Unisys, IBM Further Prove Linux Performance on OLTP
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The proponents of Linux in the enterprise have been saying that the operating system can scale, and scale well, on enterprise-class platforms that are either identical to or similar to those that run more established Unix or Windows platforms. The TPC-C online transaction processing test has a number of flaws, to be sure, but it is still one of the touchstones that server makers and server buyers use to gauge the performance of various products. And if recent benchmarks by Unisys and IBM are any indication, the new Linux 2.6 is scaling about as well as expected. READ MORE >

AMD Nabs Chip Hotshot, Challenges Intel to Dual-Core Duel
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The Intel Developer Forum may be raging in San Francisco this week, but Advanced Micro Devices did its best to try to steal a little thunder away from its chip-making rival by announcing it had hired away yet another hotshot system designer from IBM to help it plan its future chip cores, system architectures, and manufacturing processes. AMD is also talking a tiny bit about its more near-term multicore chip strategy. READ MORE >

The Source of All Good Bits
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Writing good software that real people can use and that is reliable is a lot harder than writing a decent novel, play, or screenplay--and we all know how terrible most of those forms of entertainment really are. There's a reason why, for instance, the English-speaking peoples of the world have been studying Shakespeare for four centuries, and will probably be doing so for another four. And with the possible exception of Solitaire, maybe Tetris, and just possibly Excel, I would venture to say that no one in the future will look back at the computer programs we create today in quite the same way as we do the works of Shakespeare. READ MORE >

Mad Dog 21/21: The Grinchy Code
by Hesh Wiener

It's a shame Linus Torvalds, the father of Linux, didn't come from a city called Milan; he hails from Helsinki. Milan, Italy, is where Leonardo da Vinci spent some of his most productive years. Milan, Ohio, is where Thomas Edison was born. Da Vinci and particularly Edison were good at exploiting their inventions for commercial ends, while Torvalds has left the exploitation to the distribution and support outfits. The result has been a regressive economic structure, rewarding populists with cheap, standardized X86 and now X64 systems while punishing those who are wedded to proprietary hardware. READ MORE >

   But Wait, There's More

Xen Demonstrates Virtualization on Future Intel VT-Enabled Chips . . . Open Enterprise Server Updated by Novell . . . Sun Wah Ships RAYS ES Debian-Derived Linux Server . . . Novell Delivers ZENworks 7 System Management, GroupWise 7 Groupware for Linux . . . Big Linux-Based Supercomputers Pop Up Like Mushrooms . . . IDC Projects IT Spending to Grow 5.9 Percent Through 2009 . . . READ MORE >

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