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Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Infor chases customer for fees on 20-year old software
Times must really be tough. According to a lawsuit filed by tool maker Vaughan & Bushnell, Infor is demanding that the company pay up on maintenance fees for software it first purchased in 1987.
According to Chris Kanaracus at IDG News Service:Vaughan & Bushnell Manufacturing of Hebron, Illinois, paid SSA a one-time US$87,000 fee for the nine-module enterprise resource planning suite and used it "unmolested" for more than 20 years, according to a complaint the manufacturer filed earlier this month in US District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.Throughout this whole period, Vaughan & Bushnell paid nothing to Infor, claiming that its license agreement didn't require it to pay for moving the software (at the time, known as BPCS) to replacement hardware.
Vaughan & Bushnell, which makes hammers, pry bars and other hand tools, also received a software upgrade in October 1987. But since then, the company received no maintenance or installed upgrades from SSA and did not hear from Infor until last July, the complaint states.
The current dispute revolves around the hardware being used to run the software.
Initially, Vaughan & Bushnell installed the suite on an IBM System/38 minicomputer, which it replaced in 1993 with an AS/400. In 1999, it upgraded once more, to an IBM AS/400E, according to the filing.
I contacted Infor for clarification on these questions. Although the company's policy is to not comment on active litigation matters, a spokesman said that generally, Infor's policies are not different than its competitors, other software vendors and other companies who have obligations to maintain and enforce their intellectual property. "Infor routinely canvasses its customers in order to validate license compliance," he wrote. "Every so often, Infor and a customer dispute whether there is a noncompliance."
He continued, "Infor can confirm that its practice of customer compliance validation has been ongoing for multiple years and is not a recent development." He also referred me to Infor's license management policy, which is publicly posted on its website.
My take: The story doesn't address some interesting questions. Was Vaughan & Bushnell's only "upgrade" a hardware upgrade? If the company was truly in violation of its original license agreement, why did SSA and now Infor wait 16 years before trying to collect?
Regardless of the details, it is noteworthy that Infor is chasing a 20 year old customer for an alleged violation that occurred in 1993. I had not heard of this case prior to a Spectator reader (another Infor customer) alerting me to the IDG article in Network World. It would be interesting to know if this is an isolated case, or whether Infor is chasing other old customers of its predecessor companies for back maintenance fees.
Infor customers are invited to contact me or leave a comment on this matter. I honor all requests for confidentiality.
Update, March 13: Jeff Gordon, an expert on software license contracts, has a great post analyzing this case. He believes that Vaughan & Bushnell has a 90% chance of prevailing.
Related posts
Infor reassures customers of financial viabilityby Frank Scavo, 2/25/2009 06:22:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Saturday, February 21, 2009
Big win for open source ERP project Compiere
The Compiere website has a short blog post announcing a major win for the open source ERP project in France:Compiere's largest new customer, French-based La Poste recently announced their selection of Compiere open source ERP solution. La Poste is a global postal processing organization with 45 million customers, 300,000 employees and US $27B in revenue. With the help of Compiere Gold Partner Axilom, La Poste will be deploying Compiere Professional Edition within a business-to-business division to replace existing sales, purchasing, inventory, and payment processing systems.The brevity of the post leaves a lot of questions unanswered. How many of La Poste's employees will use Compiere? What drove La Poste to seek an open source solutions? Will La Poste be enhancing or extending Compiere (flexibility being one of the key advantages of open source)? Were any closed-source ERP systems considered?
There's a press release from Axilom, the Compiere partner in France that sold the deal. Unfortunately, my high school French is not up to the task. Here is Google's translation of the page, which helps a little.
Some observers have been speculating that open source solutions might benefit from the current economic recession. Compiere's win at La Poste would appear to be evidence in favor of this view.
Related posts
Open source ERP and CRM carry strong ROI
Total cost study for an open source ERP project
Compiere's open source ERP business model and growth plans
Open source ERP gaining adherents
Key advantage of open source is NOT cost savings
Open source: turning software sales and marketing upside downby Frank Scavo, 2/21/2009 03:24:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Why the recession is good for Oracle
Ben Worthen in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) has a long article today on Oracle's program to buy up other software companies while prices are cheap.While most American corporations pinch pennies, Oracle Corp. is quietly going on a shopping spree.Oracle's first moves earlier this decade were to buy large software companies, such as Peoplesoft and Siebel. But now it has virtually exhausted these opportunities and is turning its attention to acquiring smaller software firms that give it strong niche functionality.
The software giant completed 10 acquisitions in the past year, ranging from a maker of insurance-policy-writing tools, to a designer of "plan-o-gram" software used by stores to maximize their use of shelf space. This month it bought mValent Inc., a tiny maker of software that helps configure other software.
These deals, whose terms haven't been reported previously, put Oracle in a small club of cash-rich companies bargain-hunting amid the worst economy in a generation. It's a buyer's market: As traditional sources of investment and cash get scarcer -- including, of course, paying customers -- even some companies with high-quality products have turned into desperate sellers.
In 2008, Oracle bought mValent (configuration management), Tacit Software (collaboration), RuleBurst Holdings (social service agencies), Primavera (project management), Advanced Visual Tech (retail space planning), ClearApp (application management), Global Knowledge Software (eLearning), Skywire Solutions (document management) , AdminServer (insurance industry), and Empirix (voice application testing and monitoring).
My take: Even though the current recession has affected Oracle's bottom line--it reported a 1% drop in net income, its first decline in three years--Oracle's cash hoard is allowing it to scoop up software assets at prices far, far below what it would have to pay to develop them in-house. Of course, Oracle's "buy instead of build" strategy is also a lot faster and comes with the benefit of buying new customers as well as new products.
In this respect, Oracle's strategy in this recession turns out to be better than SAP's, which still largely develops most of its new products in-house. (It's acquisition of Business Objects is a major exception, of course.)
Earlier this decade, Larry Ellison predicted a major consolidation among business software developers, and he moved Oracle in a direction to take advantage of this trend. It turns out he was right and Oracle is benefiting as a result.
Update, Feb 20: Vinnie has a -- ahem -- somewhat more negative view of Oracle's acquisition program.Oracle, in my opinion, has forgotten how to develop code. Its top executives are deal makers, not technology visionaries. Worse, when it comes to their acquisitions, they cannot retain or easily replace the entrepreneurial talent. Every person who departs Oracle comments about the mass confusion that comes with such a rapid accumulation of software IP - and Ben touches on that also in his article.Karen Tillman, VP for Corporate Communications at Oracle, to her credit, attempts a response in the comments area of Vinnie's post.
The rapid pace of acquisitions has also had a significant impact on Oracle support. Customers report frequent and confusing changes to Oracle's support policies as so many products go in and out of stages of "lifetime support". Little has been done to rationalize support across products – other than of course, raise maintenance to 22%
Update, Feb. 23: Dennis Howlett picks up on Vinnie's commentary and Oracle's response to Vinnie. Dennis agrees that Oracle's acquisition program may be good for Oracle but it hasn't delivered much in terms of innovation. He concludes:Innovation can have many definitions but in the software world in which I live it means presenting something that provides me with a better, more cost effective and/or revenue enhancing way of getting things done. In a recessionary economy that's an absolute must I hear time and again. How then can Oracle justify its place at the buyer's table if all it can offer is a smorgasbord of acquired functionality, much of which is tuck in or required to flesh out incomplete offerings, ageing apps plus something sexy in CRM? Oh yes - and with a 22% maintenance price tag?Update, Feb 23: Josh Greenbaum has a somewhat more positive view of Oracle's delivery of innovation. But in the comments section, Vinnie is having none of it.
Update, Feb 24. In a followup post, Vinnie clarifies that the issue is not just Oracle's delivery of innovation, but also a lack of "continuous improvement in its base products and services." I agree with Vinnie on this point. Most buyers that I deal with are not clamoring for "innovation" but would be satisfied with software that performs according to its specifications, maintenance releases that fix more bugs than they introduce, and ongoing support that is helpful and responsive. All at a price that doesn't require them to essentially pay for the software twice over a five year period.
Related posts
Oracle acquires leader in project management systemsby Frank Scavo, 2/17/2009 08:11:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Sunday, February 08, 2009
2009 IT Salary Report now online
Over at Computer Economics, we've just published our new 2009 IT Salary Report, which provides 2009 base salaries for 70 specific IT job titles in 73 U.S. metropolitan areas.
The bad news: IT salary growth is slowing. The good news: IT salaries are still rising, even in the midst of recession.
There's a free executive summary available. The full 2009 IT Salary Report is available for purchase.by Frank Scavo, 2/08/2009 06:43:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Friday, February 06, 2009
ERP bright spot: IFS revenue rises
In news running counter to the general trend these days, IFS is reporting a 9% rise in Q4 revenue. Managing Automation reports:The positive results in a gloomy economic environment reflected IFS' ongoing move away from consumer-facing industries, such as automotive and electronics. About 70% to 80% of new customers for the year came from defense, infrastructure, utilities, and what the company calls the "EPCI" segment: engineering, procurement, construction, and installation.It wasn't all good news. License revenue declined 2% in Q4, although it was more than offset by a 14% increase in maintenance and support revenue and an 11% increase in consulting fees.
In terms of worldwide results, revenue was up 11% in EMEA and up 9% in the Americas. The US growth is noteworthy, as IFS has suffered for years from a lack of name recognition here. (Case in point: I mentioned IFS to a sales manager from a major vendor recently and was met with a blank stare).
Sales in the rest of the world were down about 5%.
My take: IFS is in a somewhat unique position, as its target markets happen to be sectors such as aerospace and defense, energy, and utilities, that are least affected--and some may argue, benefiting--in the current recession. I also suspect that for some buyers, the idea of being able to buy enterprise systems from someone other than SAP and Oracle is also appealing.
In any event, it's good news for IFS.
Update, Feb. 20: Here is IFS CEO Alastair Sorbie interviewed on CNBC (Europe) on how IFS has grown by shifting focus to project-based manufacturing sectors.by Frank Scavo, 2/06/2009 11:51:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Thursday, February 05, 2009
SAP and third-party maintenance: good for me but not for thee
This is rich. Ray Wang just wrote, on Twitter:Hearing from SAP customers that there are new clauses that will force customers to commit to no Third Party Maintenance.He then followed up with two more tweets:Large ERP vendors requiring companies to confirm they are not receiving support services except from that vendor. More than 1 vendor.SAP's (and other vendors) audacity in this, if true, is at least three-fold:
Suggesting to customers not sign away any third party maintenance rights in new contracts. This is uncompetitive!
Many observers are concerned that the high-end ERP market is already a duopoly. Attempting to restrict fair competition in this way just confirms our worst fears about large vendors' intentions. I continue to believe that these actions should be investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice on the grounds of antitrust.
- SAP itself, until recently, has been delivering third-party maintenance for Oracle customers through SAP's TomorrowNow unit. So, apparently, SAP thinks third-party maintenance is a good idea when SAP does it for a competitor's products but not when others do it for SAP's products.
- If SAP's maintenance and support offerings are such a great value, as SAP has been saying lately, why does it feel it needs to contractually bind its customers from using third-party maintenance?
- Such contractual terms restrict fair competition. If a third-party maintenance provider is misappropriating a vendor's IP rights, as Oracle is accusing SAP of doing, SAP can legally pursue that service provider. Limiting the customer's choice is clearly against free market principles.
I thought SAP did a good job in its Business Suite 7 launch yesterday to position its products for the current economic climate. If what Ray wrote is true, SAP is making a big blunder and just lost whatever positive PR value it got from yesterday's event, in my book.
I would echo Ray's advice. Any prospects currently or soon-to-be in negotiations with SAP should be sure that they are not signing away their rights to use third parties in support of SAP products.
Lot's of chatter on Twitter about this as I write. I'll post updates as new information emerges.
Update: Dennis Howlett has a deeper analysis on why SAP may be feeling the need to restrict third-party maintenance. In a nutshell, the days of mega-software deals are over, and to maintain revenues it needs to transform into a service business. Third-party maintenance threatens that strategy. But read Dennis's entire post, as he has much more worth thinking about.
Update: James Governor points to an article in German indicating that the Swiss government is looking into possible actions by SAP to restrict competition. I'm relying on a Google translation of the article, however, and the cause of the inquiry is not entirely clear to me. Perhaps a German-speaker can help.
Update, Feb. 10. Ray Wang now gives more detailed information regarding software vendors attempting to restrict third-party maintenance rights, along with his recommendations for buyers.
Update, Feb 12. Just found this single post, referencing an SAP denial that it is attempting to use contracts to restrict customers from using third-party maintenance. However, there is no reference or link to a statement to this effect by SAP--just an assertion that SAP denies doing so. If any customers of SAP can shed light on this subject, let me now.
Related posts
SAP maintenance fees: where is the value?
SAP under the spotlight for "broken promises"
Mad as hell: backlash brewing against SAP maintenance fee hike
Oracle increases accusations in SAP lawsuit
SAP puts TomorrowNow out of its misery
Legal basis for third-party ERP support industry
Oracle wants to broaden lawsuit against SAP and TomorrowNowby Frank Scavo, 2/05/2009 10:27:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Wednesday, February 04, 2009
SAP Business Suite 7: selling value in tough times
SAP had a launch event in New York this morning to present the latest incarnation of its enterprise systems: Business Suite 7.
SAP has been doing a good job of opening events like this to a virtual audience as well as to those that can attend live. I was giving a webcast at the same time and was not able to take part. However, a number of other bloggers tuned in and have already put together some excellent analysis of what Business Suite 7 (BS7) is about.
One thing that BS7 does not appear to be: a major functionality upgrade. SAP already has more functionality available off-the-shelf than any one company can implement. There used to be a time when you could rank vendors against functional requirements and come up with very different profiles. Although every system has its strengths, especially when it comes to industry-specific requirements, the buyer's decision today often comes down to factors other than functionality. These other factors are what SAP appears to be addressing with BS7.
These factors include:
As I've indicated, SAP's emphasis in announcing BS7 fits with the times. Our annual IT spending survey now underway at Computer Economics is showing a major cutback in IT capital spending this year. This hits big-ticket vendors, such as SAP, hard. SAP is right to emphasis investment in smaller bites, measurable short-term ROI, and the needs of decision makers. Whether buyers will be willing to open their wallets, even with this sort of pitch, remains to be seen.
- Ease of implementation and upgrades: SAP is emphasizing a modular approach to instead of the proverbial big-bang. Although you could always purchase SAP systems on a modular basis, SAP used to push comprehensive sales to establish as large a footprint as possible within the client's operation. Such an approach doesn't fit the economic times, however, so SAP is emphasizing its ability to work in smaller bites using its service-oriented architecture (Netweaver).
Although new functionality does not appear to be the main focus of BS7, SAP did announce over 150 functional enhancements today. However, they are being rolled out as "enhancement packages," which customers can implement selectively--again, forgoing the need for a big bang upgrade.
- Value scenarios. Again, fitting in with these recessionary times, SAP is emphazing short term ROI instead of pitching its products as a long-term strategic platform. It coined the phrase "value scenarios" to denote "end-to-end business processes that focus on industry-specific outcomes and can be implemented incrementally as the customer has need. Examples given include integrated product development for manufacturing, collaborative demand and supply planning for high-tech and consumer product companies, and integrated sourcing and procurement for all industries.
- Integrated analytics. SAP is incorporating select analytics capabilities of its BusinessObjects acquisition into BS7. Business Intelligence systems are frequently treated as analytics outside of core transactional systems. As such, integration can be a major effort taking years of effort. By incorporating some BI capabilities directly into BS7, SAP appears to be addressing the need of decision makers to have analytics as an earlier deliverable.
Other bloggers, who attended the event, have more insight on what SAP's announcement means. Larry Dignan gives a good overview on the BS7 modular approach, but views it more as an SAP sales strategy than new technology that SAP didn't already have. He also has another post where he expresses his doubts that SAP is done with scary upgrades" and "sleepless night projects. Dennis Howlett gives his take on SAP's announcement, including a description of the dialog taking place on Twitter between analysts as the presentation took place. Read all of these reports for a fuller picture, as they contain more insights than I am able to pull together here.
For the official view from SAP, read SAP's press release on BS7, which contains quite a bit of detail on the new offering.
Update: Brian Sommer reports that SAP upgrades are indeed faster on BS7, based on experience of one early adopter:
An earlier meeting with a global CIO confirmed the much shortened timeframes and costs possible with these new BS7 capabilities. This CIO verified that 1-3 month timeframes for new enhancement rollouts are indeed possible. Some functions though (e.g., data conversion, data quality, change management, etc.) may drag out rollout timeframes.More from Brian Sommer here, expressing some skepticism on SAP's claims regarding the use of BS7 to achieve "process excellence."
Update: Vinnie Mirchandani was in the live presentation and gives a great account of his direct interaction with SAP's Co-CEO Leo Apotheker.
Update: Larry Dignan has an analysis of Apotheker's Q&A session with bloggers, which he attended. Interesting read.
Related posts
SAP layoffs, January, 2009
SAP's Leo Apotheker on Charlie Roseby Frank Scavo, 2/04/2009 12:56:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Monday, February 02, 2009
QAD layoffs: February, 2009
A Spectator reader alerted me to a layoff in progress at QAD. A quick check found that QAD has indeed filed a form 8-K announcing several cost cutting actions, including a layoff.
The action will impact approximately 125 employees, or 8% of the firm's headcount worldwide, in all functional areas.
The move by QAD is not surprising, seeing that similar actions have been or are being taken by many of its competitors, including Oracle, SAP, Infor, Lawson, and Epicor. QAD is a well-established player, and in these tough times its maintenance and support revenues provide a needed cushion for declining new license sales. However, the automotive sector is a particular niche for QAD, and not a robust market to be selling into these days.
I'm waiting for QAD to respond to a request for further information. In the meantime, if you have any insights into the situation, please email me or leave a comment on this post.by Frank Scavo, 2/02/2009 04:17:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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|The Roskell Gravestone at St. Anne's Church, Singleton
For my research uncovered that Maria was staying with Anne and family at the time of her wedding to James Danson, and Anne named her own daughter Maria - so there must have been a closeness between the two sisters, daughters of Robert and Jane Rawcliffe of Hambleton, near Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire.
Anne's life, though, was marked by some sadness. She had an illegitimate daughter before her marriage, but Jane Alice (named after two Rawcliffe sisters) died at the young age of 14 in 1887. Five years earlier, Anne and husband Robert Roskell had lost their infant twin son Matthew who only survived three weeks. Robert died in 1894 leaving Anne a widow with two young daughters - Agnes 12 and Maria 8, and older son John.
Anne's family history encompasses three names - Rawcliffe, Roskell and Hesketh - that were prominent in the Fylde - the area of Lancashire between the River Ribble at Preston to the south and River Wyre at Fleetwood to the north.
Research through census records and parochial records traced evens in Anne's life.
Research through census records and parochial records traced evens in Anne's life.
Anne was born 1 June 1847 at Hambleton, and baptised 23rd June at the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Hambleton (right) - the eldest of eight daughters born to Robert and Jane Rawcliffe.
346 residents lived in Hambleton at the time of the 1851 census.
346 residents lived in Hambleton at the time of the 1851 census.
Ten years on in 1861, Anne was not listed with her parents and sisters, but may well be the 13 year old Anne Rawcliffe, a house servant, resident with John Rawcliffe, a taylor and grocer, his wife Barbara, 5 year old son Thomas and apprentice Richard Parkinson. So far no family connection has been traced between these two Rawcliffe families.
By the time of the 1871 census, Anne, at 23, was back home with her father (by this time a widower) and two sisters Jane and Maria.
Anne married gamekeeper Robert Roskell at St. James, Stalmine on 17th March 1874, the witnesses her sister Jennet with her future husband Richard Riley. Internet contacts produced a wealth of information on Roskell ancestors.
The 1881 census showed the family to be living in the small hamlet of Thistleton at Thistleton Cottages (left). This fact, for the first time explained why my great grandmother Maria's address was Thistleton at the time of her marriage to James Danson in 1877 - presumably staying with her eldest sister and family – with James in the neighbouring village of Singleton.
The 1881 census entry showed in the population of 386:
The 1881 census entry showed in the population of 386:
Robert Roskell
Born Garstang
Ann Roskell
Born Garstang
John Roskell
Son, scholar
Born Kirkham
Jane A. Rawcliffe
Daughter, scholar
Born Garstang
Anne's birthplace, given as Garstang, could be a mistake, as her birth record is clearly Hambleton. This was also the first knowledge of daughter Jane born c. 1873 before Anne's marriage, with Jane retaining her mother's surname. Parish records at Hambleton noted Jane's baptism - with both her Christian names those of Rawcliffe sisters.
In 1882 the parish records of St. Anne's Singleton showed the baptism of Matthew and Agnes, son and daughter (twins) of Robert and Anne Roskell, Thistleton and named after their paternal grandparents. Sadly Matthew did not long survive and was buried at Singleton on 21 June 1882 aged just three weeks.
A daughter Maria (named after her aunt, my great grandmother) was baptised 14 February 1886. Burial records, however, showed a year later another death in the family - Anne's eldest daughter Jane Alice buried 4 May 1887 at the young age of 14.
The 1891 census entry showed the two daughters Agnes and Maria with their parents - but no mention of their brother John who would be 16 years old.
Three years later, Anne's husband Robert died, buried 4 May 1894 at the young age of forty-two.
By the time of the 1901 census, Anne, then a 53 year old widow, had moved from the hamlet of Thistleton to the busy fishing port of Fleetwood, where at 21 Kemp Street, her occupation was given as she was a grocer/shopkeeper, living with her two daughters – Agnes A. Roskell aged 18, a draper's assistant, and Maria Roskell aged 15, a draper's apprentice - both born Thistleton.
Come the 1911 census, I could find no trace of Anne, nor confirm a death. Then a spurt of inspiration made me look for her daughter Maria, to discover that Anne had remarried and was now Mrs Jenkinson married to John a retired farmer and living at Blakiston Road East, Fleetwood, with Maria - no occupation given. Helpfully the census entry noted that Anne had been married for two years.
Daughter Maria was to marry, on 2 May 1912 at St. Peter's Fleetwood, William Hesketh, (another prominent Fylde surname), a telegraphist of 7 Hesketh Place, Fleetwood. Maria's address was given as 4 Blakiston Street and her age 27. The witnesses to the wedding included John Roskell – Maria's brother? On their third wedding anniversary in 1915, son Frank was christened at St. Peter's, with the family now living at Rose Cottage, North Street, and William described as a clerk.
Sister Agnes could well be the Agnes Anne Roskell who married in the third quarter of 1901.
Sister Agnes could well be the Agnes Anne Roskell who married in the third quarter of 1901.
Anne Roskell, nee Rawcliffe died 4 April 1928 and was buried, not in Fleetwood, but beside her first husband and young children at St. Anne's Church, Singleton. Her age on her gravestone was given as 79.
The monumental inscription for St. Anne's Churchyard, Singleton no. 90 records:
In Affectionate Remembrance of
Matthew son of
Matthew son of
Robert and Ann Roskell of Thistleton
Who died June 17th 1882 aged 3 weeks
Also Jane Alice, sister of the above Matthew Roskell
Who died April 7th 1887 aged 14 years.
We thought they were our own for yet a while,
That we had earned them by the love of heaven,
To be a life's, not a season's smile, then tears forever.
Also of the above Robert Roskell
Who died May 2nd 1894 aged 42 years.
Also Ann, beloved wife of the above.
Who died April 6th 1928 aged 75 years
[Sibling Saturday is one of many prompts from Geneabloggers.com
to encourage bloggers to record their family history. ]

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Welcome Lug-Nuts!
Welcome to the home of the Lug-Nuts! This is the WFTL-LUG. Just what the heck, you may be wondering, is the WFTL-LUG? Well, a LUG is a Linux User Group and the WFTL LUG is a global, distributed, Linux User Group. Last time I bothered to count, we had representatives from nearly 60 countries! It's a virtual meeting place, provided by your host, Marcel Gagné, where you can share information, ideas, and ask questions regarding Linux and other free and open source software. This site is the LUG's Web home, and there's lots to see, read, and do, and you are more than welcome to participate here, but for historical (or histerical) reasons, almost all of the action takes place via our mailing list. If you need more than this brief introduction or you have no idea why you are here, why not take a few minutes to read about the WFTL-LUG, the site, and a whole lot more, by clicking right here.
Enjoy your stay!
Has Linux dropped off the face of the Earth?Submitted by wftl on Tue, 11/15/2011 - 08:54
Over on my mailing list, the WFTL-LUG, a "whatever happened to" discussion has emerged in part because question traffic has gone down dramatically. Fewer people are coming out to LUG meetings. It's as if Linux is fading away.
"Has Linux dropped off the face of the Earth?" The answer is obviously no. Linux is still around, stronger than ever, but the desktop OS does seem to be disappearing. Of course this is true of Windows and Mac OS, at least from the average user's perspective. Desktop Linux is strong with those who use it; those who have been using it, but the buzz seems to be gone.
None of this surprises me though. Sure, we may never see the Year of the Linux Desktop, but the nature of the desktop is changing. People are increasingly living their lives online. Yes folks, it's that cloud you keep hearing about and it's really out there. Google+ and Facebook and Twitter and online document management and email and just plain old Web surfing. For most, the network really is the computer and as time goes on, people care less and less what is running on their computers and more about what they can access once they get online.
Serving the Gaming community on Open SourceSubmitted by charm on Mon, 11/08/2010 - 22:15
One of the great things I love about Linux is the power and flexibility. I've always said that Linux is configurable to the n'th degree, and the fact that I can use it for a desktop or for a server is another reason I Linux gets an A+ grade.
Over the past 6 years I've had my eye on an open source game called The Mana World. The Mana World is a role playing-style game set in an ANIME-based world. I played on and off for a number of years and started a blog last year documenting the game.
Now I've set up a server so others can enjoy the game in a more private setting than the main server.
First download the client from http://www.themanaworld.org/. Clients exist for Windows and Linux, the Mac OS/X client is currently broke I believe.
Playing on the main server server.themanaworld.org currently requires registration through the web site, but you can also play through a number of other servers listed on the TMW web site.
To play on my server just change the server setting from server.themanaworld.org to auldsbel.dyndns.org. Special quest for those interested: See if you can find out what Auldsbel refers to ;-)
Installing Linux on a Mac - The Dual-Boot MethodSubmitted by moldor on Wed, 09/30/2009 - 17:22
I came across this excellent tutorial at the Mac|Life magazine website to allow you to install Linux onto a Mac and have it dual-boot. Rather that repeat the article here, I'll just post the appropriate link;
Here are some screen shots of my setup just to prove that is IS possible, and worked very nicely too !
1. The External Monitor
Forgive the lines, but that's what happens when you use old technology (i.e. an external CRT monitor)
2. The MacbookPro LCD Screen
Much clearer, just to prove that the LCD *does* work !
3. The (out of focus) Login Screen
Because I'm running dual screens, I generally only use the external monitor when I'm at my desk, so the login screen appears there only. If I disconnect it, then the login screen appears on the MacbookPro's LCD as you would expect.
4. And to prove that it all works !!
The one annoyance I haven't been able to resolve, simply because I haven'y had time, is having two different wallpapers.
I have had email from friends who have tried this method with their Macs (Mini's, Macpro's, etc) and tell me it all works flawlessly.
I'd be interested to hear if anyone else tries it.
How to tell when you're getting old...Submitted by moldor on Mon, 02/04/2008 - 04:15
1. Your houseplants are alive, and you can't smoke any of them.
2. Having sex in a twin bed is out of the question.
3. You keep more food than beer in the fridge.
4. 6:00 AM is when you get up, not when you go to bed.
5. You hear your favorite song in an elevator
6. You watch the Weather Channel.
7. Your friends marry and divorce instead of 'hook up' and 'break up.'
8. You go from 130 days of vacation time to 14.
9. Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as 'dressed up.'
10. You're the one calling the police because those %&@# kids next door won't turn down the stereo.
11. Older relatives feel comfortable telling sex jokes around you.
12. You don't know what time Taco Bell closes anymore.
13. Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up
14. You feed your dog Science Diet instead of McDonald's leftovers
15. Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt.
16. You take naps.
17. Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one.
18. Eating a basket of chicken wings at 3 AM would severely upset, rather than settle, your stomach.
19. You go to the drug store for ibuprofen and antacid, not condoms and pregnancy tests.
20. A $4.00 bottle of wine is no longer 'pretty good s**t.
21. You actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time.
22. 'I just can't drink the way I used to' replaces 'I'm never going to drink that much again.'
23. 90% of the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work.
24. You drink at home to save money before going to a bar.
25. When you find out your friend is pregnant you congratulate them instead of asking 'Oh s**t, what the hell happened?'
Bonus :
26: You read this entire list looking desperately for one sign that doesn't apply to you and can't find one to save your sorry old butt; Then you forward it to a bunches of old friends 'cause you know they'll enjoy it too.
2008 - What a startSubmitted by moldor on Fri, 01/04/2008 - 23:30
And here was I thinking that 2008 would be the start of a great year.. HAH !! It looks like the Flying Spaghetti Monster is conspiring against me yet again !!
Started back at work on January 2 - On January 3 I started feeling... a bit off is the best I could describe. I had a painful shoulder due to sleeping the wrong way, but in addition to that I just "didn't feel right". I put it down to late nights - over the holidays an "early night" was something like 2am - so I didn't really stress about it.
Comes January 3 and my right eye is a tad irritated, and I was just not concentrating. I had also lost much of the muscular control over the right side of my face. No tingling in arms, etc, so I wasn't really (well, I *was* !@!) worried that I was having a stroke, so off to the Dr that afternoon - after googling the symptoms of course !!
Turns out I have Bell's Palsy, which is not all that uncommon - especially in us old farts..:-)
If you take a look at the Wikipedia entry for it there is more information (this is how I diagnosed it myself (and wasn't the GP pissed !!!) - this is an example of what my smile is currently like as a result (though this is not my picture !).
It's more bloody annoying than anything else - like speaking with 1/2 of your mouth numb from a dentist visit, you have to be careful not to spit at people, and eating and drinking is surprisingly hard to do without biting yourself (drinking coffee or beer through a straw just doesn't seem to cut it somehow).
Dr, not my normal GP but a good replacement thereof, has me on fairly high steroid doses for a week to bring down the inflamation around the nerve that is causing it, so it's a matter of waiting - not good for a person with little patience...:-)
Ah well, it's all good fun anyway...
2007 - The year that was... sort of...Submitted by moldor on Sat, 12/29/2007 - 07:42
As another year draws to a close, it leads one to become somewhat introspective - well it does me anyway...:-)
This year has been, to put it bluntly, a complete bitch for me, both personally and professionally.
It started with me *not* being offered a permanant position at Australian Catholic University, despite 4 years of promises by their so-called "Human Resources Manager".
I contracted for 3 months to Baiada Poultry, one of our national chicken producers - and, despite having a geographically-diverse network, sometimes with sites (chicken farms) connected via something marginally more reliable than a piece of wet string, one of the most professional and dedicated bunch I have ever worked with.
Curtin University in Sydney then headhunted me to take over as their IT Manager in the Sydney campus - only it was really just to cover the work during their enrollment period as the previous guy had realised what a bunch of complete twats they were (Financial Manager was in change of IT and didn't even know how to use Windows !!).
Then I fell into my current position with Cardlink Services (credit card processing for the major banks) - supposed to be PC/LAN support but the other admin wants to concentrate on desktops and has left all the servers to me. Despite being a Windows LAN Admin position, they have a number of Solaris boxes I can play with and also the mail system (Exchange) is run through a number of OpenBSD boxes, which I have "inherited".
It's a high-security environment (iris scanning to gain access, etc) and we always have the threat of PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance hanging over us (fail certification and we're all out of a job), but it finally looks like I've found a company which is not only family-friendly (kids are sick / I've got a hangover = work from home for a few days), but are willing to pay for training (just did a MS Exchange course - yeah, it's Winders !!!).
Only time will tell, I guess...:-)
Having a 7 year old and a 2 year old has certainly been a trying time for both Jill and I - and as much as I love my daughters and would defend them to the death, sometimes I can't stand the little buggers... Does that make me a bad Dad ?
Katelyn (7yo) has been wearing glasses for most of the year to correct long-sightedness, and has really been pushing the boundaries of parental love. The tantrums have been unbelievable, to the point of punching and kicking her parents.
Sally (2yo) has started the "terrible twos" behaviour, very similar to her sister in many ways - not getting her own way results in tantrums, whether in private or in public. Yelling, screaming, etc.... At daycare she's accomplished every milestone that a 5yo would normal have accomplished, so we're having her tested for the "gifted and talented" program at the school she'll be going to in 2 years...
But they are completely normal kids - it's just hard sometimes to believe that other parents are going through the same thing we are...:-)
And I've been guilty of ignoring many people; a friend's 60th birthday which I was just too damn tired to attend, a friend who only comes to Sydney every few years, and you - my friends and colleagues of the WFTL-LUG - yeah, it's hard to get to the regular chats, or to hear Marcel on the radio because of work and time differences, but I should have made more of an effort.
For this I beg your forgiveness...
2008 will be bringing many challenges, both professionally and personally, but I will NOT ignore you again.
Happy Holidays
Free since 2003Submitted by agnustic on Thu, 12/20/2007 - 00:35
Another year down.
As I approach the half-decade mark without Micro.... I must raise my glass of wine to my fellow Linux users in the LUG and say, À votre santé.
May the next year see the march of the penguin into a computer near you.
Troy in New Mexico
2007 Was A Surprising YearSubmitted by JKerr on Wed, 12/19/2007 - 18:59
It is December 19 and I have been looking back on
the year and I must say "that was some year, 2007
was". We saw the long awaited bankruptcy of SCOx.
But that was not a surprise, it was just a matter of time.
But there were surprises. Here is what I believe
are the surprises:
1. A large retailer would sell Linux computers
WOW!! It took almost a full year for the "WOW to start
now". The Green PC at Wal-mart sure turned a few heads.
To think that the masses would buy a computer running
Linux in a non techie environment like Wal-mart. Who knew??
This computer was created by Everex, and they can't keep
up with the demand for them, the first bunch of 10,000 sold out
in days.
All those years of us Linux folks trying to find a way to get Linux
into the hands of more people. All we had to do was show
Mr. Wal-mart the right profit margins.
2. Industry would shun an Windows "upgrade"
We have seen it happen with Vista. Many consumers
just said no to this upgrade. At first I wanted to call
it a revolt, but that may be too strong a word, they have
shunned Vista and perhaps for the first time ever, massive
questioning of the need for "more functionality".
3. The price of LCD monitors dropped.
Is it worth it to labour on with that 17 inch or less CRT monitor?
When I saw a 19" LCD for under $150.00 it was a no-brainer.
Yes, I am taking advantage of the increased desk space.
4. Linux running on low powered hardware
Is this a reversal of Moore's law? Not really, It is cheap ram
by the Gigabyte that is the culprit here. Linux is now used on
all sorts of appliances from PDA's to cell phones.
Linux leads the industry in its ability to run on computers that
consume less power and less cash to purchase.
Examples of low powered computers include the Wal-mart GPC,
the EEE PC from Asus -- which is just getting off the ground, (along
with a competing product from Everex called the Cloudbook) and
there will be a major retailer for the Koolu as well in 2008.
2007 was quite a year, and 2008 looks like it will be a great year
for Linux as well.
The Little Engine That CouldSubmitted by CaptainTux on Thu, 10/04/2007 - 08:00
From Thomas the Tank Engine, a little song . . .
Little engines,
Little engines,
Little engines can do the biggest things.
Little engines,
Little engines,
Little engines can do most anything. (Thanks Marcel-I am a parent too.)
Just wanted to share something that is amazing me.
Before I do, I need to preface it. As some of you may remember, 2 distros signed pacts with Microsoft in a short time. Those were Linspire and Xandros. Since 2004 I have been a Linspire Insider. I also had Linspire as a client writing Channel Training materials for their commercial vendors. I even aided with their involvement in Indiana's One for One Linux pilot by way of creating and executing a 3 day training session to Indiana Board of Education IT pros (Linux boot camp if you will). When they launched Freespire, I drafted the base document that became the Community Board Bylaws and was elected as the Vice Chair of the community board. Those were good times. We believed in something.
I was as upset about this deal as many others were. I even had a phone call with Kevin Carmony regarding the matter.
Well, at one point on the forums, Kevin Carmony told some upset members that if they did not like the way things were, they can start their own distro and see how it goes. So, former Freespire Leadership Board member Chris Medico assembled a team, of which I was honored to be asked to be a part of, which he lovingly calls Freedom Force. Within weeks, this new project, based on Kubuntu, had an Alpha. The project is called KlikIt Linux.
We decided community is as important, if not more important, than technology.
Anyway, within a short time our community grew to 50, then 100, then more. It has not grown by us marketing. It has been organic word of mouth in Microsoft Software forums, Xandros Foums, Linspire, PCLOS, Mint, Kubuntu, etc. The word keeps spreading, people like it, and they like the community.
I will be honest, I expected it to be a fun project that would last a few months and be forgotten, but it looks like it has grown teeth and wings and is taking flight. It is only Alpha right now, but it is growing and it as stable, in my opinion, as some final releases. We will be calling it BETA soon.
The below quote is by our newest member, the creator of Remastersys. I thought I would share.
"Wow is all I can say. I am very honoured that Klikit was created using remastersys. I was actually thinking of dropping the dist function but I guess I won't be doing that now - lol.
Thanks for the very warm welcome from everyone.
I'm still working on refining remastersys and a large part of that will happen starting here with Klikit.
I will be making a gui frontend to it so the average user can make their own backup without having to drop to the cli or console.
Just so you all know, Klikit is now my main Linux OS, occupying the first 40 Gig of my extended partition. I really prefer KDe over anything else and the app choices in Klikit are exactly what I would have chosen myself.
Its great to be here and I'm thrilled that it has played the role it did for creating Klikit.
To all who are involved in the creation of Klikit - keep up the great work.
I think you are selling yourselves short by labelling it "alpha" though. This is far beyond alpha state in terms of stability and usability."
With each Alpha release it gets more and more robust. We have many other people telling us we should call it a Beta. Chris (our fearless leader) really wants to lick one pesky grub bug before we call it beta.
So, why am I rambling about this? When we first started I thought it would be a nice little project. We would have fun for a few months and get to say, "Hey! I made a distro". Even in the alpha stage we have attracted attention.
I am now beginning to realize that this project by friends and for friends that we did for fun has some real potential here.
I am NOT asking anyone to switch distros. If you have found something that works for you, please stay with it. I have never been one for distro wars. I am asking you to do me a favor. Feel free to go to the website, http://klikit.org , download the latest Alpha DVD ISO, poke around the forums, and tell me what you think.
One final note, contrary to some speculation, KlikIt Linux is not a fork of Linspire, Freespire, or CNR. To be fair, there is a fork aspect. That is the community. At this time, the majority of people in the KlikIt community consist of former Freespire and Linspire board members, insiders, and community members. Following that is Xandros refugees. So, in that regard...we are a fork. We have taken the best element of Linspire and Xandros...the users. They are a very loyal and helpful lot of people with broad diversity. They represent the best of the social aspect of the bazaar.