On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 8:40 PM, Shane Hathaway <sh...@hathawaymix.org> wrote: > Gabriel Gunderson wrote: >> No really, it's marvelous. Think about it... you get all the >> benefits of a truly enterprise DB (MSSQL) and world-class webserver >> (IIS) without having to leave Linux. And thanks to the Wine project, >> it Just Works. >> >> The best part is that doing a simple "apt-get install wine" is much >> easier then installing Windows and keeping it updated. Well, since >> we're using Fedora[1] for our production servers, it's more like "yum >> install wine", but you get the picture. > > Ok, but I thought the main reason people want an enterprise database is > to get commercial support. There's no way Microsoft is going to support > a Wine-based installation. I'm guessing you're supporting some existing > application that only runs on MSSQL. For all new development, surely > you'd want a database designed for Unix.
Right. Like you said, one of the main reasons that one chooses an Enterprise DB (over some community developed one) is the support. It's totally reassuring that you can pick up the phone and get someone with the serious technical expertise needed to get things working again. Not to mention, they'll have access to internal KBs that nobody else does. Heck, they might even have access to the source code and be able to take it line by line until they find your problem. You can't put a price on that kind of support. They would *not* be thrilled to know that I'm running IIS and MSSQL Server on Wine, but really, have you ever been asked that question when you call tech support? I just don't mention it. And when they say, "OK, click on the START button on the bottom, left-hand part of the screen," I just wait a moment and say, "OK." They never really know, so yeah, that works great. You gotta remember, when you're supporting Enterprise systems, you can't do anything that might limit your access to that support --that's why we shell out the big bucks of the products in the first place. And if you're doing something like running MSSQL under Wine, you just need to keep it low key. Gabe /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
