Ubuntu fans debunk Windows win of power test

Our recent power story reporting that Windows Server 2008 eked out a narrow two-watt power savings over Ubuntu 8.04 Long Term Support has emitted some sparks of protest from Ubuntu fans. The latest is from Fred Marsico, the chief technology officer of Quantum Mechanics R&D in Corvallis, Ore., and a Ubuntu desktop user.

Like another reader who responded to the story but preferred to remain anonymous, Marsico said the test would have been more meaningful if it had compared energy use while the servers were active rather than in idle mode and if the test had been done on multiple hardware platforms instead of just one. We agree in principle with Marsico, but once you open the door to testing on different applications, the task would be endless. (This doesn’t mean Marsico is wrong, of course.)

Michael Larabel, the editor of the Phoronix website that tests Linux hardware, was kind enough to add a test of the respective servers in time for our story. No one claims the test is definitive. But its results were surprising, given Windows’ reputation for bloatware and Linux’s for minimalist agility.

Thanks for writing, readers. Keep the comments coming.

If a Linux distribution is not named after a Red Hat, does it still exist? Do sports teams improve their chances with Linux-inspired monikers? Do Linux administrators need to learn fencing to keep up with the tech industry?

No, I’m not trying to throw you back into the fog that was the college philosophy class in which the only question on the final exam was “Why?” Rather, as a former philosophy student working as an assistant site editor at SearchEnterpriseLinux.com, I have pondered these questions of late.

Many Linux distributions have names that one would not expect of an open source software product, and some of these names have begun to grow into the broader culture because of it.

The Boston Celtics, for example, recently adopted the word Ubuntu. The word Ubuntu is South African for “a philosophy of life that promotes the greater good rather than individual success.”  CNET cited Ubuntu as also having the connotation, “I am what I am because of who we all are.”

Apparently, athletes and open source software developers draw from the same inspirational pool. Perhaps they operate on the same principles.

Before making that jump, though, let’s take a look at the differences between sports and open source software.

Athletes are well paid; open source developers are lucky to have a salary. Athletes are viewed as social and sexual heroes; open source developers are not. Athletes each play a defined role on a team to achieve a win, while open source software developers work independently to lose all limitations upon their engineering creativity. Athletes have simplified public personas and often resort to assuming imaginative names to represent themselves to society; open source developers do … too.

Red Sox, Red Hat; EnGarde, Cavaliers; Ubuntu, Saints; Seattle Seahawks, Linux Penguin.

All right, so the last one might stretch things a bit. Yet all of this name talk highlights a broader fact: Creativity is green and made of paper in these fields. Both the Linux software developers who succeed and the athletes who do the same cast their work in mythical terms.

If you’re looking for a sports team or a Linux distribution on which to place your bets, look at the stats. Read the records. Then consider the options and choose the one with the Odyssean name.

Ubuntu fans may be passionate geeks when it comes to free software, but last night’s happy love fest at the Globe Bar & Grill in Copley Place was more about enjoying the moment and being together than serial computer installs. Nearly two dozen members of the Massachusetts Ubuntu LoCo (Local Community) cozied into the mezzanine of the downtown Boston night spot to celebrate the launch of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Long-Term Support) for desktops and servers.

“I’m here for the cake,” joked Craig Andrews, a software engineer with girlfriend in tow. “I want to see who’s here. This is a social opportunity.”

And Andrews got his wish.

A highlight of the event was the arrival of Jono Bacon and his London entourage midway through the event. Bacon, the Ubuntu community leader worldwide, made his way from the office in Lexington, Mass., which he had been visiting on business, and stopped in to mingle with the crowd and cheer the troops. No doubt, Bacon’s appearance was due in part to the hard work by the active, certified local chapter, which generally meets across the river, in Cambridge at MIT.

Although there were a few laptops running Ubuntu 8.04 on tables about the room, the kickoff event was more about clusters of Ubuntu fans, mostly longtime users but also a smattering of newbies, talking up the new release and sharing the excitement of Ubuntu’s growing popularity and added features.

“There’s more people than I thought,” said Martin Owens, a programmer and one of the leaders of the group. “I see a lot of new faces.”

Owens, who prides himself on “not working for anybody who doesn’t use Linux,” added that he particularly appreciates that the new release includes a Likewise Open plug-in to Microsoft’s Active Directory.

Michael Rushton, leader of the group, said the event was one of many worldwide all celebrating the new Ubuntu software release.

Rushton explained his love for Linux in just a few words. “You install it,” he said. “And it just works.”

The refreshments may have been a mite on the skimpy side, but the “Hardy Heron” cake was a feast, indeed.

One of our editors at SearchDataCenter.com created a Google map of international data centers to go with a story, but he was kind of “cold” to Linux:

So, we thought we’d ask some of our Linux experts for their opinions on the international data centers. Here’s what they had to say:

France

• Pros: Central location, strong infrastructure
• Cons: The French

Brazil

• Pros: Cheap land, cheap labor
• Cons: Casual Fridays = mankinis

Canada

• Pros: Low energy costs, cooler temperatures
• Cons: Data center actually a zamboni. Still runs better than a Vista desktop.

 If you want to put in your two cents, email me.

Here’s one IT-related and on un-IT related pumpkin pic, in honor of that zany holiday we call Halloween.

Does it have heat sinks though? Or does this PC (pumpkin computer, to you) roast its own seeds?

Not my house, by the way. Not on a writer’s salary

I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the webcomic xkcd, but this one was a gem that I just had to post today. Enjoy.

So, dear readers, who is more popular: A Linux distribution with a funky name or a funky fella who could supposedly turn water into wine and walk on water?

If you answered Ubuntu, then give yourself a star. If you answered Jesus, then you were right last year, but Google Trends has proved you wrong today. If you answered Mark Shuttleworth, then I suggest you get your head examined, because while Ubuntu is an insanely popular Linux distro right now, the man behind it cannot perform literal miracles (the last time I checked, anyway).

Here’s the evidence, provided by the blog Venture Cake:

Venture Cake also has a hilarious comparison between Ubuntu and the bearded one up on their site today, so I encourage you to hit that link and check it out.

Blade servers and Linux go together like Slashdot and any story about Linus Torvalds, so I’d like to link to a cutesy little diatribe about blades over at our sister blog Server Specs.

Apparently, Hewlett-Packard has introduced “Shorty,” a “smaller blade chassis looking to capture the attention of smaller companies in a similar way that the BladeCenter S aims to. It’s 10.5 inches high, fits eight blades and can plug into a standard 110-volt wall outlet. All in all, it’s a pretty good mini-BladeSystem. Called the c3000, the chassis has its own MySpace page.” That quote courtesy of colleague Mark Fontecchio, News Writer and current North American vagabond (inside joke alert).

Done snickering? Because it’s totally true and it begs the question: Does Tux have a MySpace page yet, or is he totally into Facebook? These are the things I need to know.

The classic UNIX magic poster by Overacre was distributed at a USENIX conference and featured a wizard with UNIX related signs, portents and doo-dads around him. I wonder what a Linux wizard keeps in his hat these days? And, would the Linux wizard be shown totally owning the Unix one and stealing his market share? I wonder…

How’s this for some offbeat news to start your you-can-no-longer-wear-white season? A few blogs I read this morning are reporting that people on the Xbox Live online service are being forbidden from using gamertags (read: screen names for Xbox 360) that feature the words Linux or Unix.

Okay, what happens when you like Linux, and decide to change your Xbox Live gamertag motto to “Linux rules”? Well, Microsoft black flags you, that’s what. According to xbox-scene.com, Linux and Unix prompt the following response:

I can confirm this as I just tried it myself. Also, according to some xbox-scene.com forum-goers, variations on Linux such as “L I N U X” or “L inux” also are banned.

I try to keep an even hand here at the Log, being a journalist and all, but this is just lame. It’s not even worthy of being called “childish” as that would be an insult to even the most insipid of today’s youth.

Seriously, Microsoft. I mean… really?!

UPDATE@8:54 EST: Seems this may be a trademark issue. Words like Microsoft are also banned. No word yet on whether or not “having fun” is still allowed on the console. Developing…