Getting people into Linux

[Les Mikesell]

Les wrote:

>> Even better, load k12ltsp (fedora plus what it takes to work out of
>> the box) on one or a few servers and network boot all the desktop
>> boxes which then obviously need no software maintenance and can either
>> be new tiny low-power boxes or about any old PC that you already
>> have around.
> 
> When you say "DOZE" works out of the box, you cannot be discussing
> Windows, because it has so many flaws itself, other than web browsing or
> email, that are simply due to poor choices of formats, encoding or poor
> documentation to third parties that I have never had a windows system
> that didn't need to reboot at least once every few days.  

Have to disagree... Since NT sp6a (around 2001) and whatever
service pack for win2k was available in that time frame, the
OS base has been pretty solid.  I work with hundreds of boxes,
slightly more windows than Linux and they both are capable of
running for years other than the reboots needed for updates.

> Memory leaks, poor coordination between system calls, and lockups made
> the BSD a part of even non-technical speech today. 

Prior to NT sp6a, yes.  Now, no - if you provide firewalling, virus
protection and timely updates the OS itself does not crash.

> Even Bill Gates
> experienced it on one of their product roll-outs, and MS uses many linux
> servers to support their own web offerings.

Linux is very usable too, again if you provide suitable firewalling
and timely updates - and stick to certain types of hardware.

> Moreover the standards are
> so poorly documented that no one, not even windows own tech support can
> explain to you what many of the entries in the "Registry" mean or how to
> fix or correct it.

Yes, but... Hardware vendors manage to get enough documentation to
make their hardware work.  I am very impressed by the way my XP
laptop can jump among an assortment of wired and wireless networks
and automatically reconfigure itself on the fly or be put to sleep
and moved, coming up correctly in the new setting.  It runs for months
without a reboot, just sleeping between work and home.  I haven't
been able to do anything of the sort under Linux yet.

> Audit tools are incomplete also due to the lack of
> standards, and moreover the Registry is a single weak point in the
> system that can damage the system so badly that Microsoft's support
> folks will tell you to just format and reload when it becomes corrupt.

Agreed on this point: if anything seems wrong on our servers we
re-image the disk, but in most cases I do that with the linux
boxes too instead of checking every line of every file under
/etc (were you implying that would be simple or is well documented?).
But the need to do this is rare in either case.

>  So, I guess I am wondering just what operating system you are referring
> to as "DOZE"?

Any NT, 2000, XP or 2003 version since about 2001 that has been
maintained with updates and does not have any of the spyware or
viruses you might get from executing trojan downloads or browser
exploits.  Promoting Linux is a good thing, but misrepresenting
the competition isn't the way to do it.  Your experience may be
different, but it is from hardware, drivers, or exploits that
slipped past your defenses - the base OS is solid enough to be
usable at least with a certain amount of grooming.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com