Forget fear, uncertainty and doubt. How do Windows Vista and Linux really compare against each other? It’s one thing to talk about the familiar applications available to Windows users contrasted with the rich suite of free open source apps for Linux, but something totally different to actually compare the loads of the two operating systems as they perform functionally identical tasks.
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For this test I have two laptops. Unfortunately they’re not strictly equal, in fact the Windows Vista system has an edge. It is an ASUS VX2 Lamborghini with 4GB RAM, an Intel Core 2 T7400 CPU running at 2.16GHz and a windows experience index of 4.7. The version of Windows is Windows Vista Ultimate with service pack 1 – and all other updates applied as at the time of writing. The hard drive is a Seagate Momentus 5400 RPM disk and the video card is an nVidia GeForce Go 7700.
I’m also running Red Hat Fedora 9 on a Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop. Both are 15” models, and the Dell also has 4GB RAM. It is less powerful with an Intel Core 2 T5600 CPU running at 1.83GHz (and a cache of 2MB, half that of the T7400.) The Dell contains a Toshiba MK1234GSX hard drive which also runs at 5,400 RPM but contains only onboard video, specifically an Intel 945GM chipset with 8MB of “stolen” memory. Fedora has been updated to include all the patches available as at the time of writing.
Let’s first compare the two systems at rest. This is the load the computers are under straight after a reboot and login. Vista is running the Aero theme and Fedora Linux is running Compiz with desktop effects enabled. The Windows Sidebar is enabled; I considered disabling it but this test ought to reasonably reflect actual usage, not any ideal settings tuned for best results. Consequently, I also haven’t disabled the WiFi or Bluetooth drivers on either machine, along with the various programs that run on startup. This includes Symantec Antivirus on the Windows machine as well as OneNote (Windows) and Tomboy (Linux) used for making quick notes.
Windows sits at 1.12GB RAM in use and 98 running processes. The CPU usage fluctuates between 4% and 24%; most of this is taskmgr.exe – the task manager – and a small contribution comes from the Sidebar and dwm.exe, the desktop window manager. By contrast, Linux is using 1.06GB of RAM although with 141 running processes, and a CPU load sitting dead still at 1%. If I click the Resources tab of the System Monitor the CPU load ramps up to over 20%. This is most likely due to the lack of a dedicated video card and the processor being required to draw the graphs which appear on this page. This problem doesn’t occur when using top within a console window.
One thing which is especially interesting is the different approaches the two operating systems take towards swapping main memory out to disk. While Windows shows many hundreds of page faults occurring Linux has a clear zero kilobytes of swap space being used. Let me tell you what this means, and then let’s fire up a web browser and word processor.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Study: IT jobs will drop in 2009
Sharp reductions likely in contract staff, professional services and hardware, and almost no investment in cloud computing
IT staff jobs are at increasing risk -- both for contractors and in-house workers -- according to a survey of top CIOs by Goldman Sachs & Co. released last week. Global services companies will also feel the pinch because of the slowing economy.
A second survey showed that basic PC and network hardware, as well as professional services providers, would bear the largest proportion of spending cuts. It also showed that CIOs planned to emphasize economizing measures over investments in new technologies, with cloud computing emerging as the last item on their priority lists, despite the hype around it.
IT contractors to bear the brunt of cuts
"Demand for discretionary IT projects dropped to its lowest point" in the 41-study history of the Goldman Sachs staffing survey, which asked 100 managers with strategic decision-making authority (mainly CIOs at multinational Fortune 1,000 companies) about their IT staffing plans for 2009.
The Sachs report states that "in a cost-constrained IT budget scenario, CIOs will most likely look to cut their resources first from lower-value augmented [contract] IT staff." The company also describes its survey as "an early warning flag" for service providers' 2009 bookings of new projects.
These intended cutbacks are a change from last fall. When the managers were asked in October which area of IT service delivery resources they would cut for application-related development or maintenance work, the answer was 0% for in-house employees. However, with a declining economy, 8% of respondents in a February survey said in-house IT programming staffers would be cut. In April, 15% of respondents said in-house staffers would be cut. That dropped to 11% in the June survey (the most recent).
But contract employees fare much worse. In the survey, 48% of the respondents said that those staffers would be cut. And 30% of the responders said on-site third-party service provider staffers would also be cut for application-related development or maintenance work. Twelve percent of the managers said they would cut employees from offshore third-party service providers.
Consultants, hardware targets of spending cuts
The second survey by Goldman Sachs looked at 2009 spending plans based on type of IT projects. This survey also showed cuts are in the offing.
"ROI is the name of the game. CIOs have emphasized to us that they are buying on a need vs. want basis, are often downsizing deals to fit with current budget constraints, and are searching for solutions with a high and fast ROI," the survey authors wrote.
The spending survey indicated CIOs see the "greatest potential for cost reduction in IT in the area of networking equipment." A full 47% of the respondents said the most likely area where spending would be slowed would be on purchases of personal computer systems, servers and storage.
Spending cuts won't be limited to equipment: 42% of the CIOs indicated that "they are reluctant to spend money on third-party professional services." This is in keeping with the decline in interest for discretionary IT projects and could indicate more of a reliance on in-house IT employees.
Cloud computing may get buzz, but it won't get spend
The CIOs indicated that server virtualization and server consolidation are their No. 1 and No. 2 priorities. Following these two are cost-cutting, application integration, and data center consolidation. At the bottom of the list of IT priorities are grid computing, open-source software, content management and cloud computing (called on-demand/utility computing in the survey) -- less than 2% of the respondents said cloud computing was a priority.
Charles King, an analyst at Pund-IT Inc., said that such hot-button technologies as cloud computing deployments may slow down. "The message here is CIOs are looking primarily to tested, well-understood technologies that can result in savings or increased business efficiencies whose support can be argued from a financial point of view," he said.
One reason for the low priorities of grid computing, open-source software and cloud computing may be that CIOs and business executives don't understand their value. "They require a technical understanding to get to their importance. I don't think C-level executives and managers have that understanding," King said.
IT staff jobs are at increasing risk -- both for contractors and in-house workers -- according to a survey of top CIOs by Goldman Sachs & Co. released last week. Global services companies will also feel the pinch because of the slowing economy.
A second survey showed that basic PC and network hardware, as well as professional services providers, would bear the largest proportion of spending cuts. It also showed that CIOs planned to emphasize economizing measures over investments in new technologies, with cloud computing emerging as the last item on their priority lists, despite the hype around it.
IT contractors to bear the brunt of cuts
"Demand for discretionary IT projects dropped to its lowest point" in the 41-study history of the Goldman Sachs staffing survey, which asked 100 managers with strategic decision-making authority (mainly CIOs at multinational Fortune 1,000 companies) about their IT staffing plans for 2009.
The Sachs report states that "in a cost-constrained IT budget scenario, CIOs will most likely look to cut their resources first from lower-value augmented [contract] IT staff." The company also describes its survey as "an early warning flag" for service providers' 2009 bookings of new projects.
These intended cutbacks are a change from last fall. When the managers were asked in October which area of IT service delivery resources they would cut for application-related development or maintenance work, the answer was 0% for in-house employees. However, with a declining economy, 8% of respondents in a February survey said in-house IT programming staffers would be cut. In April, 15% of respondents said in-house staffers would be cut. That dropped to 11% in the June survey (the most recent).
But contract employees fare much worse. In the survey, 48% of the respondents said that those staffers would be cut. And 30% of the responders said on-site third-party service provider staffers would also be cut for application-related development or maintenance work. Twelve percent of the managers said they would cut employees from offshore third-party service providers.
Consultants, hardware targets of spending cuts
The second survey by Goldman Sachs looked at 2009 spending plans based on type of IT projects. This survey also showed cuts are in the offing.
"ROI is the name of the game. CIOs have emphasized to us that they are buying on a need vs. want basis, are often downsizing deals to fit with current budget constraints, and are searching for solutions with a high and fast ROI," the survey authors wrote.
The spending survey indicated CIOs see the "greatest potential for cost reduction in IT in the area of networking equipment." A full 47% of the respondents said the most likely area where spending would be slowed would be on purchases of personal computer systems, servers and storage.
Spending cuts won't be limited to equipment: 42% of the CIOs indicated that "they are reluctant to spend money on third-party professional services." This is in keeping with the decline in interest for discretionary IT projects and could indicate more of a reliance on in-house IT employees.
Cloud computing may get buzz, but it won't get spend
The CIOs indicated that server virtualization and server consolidation are their No. 1 and No. 2 priorities. Following these two are cost-cutting, application integration, and data center consolidation. At the bottom of the list of IT priorities are grid computing, open-source software, content management and cloud computing (called on-demand/utility computing in the survey) -- less than 2% of the respondents said cloud computing was a priority.
Charles King, an analyst at Pund-IT Inc., said that such hot-button technologies as cloud computing deployments may slow down. "The message here is CIOs are looking primarily to tested, well-understood technologies that can result in savings or increased business efficiencies whose support can be argued from a financial point of view," he said.
One reason for the low priorities of grid computing, open-source software and cloud computing may be that CIOs and business executives don't understand their value. "They require a technical understanding to get to their importance. I don't think C-level executives and managers have that understanding," King said.
Intel snubs Microsoft; offers Linux certification
Intel's enthusiasm for open source is gathering speed: now it is endorsing professional Linux certifications, snubbing the old Microsoft certification program.
It’s a sure thing that you can sit for a range of Microsoft certifications at almost any event where two or more ‘Softies are gathered together in Bill’s name. Now Intel is leveraging its own developer muscle by organising Linux certification exams for attendees of the Intel Developer Forum held late August in San Francisco.
Attendees at the annual techfest can land a substantial discount sitting for any of three open-source exams held by the Linux Professional Institute, the world’s premier Linux certification organisation. However, there’s been no word on any similar arrangement for Microsoft certification, despite Redmond once again paying top dollar to be listed among IDF’s Gold Sponsors.
Several tracks of the San Francisco IDF are predictably dedicated to mini-notes, which Intel calls ‘netbooks’, and their desktop equivalents, clumsily tagged as ‘net-tops’, along with mobile Internet devices and the Atom processor family which runs all three types of devices.
Intel has been steadily ramping up its support of Linux for several years. It’s partly a recognition of the open source wave sweeping through governments and commercial organisations alike. More crucial, however, is the nascent market that Intel calls “the next billion computers”, which comprises the classrooms and homes, village centres and even business of third-world countries.
Intel makes its living by selling processors, and with the established worldwide market for desktops and laptops having almost reached saturation, tapping into new markets is a matter of survival. And the operating system that will power those next billion computers is increasingly seen as Linux: an OS that’s free, open, extensible and has lesser hardware requirements than Windows.
The most noticeable nod towards Linux, which was simultaneously a backhand slap at Microsoft, took place at the Beijing IDF in April 2007, when Intel embraced Linux as the OS of choice for its new class of ‘mobile Internet devices’ as well as an equal partner in a category of larger-screen UMPCs which later morphed into mini-notes. At last year’s San Francisco IDF, a prestigious walk-on spot during the keynote was bestowed upon Ubuntu creator Mark Shuttleworth.
Intel also sponsors the Moblin project for developing a standardised open source platform for MID products, which in turn has fed into two bespoke builds of Ubuntu: Ubuntu Mobile Internet Device Edition for MIDs and Ubuntu Netbook Remix for mini-notes.
And Intel has worked on fine-tuning the Linux kernel for reduced power consumption right across the board from servers to handheld MIDs. Its ‘LessWatts.org’ initiative has already demonstrated power-optimisations, which Intel developers have been working on and feeding back into the open source community, can boost the battery life of a Linux laptop by almost a third and add a full hour to its uptime when away from an AC outlet.
It’s a sure thing that you can sit for a range of Microsoft certifications at almost any event where two or more ‘Softies are gathered together in Bill’s name. Now Intel is leveraging its own developer muscle by organising Linux certification exams for attendees of the Intel Developer Forum held late August in San Francisco.
Attendees at the annual techfest can land a substantial discount sitting for any of three open-source exams held by the Linux Professional Institute, the world’s premier Linux certification organisation. However, there’s been no word on any similar arrangement for Microsoft certification, despite Redmond once again paying top dollar to be listed among IDF’s Gold Sponsors.
Several tracks of the San Francisco IDF are predictably dedicated to mini-notes, which Intel calls ‘netbooks’, and their desktop equivalents, clumsily tagged as ‘net-tops’, along with mobile Internet devices and the Atom processor family which runs all three types of devices.
Intel has been steadily ramping up its support of Linux for several years. It’s partly a recognition of the open source wave sweeping through governments and commercial organisations alike. More crucial, however, is the nascent market that Intel calls “the next billion computers”, which comprises the classrooms and homes, village centres and even business of third-world countries.
Intel makes its living by selling processors, and with the established worldwide market for desktops and laptops having almost reached saturation, tapping into new markets is a matter of survival. And the operating system that will power those next billion computers is increasingly seen as Linux: an OS that’s free, open, extensible and has lesser hardware requirements than Windows.
The most noticeable nod towards Linux, which was simultaneously a backhand slap at Microsoft, took place at the Beijing IDF in April 2007, when Intel embraced Linux as the OS of choice for its new class of ‘mobile Internet devices’ as well as an equal partner in a category of larger-screen UMPCs which later morphed into mini-notes. At last year’s San Francisco IDF, a prestigious walk-on spot during the keynote was bestowed upon Ubuntu creator Mark Shuttleworth.
Intel also sponsors the Moblin project for developing a standardised open source platform for MID products, which in turn has fed into two bespoke builds of Ubuntu: Ubuntu Mobile Internet Device Edition for MIDs and Ubuntu Netbook Remix for mini-notes.
And Intel has worked on fine-tuning the Linux kernel for reduced power consumption right across the board from servers to handheld MIDs. Its ‘LessWatts.org’ initiative has already demonstrated power-optimisations, which Intel developers have been working on and feeding back into the open source community, can boost the battery life of a Linux laptop by almost a third and add a full hour to its uptime when away from an AC outlet.
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