issues I raise here and notes too, that the Gartner report is a bunch of hype that [doesn't] provide any new insights or conclusions." Exactly. Put another way, this Gartner baloney was like an intelligence test for bloggers. No big surprise, but most of them failed miserably.

Shuttle KPC Linux PC now available

pthurrott — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:38:36 GMT

DesktopLinux.com reports on an interesting new entry in the "ultra low cost PC" category:

What's cute, comes in a 6.4" high, 11" long, and 7.5" wide black box and runs Linux? That would be Shuttle Computers' KPC Shuttle.

This small-form factor PC doesn't have to stay black however. In what must be one of the most unusual customization options ever, the KPC comes with an application, MyKover, that lets you create your own panel-paper covers for your PC's walls. You can either use those provided by the company or make your own.

The KPC runs Foresight Linux 2.0. This is an innovative desktop Linux that's designed to show up the newest and best of the GNOME desktop. It is built from rPath Linux with its Conary package management system.

Given its goals, it won't surprise anyone to know that Foresight uses GNOME 2.22 and other latest model GNOME applications, such as the groupware program Evolution 2.22. The distribution, which uses the 2.6.23.Linux kernel, also includes the usual Linux desktop favorites such as OpenOffice, Firefox and the Pidgin IM client.

As for the KPC itself, it comes with either Intel Celeron 420, by default, or it can be upgraded to an Intel Pentium dual-core E4500 processor. It can run these chips from 533MHz to 1.8GHz. The system comes with 512MBs of RAM and can go up to 2GBs of RAM.

So I'm intrigued enough that I just ordered one. (I got the mid-level model--Pentium dual-core, but upgraded to 2 GB of RAM.) Should be interesting.

Related: Foresight Linux
Related: Shuttle KPC

It's true: Windows is caught between Mac and Linux

pthurrott — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:17:16 GMT

I guess it's all in how you look at it. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols provides the following bit of time killer over on Desktop Linux, which I'm guessing is one of the lonelier Web destinations these days:

For the first time in ages, the sale of new PCs with Windows as a percentage of the PC market is declining sharply. The new winner is the Mac, but, while no one does a good job of tracking the still-new, pre-installed Linux desktop market, it's also clear that Linux is finally making impressive inroads into Windows' once unchallenged market share.

I see two strong trends here. On the high end, people are buying Macs instead of Windows PC. On the low end, Linux is eating Windows alive.

Windows finds itself being confined to the middle ground.

As proof, he cites the US-only, retail-only NPD numbers that made the rounds this week on all the Mac fanatic sites, and "empirical evidence makes it clear that Linux desktops are moving into customers' hands at a quick pace." I feel that neither of these is particularly relevant from a wider trend perspective, but I do like the concept of Windows being "caught between Mac and Linux." So much, in fact, that I graphed it with Excel, using actual, real-world market share figures from calendar year 2007. And when you do this, here's what you get, ladies and gentlemen. I present: Windows, caught between Mac and Linux:

Chicken Little, your time has come.

Introduction to Ubuntu 8.04 Beta

pthurrott — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:34:41 GMT

Ubuntu preps the next release of its Linux distribution:

The Ubuntu developers are moving very quickly to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the open source community has to offer. This is the Ubuntu 8.04 beta release, which brings a host of excellent new features.

Note: This is still a beta release. Do not install it on production machines. The final stable version will be released in April 2008.

New Features since Ubuntu 7.10
Xorg 7.3
Linux kernel 2.6.24
GNOME 2.22
PolicyKit
PulseAudio
Firefox 3 Beta 4
Transmission
Vinagre
Brasero
World Clock Applet
Inkscape
Virtualization
ActiveDirectory [sic] integration
iSCSI support
Firewall
Memory Protection
Wubi
umenu
Installation

Ubuntu remains my favorite Linux distribution by far. Looking over this list of new features, a number of items stand out. GNOME 2.2 is obviously a big deal, thanks to the dramatically improved Nautilus file manager. The inclusion of a beta version of Firefox is interesting, but given FF3's schedule, I guess they don't have much choice. Vinagre is a VNC client, providing Ubuntu with a decent remote desktop solution. Brasero looks like an ImgBurn clone. The World Clock applet looks like it was lifted straight out of Vista, which is understandable. Inkscape offers PDF viewing and editing, a la OS X. I had to look up KVM, which is a Linux virtualization platform for Linux: It's part of the Linux 2.6.20+ kernel, and it appears to be technologically similar to Microsoft's Hyper-V in that it requires virtualization support in recent Intel and AMD microprocessors. Wubi is interesting as well: This lets you install Ubuntu under Windows (!) as if it were any other Windows application. I guess it's a replacement for/alternative to running Ubuntu off the CD.

Anyway. Certainly worth checking out. There's a lot going on here.