> It's interesting that most of these horror stories are older. I don't see > many that mention Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, (newer) Solaris, > etc. Are system less error prone? Are sysadmins and users making fewer > errors? Are people not sharing thier stories?
A great series of questions! Here's a theory I'll float... I think it's doubtful that admins are more trained (i.e. making fewer errors) than in years past. Microsoft's dominance and the growth of *nix systems make that unlikely. But I do think there is a tendency for admins to keep their mouths shut more. Follow this line of logic[sic]. If one paid for a shoddy piece of software one is much more likely to complain -- they feel ripped off and most people bitch about being ripped off. But with free software, in many ways you're intimidated from complaining because you didn't pay for the software. You know that someone is working for you for free. Add to that the fact that sometimes you'll see coders bluntly say, "Then why don't you fix it yourself." Now factor in that many admins have little or no coding ability (an embarrassment factor) and things start to add up. Mix in a declining job market, admins being busier than ever -- and I'd argue not really appreciated the way they were in years past -- and there could definitely be a problem with this type of feedback. Totaling all that you wind up with admins who are "safer" and more content if they just keep their mouths shut, solve problems quietly themselves, and/or switch software. Regards, . Randy -- "Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear -- kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor -- with the cry of grave national emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it by furnishing the exorbitant funds demanded. Yet, in retrospect, these disasters seem never to have happened, seem never to have been quite real." -- General Douglas MacArthur, 1957. _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
