I have often been asked by my clients the same questions you are asking and after much consideration of Linux verse Microsoft I always come back to the same question. What is really best for the company not what does someone in the IT department want to do? The hard fact facing any company today is that IT people change jobs often. Can your company easily hire Linux people in your area or do you have a signed in blood agreement never to leave (ie are you the owner). I always ask my companies to look at who can support their infrastructure if and when I am gone. Good network design calls for an operating system that you can hire people to administrate. I have great admiration for the Linux OS but I have to look at the long term interests of my clients.
I began my certification on Novell and I love it. The darn thing never fails. However in my geographic area I am seeing a lot of firms switch to Windows because they can not find experienced Novell engineers and administrators. The same is true of Linux, I do not see a wealth of talent out there yet. I am sure that in the future Linux people will be easier to find but for now I can not in good conscience advice my clients to make the switch. Thank you, Joe Scharbrough [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Marc A. Funaro Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2004 9:25 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [IMail Forum] Beating the Micro$oft Cost Hi Everyone, I think my message may have implied emphasis on something that, in retrospect, is only a part of the bigger picture... I do very much appreciate your points of view. I guess I should clarify my situation a little better... The move to Linux actually involves more than just a decision to save money; in reality, I think that saving money will simply be a fringe benefit IF in fact it is fully realized. *I* think it will be fully realized, but I can just as easily be wrong. To be totally open about the decision, I would also have to include the facts that (1) As a web applications development firm, we're moving a way from ColdFusion and towards Java/Java Server Pages/OO programming, (2) I have a personal interest in becoming an experienced Linux/*nix admin (adding diversity to my skillset, something that can't possibly hurt, can it?), and (3) my own experience with Windows since the 3.0 days (NT and WFWG) has given me enough "trouble" to want to seek the much-acclaimed stability of the *nix platform in general, while I'm still young enough to care. :) I have a personal love of technology that REALLY delivers on its promise and I guess part of me is looking to find out, in a way, if the *nix people are just MS bashers, or if they "really have a point" when it comes to overall platform stability. The last time I really, truly experienced technology "at its finest" was with an installation of Novell 4.1 at a law firm I once consulted for; at the moment they were pushed to go with a "wonderful" Microsoft solution, when I went to "down" the server for the last time for them, it had been up and running for around 475 days straight. When I asked about it, they said "yeah, it's kinda just sat there and ran... I think [someone] rebooted it a year or so ago, when we needed an OS patch or something..." (which leads me to believe that the uptime was probably even longer). That, to me, is delivery on a promise. Once they moved away from that platform, they got used to the "oh yeah, occassionally you have to reboot the server" thing.... as I think most of us have. (I can't complain too much... our Win2k3 servers have actually been doing very well.) So, i was really "wrong" in how I phrased my initial post, as it was too focused on cost savings. There's really much more to it than that for me personally as well as professionally... I just don't want to continue to be an "MS drone", and never seek the answer to the question "Could this be better?"... if I at least explore this new avenue, I'll be adding to my skillset AND answering the question at the same time... while perhaps improving the services we offer our clients. If it turns out that I cannot come up with a reasonable alternative to iMail, then it's a no-brainer to stay on Win2k3 and iMail, and move on to something else. I know I should expect some bias, since I *did* post my question in the iMail newsgroup (and you'd all be totally right to flame me for that transgression!!), but I know that there's also people on this list that are in fact experienced *nix admins, and may have (strong?) opinions regarding the stability of the Windows/iMail solution compared to some other enterprise-level solutions they may have been involved with. It's those people that I'm most interesting in hearing from... because they have what I seek -- experience from both sides of the "fence". Again, I hope I'm not offending anyone... iMail has been very very good to us. But I think it's kinda important to continue to ask questions and learn more about what's out there too. My apologies for making it sound like simply a "money-based" decision when, as I said, after thinking about it there really is much more to it than that. :) Thanks again everyone, and apologies again for this relatively off-topic post. M p.s. I didn't really grasp what the response below was trying to say... "My ISP" ?? Not sure what you mean... please feel free to clarify. > -----Original Message----- > From: Matrosity Tech Support [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2004 8:39 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: [IMail Forum] Beating the Micro$oft Cost > > > I agree 100% as NOTHING is really free in life. Your ISP may > be finding > themselves looking for Linux gurus instead of keeping you as well. > > Bill > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > Matt Robertson > Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2004 7:08 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [IMail Forum] Beating the Micro$oft Cost > > > Marc, > > I would give serious consideration to buying a Win2k server license. > As was pointed out, you are headed for a learning curve that otherwise > doesn't exist. While it won't cost in hard dollars lost time > has to count > for something. imho a lot more than 800 bucks; especially > considering the > customer service issues that are go with this if you are an ISP. > > Just a thought that admittedly doesn't address your core question... > > -- > --Matt Robertson-- > MSB Designs, Inc. > mysecretbase.com > > To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html > List Archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ > Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/ > > > To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html > List Archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ > Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/ > > > > To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html List Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/ To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html List Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/
