Find out or make up story where Linux came up with the penguin as its “mascot”.
After a few years of Linux, Linus finally decided that they needed to have a logo. They had a contest to create the logo. For some reason it had to be an animal. A platypus, a fox, a shark, an eagle were some of the animals that were suggested. Linus was not happy with any of those and he mentioned he liked penguins. There were lots of stories about Linus being bitten by a penguin.
A young man by the name of Larry Ewing was picked as the winner of the contest. His creation was of a plump, contented and cute penguin. This penguin was named ‘Tux’. Supposedly the name does not come from the fact that it looks like he is wearing a tux but from Torvalds Unix. I know that’s what they say but, I don’t buy it. If you are using the first letter of Torvalds, then you would use the first letter of Unix. That’s TU, not tux. If you were using the first and the last letters it would be TsUx. So, I really think the black and white penguin had something to do with the name.
One of the big things about logo is that it is also, open source, like Linux. Anyone can change the graphic anyway they want as long as they give Larry Ewing and Linux the credit. The fact that Ewing used GIMP to create Tux.
Actually, I think it’s a great Border Collie name. I plan on using it someday when I have a boy that fits the name. Black with a white chest and black front legs maybe white front feet. Cute, huh, maybe even cuter than a penguin.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Blog 11
How do companies who sell open-source products (like Red Hat) make a living?
Apparently, this has been a hot topic on the internet for several years. Personally, I never knew it existed until this class. I had not even given it a thought until you asked the question.
In my research, I found a white paper by Robert Young, who is a founder of Red Hat. It was pretty interesting and can be found at http://oreilly.com/catatlog/opensources/book/young.html . I am sure you have already read it.
To make money with open-source products you need to sell a service not a license. Red Hat has several subscription support levels. They, also, sell a middleware called JBOSS and they get paid for their consulting and integration services. Red Hat actually incorporates hundreds of open source solutions into one software package. Then they sell the support to that package.
Red Hat initially started out as a software distribution company selling cd’s of software. Linux was one of their best selling cd’s and they saw a new potential in the marketing of open-source software. They have done a bang-up job of marketing their brand. I would bet that more people know of Red Hat than Ubuntu or any others.
A lot of companies in the open-source realm do not charge for the desktop version of their software but they do charge if their software is used commercially. They get around the licensing issue because the customers are able to modify the source code.
Some other ways of making money are certification programs and training programs. That’s big money if you ask me. I have an MSCE+I in NT 4.0 that cost close to $20,000 to get and a solid year of my life and then it was obsolete the next month. I started to get a certification in SQL Server, finished one test, and they were already moving on to the next version and I decided to get off the merry-go-round. At the time I was working and attending UNR part-time and I thought I would put my degree on hold because it was going to take me so long to graduate since I was just taking 2 classes a semester. I thought I would be smart and take a fast track and get certified. I just did not realize that the certification path never ended. At least getting a college degree path ends eventually. What do they say, hindsight is 20/20. Actually, I can’t complain because I doubt I would have the job that I have today, if I did not get certified.
Do I get 10 points for BS'ing?
Apparently, this has been a hot topic on the internet for several years. Personally, I never knew it existed until this class. I had not even given it a thought until you asked the question.
In my research, I found a white paper by Robert Young, who is a founder of Red Hat. It was pretty interesting and can be found at http://oreilly.com/catatlog/opensources/book/young.html . I am sure you have already read it.
To make money with open-source products you need to sell a service not a license. Red Hat has several subscription support levels. They, also, sell a middleware called JBOSS and they get paid for their consulting and integration services. Red Hat actually incorporates hundreds of open source solutions into one software package. Then they sell the support to that package.
Red Hat initially started out as a software distribution company selling cd’s of software. Linux was one of their best selling cd’s and they saw a new potential in the marketing of open-source software. They have done a bang-up job of marketing their brand. I would bet that more people know of Red Hat than Ubuntu or any others.
A lot of companies in the open-source realm do not charge for the desktop version of their software but they do charge if their software is used commercially. They get around the licensing issue because the customers are able to modify the source code.
Some other ways of making money are certification programs and training programs. That’s big money if you ask me. I have an MSCE+I in NT 4.0 that cost close to $20,000 to get and a solid year of my life and then it was obsolete the next month. I started to get a certification in SQL Server, finished one test, and they were already moving on to the next version and I decided to get off the merry-go-round. At the time I was working and attending UNR part-time and I thought I would put my degree on hold because it was going to take me so long to graduate since I was just taking 2 classes a semester. I thought I would be smart and take a fast track and get certified. I just did not realize that the certification path never ended. At least getting a college degree path ends eventually. What do they say, hindsight is 20/20. Actually, I can’t complain because I doubt I would have the job that I have today, if I did not get certified.
Do I get 10 points for BS'ing?
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Blog 10
What is Samba? Why could you or your business use it?
Samba is an application that runs as a service on Unix/Linux computers. It uses SMB (server message block) to communicate with Windows based computers or network. It is primarily used as file and print servers. Windows users don’t even know the file or the printers that they are using are on a Linux server.
NV Energy could use Samba/Linux (but they won’t) to house their network printers or they could also, use it to authenticate Active Directory logins.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
2009 USBCHA Sheepdog Finals
Here is a link to a new video on the 2009 USBCHA Sheepdog Finals. I hope to have enough points to compete this year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv6XubwLwrw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv6XubwLwrw
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Blog 9
There are many organizations and companies who use Linux. Find a few of them and tell us who they are, how they use it and anything else you can find out about it.
First, let me say that finding up-to-date or current information on the internet is quite a challenge in itself. Almost all of the company information that I found was from 2000 to 2003. I finally found some from 2008.
3Tera is a software company that uses Linux to build their applications. They build an one called AppLogic and they are on the forefront of ‘Cloud Computing’.
Alfresco is a software company that has a product called ‘Enterprise Content Management’. One part of this application is a shared editing tool that was built using Linux. It's for sharing documents on the web (like Microsoft’s Sharepoint application). This is being used to manage content on Facebook.
Amazon is a huge open source user. Amazon is trying to get into the Cloud Computing with Elastic Compute Cloud. It is also, providing storage services with a product called Simple Storage Service. They have come out with a device called Kindle eBook that is a really cool mobile Linux device. Now that I have found it, I want one. It might have to wait since it costs $359.oo.
First, let me say that finding up-to-date or current information on the internet is quite a challenge in itself. Almost all of the company information that I found was from 2000 to 2003. I finally found some from 2008.
3Tera is a software company that uses Linux to build their applications. They build an one called AppLogic and they are on the forefront of ‘Cloud Computing’.
Alfresco is a software company that has a product called ‘Enterprise Content Management’. One part of this application is a shared editing tool that was built using Linux. It's for sharing documents on the web (like Microsoft’s Sharepoint application). This is being used to manage content on Facebook.
Amazon is a huge open source user. Amazon is trying to get into the Cloud Computing with Elastic Compute Cloud. It is also, providing storage services with a product called Simple Storage Service. They have come out with a device called Kindle eBook that is a really cool mobile Linux device. Now that I have found it, I want one. It might have to wait since it costs $359.oo.
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