Well,
Redhat is opensource, but the support is not. I use CENTOS, which is basically Rehdat ES for free. I’m not arguing with you about the a$$hat’s statement about the legality of using an OS. I’m not arguing with you at all actually.
Lets look at an average LAMP stack Linux server. It is using Linux distro, Apache Web Server, MySQL, and PHP. Its a fabulous combo for free. But, when you multily the number of linux distros x the versions of apache x the # of MySQL versions x the # of PHP versions, you are looking at a support nightmare in a large setting like a university with 1000s of users and a tight budget. I even make a concerted effort to limit the variations of OS/Software combos in the server room for the same reason.
We limit our client support to Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X 10x. We will help you if you are on a linux variant, but it is not a supported OS on our campus.
I’m a big linux fan myself. But when it comes to support and uniformity, there is something to be said for a standardized supported OS.
I’m not arguing with you, just stating obvious realities.
“Lets look at an average LAMP stack Linux server. It is using Linux distro, Apache Web Server, MySQL, and PHP. Its a fabulous combo for free. But, when you multily the number of linux distros x the versions of apache x the # of MySQL versions x the # of PHP versions, you are looking at a support nightmare in a large setting like a university with 1000s of users and a tight budget. I even make a concerted effort to limit the variations of OS/Software combos in the server room for the same reason.”
I don’t know about RedHat or Novell, but I think Canonical will support Ubuntu LAMP Server fully not just their distro under their service contract. But you do have a really good point. Getting support for Terminal Server, IIS and SQL Server is pretty easy; and probably doesn’t even require a back end contract with MS considering the number of people out there that can support those applications.