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Re: [Linux-aus] Why Linux is not ready for business



I reckon this is actually a fallacy.  Sure, you can pick up a Windows
tech on any street corner, and you can probably find them with an MCSE
to boot.  But do they have any actual experience?  Are they going to
know about good security paradigms such as privilege separation and good
firewalling?  What about getting software and computers on a network
talking to eachother?  Do they have any experience with your other
business software?  I'd say chances of a lot of those things being true
of most of your 'street corner techs' is pretty low.  I reckon "I can
pick up a windows tech on any street corner" probably means "My
brother's oldest knows a bit about Windows, and e sounded really
enthusiastic when I offered em the job..." more often than is good for
the industry.

Let's face it, networking and share-based security in windows is hardly difficult, look at the number of 12 and 13 yo's at School Holiday LAN comps who can get their machines running on the network and sharing MP3's with their mates, videos with others, and keep their pr0n stash secure in less time that it take to compile a kernel on a P2/350. Linux users aren't the only people who tinker with the OS when they want to do something different. It's just a little harder to add extras into that particular kernel. Yes, we have to worry about the 25-30 yo's who came in with win95 networking, and take the "shotgun" approach to networking, but the generations coming up now have a lot more nonce than the people do now.


Don't discount the kids coming out of College's with MCSE's, CCNA's and the like. For a lot of them, getting the letters is only part of it, making the qualification part of their year 12 certificate means they have to know more than the theory, and a lot of them are seeking outside work to get that knowledge.


In my experience, good Windows techs cost just as much as good Unix
techs. But often Windows techs, like their software, come bundled with
a lot of established opinions and special deals on what software you
should buy - i.e. Microsoft. Often they don't evaluate software well
because they're (perhaps unconsciously) siding toward what they know.

Ever built a SOE for a windows environment? Did you get to pick what was in it, or was it dictated by the business need and knowledge within the department? More often than not (and I know this, my current contract is all about building a windows SOE when I'm not playing with their linux infrastructure) the Managers dictate the SOE components and the tech makes it work together.


This is not a problem in most cases, except with Microsoft we know that
the software costs a lot more than equivalent FOS Software; so by
getting a Windows-only tech you're more likely to be spending more money
on Microsoft software in the future.  While I see one of the faults that
the FOSS mindset brings is 'Freedom or death' bigotry - i.e. they would
refuse to use for-money software (e.g. SAP) even where no real
equivalent free software exists - I think most of us are pragmatists and
heterogeneous free and non-free software environments are the business
reality that most of us would accept.

It comes (yet again) to the managers. Management know windows, so they dictate. They don't know linux, so they leave it to those that do. Top down changes are a metric crapload easier than a bottom-up change.



Funnily enough, I hear today that the Commonwealth Government is hiring senior IT techs from the UK because they can't get them here. So the 'one on every street corner' idea doesn't really hold much water.

That's a bit like saying "I can't find a decent doctor in this list of shepherds, we're going to have to close this clinic". Of course you won't find decent senior IT People in windows techs, you need someone with management skill (Business not System). The big reason they're snarfing people from the UK is because the ITIL certification is near mandatory over there (mainly cause the BCS fully endorses it, whereas the ACS chooses to ignore it), and from my own experiences (I've got both foundation and practitioner certs) you can easily renegotiate another $5-$10k onto your salary if you've got that.
steve