[wplug] Tell me something good

David Ostroske eksortso at linuxmail.org
Tue May 21 12:46:31 EDT 2002


Wow, you haven't heard all the good press that OpenOffice has been getting in recent weeks. Go to Linux Today and search. People and businesses are taking it seriously.

Free isn't free; free speech isn't free beer. All high-tech firms have been hit with hard times, and they have to make ends meet to stay in business. Embedded software is hurt by this, but what hasn't been hurt recently?

But with a strong office suite getting good reviews, and MS shooting itself in the foot with ridiculously priced licensing schemes, Linux could slip into the desktop market through companies wanting to save some bucks. They might end up saving their sanity in the process.

What's left to develop, if and when the desktop market starts to grow, are the industry-specific aps that will work on these platforms. There's plenty of room to develop there, even if it's not technically "sexy" stuff.

I can't say much about embedded Linux, and I had always heard that Linux and Java were not an ideal coupling. But as far as bread-and-butter applications are concerned, the future of Linux looks bright.

--- David Ostroske (forever optimistic)
    eksortso at linuxmail.org


----- Original Message -----
From: "Weber, Larry A" <laweber at switch.com>
Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 11:03:33 -0400 
To: "'wplug at wplug.org'" <wplug at wplug.org>
Subject: [wplug] Tell me something good


> Seems to me that Linux has taken some serious hits this year.
> 
> Late last year there were a considerable number of articles in the trade
> journals about how Linux and Java were going to be the dynamic duo of
> embedded designs.  Indications were that even if Linux never makes it to the
> desktop, the server and embedded market would insure its future.  Even with
> of all this positive press, one of the leaders in the embedded Linux
> marketplace, Lineo, has just about closed its doors this week.  They have
> cut their staff from 320 to 72 and have had their Houston office padlocked.
> Lineo provides (provided?) the operating system used in the Sharp Zaurus
> PDA.
> 
> Redhat has also had severe cuts in its embedded staff, and this morning I
> receive a notice that after only 10 issues, SSC will no longer be publishing
> "Embedded Linux Journal".  They site "it is no longer viable as a
> stand-alone publication".
> 
> Companies are realizing that free isn't free.  Porting Linux to their
> embedded processor is technically difficult, taking too long and costing too
> much.
> 
> All this coming after the closing of NaN (Blender) and Loki is seriously bad
> news.
> 
> I need inspired!  Anybody hear any GOOD Linux applications news?
> 
> -laweber
> 
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