NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: PHIL HOCHMUTH ON LINUX
10/13/04
Today's focus:  AT&T mulls large Linux leap

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In this issue:

* AT&T could switch Windows to Linux
* Links related to Linux
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus:  AT&T mulls large Linux leap

By Phil Hochmuth

It was reported last week that AT&T is looking into using Linux 
as a standard desktop operating system on a company-wide basis. 
This could mean replacing Microsoft Windows PCs, which are on 
more than 70,000 desks throughout the phone company.

AT&T has set up a lab to evaluate how Linux desktops would work 
as an everyday technology environment for the company. The 
telecom giant is doing this as a way to explore potential 
cost-cutting methods, the company said last week. AT&T is also 
investigating Macintosh OS X as a potential desktop operating 
system replacement. AT&T says it will make a decision based on 
its evaluations at the end of next year.

Since AT&T invented the first Unix - the great grandfather of 
Linux - a corporate-wide move to Linux would be another of many 
ironies in the open source industry. (See The SCO Group legal 
saga for the biggest example.)

But it remains to be seen whether AT&T is actually serious about 
switching from Windows to Linux or if it is just trying to scare 
Microsoft into giving it a bigger discount. This is a tactic 
cited by some observers of government agencies in England, which 
have threatened a Windows/Linux swap. Other government agencies 
in Germany and in Asia have pulled the trigger on Linux desktop 
rollouts as a way to lower infrastructure spending. China's move 
to Linux is driven by an interest in becoming less-dependant on 
a foreign company for software.

But cost cutting must be foremost on AT&T's mind. Last week it 
announced 7,400-job cuts, and plans to reduce the value of its 
assets by $11 billion. Certainly, it couldn't hurt AT&T's bottom 
line if the idea of using cheaper open source software on tens 
of thousands of PCs pans out.
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To contact: Phil Hochmuth

Phil Hochmuth is a Network World Senior Editor and a former 
systems integrator. You can reach him at 
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
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This newsletter is sponsored by SBC 
Dialing for Dollars 
CRATE & BARREL'S VOIP MOVE NETS SAVINGS AND FLEXIBILITY 

An apples-to-apples comparison showed that a centralized, 
software-based, IP-based platform could provide significant cost 
savings and productivity benefits over a comparable, traditional 
PBX system.  Download whitepaper now, click here 
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=84639
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ARCHIVE LINKS

Breaking Linux news from Network World and around the 'Net, 
updated daily: http://www.nwfusion.com/topics/linux.html

Archive of the Linux newsletter:
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about The New Data Center on NW Fusion's Research Center at:
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