Posted on 02/05/2005 7:02:30 AM PST by ShadowAce
Linux/Microsoft Ping!
PArt of the issue - which IS changing is the number of legacy apps still running. I work in healthcare IT and so many new applications coming out are running Linux that it is not funny - often from developers experience in ecommerce that requires systems to be cheap and bulletproof.
Now that the industry has matured more, the apps aren't receiving the press outside of its niche, target audience. Hence people aren't seeing the growth overall as they did 15-20 years ago.
"Paul Thurrott" - Bill Gates' latest pen name(?)
I'd say that this author is a wee bit biased (of course, I am too). But I don't think he is being entirely honest here. He talks of the perceived benefits of Linux vs what he describes as the actual benefits of Windows. Howsoever, he does have a point on the amount of units sold. Given that, it is easy to assume that windows rules on the Internet, when that (from what I've read) is just plain not the case.
Close. Bill signs Paul's paycheck.
Linux is primarily used in environments where high data output are necessary such as supercomputing environments and in trafficking of Internet data.
Ever try to teach a business systems analyst how to traverse around inside a Unix box? From my limited experience, it’s like teaching a stroke victim to walk again. Because most got their literacy from PCs, whatever demands their administration’s going to need to be windows based.
Unix had made great inroads from mainframes into healthcare when I worked in it in the late 90 (with Ernst & Young in LA), but I didn’t see it moving into an environment dominated by Microsoft.
The legal shadow hanging over Linux is a major factor imho. When this is cleared up, or at least there is a bit more visibility, I think alot of corporate IT managers who are on the sidelines will dip the proverbial toe into Linux (or to come out of the closet on their current deployments). The enterprise service and support products from Red Hat and SUSE are really quite compelling, at least server side. Seriously, how many people do you know who are truly happy with say MS IIS or Exchange?
In 1995 I was just learning Novell Netware. Netware ruled. Novell had the world by the donkey. Everyone was wanting to run Netware. CNEs were commanding bigtime money. Novell amassed millions in cash reserves, had no debt, and was the darling of Wall Street. Novell became ARROGANT.
At the time, Microsoft was just releasing Windows 95, and oh yeah, they had some glorified peer to peer solution called NT 3.51. It wasn't much, and nothing really ran on it, and it crashed a lot, and there weren't many administrative tools for it.
Now it's 2005. Windows servers have huge amounts of market share. The MCSE is a common credential. Everyone runs M$ products. M$ has, at last count, $500 billion in the bank. While no longer the darling of Wall Street, they are paying dividends now.
The Buzz, momentum, and hype has gone to Linux. Linux in many ways still can't compete with XP on the desktop, but it now runs servers as well as anything M$ produces. Hundreds of thousands of people keep working on Linux every day, and major competitors to M$ have dumped massive amounts of their code into the project.
By comparison, Microsoft hasn't released a significant upgrade (ie, DOS to Win95) in years to its server software, or its Office suite, or its desktop. Worse yet, they've lost all credibility due to missed deadlines, dropped features, security concerns, and not a small amount of fear among its partners. They are ARROGANT.
And so the globe spins, and the "goes around, comes around" thing happens.
I think he may be right about the server/database/back office type stuff, but if Microsoft cannot get the spam and virus and spyware situation under control, they are going to lose significant desktop share to Linux and Mac.
Most of the Windows computers I've used at other people's houses in the last year run like a ten-year-old Pentium II because of all the spyware infestation.
-ccm
The "Legal shadow" isn't there.
Novell (among others) has offered legal idemnification to those running SuSE. That means that Novell would pay the legal bills, etc should things go wrong in the copyright wars.
What shadow there is is caused by a lawsuit from SCO. The money to sue Novell, IBM, DCX and AutoZone AT THE SAME TIME comes from a venture capital company that was "introduced" by Micro$oft to SCO.
You wanna try Groupwise 6.5 on a SuSE SLES9 box? I'll make sure you get the trial software....
Linux desktops aren't as good as XP, and they do take some getting used to. If your end user just uses one app plus email, this is acceptable, but don't confuse general XP friendliness with that of Linux.
On the other hand, the Linux server stuff rocks. And, what end user cares what is going on in the server room, so long as it works well?
I think the author is being quite realistic. I manage around 45 different servers approx 10% are Linux based and strangely these boxes give us the most grief. We have had a succession of Linux Gurus come and go and still these boxes don't work quite right.
Our Solaris and Windows boxes, on the other hand, never have or rarely have any issues. It's important to note that most of our management tools are Windows Centric (which of course helps alot). But overall management wise the Windows boxes are really quite reliable. (yes even NT4 hehe).
Linux, to me at least, just isn't ready for prime time. I had a fantastic Solaris contractor bluntly tell me that Red Hat and Linux in general was not advisable in a production environment and at this point I tend to agree.
Sure doesn't square with my experience. In 2004 about 2/3 of the six or so organizations whose operations I know initiated or added to Linux servers.
Note that revenue is not a reasonable way of describing Linux growth. Of these same organizations only one has paid for all its copies of Linux. More typical is to buy one copy, clone the rest. That is perfectly legal (and for that matter is the practice I recommend).
Lol if you set it up wrong its just as insecure as windows... Wow
I guess that the Solaris guy, who competes with Linux, will have to explain why tons of Sun code just got dumped into the Linux world?
What are you running on those Linux boxes? Have you looked at the new Novell OES - Linux betas?
To some degree but what is really helping them is teh EOL of NT. People are skipping right over 2k and going to 2k3 to replace their old NT4 systems..
While I do not use Windows myself for a desktop OS, I can at least understand the reason why people do use it.
What I cannot fathom is why anyone uses it as a server OS. It is truly awful as a server OS.
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