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On 03/11/06 19:34:00, Rob Beard wrote:
One of the places I used to work - The John Innes Centre (www.jic.bbrsc.ac.uk) they were using DEC Alpha boxes when I startedbut as Linux gained market share they saw the benefits of moving over to Linux (RedHat 7, 8 and 9 at the time). I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the Alpha boxes have been replaced with Intel/AMD based workstations.
Debian retains support for Alpha. If there are boxes going spare, they would make great GNU/Linux machines.
GNU/Linux: the ultimate in eco-friendly computing!There are free software tasks out there to suit ANY computing device - from an iPAQ to a mainframe, from a mobile phone to a cluster.
Great Idea #2: *TAX* microsoft for requiring the replacement of perfectly usable hardware each time they release a new version of Windows. A *green* tax, levied according to the true cost of environmentally safe disposal of *all* machines below the minimum installation specification for that class of machine. Tax would be levied against the vendor of the machine, increasing the cost disparity between a Windows PC and a free software PC to the point that pre-installed free software becomes an economic necessity for all vendors. Customers would return their old machines to the vendor at no cost (to discourage fly-tipping) after purchase of the new machine. Vendors would be forced into negotiating the costs of the tax with MS and the availability of non-Windows sales would strengthen their negotiating position, not weaken it as now. That could dramatically impact on laptop sales where safe disposal if notoriously expensive. Polluter pays.
;-) -- Neil Williams ============= http://www.data-freedom.org/ http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/ http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/
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