smallbusinesscomputing.com — Common reasons cited for not moving to the open-source operating system include system complexity, lack of in-house IT skills and a shortage of business applications. Both the open-source software community and the vendor world have done a lot to address these shortcomings, and the inroads gained are plain for all to see.
Jul 1, 2008 View in Crawl 4
fumptJul 3, 2008
Sure, but to scale up you'll need maybe three Windows 2003 servers where you could have done with just two Linux servers. In my experience.
catbellerJul 3, 2008
Why haven't I moved to Linux all these years? Because one has to be a computer scientist to know how to use it - it's a techie's OS. Because the developers tend not to care about usability for those not in the know. Because support is hard to come by. Because Linux experts tend to be, let's face it, not kind to those who don't know what iptables is. "No, I will not fix your computer" - nice T-shirt, there. Well, then, thanks and have a good life, I suppose. I'll just use OS X. Not to defame those who actually do spend time helping the noobs. Hail to you all.
prammyJul 4, 2008
>> See this is where you Linux dorks live in La La land. Microsoft Exchange >> is the corporate messaging platform. The fact that it is or isn't coded to >> correct web standards is irrelevent. It only matters to the business that >> their employees can use it. And it doesn't work well on any Linux browser.I find it funny that you deride linux so much that you excuse a product which is not coded to standards. Microsoft Exchange is not the only messaging platform for the corporate world. I have worked at places which use Lotus Notes, HP OpenMail (now known as Scalix) among other. The only advantage Exchange has over say Cyrus is that calendaring is built in. Both Scalix and Zimbra also offer this. And in their free versions. Zimbra is _very_ easy to install as well. For the small business, this is huge. And FYI the older version of OWA used to work well on Firefox.>> Next point; Open Office is the retarded downs syndrome little brother of Office 2007. >> It's literally worse in every way. Again so save a few pennies on the OS you're going >> to make employees less happy and less productive using inferior tools. Plain stupid.It can do word processing, create spreadsheets (and even run Excel macros AFAIK) so what is so retarded about it? Oh thats right. Its a different looking interface so it is difficult for you to adapt to. Which makes you the retard.>> Now last point you can click 5 - 6 times on the Dell website and receive 10 >> completely configured Windows computers ready to run out of the box.If you ever managed the technical infrastructure for a business you would know how idiotic that statement is. Very few companies with more than 10 people actually use their machines in the same state that it came from the manufacturer. If you meant to say that dell provides pre-configured windows servers with 5-6 clicks, then you are truly an idiot.You seem to have this delusion that when you order a machine with Windows on it, it automagically does everything to work seamlessly within your network.>> To run linux in a small business you'd hire a $100-$125/hr tech to come in and >> setup a bunch of Linux workstations. In a larger business you'd eat up hours of >> a full time staffer for every box you deploy.$100-$125 an hour for a Linux tech? Wow, I must be undercharging my customers a LOT. $100-$125 might be the going rate for a senior level tech in Manhattan. Then again I assume you would want an _experienced_ tech to setup your business network. Wait .. I forgot who I was replying to, you would rather pay $10 per hour to grandma to setup your Windows 2003 + Exchange environment.>> To run linux in a small business you'd hire a $100-$125/hr tech to come in and >> setup a bunch of Linux workstations. In a larger business you'd eat up hours of >> a full time staffer for every box you deploy.Larger corporations do not have techs setup anything manually. They buy identically configured machines and use a remote installation service (kickstart in Red Hat, RIS in Windows) to setup the workstation. They use a management solution (ZenWorks from Novell, cfengine, SMS in Windows) to manage those clients. Clearly you have never worked in a technical position at a company with at least 50 people or more.>> At the end of the day to deploy the "free" linux solution into a business you'd >> have spent much much more and for the effort you'd have distracted your >> employees and provided them with tools that are less productive. That >> my friend is why Linux has a less than 1% market penetration. Any why >> less than 1% of Linux nerds run businesses. Because apparently they have >> no math / economic skills.And you obviously have no technical skills, yet it did not stop you from making ludicrous claims about technical stuff. You try to reiterate points which even Microsoft does not use anymore. I have setup Linux based solutions for a number of my clients and in every case they have been happy with it. Happy enough to send other clients my way. Its telling when you get so many clients due to referrals that you stop advertising that the product/solution that you provide is valuable to the customer base. If the cost of having a Linux based solution is so high, then obviously I won't be getting so many new customers and have the existing ones call me for more work.
init100Jul 4, 2008
"I cannot wait for this FAD to die."Then you will have to wait a very long time. Don't hold your breath, or you'll suffocate to death.
Closed AccountJul 4, 2008
@prammy you are awesome.. i didn't even want to try arguing with this @#$@#$ person anymore.. he took my simple math problem, which i had mistakenly done thinking that he just didn't understand the article and was being nice.. and turned it into his personal flame fest.. which only proved he was an idiot.. you however are a genius.. and you have far more tact than i ever could have managed. Thank you
phaedrusiszenJul 4, 2008
Yes. To cut licensing costs, I've been steadily switching our office into OpenSource software. While Windows is still the operating system for most of us (the more tech savvy are all on Linux now), everyone is using OpenOffice with great success.
ursulaskaggsJul 13, 2008
well theres your first problem, MTP is proprietary crap! You should get a real MP3 player that supports USB Mass Storage Controller protocol (MSC). Your player may let you change to MSC mode if you already have a decent one. Copying music to your player should be as easy as copying it to your flash drive. Apple and Microsoft sell you this bulls**t that is not intercompatible or easy to use. If you have sense enough to use linux, then get rid of your freaking Zune or Ipod!