Oracle has failed in its attempt to enter the Linux market. Our recent survey of Oracle database customers reveals that only 1 out of 32 customers currently uses Oracle Unbreakable Linux. This one customer also commented that “support is terrible, it is difficult to get an answer to my problems, Oracle’s agents never understand my company.” The survey reflects a very low penetration rate in the 2-year period since Oracle unveiled Unbreakable Linux with much fanfare, including live penguins running around onstage with Larry Ellison. Resellers continue to characterize Unbreakable Linuxas a failure because Oracle ultimately cannot control the future direction of RedHat Enterprise Linux, upon which it is based.

While the Street has expected Unbreakable Linux to severely impact Red Hat, its failure ironically serves as a proof-point of the underlying defensibility of RedHat’s business model. In fact, in the two years since Oracle introduced Unbreakable Linux, Red Hat’s billings have grown at an average rate of 31%–representing clear market share gains.

Mon Oct 6 18:25:09 UTC 2008: official ephemeride published:

The nominal orbit given above has 2008 TC3 coming to within one earth
radius around Oct. 7.1. The absolute magnitude indicates that the
object will not survive passage through the atmosphere.

Steve Chesley (JPL) reports that atmospheric entry will occur on 2008
Oct 07 0246 UTC over northern Sudan.

Post updates:

• meteo sat map
• animation of entrance
• pre-entrance
• NASA news

The list below covers notable events during the day. At other times coverage will alternate between live events in the CCC and pre-recorded material. All times are CEST (Central European Summer Time), UTC/GMT + 2 hours. Wednesday 10 september 2008

9:00 Live satellite broadcast and webcast begin with an introduction from the commentators in the CERN Control Centre, an animation showing the passage of a beam through the LHC, and highlights of the LHC operators’ daily meeting where they lay out the procedure for getting the first beam circulating in the LHC.

9:15 Briefing in French by LHC Project Leader Lyn Evans and CERN Director General Robert Aymar on the plans for the LHC First Beam Day. Following the statement coverage begins of the first attempt to circulate a beam in the LHC. Lyn Evans will narrate the proceedings in English from the CERN Control Centre. Video of accelerator operators at work in the CCC will alternate with views of the LHC apparatus in its tunnel 100 meters underground.

10:00 Briefing in English by Lyn Evans, LHC Project Leader. The three-minute briefing will be followed by coverage of 10 minutes of Q&A between Lyn Evans and journalists at CERN for the event.

10:13 Tour of the control rooms of the four major LHC experiments: LHCb, CMS, ALICE and ATLAS. Viewers will see activity in each control room, and hear scientists from each experiment speak about their experiment and experiences during the first beam day. (duration 12:00)

10:25 Back to the CERN Control Centre for continuing coverage of the first beams in the Large Hadron Collider.

11:00 Three-minute briefing from the CERN Control Centre, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A with journalists at CERN for the event.

11:30 Visit by videoconference to Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, near Chicago, Illinois, USA. Fermilab, which contributes to construction and operation of the LHC and CMS experiment, will host a pajama party in the middle of the
night for scientists, media, VIPs and members of the public to follow the events at CERN live as they happen.

11:45 Video clips from worldwide non-CERN-Member-State particle physics institutes that contributed to LHC construction. (Pre-recorded)

11:56 Highlights from the morning’s activities in the CERN Control Centre. (duration 4:00)

12:00 Press Conference in English and French with CERN Director General Robert Aymar and LHC Project Leader Lyn Evans. Statements by Director General Aymar and LHC Project Leader Evans will be followed by 20 minutes of Q&A with journalists at CERN for the event.

12:25 Visit the LHCb experiment, possibly the first experiment to see evidence of beam in the LHC on 10 September. A five-minute pre-recorded clip explaining the LHCb experiment will be followed by ten minutes of coverage of activity in the LHCb control room and interviews with LHCb scientists.

12:45 Movie: The Time Machine: The LHC Adventure is a Journey Through Time. (Pre-recorded, duration 11:00)

13:00 Three-minute briefing from the CERN Control Centre, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A with journalists at CERN for the event.

13:13 Visit the CMS experiment. A five-minute pre-recorded clip explaining the CMS experiment will be followed by ten minutes of coverage of activity in the CMS control room and interviews with CMS scientists.

14:00 Three-minute briefing from the CERN Control Centre, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A with journalists at CERN for the event.

14:24 Visit the ALICE experiment. A five-minute pre-recorded clip explaining the ALICE experiment will be followed by ten minutes of coverage of activity in the ALICE control room and interviews with ALICE scientists.

14:45 Highlights from the day’s activities in the CERN Control Centre. (duration 3:00)

15:00 Three-minute briefing from the CERN Control Centre, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A with journalists at CERN for the event.

15:20 Visit the ATLAS experiment. A five-minute pre-recorded clip explaining the ATLAS experiment will be followed by ten minutes of coverage of activity in the ATLAS control room and interviews with ATLAS scientists.

15:50 Highlight footage of the day’s activities at CERN. (duration 10:00)

16:00 Three-minute briefing from the CERN Control Centre, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A with journalists at CERN for the event.

16:24 Tour of the control rooms of the four major LHC experiments: LHCb, CMS, ALICE and ATLAS. Viewers will see activity in each control room, and hear scientists from each experiment speak about their experiment and experiences during the first beam day.

17:30 Briefing in English with Lyn Evans, LHC Project Leader. The five-minute briefing will be followed by 10 minutes of Q&A with journalists at CERN for the event.

17:45 Highlight footage of the day’s activities at CERN. (duration 15:00)

18:00 End of satellite broadcast and webcast.

18:01 A Tiny black hole suck the whole earth in.

18:02 Press conference about it.

• http://webcast.cern.ch/live.py?format=wmv&channel=Channel%201
• http://lhc.web.cern.ch/lhc/
• http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/LHC/LHC-en.html
• http://lhc-milestones.web.cern.ch/LHC-Milestones/LHCMilestones-en.html

Enjoy,