Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000 17:57:28 +0000 (GMT) From: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com> To: msmith@FreeBSD.ORG (Mike Smith) Cc: brett@lariat.org (Brett Glass), nbasila@epcot.revenio.com (Nicholas Basila), jonas.bulow@servicefactory.se, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Here is what IBM thinks about using FreeBSD on their newer Thinkpads Message-ID: <200011281757.KAA09532@usr08.primenet.com> In-Reply-To: <200011281658.eASGwoF25493@mass.osd.bsdi.com> from "Mike Smith" at Nov 28, 2000 08:58:49 AM
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> > >Hmmm, > > > > > > Well, I never liked their laptops, anyway. I'm surprised they don't > > >support RH Linux. I'm glad to know that they support all the lousy MS > > >operating systems ... > > > > IBM's tactics are the old "bait and switch." They want users to > > move to AIX, not FreeBSD or Linux. Unfortunately, their PR people > > have pretended to jump on the Linux bandwagon in a big way, and > > this hurts the BSDs. > > If anyone listening to this lives near Brett, we'd all appreciate it if > you'd drop by and talk him into taking up the medication again. I think he was commenting on the surprise expressed that RH Linux was not listed as a supported OS. As a former insider, I have to say that there is a very large and vocal Linux advocacy, to the point of having internal conferences on Linux, hosted at Almaden research center, where one of the primary focii was internal Linux advocacy. The IBM PR machine loves Linux, since Linux gets you column-space in trade rags, and anything that looks like an attack on the Microsoft oligarchy/hegemony is considered "fit to print", or at least "proper editorial cannon fodder". But I have to say that I'm not at all surprised about the Linux "omission", or the phrasing of the statements about "Caldera OpenLinux" and "Do not install a non-supported operating system". The lawyers have quite a different take: if you want to use GPL code, or any other code with a source distribution requirement, you are required to attend a "handling toxic waste that will destroy your patent rights" class, before you are allowed to even touch it. You also have to get "cleared" copies of the code from internal IBM servers, so that IBM patents aren't infringed by you using a newer version of the code. There is an 18 page presentation that most of the internal search engines will point you to, when you are going through the exercise of trying to find information internally. It boils down to "how to double-glove before putting on your biohazard suit to enter a class 5 hot zone containing live Ebola". FWIW, the "recovery procedure" they allude to is to use their recovery CDROM, which will basically repartition and reinstall the default software that came with the machine. I'll guess that they don't recommend specific recovery instructions (and refer only to "various utilities") as a hold harmless measure, since the recovery CD will effectively blow away any user data on the drive, and they don't want to be held responsible for that. Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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