Does Obama Use a Zune?!?

Obama using a Zune? – their PR people must be ecstatic.

I know one large company that is looking the IBM virtual Linux desktop for their employees who don’t sit at a computer all day. Employees who need to check email, fill in timesheets, and check one or two things don’t need the whole MS setup. Works well for factories, processing plants, airport or retail staff, etc.

Sun tried this a few years ago with the SunRay terminals but it never really caught on. The current OpenOffice on Linux is a pretty strong product.

I think Steve Jobs called WSJ and told them to change the story… Whoops, my tin-foil hat fell off…

Hey, I like Obama but who the hell cares what he uses? Is he some sort of tech expert?

#3,

Thats the exact position that I IT for. I had an old pentium 3 computer break down yesterday. I could have fixed it. Instead I hopped on Newegg and ordered a brand new windows XP computer (HP) for $300 with Office preinstalled ($200). When it arrives tomorrow, I will be installed and up and running with vertical apps all installed in under an hour. (biggest single job will be unboxing it, longest portion of job will be driving too and from location)

IIRC, if I were doing business with IBM business services I would still be waiting for the sales rep to call back to repaces their propritary piece of crap office thingie.

Really, this whole migration fantasy is a… fantasy.

Oh the only reason I didn’t go with Vista is that it is xmas season, and the vista migration would involve an hour or two of holding an employees hand while I assured them that Vista is basically exactly the same thing as XP as far as they are concerned.

When IBM can speed up my work by shortening the time I spend unboxing the computer, or driving to the location, then Im game, but the actual computer costs and even the Office license, is nearly irrelevant at this point.

The only change I have made in last year was switching to Newegg from CDW because CDW sales reps kept insisiting on talking to me… Really all I wanted from my computer vendor is the ability to self serve from their website then ship me the product… sometimes overnight.

In all the years I have looked at this stuff, the idea of linux on anything anywhere in the enterprise has never seemed more remote.

3 and 9,

Well, at the Canadian Idiotic Bumbling Corporation I work for (note the acronym) we’ve been testing the thin clients for a long time. We have a huge call centre with perfectly standardized systems that require no additional software. Additionally, we have loads of users in support roles that also have perfectly standard system. For this business, think clients are finally at price performance they need to be.

As for 9, not to disparage, but you don’t support 30000 desktops i guess? New Egg wouldn’t be able to help you out…

#11

Just guessing about the economics of the whole thing, but you don’t support 30k clients either. Individually, I bet you support the same number of workstations that I do, with a very slight to tiny avantage because with 30k clients you can make a few tiny nearly insignificant improvements to the software stack (OS is irrelevant).

But your tech staff spends the exact same amount of time driving to and from the location and unboxing the hardware, where the bulk of my time is spent anymore.

Even then… If I were to go a thin client solution I would go with an industry leader like citrx or microsoft, and avoid the smarmy all they want to do is shmooze sales reps with really nice suits that IBM sends out who then I am forced to send away before I can do my job after a cluless MBA VP called them.

IBM is still the classic example of a company that survives and persists in spite of themselves, in particular the business services unit. OMG, I would kill myself if I worked at IBM business services…

Even then, if I thought the job was too big for me, I would call a local business services company where people still get fired (and I have the same sales rep if I call them more than once) if my account is screwed up. That simply does not happen at IBM.

No really, any IBM product loses me at the letters I, B and M. I have nothing against thinclients, and actualy think that is where a lot of the industry is going.

However you slashdotters need to realize that having IBM muck about your beloved linux is probably harming you more than it is helping your cause.

#13,

If I were a republican, on a republican blog, I would rather talk about what MP3 player Obama uses than the 550k jobs lost in one month as well.

However, now that opposition to the auto industry bailout has been successful, the Democrats shoes are covered in shit as well, and this jobs report will seem like good times compared to what happens next. December will be 500k+ again. Then by march of next year the economy will be shedding a million jobs every month. Because we are a service economy, we could potentially see a 40-50% unemployment rates, rather than the 20% past depressions were limited to.

Now that that process has started, (the final implosion of the US economy) I don’t think anything the federal government can do will stop it.

Rather than talking about MP3 players, we should all be talking about the best way to prepair ramen noodles, and quilting. We are now entering a period where an apple sold on the street corner for $5 will seem like an unobtainable luxury for most Americans.

I have joked about it in the past, but now it is deadly serious. People with Bush Cheny or McCain Palin stickers on your cars, get them off soon, you are about ready to face an environment where truth and reconciliation committees will be coming to you to make you feel justice for what you have done to America.

“Even republicans are in awe of how much his influence affects behaviors.”

I wouldn’t say it was “awe”, I would say more like “frightning”.

And he’s no “trendsetter”, he’s the flavor of the month, and when the “Foolaide” runs out, maybe people will wake-up and see the truth of the man and not the fantasy…