*BSD News Article 41466


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From: jdege@winternet.com (Jeff Dege)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.os2.advocacy
Subject: Re: Linux thoroughly insulted by Infoworld!
Date: 24 Jan 1995 06:20:47 GMT
Organization: StarNet Communications, Inc
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Henry Hwong (henryh@well.sf.ca.us) wrote:

: You have to understand the mentality of the typical corporation with
: lots of data that you rely on for daily operations with millions in
: cash flow. As an systems consultant, I have to see it in their
: perspective.

: If I were to recommend Linux as the basis for all their operations,
: I would be laughed right out of the room and told never to come back.
: Features and stability are only a small portion of a big check list.
: That's why we have the Windows plague upon us.

: Look. What a big insurance/manufacturing/service corporation needs is
: not necessarily what a computing support group needs at a school or
: university. If all you need is a bunch of Usenet accounts or a
: platform to do some computing research, Linux (actually, I prefer *BSD,
: but let's not start that again :-)) will do fine. However, for a
: company that needs something like Oracle 7 or Sybase System 10, Linux
: just can't cut it. Especially if the product isn't ported to Linux. See?

   Keep in mind that major database servers and desktop client paltforms
don't comprise all of the systems that your typical IS department configures
and maintains.  Every organization I have worked with has some number of
special-purpose platforms dedicated to running some custom or in-house app.
Most of those I've seen are based on MsDOS.  I'm convinced that Linux is
a better platform for almost all of these special apps.

   Think about it.  If you were going to put a box out on the factory floor
to collect data from half-a-dozen senors, package it up, and dial it in to
the mainframe every half-hour.  Your going to write the app in-house.
If you were to platform the app on a Unix varient, taking advantage of
multi-tasking and operating system services such as cron, uucp, init, etc.,
would it be more reliable than if you were to platform it on MsDOS?
Certainly.  Would it cost less to develop?  Certainly.  Can you justify
$1000 to buy a SCO license for that platform?  Only with great dificulty.
It seems to me that Linux is a perfect solution.  That Linux isn't a
very good solution for other problems doesn't strike me as very relevent.

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