HP's The Machine kicks Microsoft to the curb in favor of Linux - TechRepublic

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: James Knott <james.knott-bJEeYj9oJeDQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org>

| Interesting
| http://www.techrepublic.com/article/hps-the-machine-kicks-microsoft-to-the-curb-in-favor-of-linux/#ftag=RSS56d97e7

Everything I easily find from googling is a puff piece.  Who knows
what the heck will come of this, if anything?

I would not be excited that it runs Linux: almost everything does.
Including the last HP earth-shaker -- they killed that less than two
months after first sales (the HP TouchPad with WebOS).

The Itanium, which everyone now reviles, started as an HP project.  I
actually give them credit for that one, up to a point.  It was an
interesting technology.  Sadly, its biggest accomplishment was to
kill or weaken all RISC architectures in the marketplace.

>From reading some of the puff pieces, they are claiming to innovate on
many levels at once.  That's not likely to work out well.

I would love to be wrong: The Machine might actually be interesting.

| BTW, last week I picked up a refurb HP computer to be my new firewall. 
| It's already up & running openSUSE 13.1, though not yet configured to be
| a firewall.

|  This article makes me feel better about buying a HP box.  ;-)

HP has a long and honourable history.  But that got washed away in
recent years due to the forces in the PC world.  As an example, they
sold off their instrument business, the one that was their foundation.

Their consumer PCs are generally getting cheaper and nastier.  I know
because I have bought a sequence of them.  I'm one of the bad guys: I
often consider price when I buy.

| Incidentally, the specs for this computer say Linux is a supported OS
| and it's also certified for Red Hat.

That means you got a busness machine or server.  Those are generally
better built than the consumer machines.  They cost (new)
significantly more than consumer machines.

I'm still running Compaq business desktops from the previous millenium
as gateways.  Reliable, but not energy efficent.

If you are only running a firewall, I would guess that a wireless
router with the right third-party firmware would have some advantages.
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