Thinkpads Forum

If you're a Linux fan than this is probably not the best news for you... Lenovo is apperantly halting all Linux support, including on the ThinkPad line, to strengthen their partnership with Microsoft.

http://www.crn.com/sections/infrastruct ... =188701277

To be honest I haven't seen the company do one bit of good to our beloved ThinkPad brand since they aquired it. Perhaps the addition of the Windows key, and that is pretty much it.

I don't know about any of you fellas, but when the warranty on my T41p runs out and it's time to buy a new laptop, I will be hunting for a factory sealed 15" T43p. May be a tad dated by then, but it's the last "100% ThinkPad" ThinkPad that I can think of.

none wrote:I don't know about any of you fellas, but when the warranty on my T41p runs out and it's time to buy a new laptop, I will be hunting for a factory sealed 15" T43p. May be a tad dated by then, but it's the last "100% ThinkPad" ThinkPad that I can think of.

What's this have to do with Linux? To be honest, I really can't think of too many ThinkPad models off the top of my head that you can't just type into Google and find at least 3 pages discussing Linux on the respective model. If the Linux support is your reason for deciding you'll only want ThinkPads from the T4x series or earlier, that should be stated and not your argument about the 100% thing.

With that stated and out of the way, I'm somewhat disappointed to hear about discontinuation of Linux support as well but to be honest I don't forsee this adding too many hurdles to Linux use as there have always seemed to be plenty of third party folks willing to help the rest of the community out in getting the software to work.

From a business standpoint, this seems like an odd move. Judging by some of the statistics posted from day to day, select forms of Linux seem to be gaining popularity and market-share compared to Microsoft's product. While it is a slow growth, Linux is not exactly the obscure unknown it was just a few years back. I am not sure of Lenovo's current financial state, so cutting off "official" Linux support might be a good short-term move if Lenovo is struggling and needs to align itself with a powerhouse. But if Lenovo is doing fine at present, it seems like an unnecessary short-term move and a bad, narrow-minded long-term move. Of course, AlphaKilo hit the nail right on the head: the Linux community will continue to find ways to support Lenovo products in an unofficial way.

It doesn't affect me in anyway since all the effort to get things working on the thinkpads (or other laptops I used) had nothing to do with IBM or the laptop manufactor before. Why bother to feel anything just because lenovo changed their business plan? As long as the company don't do stupid things such as using proprietary/close software to control critical function of their components in the laptop there is nothing to worry about.

"Life will find the way." - Jurassic Park 1993

The reaction to this is a tad over-done; IBM had the "We recommend Windows XP" on their Thinkpad site for quite awhile, yet they wouldn't let that touch their Workstations or Servers at all and they still supported Linux and OS/2; you could even order a CTO build with a Linux distro if I recall correctly. To me, all it still seems like is window dressing (no pun intended) for the most part.

Is it possible for a third party to carry on the linux development involved?

rimactor wrote:Is it possible for a third party to carry on the linux development involved?

of course it is..
linux is not "owned" in the same sense as windows..

and most/much/many entities are working on things linux..
most p[ressing need is, i suppose, drivers for the various hardware bits..

the main productivity apps are, i understand, there for the most part..

BillMorrow wrote:

rimactor wrote:Is it possible for a third party to carry on the linux development involved?

of course it is..
linux is not "owned" in the same sense as windows..

and most/much/many entities are working on things linux..
most p[ressing need is, i suppose, drivers for the various hardware bits..

the main productivity apps are, i understand, there for the most part..

It is a pity that the thinkpad linux is not just linux itself. There are something involved with hardware parameters which may not be open to the public. Furthurmore, Lenovo cancelled its Thinkpad linux development for the seek of strengthening the partnership with Microsoft. It may be unfortunate that those parameters are protected and hidden from the public. Perhaps it will be not permitted for a thirdparty to do such developments.

They haven't cancelled anything Linux; check their news announcements. They haven't dropped Linux support thus far (they are still offering Linux on Thinkpads) and have stated that incorrect information had been released.

See; http://news.com.com/2100-1003_3-6080115 ... &subj=news

As for third party? That is what Linux has to be about to survive; it isn't as if everybody is going to be, and excuse the sarcasm here, "dazzled and awed by the purity of the open source linux concept" that they will open up their code and let people go willy nilly on it. Such a vision is utopian to the point of danger. The truth is that Linux is still going to have to use its community to the utmost, as well as try and get more and more code into the open, as much as it can. No, that isn't easy, but there are some things in life that are worth it by *not* being easy.

christopher_wolf wrote:They haven't cancelled anything Linux; check their news announcements. They haven't dropped Linux support thus far (they are still offering Linux on Thinkpads) and have stated that incorrect information had been released.

See; http://news.com.com/2100-1003_3-6080115 ... &subj=news

As for third party? That is what Linux has to be about to survive; it isn't as if everybody is going to be, and excuse the sarcasm here, "dazzled and awed by the purity of the open source linux concept" that they will open up their code and let people go willy nilly on it. Such a vision is utopian to the point of danger. The truth is that Linux is still going to have to use its community to the utmost, as well as try and get more and more code into the open, as much as it can. No, that isn't easy, but there are some things in life that are worth it by *not* being easy.

Thanks God! it's just incorrect! And I just believe that lenovo is of necessity to the Thinkpad linux development.

So far the windows OS occupied most of market share vs Linux in the desktop/latop place.
I don't think it is good choice that install Linux on TP eventhough I ever do that. It need you have more patience, more time to search what you want, etc. You had to take some times to tune it untill it meet your requirement. It is only a funny thing for me, but it don't take off my XP OS in my working box.

Depends what distro you choose. SUSE 10.1 is good right "out of the box" on my Thinkpad. The only time lost was put into documenting the install process for the masses.

I lose far more time "locking down" windows boxes and diagnosing ambigous error messages then I've ever lost "tweaking" a Linux installation. No joke. Then again, I do a bit more than simply email and excel most of the time, so there may be some merit to your statement as it pertains to the average end-user.

Regardless, I have mandated that all of my firms PCs will be Microsoft Windows free by December 31, 2006. All Microsoft servers were removed from the network as of December 31, 2005. Talk about nice piece of mind; I'm sleeping a whole lot easier at night now that those servers have been sent to goodwill.

Cheers,

djc