IBM sends in the penguins

well, nice thought but first, Ubuntu should manage to make an OS that can at least install a mouse correctly. If you have ever installed Ubuntu, you would of noticed that the back/forward button on your mouse don't work.. So, from the start , you have to read a LOT and sudo this, sudo that, to make a simple mouse to work properly. They still have a long way to go. It look like the staff at Ubuntu are still using an old mouse with no back/forward buttons.

People need stupid software.

The reason why Linux has not appeal on this people is that Linux is not stupid, it hasn't much stupid software.

I say software for sync mp3 players, or to put your stupid vacancy's pictures into a DVD with some stupid music. Stupid games. Stupid personal income/outcome software.
Stupid instant messaging software compatible with windoze messenger.

If stupid software will not be available for Linux, stupid people will never use Linux.
And it'll never become diffused like Windows.

I think I would do Red Hat/Fedora or Solaris for an enterprise solution, or even Apple if it wasn't proprietary or cost wasn't the issue, though you can mix and match with Unix.

However, if your people belly ache at the thought of changing to a new OS, this is not a solution for you. You either have to clean house or you have to go along to get along-which is the golden rule in a nanny state. Pay me now or pay me later; or hire somebody that's not holding your company hostage understanding that's it's not easy being green yet not as painful as blowing yourself up. Life is not black and white, which in boolean terms would be nothing now or nothing later. Using Unix is a compromise. But compromise is good, unless you like living alone.

Thanks INQ, all.

If "forward/backward" button is the scroll wheel, they work perfectly, without the need for special drivers. Up/down, left-right, the scroll wheel works fine. Maybe you just bought a crappy, nonstandard mouse?

People are starting to look at other options, some people didn't know there are worthy options. I can honestly say I have way more problems with windows drivers and software issues than with Linux. Partly because I had used windows for a longer time but mostly because Linux just works better. Hardware is mostly made for windows at least for home users. I have installed Ubuntu 9.04 and everything worked fine without installing anything past the install disk with one exception,Ubuntu had to download and install a wifi and a nvidia driver.When you consider cost its hard to justify Windows 7, networking is a joke unless all your other computers are running Windows 7.
The hairline crack is starting to get just a little bigger.Business computing is about productivity and security. not about PRETTY and COOL. For me its a little of both and Ubuntu has everything I need plus much more.

And it's interesting to see IBM paired with Ubuntu. I'm sure that's a good choice for enterprise too.

I've been using Ubuntu for almost two years and hardware compatibility is not an issue unless you have something unusual. Solaris or apple is different, but the Linux Kernel does a great job there, just works. Plug it in.

In a bad relationship, you don't want to leave because you've put so much into it, and your so harried you hardly have the energy, but if you're being honest, you have to admit it's not going anywhere. I think all this is really about social issues. The real war today is the war against ourselves, the war against humanity, which sounds funny, but we have a lot of people in our Western Culture that live in a state of denial and don't choose to remember themselves(brats),don't choose to remember that we're all human and we don't know everything, that life is not black and white. When you're human, not choosing to stop and remember means forgetting and that's how we have so many people behaving as if they do know everything, as if life is black and white. It's really not. We really don't know. It's a bit of a crazy train.

Thanks all.

Be real, be sober.

Ubuntu? Take on Win-7? That's a laugh and a half.

What is IBM thinking. with each new release, Ubuntu gets more like Windows by having their own way of doing things that are NOT Linux standard making some things difficult.

Don't get me wrong. I've enjoyed the time I've spent with Ubuntu in the past, however if an item isn't in their repository, It's a roll of the dice weather it will work correctly or bork the entire system.
Well, for the most part it is stable and has a better price than any version of Windows. but ubuntu is becoming more and more bloated, slower and a PIA to add non repo available packages to with each new version.

And no. flamers I'm NOT on the MS payroll. I just call 'em like I see 'em.

Win-7? Fast, Stable, OK it's not free but ALL my toys and software work perfectly on it. (Unlike uBuntu)

We now have 3 types of gurus.
Windows gurus.
Linux gurus
and Ubuntu Gurus. IMHO Ubuntu stopped being a true linux distro 3 or 4 versions ago.

According to this article IBM wants corporations to reinstall their existing inventory with Ubuntu, rather than buy new? Never happen. I know my own employer has had a purchasing freeze for the past year and now a solid third of our computers are out-of-warranty. Finding Linux alternatives to all our line-of-business Windows apps -- many of them custom-coded -- is FAR MORE EXPENSIVE than simply purchasing new computers (with Windows, again).

Wait till you try some really old custom app that only works in XP. Windows will puke on it. Virtualize your garbage (old apps) my frends.

Frash install 9.10 used less than 200 megs of ram.

All Linux packaged work fine in Ubuntu
As well as Linux commands

If having a frontend to manage packages means it isn't ubuntu then you are seriously fed in the head.

Now ima go back to installing DX9.0c in wine.....I'll make it work if it kills me.

And I do have a copy of XP-pro and Vista 32&64 as well as a windows 7 install. I'm just sick of MS and their constant reinventing of the wheel to rake in $$....and no I'm not a Hypocrite. the last MS OS I actually paid for was XP.

I predict 2010 will be a very big year for Linux since everything that makes Win7 a must have IE OpenCL, Cuda, and ATIstream are all available in Linux. Wine will have a field day with DX11 titles.

"Finding Linux alternatives to all our line-of-business Windows apps -- many of them custom-coded -- is FAR MORE EXPENSIVE than simply purchasing new computers (with Windows, again)"

I'm actually not an Ubuntu fan, but I've been running Linux almost exclusively since 1994... (Give my my reliably slightly buggy Mandriva, it has "character" but won't make you want to throw stuff, Ubuntu does that for me)

Ahem... In any case, the best "solution" for those legacy apps is keep using them using your existing XP licences, under Virtualbox (or whatever)

Being able to roll back a Virus hosed Windows snapshot in a few seconds--- Priceless,

IBM has forgotten they themselves have some very good OS too. Why not make use of them?

I will most certainly send in my $ if they sell me their OS/2. :)

I've just gotten through installing XP 32 and x64 on my new 64-bit build. (dual-boot). An XP user for many years now, I enjoy the XP experience for my work. So I tested the 32-bit and 64-bit flavors of the OS on my new rig, and realized that x64 has come a long way since I first tried it - blimey I'd just about given up on it. Glad I tried it out because in my dealing with it before it was a P.O.S. Now it's just as stable and compatible as 32 XP. Get it now while you still can - there's still copies of it out there. The only problem I had was printer drivers for an hp color printer (which hp had a work-around on their site) and Acrobat 7.0 professional print driver fail. No worries - a bit of googleing and I installed the free bullzip pdf creator. Works like a champ now, and still opens up in Adobe Acrobat 7, only faster.
So the old PC I decided to give Ubuntu 9.04 a go, and wasn't too impressed with it's performance on my old P4 2GHz that I've been using since 2000. Oh well, maybe I'll use it for torrent downloads if I get the gumption to read up on how to!
My other thought was to go ahead and get Windows 7 when it ships, but now I'm not so sure - I've got 4 other PC's the family uses that all network just fine with XP - I guess not so with 7? I ain't buying 5 copies of 7!!!

Sorry to ramble, just my 2 cents from a user, not a coder.