__/ [Roy Culley] on Tuesday 03 January 2006 18:56 \__
http://weblog.infoworld.com/openresource/archives/2005/12/giving_linux_an.html
Good post.
> But IT isn't all bad, we noticed that we have had zero issues with
> any of our Linux boxes or open source apps. All the in-house and
> externally hosted LAMP-J machines continue to be stable and defy
> logic with their uptime. My biggest complaint is that installing
> and deploying new apps still requires serious sys admin
> skills.
I can't disagree, but it depends on the application at hand and also the
distribution. Certain applications like (commercial) MATLAB, Thunderbird,
Firefox are a drag-and-drop job. That, however, is not what hearsay, based
on stereotypes, will indicate. Some still think of dependency hell as if
Gentoo is the mother of all distribution.
> While certain specific proprietary applications may not
> have open source substitutes or run on Linux, you can replace
> Windows in it's entirety with Linux/open source apps...it's just
> not easy...yet.
If the transition is not easy, it is due to *skills*. Many corporations have
become accustomed to long-standing procedures -- repetitive routines, that
is. 'IT dependencies' between one department and another has evolved over
the year and needs revising, that's all.
> [...]
>
> The funny thing is we expect more out of Linux and open source
> apps than we do from Microsoft products. These are products from a
> 20 year old software company with billions in revenue and yet it
> often feels like the software stalls at the old 80/20. 80%
> functionality with 20% nagging problems. I expect Windows server
> to need reboots, I expect licensing to be too costly, and expect
> having to attend to some serious virus/worm threat every week. And
> yet, Windows still has a huge presence in the enterprise. I never
> expect Linux machines to go down, Apache to crash, or desktops to
> be under virus threat, and I sure don't worry about excessive
> licensing fees.
What I personally find most desirable is eternal ownership. One I install a
Web application, it is there to stay for good. No breakage, no licensing
costs, no nags.
Roy
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