Replies

I seriously doubt that you got to see everything they do in those (large) companies and institutions. You are making it sound as if all large companies and instutitions used Linux for all their work (except desktop workstations). That is a preposterous claim. Maybe some of them have a project for which they experiment with Linux, but that doesn’t mean that nobody uses Windows. You really think that nobody has a Windows Server installation running SQL Server? Or Oracle? Or Exchange? Or Sharepoint? Or any of the usual enterprise software systems?

I visit the CeBit every year, checking out each and every booth in the enterprise software halls. It is mostly Windows. Linux is the total exception. To think that all these companies are only pretending to sell Windows software, and their customers are only pretending to be interested, while they are really running all Linux software in their companies, is absurd.

Oh--I've installed a Windows cluster--for a guy who didn't know what he was doing, but had to spend the budget cash for the year (he admitted it to me in those words). He had me set it up in such a way that it wasn't really a cluster any more--just a rack of windows servers.

You actually think that visiting CeBit each year trumps actual on-site work and conversation?

You really think that nobody has a Windows Server installation running SQL Server? Or Oracle? Or Exchange? Or Sharepoint? Or any of the usual enterprise software systems?

All of those products are desktop support systems (with the exception of Oracle). Those are not what I was talking about. I was talking about their real work--the reason they are in business in the first place.

Research, analysis, and crunching numbers. Heck--LHC@Home doesn't even offer a Windows client for those who wish to participate.