4
Votes
Kudos to jerkface for this one.
Yep yep, it’s another “ten reasons” list, and this time it’s in PCWorld! Jerkface already went over some .net-specific points, which is about the only thing that sets this list apart from the stock-and-standard Freedomite apologetic. Otherwise it’s the usual talking-points-followed-by-required-reading-comments that we’ve all grown to know and love.
Comments
Ken Hess… A school teacher and a self-styled “Linux evangelist”. Does that ring a bell somewhat?
1) So… ?
2) See Jerkface’ article.
3) Yep, HA clusters are a lie.
4) Ask Novell to support your back-ported 2.6.18 RHEL kernel, then, and see if they give a crap.
5)
a) PowerShell doesn’t exist.
b) If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it must be a duck, right?
6)
a) The current size of the Linux kernel source code is around 50MB in size. Take 40 characters for a line on average, and you get 1.3 million lines of code in total.
b) On the other, the much-needed top-down documentations of the source code are still largely non-existent or incomplete.
c) In conclusion, Linux is free to edit just as much as you are free to travel in space. As long as you have got Donald Trump’s wallet, then feel free to hack away.
7) Why, old hardware are reliable and never depreciates!
8) BasementDeveloperArmy™
9) And I suppose by “continued development” you mean “continued development for YOUR interests”, right?
10) BiannualForceDeathMarch™
2. .NET Support
Jerkface has summed this one up (and destroyed it) quite nicely.
3. Unix Uptimes
Why is there this unhealthy obsession with uptimes? And do they not realise that these near-mythical five nines computers are established machines that are never touched or clusters? They really think some super-critical system that’s been running for years gets updated every other day?
Have they never heard of staging servers or test environments? Screw all that, just install Linux, and all your worries are over! I guess they also think Jaguar and RoadRunner are running Ubuntu.
4. Security
“But, Linux offers excellent security for its users. From regular kernel updates to an almost daily list of security patches, “
So which is it? It’s either very secure, or they’re continually fixing it, which says it’s not all that secure.
5. Transferable skills
“Windows administrators might find that using a keyboard instead of a mouse is a difficult part of the transition, but once they discover the power of the command line, they might never click again.”
This is unspeakably arrogant – why is there an assumption that all Windows administrators are drooling morions because we have GUI admin tools?
Oh – PowerShell. Which has most Unix commands as aliases. The shell that’s so crap, Linux just had to copy it.
6. Commodity hardware
“Business owners will like the fact that their “out-of-date” systems will still run Linux and run it well.”
If it’s an already established, working system, why in the world would you switch operating system?
7. Linux is free
If your time costs nothing.
8. Worldwide community
Technet > Linux community
10. Regular Updates
“Are you tired of waiting for a Windows service pack every 18 months? Are you also tired of the difficulty in upgrading your Windows systems every few years because there’s no clear upgrade path?”
There’s a TM waiting to be born out of these lists – WorstCaseOnlyTM – only ever listing the worst case when comparing to proprietary software. Why does the article not mention hotfixes or normal updates?
0) Can I run my current business systems on Linux?
No, 'fraid you can’t.
0.5) Why would I care about all those other reasons, then?
The five nines uptime thing is a joke. What no Loon ever mentions is that this equates to 5 minutes downtime every year. Without a serious effort in clustering, hot-standby, disaster recovery and so on, this is a worthless claim — a single reboot, and you’re toast.
There are, or were, standalone servers that can credibly offer this level of uptime, but Stratuses (and I guess Tandems) did it almost entirely through hardware, as you’d expect. A friend of mine saw two Stratus servers purr happily through the Loma Prieta earthquake (he was in the server room at the time) while every other machine in the room went tits-up. Not a single blink.
Boom! 100% uptime. Of course, all the comms to the outside world were trashed, so it’s a pretty futile statistic. But nice to know, anyway.
I’d be fascinated to know how running Linux on your server helps in any way when your power source blows. I’d also love to know how Linux makes it any easier to run RAID drives than, say, Solaris or HP-UX or Windows or …
MagicPixieDust™ indeed.
Oh yes, and very definitely SolidGoldComments™ — some of the best I’ve seen. A know-nothing knucklehead school teacher preaches a sermon on why businesses should desert Windows Server 2003 (extended support available until 14/07/2015, but gosh, what sort of business would pay for that?), and what do we get?
Grandmas and the Ubuntu desktop.
It’s like Pavlov’s dog, without the testicles.
I apologise for drivelling on, but I’ve just noticed another comment on that post:
“Have you never had to use the “recovery console” in windows, why does microsoft provide a command line tool like this in this day and age ????”
The mind boggles. This ambitious little mutha shoots right past gold and hits SolidPlatinumComment™.
I seriously thought this was the finest of fine sarcasm … until I read the rest of the comment.
Errata:
The current size of the Linux kernel source code as per 2.6.34.1 is actually 573MB. Take 40 characters for a line and you get 15 million lines of code from all files.
One wallet from Donald Trump just isn’t gonna be enough to tackle this beast, I am afraid.
Joe, are you honestly telling us that the Linux kernel has no discernable comments whatsoever?
Oh … wait …
“Have you never had to use the “recovery console” in windows, why does microsoft provide a command line tool like this in this day and age ????”
Aren’t the FOSS types the ones that always tell us the CLI is a Good Thing?
HypocrisyThyNameIsLinux™
DoubleStandards™
A SolidGoldComment™ that I can’t be bothered to register on PCWorld to answer;
“(nonfree) retard, please copy/paste using double-click select/copy, the paste with middle button click. On Win*. That’s right you cannot idiot. And likely you will never will.”
http://fy.chalmers.se/~appro/nt/TXMouse/
Oops.
Maybe he should also try copy/pasting between programs before he slates Windows’ clipboard.
“ Writing from my OCZ Linux netbook after I played Nexuiz on my gaming Linux station”
MyQuakeCloneIsBetterThanYourTripleAGame™
“[...] because it’s easy to upgrade and update Linux. And, the best part? No reboot required.”
brb, kexec
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