Dave,
Some very good points here. I work in an enviorment that no one knows
hardly a thing about Unix. They are mostly Microsoft folks. We have and
had projects that Linux would have done much better at, but because these
folks are not in touch with Unix or Linux, they went the way of DOS and all
it's limitations and strange work arounds. Now they are re-designing some
systems to get over these limitations and are advocating NT as the fix to
everything.
Only one other person in my Org is even vaguely familiar with Linux and
he is in a position to influence what OS to choose, which is NT.
I am a strong advocate of using Linux, basically for the price and the
ability to do exactly what we want, however there is so much opposition to
using Unix, let alone Linux that I hardly am heard.
One of our project was to involve a Mixi card and GPIB equipment. I
found the needed drivers to the GPIB equipment but was unable to find
anything for a Mixi card. We use a National Instruments GPIB controller and
asked them if they would consider making drivers for Linux, but they said
there just wasn't enough call for this to develop it.
I suspect that if Linux did get more advertisement it would start to look
like a viable alternative to the big boys UNIX's.
Heck I've even spoke with many of our Sun Admins about using Linux and
their response was "It's a nice home OS if you want to play around". They
don't take Linux very serious but from what I have seen on some of their
systems, Linux would have worked just fine for the application and many
times better at some of it.
I do believe Linux needs more exposure, especially in the more read
magazines and more articles as to what it can/has done in the Unix world.
Help, I'm stuck in a NT enviorment with a Unix attitude.
... Steve
Dave Wreski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
> Interestingly enough, this is something that has been very much on my mind
> lately.
>
> Speaking to several people who are aware of Linux, but don't realize its
> current capability and its future potential are concerned about support as
> well as applications, and responsibility.
>
> And its not just support. Rhetorically, why don't I see you in the news?
> Why
> haven't you been on Computer Chronicals? Why aren't you speaking at this
> year's Trenton Computer Fest? Why hasn't my management told me they
> received
> a free copy of your software at this years conferences? [I realize there
> are
> reviews in Byte, etc, but my management doesn't read that magazine, etc]
>
> I think its going to take some pretty innovative marketing to convince my
> management we should go with Linux instead of the hundreds of Sun boxes we
> have.
>
> It must be more than support. Sun's support really blows chunks, and we
> have
> the 'Platinum' support crap too. For example, we were having a problem
> with
> their DHCP server supporting 20,000 simultaenous requests on one box, and
> they
> threw up their hands and said it would require a complete redesign of
> their
> dhcp server, and they weren't going to do that. We, regretfully, went to
> MS
> server, and it hasn't had a problem yet.
>
> Is the reason I haven't seen any RH job offers for marketing people
> because
> this isn't the typical forum to find such a qualified person?
>
> And when my management heard the price for RH was practically free, and
> they
> could save thousands for equivalent functionality, they said they could
> care
> less. And that its more efficient -- their response was they would add
> another
> 256M to the box, and it would be fine. Money wasn't in the least an
> issue.
>
> How about getting one of those 'Independant Companies' to do a performance
> review? And suitability to task?
>
> Has RH given any thought to marketing a `Server Version' and `Workstation
> Version'? Not distributed seperately, but perhaps as an install option.
> I
> realize you can already get this with the current distribution, but then
> you
> could market the server and workstation versions seperately, and promote
> the
> features/robustness of each on its own merits, instead of the typical 'Its
> easy to install'.
>
> There are other reasons for this mentality, too. A server version would
> avoid
> some of the unnecessary packages, and concentrate on being absolutely
> secure,
> and optimized for the service it would be offering. Ok, I'm not
> explaining
> myself exactly as I want to right now, but think about it from a marketing
> perspective.
>
> Hope I'm not rambling...
>
> Respectfully,
> Dave
... steve
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