So Much for the Linux Threat

Windows IT Pro ^ | 4 February 2005 | Paul Thurrott

[dominic7]

The Linux boxes run

1/ DNS external
2/ Our payroll system
3/ 1 web site

These servers (at one very low and depressing point) were taking upwards to 90% of our time. The more people we brought in the more I realised that a Linux configuration is an art not a science.

Example:

Windows Install

Insert CD
8 gig OP / Remaining Data
Install
Run Windows Update
Enable Service required or folder to share
....
GOLF

Linux Install

I think at the point I was boiling toads I got frustrated

.....No GOLF

[N3WBI3]

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.

Wow a contractor from a competing company (which has lost a ton of market share to Linux) told you linux was not good... Ill also take his word for it. Linux is ready for prime time and companies like Amazon.com prove it every day.

[Paulus]

I read on FR once Linux does not have a chance until my 70 year old grandmother can install it and use it, or something like that. I gotta agree. Every experience I have had with Linux has been one big clustermuck after another. I have one more project I am going to try Linux out on. If it does not work I am done with Linux. (LinuxFreaks FreepMe)

[TWohlford]

"Awful" might not be accurate in all cases. I know that it has some good points, and some bad points. I enjoy running "one of each" in my parent company: Two Novell Netware servers, one Windows 2k3 SBS server, and one Linux server.

Novell's eDir simply blows AD outta the water, and is a great platform for email and ZEN. It also makes a great gateway / router since no hackers every try to hack it (shhh... I don't run a firewall, have a DMZ, etc)

Terminal Services / Citrix / VNC / PCAnywhere, on the other hand, is a wonderful thing. I use my W2K3 also is my backup app server.

The Linux world is great for those online duties, and that failover HA solution is definitely on my list of things "to do".

One of the problems that I have with M$ geeks is that they think that M$ has the best solution for every problem. This is annoying, dangerous, and arrogant. Worse yet, no M$ partners dare suggest those alternatives lest they incur the wrath of Oz.

[clyde asbury]

I have one more project I am going to try Linux out on.

KGood KLuck !

[N3WBI3]

Linux Install (RedHat)

Insert CD
Run default Server Option
On startup log in and click the flashing red exclamation point to update the server
On the menu under servers, click DNS (or web, or whatever)
Enter some DNS records
....
Golf

Most enterprises release like RedHat and Suse have configuration tools which are as easy as anything windows has, because you dont know how to use them does not reflect on the system it reflects on you. I dont know squat about iis6, that does not mean it sucks or is hard to config.

[elfman2]

"And, what end user cares what is going on in the server room, so long as it works well?"

Power users in analytical roles. Ones that have to manipulate data files, manage processes, synchronize or backup data and interact with the OS in ways that may be very foreign to them on Linix.

[TWohlford]

So you don't like Linux because you don't understand it? And you like Windows because it doesn't require a lot of knowledge?

DNS servers in the Linux world are common, even for large (HUGE) ISPs. I hate running W2k3 DNS servers, and resent having to run one for AD. In addition, Linux servers hold about 1/3 of the Web pages on the Net, so I can't understand what's going on in your situation.

The Payroll system might be another deal altogether....

[TWohlford]

Again, why are they worried about what's going on at the server? SQL codes are SQL codes... Oracle is Oracle, etc. What you're talking about is normally handled by desktop apps, such as the Accounting app, or add-ons made from Crystal Reports, or Access, etc.

[dominic7]

(-;
I admit I'm exaggerating a bit. However, to be able to click that red ! you do need to purchase a subscription from RH.(this is for the ES AS WS versions)This automatically negates the "free" aspect. For the sake of disclosure we are an educational facility and get dirt cheap pricing from Microsoft .

Another pet peeve is the PHP problem with Apache 1.3 vs 2. I've had nothing but headaches with this one as there seems to be a backward compatibility problem (Linux geeks give me solutions).

I agree that in some cases Linux or any nix is a good idea. I would not run an FTP server on Windows (too much overhead). I like Apache (I really do)

However, when it come to file and print sharing, user management, application sharing, remote tools, typeyourpoisonSQL server. Windows runs best IMHO.

[stylin_geek]

What Linux has done, which has helped companies tremendously, is force Microsoft to become reasonable in its pricing structure for licensing and their OS. I cannot believe how much prices have dropped for CAL's, for instance and the cost of Windows 2003 Standard server with 5 CAL's is quite reasonable, under $900.

[eno_]

I'd say that this author is a wee bit biased (of course, I am too).

The bias is in asserting that squeezing more money out of captive customers means anything. Ask a Computer Associates shareholder if that is a resilient strategy with a future.

[wildandcrazyrussian]

My experience as someone who has run computers almost 30 years but with never haveing touched a computer running Linux (but knowing that MAJOR Internet websites like most websevers and google.com?? are using it heavily)

I bought a copy of Red Hat Linux 9 off of ebay for $15, purchased a Linux manual and pocket guide, inserted the CD, let it install everything incuding OpenOffice, studied the manual for about 6 hours so far cumulatively, and have a very nice system that I have been able to transfer files from W98 and XP PCs, modify and print documents, run the browser and get email, set up an Apache server, and everything I can think of -- with esseantialy no learning curve except bash (command interpreter) commands I like to play around with. I am now learning how to set up a streaming video server.

Not that I am typical since I have an MS in computers, but I AM going to show people around town how easy it is.

[N3WBI3]

Redhat will also discount, but for free open a terminal on fedora or CentOS and type yum-update...

[dominic7]

Thanks alot I did not know that. Now I can calmly look at my wife who says I spend too much time at this website and point out that it's work related.

[HAL9000]

Linux seems stuck in a perpetual holding pattern, unable to eat away at Microsoft's server market share.

What "market share"? The number of units sold? Annual revenue? The author seems to use the latter measurement. That could simply mean that Microsoft products are more expensive, or have to be replaced more often, or both.

Market share does not accurately reflect the size of the installed base. That's the measurement I'm more interested in.

[tortoise]

Linux is primarily used in environments where high data output are necessary such as supercomputing environments and in trafficking of Internet data.

These days, it is used for just about everything on the server side. At the telecom I work for, everything is Linux on the back-end. That said, Exchange Server is the killer app that keeps selling Windows Server licenses. If a potent replacement is developed for Linux, and such work is being done, that would knock down the last barriers at most of the big companies I know.

[NoClones]

linux is interesting to tinker with but when people have to be productive...it is the last thing to choose

sorry linux enthusiats, but that is reality - which can change, however

(build a better mousetrap...)

[HAL9000]

M$ has, at last count, $500 billion in the bank.

I think it's more in the neighborhood of $60~70 billion, which is still respectable.

[tortoise]

These servers (at one very low and depressing point) were taking upwards to 90% of our time. The more people we brought in the more I realised that a Linux configuration is an art not a science.

Bloody hell, it sounds like they were very badly managed if it was only three servers.

We run hundreds of mission-critical servers on Linux on a wide range of hardware and using maybe three distros. One sysadmin manages all those boxes part-time.