[Beowulf] Rackable / SGI

[Tim Cutts]

On 3 Apr 2009, at 3:17 pm, John Hearns wrote:

> 2009/4/3 Robert G. Brown <rgb at phy.duke.edu>:
>
>>> There are similar questions associated with IBM.  Sun provides  
>>> support
>> for some major tools used in Linux these days, notably open office  
>> but
>> also SGE.
>
>
> Don't forget MySQL
> Who knows what the result of the catfight between DB2 and MySQL  
> would be

The death of MySQL, with any luck, and then people might be forced to  
use a real database.

Sorry.  A bit twitchy today.  MySQL has been causing me particular  
irritation over the last couple of weeks.

> I agree with what you say in the main though - we should be very aware
> of what could come
> out of these mergers.

> Maybe I'm going too far in saying this, but what would a Linux
> landscape consisting of
> a very few commercially supported Linuxes plus the one alternative of
> Debian (plus Ubuntu)
> be like?

Wouldn't bother me in the slightest.  I've been avoiding the  
commercial distros as much as possible for years.  We switched our  
entire site to Debian about four years ago, and life has become a lot  
easier ever since.  Fewer bugs, more openness, better management  
tools.  The only places where Linux admin is still a pain are the few  
corners where I'm still forced to user Red Hat and its derived  
distributions.  Oracle being a prime example.  I'll probably  
eventually migrate everything to Ubuntu, especially if Oracle decide  
to support that distro.  Ubuntu has a a slightly more pragmatic view  
of the world than some of the more extreme Debian zealots.

That said, Ubuntu being backed by a commercial organisation might  
eventually lead to the same thing happening to it.  At least if you go  
with Debian you know that you are fairly safe from the whims of  
commercial companies.

Regards,

Tim


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