Time Out
Posts: 4,194 
Location: Vancouver
Location: Vancouver
December 14th, 2005, 02:10 AM
Swiss Government Switches 3,000 Systems to Linux
A teaser:
Novell Inc. Tuesday announced an agreement with the government of Switzerland to convert 3,000 of its servers to the company's SUSE Linux operating system.
Operational efficiency and cost were key factors driving the Swiss government's decision to move to Linux, according to Novell.
Novell did not disclose the value of the contract but did say it was the first formal procurement of any Linux platform by the Swiss government.
"Linux has been gradually introduced into various government departments in recent years, but this is the first formalized procurement process regarding the introduction of Linux at a federal level," said Jurg Roemer, Delegate for Information Strategy of the Swiss Federal Government.
"The agreement we have reached applies to the entire Federal Government and will see the adoption of Novell's SUSE Linux throughout the Swiss federal administration." [/end teaser]
Swiss Government Switches 3,000 Systems to Linux
A teaser:
Novell Inc. Tuesday announced an agreement with the government of Switzerland to convert 3,000 of its servers to the company's SUSE Linux operating system.
Operational efficiency and cost were key factors driving the Swiss government's decision to move to Linux, according to Novell.
Novell did not disclose the value of the contract but did say it was the first formal procurement of any Linux platform by the Swiss government.
"Linux has been gradually introduced into various government departments in recent years, but this is the first formalized procurement process regarding the introduction of Linux at a federal level," said Jurg Roemer, Delegate for Information Strategy of the Swiss Federal Government.
"The agreement we have reached applies to the entire Federal Government and will see the adoption of Novell's SUSE Linux throughout the Swiss federal administration." [/end teaser]
Newbie
Posts: 8
Location: Kelowna, B.C.
Location: Kelowna, B.C.
February 4th, 2006, 10:45 AM
I have to agree with Judland. I am using KANOTIX and have tried almost every Linux version. I have XP on here but just so I can see what my friends are doing. They call me for help once in a while. XP is soo sloow compared to Linux. I have on my hard drive:Win 98, XP, Slackware 10.1, Slackware 10.2, Kanotix, Mepis, SuSe 10, Vector, and Gentoo. When I first tried Linux I bought RedHat 4. It was really hard to run. The install was quite easy but I was on dial-up and never got it to dial. A friend mentioned Caldera and I installed it and was on the internet in no time. I went from there to now with many versions of linux and each was easier than the last. I know! I learned from each version so it was not just easier, I had more experience but I have installed Kanotix on several friends computers and most are slowly dropping use of XP because of the ease of use in Kanotix. One of the nice things about Linux is the amount of software that comes on the cd. You will find that on Kanotix there is a software installer called klik. With it you get a menu with a huge list of software that you can select and it will download and install on your computer. You need know nothing about the innards of Linux for this.
I have to agree with Judland. I am using KANOTIX and have tried almost every Linux version. I have XP on here but just so I can see what my friends are doing. They call me for help once in a while. XP is soo sloow compared to Linux. I have on my hard drive:Win 98, XP, Slackware 10.1, Slackware 10.2, Kanotix, Mepis, SuSe 10, Vector, and Gentoo. When I first tried Linux I bought RedHat 4. It was really hard to run. The install was quite easy but I was on dial-up and never got it to dial. A friend mentioned Caldera and I installed it and was on the internet in no time. I went from there to now with many versions of linux and each was easier than the last. I know! I learned from each version so it was not just easier, I had more experience but I have installed Kanotix on several friends computers and most are slowly dropping use of XP because of the ease of use in Kanotix. One of the nice things about Linux is the amount of software that comes on the cd. You will find that on Kanotix there is a software installer called klik. With it you get a menu with a huge list of software that you can select and it will download and install on your computer. You need know nothing about the innards of Linux for this.
Newbie
Posts: 19
Location: Vancouver B.C.
Location: Vancouver B.C.
February 4th, 2006, 01:11 PM
Standardization and 3rd party recognition are two of the many hurdles for linux to challenge the dominance of Windows family.
One could argue that Macs are very standardized and well recognized by hardware/software developers and consumers, Yet it still doesnt pose any significant threat to Windows.
But Mac has her own demon - the price. You can buy dirt cheap hardwares and get an *underground* copy of windows, and off you go. A few hundred bucks will do. And we all know how much a compariable Mac costs, and dont even think about the level of freedom on hardware that the mainstream offers.
Since GNU/Linux takes the advantage of cheap hardwares that Windows have, it could be a serious contender as a cheap alternative.
The sad fact of life is that two of the main reasons of Windows popularity is bundling and piracy. If Joe Average can get *free* windows and the kind of software/hardware support that windows has, I seriously doubt if there will ever be a significant drive for alternatives in the non-computer-savvy sector.
Standardization and 3rd party recognition are two of the many hurdles for linux to challenge the dominance of Windows family.
One could argue that Macs are very standardized and well recognized by hardware/software developers and consumers, Yet it still doesnt pose any significant threat to Windows.
But Mac has her own demon - the price. You can buy dirt cheap hardwares and get an *underground* copy of windows, and off you go. A few hundred bucks will do. And we all know how much a compariable Mac costs, and dont even think about the level of freedom on hardware that the mainstream offers.
Since GNU/Linux takes the advantage of cheap hardwares that Windows have, it could be a serious contender as a cheap alternative.
The sad fact of life is that two of the main reasons of Windows popularity is bundling and piracy. If Joe Average can get *free* windows and the kind of software/hardware support that windows has, I seriously doubt if there will ever be a significant drive for alternatives in the non-computer-savvy sector.
Executive Member
Posts: 9,122 
February 4th, 2006, 01:22 PM
You got that right.
There was a flyer in yesterday's paper offering a tower case, a motherboard with a 26 gigahtz processor, a 160 gig hard drive, a DVD burner, a floppy drive, 500 meg of RAM and a 17 inch monitor plus keyboard for under six hundred dollars
A comparable Mac would cost five or six times that at least.
You got that right.
There was a flyer in yesterday's paper offering a tower case, a motherboard with a 26 gigahtz processor, a 160 gig hard drive, a DVD burner, a floppy drive, 500 meg of RAM and a 17 inch monitor plus keyboard for under six hundred dollars
A comparable Mac would cost five or six times that at least.
Member
Posts: 107
Location: Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Location: Vancouver, B.C. Canada
February 4th, 2006, 05:09 PM
What should be interesting is Google Ubuntu (or Gbuntu or whatever they're calling it.) 99% of users only need a simple interface to surf the net and get email on. Possibly OpenOffice.org. Any 3 year old machine can do that.
As for servers, I'm guessing CanadianContent is hosted on an AMD Athlon 2800+, 1GB of RAM and a couple 80GB hdds, server cost $250. My box runs my IP PBX and it's a PII 300mhz w/ 256 of cheap RAM. Guess what, it works quite well. No need for a GUI so it just flies.
Older computers do really well with Linux, you don't need a top computer to run it at all.
What should be interesting is Google Ubuntu (or Gbuntu or whatever they're calling it.) 99% of users only need a simple interface to surf the net and get email on. Possibly OpenOffice.org. Any 3 year old machine can do that.
As for servers, I'm guessing CanadianContent is hosted on an AMD Athlon 2800+, 1GB of RAM and a couple 80GB hdds, server cost $250. My box runs my IP PBX and it's a PII 300mhz w/ 256 of cheap RAM. Guess what, it works quite well. No need for a GUI so it just flies.
Older computers do really well with Linux, you don't need a top computer to run it at all.
