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Topic: Linux

HP doubles down on Linux

Summary: Linux Foundation announces HP has become a Platinum Member of the Foundation.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

By for Linux and Open Source |

 At LinuxCon Europe in Barcelona, Spain, the Linux Foundation, the non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating Linux's growth, announced that HP "is making a strategic, long-term investment in Linux by upgrading to Platinum membership. Other Platinum members include Fujitsu, IBM, Intel, NEC, Oracle, Qualcomm Innovation Center, and Samsung."

 HP has long been a Linux and open source software contributor communities. Currently, HP offers Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) on its servers and desktops and Ubuntu is certified for use on many HP desktops and HP's cloud offering.

 According to the Linux Foundation, "By becoming a Platinum member of The Linux Foundation, HP will have a seat on the Board of Directors and will be directly involved in advancing Linux-based initiatives, workgroups, Labs, events, and more that support its business goals."

 "With one of the richest and most recognized stories in technology, HP has a history of innovation and market success," said Jim Zemlin, the Foundation's executive director in a statement. "Because of this history and innate knowledge of software development, HP understands that Linux and collaborative development can benefit its business across its product portfolio. We're looking forward to the work we can accomplish with HP."

Topics: Linux, Cloud, Hewlett-Packard, Servers, PCs

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  • HP doubles down on Linux

    Kudos to HP.
    daikon
    Reply 1 Vote

    • SJVN - Have you been hiding. What about your win8 DOA predictions?

      Haven't seen you straying from your post at Open Source land into the Windows blogs to give your insightful opinions about Windows 8 lately? In fact since it released and is growing into a huge success both RT and professional versions, you've been laying awfully low.

      Care to retract your DOA statements? hmmmmm? LOL.
      xuniL_z
      Reply Vote

      • Um, have you even Googled lately...

        on 'Windows 8 problems'? Have you gone to Amazon and checked out the mostly-negative reviews by real users who couldn't get Win8 installed, or Win8 wrecked their machines when it did install, with them losing their Win7 drivers, software, etc. which was supposed to be preserved? No, you've not done any of that easy research. You blame SJVN instead.

        So it's your comment, which is DOA. Dumb or Asinine.
        brainout
        Reply Vote

  • HP is NOT Linux friendly

    HP refuses to sell computers (except servers) without Microsoft Windows installed. Trust me, I've tried. I chose to buy elsewhere, as I see no reason to subsidize Microsoft by paying for a license, when I will never use it.
    Thomas Mc
    Reply 1 Vote

    • That's like saying Red Hat is not Linux friendly

      ..because Red Hat doesn't offer a consumerized version of Linux.

      HP's bread and butter, especially in the fabled "post-PC" era, is in servers and will be in the forseeable future. The server space also happens to be where Linux's biggest successes are. It's not surprising that a company like HP would focus their Linux efforts on servers rather than desktops.

      I wouldn't put a lot of weight behind a company's desktop offering when determining whether that company is "Linux friendly." How well they support their servers, timely availability of driver updates, and the quality of support for Linux-installed systems are far more telling metrics of a vendor's Linux friendliness than whether that vendor sells a desktop with Linux pre-installed on it.
      daftkey
      Reply 2 Votes

      • My 12+ year old HP printer still works under Linux

        And HP still makes Linux printer drivers available.
        Not that I need them, because they're readily available in most Linux distro repositories.

        HP might not make a big deal about Linux -- but Linux and Linux support is easily found on HP's websites. And it's actually pertinent and useful.

        Good enough for me.
        bswiss
        Reply 3 Votes

    • That is funny!

      My HP laptop came with FreeDOS.
      tobisgd
      Reply 1 Vote

      • How old is your laptop?

        I desperately WANT one. Will it run Lotus 1-2-3 DOS version 2.x? Thank you for your time in reply!
        brainout
        Reply Vote

    • If they were Linux friendly

      ...you could walk into Staples or Best Buy and have your choice of HP laptops with your choice of operating systems and software collections. I'd take the one without crapware and trialware, please.
      james.vandamme
      Reply Vote

      • You can thank Wal Mart and Gateway for killing that market for Linux..

        ..they experimented with this and failed. There's nothing indicating that such an experiment would be any more successful today, though some are trying.

        Linux doesn't appeal to the masses who shop at Wal Mart and Best Buy; why would you consider a company that is "Linux friendly" to be the one that sets Linux up to fail?
        daftkey
        Reply Vote

  • HP doubles down on Linux

    HP must really want to ensure that it goes down in flames by going with linux. Every company that used linux has lost money and HP is in no position to lose even more. We will see an article soon about another HP management shake up and this bad decision.
    Loverock Davidson-
    Reply 5 Votes

    • Every company?

      Google uses Linux
      Red Hat uses Linux
      Michael Alan Goff
      Reply 5 Votes

    • Linux

      Can you name a big company that actually does not use Linux (except Microsoft)? I can only think of eBay and MySpace, but I am not sure for either of them.
      mikeonaft
      Reply 1 Vote

      • Yes, quite a few

        I am the manager of a global group, part of a large software org. which looks after customers' software on a variety of platorms, cloud, private host, public host etc - about 3,000 servers within our grasp - and within the line of business software, none are Linux. Can't name names but you will be using their medicines, batteries, elevators and so on.
        sonnet37
        Reply 2 Votes

        • Um so

          Hospitals still use mainframes! it just means that companies stuck on a single platform aren't realizing the full peotential of their IT spend becasue of dated people in their IT departments. If you haven't even considered linux for work in your data center you shouldn't be in IT....but i will guarantee that 99% of data centers have some form of linux running in them.
          ammohunt
          Reply 2 Votes

          • Um so - I was answering from my PoV

            That’s so.
            And of course some data centres have some LINUX but to use your evaluation method - and so what!

            To my own experience - we have had two major projects to get people off LINUX which kinda flies in the face of your reasoning about consideration. And major factor behind the moves - spend. LINUX techs are just that - tech and not business aware.

            To reinforce I am putting up my experience and not some opinionated supposition.
            sonnet37
            Reply 1 Vote

          • Ridiculous assertion..

            "If you haven't even considered linux for work in your data center you shouldn't be in IT....but i will guarantee that 99% of data centers have some form of linux running in them."

            If you have ever considered platform before considering application or business requirements, you don't belong in any IT department.

            All operating systems are secure, and all operating systems are insecure - the difference is in the people running the systems, not the systems themselves. The days of considering platform before application are long gone.

            You determine the line of business application that works best for your business first. From there you determine which platform will service that application the best.
            daftkey
            Reply 1 Vote

        • Not quite

          Not arguing with that. However for those companies IT is secondary to their main business. I was asking about companies whose whole business is online, such as Amazon, Netflix, Facebook, etc. These companies drive innovation _in IT_, and they don't have a luxury to use legacy, proprietary OSes.
          mikeonaft
          Reply 2 Votes

          • So in other words, you're moving the goalposts.

            "Not arguing with that. However for those companies IT is secondary to their main business."

            There are quite a few companies who are driving innovation in IT, whose main business is something other than IT, and for which you don't directly see that innovation in action. And yes, many of those businesses use Windows to drive their server platforms, while others use Linux.

            There is a much larger world out there than just websites, social networking and online shopping. There are businesses that actually *MAKE* things - yes, even here in good old North America - and in many ways, those companies are far more innovative than the likes of Amazon or Facebook.
            daftkey
            Reply Vote

          • no names again

            So what would be those mysterious companies that drive innovations in IT but shun Linux? Or we shall not say their names?
            mikeonaft
            Reply 1 Vote
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