The distro jungle, Jul 02, 2007

People who are new to Linux are often confused by the large number of distributions to choose from. The good news is that you can safely ignore most of them. This article helps you choose a distribution for getting started with your Linux exploration—and helps you understand just what it is you've just chosen.

IBM and Intel plan to open up their eServer blade platform to seed the market for future designs, the companies plan to announce Thursday.

IBM officials positioned the move as one that was necessary to grow the market from the "early adopter" phase to the "mass adopter" phase. With the specifications—which Intel Corp. and IBM plan to provide royalty-free—customers can design their own platforms around IBM's blades, executives said.

I sense that Microsoft has been rather concerned about Linux lately. Why else would their top dog, CEO Steve Ballmer, get so riled up when asked this week (at Microsoft's annual partner conference in Toronto) about Linux?

Webmaster's note: This is not news per se, but a visitor was nice enough to let us know about links to viewing IBM's Linux commerical being aired in the United States. With Linux, you can see the spot via RealPlayer, mplayer and xine.

In a world where a billion people using a trillion devices are all interconnected, can you imagine that software and hardware that hasn’t even been invented yet will have to coexist? Of course! Linux will make that possible, and that’s one reason it’s going to grow a lot faster than any other operating system over the next several years.

IBM will invest more than $200 million in a series of Linux initiatives in Europe over the next four years - including creation of Linux development centers, alliances with Linux-focused business partners and deployment of about 600 specialized Linux consultants, hardware and software specialists and services professionals.