[Linux-aus] Computerworld: Linux 'not ready' for enterprise IT

[indy at THE-TECH.MIT.EDU]

It's worth remembering that this is the "confessions of an
experienced Solaris admin." So naturally he prefers the Sun way
of doing things. (2 days vs 2 weeks, etc.)

He's not really saying "a Linux based OS isn't up to the enterprise job,"
he's saying "there's isn't yet "true" support for my software on Linux."
As others have noted, this has been absurdly generalized to
"Linux isn't ready for the enterprise."

(On this rationale I could have equally said in a previous job:
"Only Windows is Enterprise ready because $APP my enterprise needs
is only supported on Windows." I'm sure Mr. Whyte would scoff at
such a statement.)

The main issue here is of time and tide. When it comes to expensive,
proprietary vendor software market forces guarantee that Linux support
will improve and this argument will go away, here's why:

Linux commoditises the OS. We're still working through some of the kinks
in terms of hardware and OS support contracts (although I believe IBM
is providing such "all in" services) but since Linux has no license cost,
in time running it will be cheaper than running Solaris. This means,
possibly, more profit for the application vendor, as there is less
money going on the "OS layer" of the installation. Thus, in time they
will support it.


Indy 


On Tue, Aug 12, 2003 at 09:31:49AM +0800, Leon Brooks wrote:
> On Tue, 12 Aug 2003 09:10, Con Zymaris wrote:
> > Let's follow the logic:
> >
> >  Andrew Whyte, corporate systems administrator at Central Queensland
> >  University (CQU), said Linux is not ready to run high-end systems
> >  because of the lack of vendor support and frequent kernel updates.
> >  "Our experience with Linux was problematic due to the lack of vendor
> >  software updates," Whyte said. "We are missing out on the latest
> >  Linux features because the commercial software we are using can't
> >  keep up with the kernel development. Hence, we are locked in to
> >  older versions."
> 
> > http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php?id=507195642&fp=16&fpid=0
> 
> Sounds like his beef is with the vendor, not with the OS.
> 
> One has to wonder what sort of apps he's using that are so closely bound 
> to exact kernel versions. Also, the "two weeks vs two days" argument 
> makes me wonder just how large a cluster he's using. On identical 
> machines, rolling out fifty in two days should be no problem at all. 
> Plug in, power up, watch for smoke while it netboots and maybe 
> self-installs, next.
> 
> Cheers; Leon
> 
> -- 
> http://cyberknights.com.au/     Modern tools; traditional dedication
> http://plug.linux.org.au/       Committee Member, Perth Linux User Group
> http://slpwa.asn.au/            Committee Member, Linux Professionals WA
> http://linux.org.au/            Committee Member, Linux Australia
> 
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-- 
Indranath Neogy
<indy at the-tech.mit.edu>