Desktop Relevance

[Jerry Feldman]

Jim Whitehurst, Red Hat CEO questions the relevance of the Linux desktop =

in an article on InfoWorld

http://www.infoworld.com/article/09/03/25/Red-Hat-CEO-questions-desktops-=
relevance-in-Linux-debate_1.html
"Red Hat CEO questions desktop's relevance in Linux debate"
"New paradigms, such as cloud computing, are changing the desktop scene, =

CEO Jim Whitehurst argues"

---
IMHO:From the point of view of a corporate desktop, the trend today is=20
toward cloud computing.  Things tend to be cyclical, but there is a real =

need for desktop (in this context desktop, laptop, and even PDA)=20
computing. When PCs first started to hit the market back in 1978 (I'm=20
talking generically, such as Apple II) or even prior to that with things =

like the PDP 8, there became a battle between the IT people for control=20
and many good arguments in favor of IT control, but also many good=20
arguments at the department level for the need to move computing out to=20
the department. Spreadsheets were one of the first programs to be used=20
in corporate space. The argument in the corporation is 1. Who owns the=20
data, and 2. Who is the custodian of the data. IT departments are very=20
good at backing up and securing data, but they are generally poor at=20
reacting to the needs of the individual departments. The individual=20
departments were good at meeting their own needs, but very poor at both=20
securing and backing up their data. back in the 80s and 90s we had=20
generally slow networks, and many departments would meet their own=20
needs. But, today with very fast networks, not only data, but also=20
applications can be centralized and easily accessed (I'm generalizing=20
here a bit).

I recall back in the 90s when Unix vendors decided to halt workstation=20
production.  Basically, my point is that while desktop systems don't=20
make money, it tends to be the desktop systems that people tend to learn =

with. I would also agree that in the corporate world, even if a data=20
center is all RHEL (or SLES), the desktops are primarily Windows.=20
Actually, this is a good thing for IT people because they spend a lot of =

time fixing broken Windows systems :-)

In any case, I'd like to see some discussions on Whitehurst's statements =

from the perspectives of BLU members.


--=20
Jerry Feldman <gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 537C5846
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