cones688

> proprietary Unix behemoths

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_on_System_z

> just hidden away in very specific areas

Like every single Financial Institutions on the globe...

Horses for Courses... asking a steeplechaser to do a flat race would be foolish, but each is exceptional for the task they have been bread for.

I agree that its a bit of an annoyance for those of us who do use N40L or N54Ls as they are brilliant home servers.

However this:

> That’s a hefty price to pay to fix what is arguably a defect in the original product

What a blatant lie. How can it be a defect in the original product for an operating system which is brought out months after release of the hardware.

Except any "real" customers of HP have enterprise service agreements (or longer warranties) which include all this, by chance and bad fortune they have thrown the N40L into that bucket which happens to used by a lot of people for personal home server.

Systems and Technology Group is the hardware wing and within contains X-Series Division. IBM is keeping the other power, storage and Z (mainframe) IIRC.

This article massively overstates what is occurring here, these people are members of staff involved with the part of the business which has been sold to Lenovo and surprise surprise Lenovo already has their own departments handling most of this stuff.

Maybe you should read the article

> "Announced today including managers"

This is the failing X86 based server business (STG) which IBM has sold off to Lenovo, most likely duplicate test/support staff which Lenovo already have. They aren't just trimming - the departments are closing down.

> Anyone who wants to present can simply join the hangout from their laptop and then share their screen

This is in line with every other solution like IBM Smartcloud or Citrix GoTo meeting, there isn't anything new or innovative about this it's just a little cheaper. Also comes with the nice vendor lock-in that it's not self-hosted so all those sensitive business conversations are going over google servers - see how that goes down at audit and also that you are required to have google apps.

I would totally agree, I have no real "enforced" dress code but I choose to wear a suit when I go to clients (even though they never do), I am usually with sysadmins, developers or Security teams. I feel like wearing a suit sets me apart and also gives impact when I enter a room, I also (being young) find it gives me a little more automatic respect which always helps too. I think people should have the choice but I really think this whole "suits" are stuffy thing is stupid, suits are comfortable, can be worn multiple days in a row and make you look fly.

Or even more profitable MainFrame (Z Series) which is still growing

Amazon doesn't do SSD VMs for $5 a month... If you are beginner you are using the Web GUI which clearly states you need to click the box to securely wipe all the data (which has a cost associated with it) if you are using the API then you should RTFM (Read the F Manual) if you build a service on top of the API then it is the service's fault for not including (which is what the gist is about)

"Although company passwords are stored in encrypted form, hackers in some cases have shown the ability to decode such information"

Then they arn't really encrypted are they... this really annoys me as it shifts the blame away from them and their poor security standards and threat models.

> That's why it has six external storage ports each capable of pushing 20GBps.

Is it just me or something gives me the creeps about running an OS off an external drive...

> Large, noisy, ugly

Since when did the requirements of a workstation class Xeon desktop become "Super-compact" and "beautiful"?!

I would agree on the noise, except no-one has actual heard these things running in a realistic environment so there is currently no comparison.

I still find it incredulous people accept these are enterpise/workstation/pro machines:

- No ability to have more than one hard drive (No RAID possibilities)

- 64GB limit on RAM (as mentioned)

- Single power supply

- "Your Mac Pro comes with 90 days of complimentary telephone technical support and a one-year limited warranty" My toaster comes with a better warranty than that...

Compare this to the dell workstations of 3yrs of next day onsite & 24/7 support, 4 hard drives and dual power supplies...

> As for servers, I wouldn't use Fedora.

That's what RedHat (or CentOS) is for...

Looks really nice! How jarring are non flat designed windows such as chrome/evolution etc? Do they look a bit "too" ill fitting?

In getting started it does give the table names... which are all prefixed cd.tablename, it is an educational tool so one would expect one to read the getting started pages first.

By customers, this is targeted at CISOs (Cheif Information Security Officers) and other senior IT decision makers and Sysadmins.

Without being too patronising, this is really really basic jargon for anyone working in the Enterprise IT mobile space - like someone knowing what HTML/CSS/JS stand for/represent in the web dev/design space.

> or cares

Go tell CISO/CIO (or Auditor) of a fortune 500 that they don't need to care what company data/emails are on peoples phones/tablets or whether its under the companies control.

Your lack of interest shows that this isn't relevant to you, it would be arrogant to assume the rest of the world doesn't care about it - in the same way lots of people don't care about how lean your startup is or what VC drinks social you went to the other night.

The key point in this letter which HN people should be noting is:

> To our valued enterprise customers and partners,

MDM (Mobile Device Management), EMM (Enterprise Mobility Management) BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) is to the enterprise IT department what saas, paas, Xaas is to Hacker News, industry language.

On a separate note I still have no idea why Oracle/HP/IBM haven't bought them, clearly so much opportunity seeing as Fortune 500 have still not settled on an effective way to manage mobile devices,

- Easily (for Sysadmin vs Employee), - Securely (employee privacy vs corporate security) - Cheaply (BYOD)

BES10 is actually pretty robust and has more features than most of its competitors

I totally agree, you should try an Android TV stick with Plex app on (see my comment above)

The N40L is pretty dam silent, it just sits behind my couch. Uses a touch more power but it doesn't struggle like those NAS's sometimes do with certain apps.

Other option is a Android "TV Stick" off Ali Express or Ebay, they run 4.1.1 and you can just install the plex app on it and use a remote... also stick a 32GB SD card in it and when you go away to a hotel just take the stick with you can find the HDMI socket. You can also install the Wifi-direct and Airplay apps on it which enable it to receive airplay and miracast signals. Not back for $40....

I have a HP N40L little 4 disk SMB server which runs ubuntu perfectly with all the tools you list along with RAID and a bit more power.

Instead of having XBMC I use plex a free (though the plexpass is so worth it) fork, which keeps a central library which clients then query, they have a client for everything (rpi, android, ios, windows, mac, linux), by far the best feature is that it remembers what point you were in movies and has a great web interface where you can watch anything - no installation of anything required. Also syncs content of your choosing to ipad or tablets/phones so when you hit the road you have all your shows you want at the correct quality and encoding - I freaking love it. If you have a good enough speed uplink you can also even watch remotely in your browser.

If you like XBMC - try Plex, it's worth a little look at...

edit: Also runs on Roku's too :)

Did you raise this with the IPCC[0]?

[0]http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/

Windows only?

Great tool - just wish there was an offline version I could run!

> transferring to GendBuntu from a proprietary system means the staff member receives a new computer with a widescreen monitor. (0)

This is a great idea to get staff to accept the change, not "forced" upon them but how about a bigger screen and a faster computer, now your colleague has one and you have a slow old one... it's a no brainer really.

(0) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GendBuntu

I think what everyone is missing here is virtualization, why do you need your phone to have the power for it run them locally. Keep all the heavy lift action in the data center and with the new mobile data speeds "stream" your desktop through the phone onto a local screen/interactive devices.

Phones will be like thin clients (a la citrix receiver) and so we have persistent backups and universal access along with desktop performance but still portability and battery life when not in thin client mode.

> Having the exact same computer following us around without transmitting everything to Big Brother would have a certain amount of appeal if not for the greater danger of losing everything with our phone! So, what's next?

Ever heard of Citrix, VDI etc.... that is exactly the concept you are explaining and its available now. I can hook the citrix receiver on my blackberry up to my citrix desktop then plug in the microHDMI cable and attach a bluetooth mouse/kb. Sorted, full screen enterprise class desktop applications in a secure container.

This isn't some revelation, it's achievable today

I have a HP ProLiant N40L and couldnt recommend it enough.

2 of OPs biggest gripes were onboard WIFI and BT not working, these could have been fixed with a 40 buck TP-Link card which requires no kexts and is recognized as an Airport card and a 10 buck Belkin USB Bluetooth dongle which again requires no install or configuration.