IBM laptop

[Evan Leibovitch]

Christopher Browne wrote:

>>I'm not sure why you would say this. Upon what is based the assumption
>>that Lenovo is less interested in Linux than IBM?
>>    
>>
>
>This is based on the fact that Lenovo has bought what was the most
>Microsoft-centred division of IBM.
>  
>
I'm not disputing that assertion. What puzzles me is the logic that 
concludes from this that the transfer to Lenovo will make Linux support 
suffer. It's hard to go deeper when you're already at the bottom.

>One of the interesting factors about the sale of the PC Division to Lenovo is that it more or less eliminates, at one swell foop, the major ties between IBM and both Microsoft and Intel.
>  
>
Yes, which is good news for Linux boosters within the PC-free IBM. But 
that's a different story.

>Lenovo's two biggest business partners that fall out of where they
>source "materials" are:
> a) Intel
> b) Microsoft
>  
>
Lenovo is either China's largest PC maker or in the top three. In China 
Linux runs a third of the desktops (and growing), bolstered by 
government policy that's the friendliest in the world towards open 
source. One sample recent deal between a Chinese regional school board 
and the Sun Wah distribution sees Linux moving on to 140,000 desktops.

Before getting the IBM PC division Lenovo bought Neoware, a company 
producing Linux-based thin clients. The company has also been producing 
its own Linux-based PCs since 2004: 
http://www.china.org.cn/english/scitech/92439.htm



>Lenovo no longer has the rest of IBM to push them to do the minimal things that they were doing to "support" Linux.
>
I think you ought to learn a little more about Lenovo before saying 
this. It doesn't need any push from IBM.

Already we are seeing signs of increased Linux support by Thinkpads 
after the Lenovo purchase. Here's a page, which did not IIRC exist 
before the purchase,  describing  the (not just testing, but) 
certification of Novell Linux and TurboLinux on Thinkpads: 
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-59116

(TurboLinux, which started in San Francisco, now has no North American 
presence but is pupular in China and Japan.)

Lenovo has further demonstrated its worship of Microsoft by striking a 
deal with  Sun to bundle StarOffice on Thinkpads, initaially in Singapore.

>Go to the Lenovo web site and try to find Linux support...  There is something relevant, but you won't find it by searching the Lenovo site for it.
>  
>

This will take time. Lenovo has been very careful to avoid any sudden 
shifts in policy that will make people (more) wary of post-IBM 
Thinkpads. I suspect if we could read Chinese, Linux support from Lenovo 
would be much easier to find.

What we do definitely know is that the pre-purchase Lenovo was no 
Microsoft loyalist, and its domestic market demands Linux support which 
it has to date provided. These characteristics cannot avoid spilling 
over into the Thinkpad business, but this will be very gradually done.

>For them to be considered "supportive of Linux" requires a pretty big organizational change that I don't see happening soon.
>  
>
How much do you know about Lenovo's organization? You keep speaking as 
if the IBM-PC MS-love philosophy is going to overrun that of the 
(larger) company that bought it, and I keep asking for any semblance of 
evidence.

- Evan
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