InsideTech

I completly understand the need for  the windows os , this is very understandable  for people who rarely use computers or jsut simple use them and not operate or understand them. But for the true  IT professional the power held behind the LINUX  veil is completly humbling... Many of you are probablly linux or otherwise *NIX users  but for those who have not used it and recall only black screens and command prompts it is time to take a closer look.

If your have a machine running MS XP try dual booting linux  feel the power of the penquin...: :)

The rise of the netbook should be the in that the Linux OS needs to the mass consumer market.  Problem is that vendors are fluffing their linux implementations resulting in a high number of returns.  As a result the netbook market is playing safe with Windows XP.  Linux may be powerful but at the command line it is obtuse and there are far too many Human Computer Interfaces to choose from.  Buy windows or a MAC and you know what you are getting, buy linux and it is pot luck.

I've mainly worked on DEC systems, the HPsystems that now run OpenVMS and DCS systems, seeing PCs as a way to deliver information to users in a form that they can use and control. I always find it ironic that Microsoft's first product was written on a DEC PDP-11 and they got the brains behind the DEC VMS OS, Dave Cutler and other former DEC employees, to make the first decent version of the Windows OS, NT, which they continued to improve on.  Of all the OS I've ever used, VMS/OpenVMS has always been a joy to work with mainly because the help system is so comprehensive you hardly ever need to look at a manual, its command line interface and file system are intuitive and it just does everything so well; producing stable, reliable applications that just run and run and run.  So between OpenVMS and Linux I'd choose OpenVMS each time for high end applications running on servers that need to be bullet proof.

As an OS I'd say that Linux has the edge over OpenVMS in many ways: cost and availability of staff.  But in terms of delivering industrial strength systems for regulatory purposes or specialised bespoke applications I'd go for OpenVMS, as of today, Linux is getting close but it still isn't there yet. OpenVMS may not have as many users as Linux but then that's because it is not aimed at the mass market.  It is aimed at high end systems for banking, the process industries and other sectors that need solutions that have shown over the last 20 years that they deliver stable reliable high availability systems.  OpenVMS far from not doing much with hardware can run single user high end workstations through to data warehouses serving information to thousands of users.  OpenVMS simply does not try to run on any and all hardware, it runs on a very focused set of hardware architectures that can be rigourously tested by a professional test team adding to its well deserved reputation for stability and high availability.

I wouldn't choose OpenVMS to run my mail server or web server but for highly specialised well engineered systems written to ISO/IEC software engineering standards I'd still lean towards OpenVMS, simply because it has a proven track record of delivering such systems over the last 20 years and this minimises the risk of project failure and problems with upgrading and porting the application in the future to a new hardware configuration.

Know what you are saying in the context of this thread, no one is going to load OpenVMS onto a consumer PC.

As consumer OS go I believe we are ready for a change, I think Linux/Microsoft/MAC could be blown away by consumer devices that do a small number of things very well and they can either get there first or go the way of the dinosaur.  Give you a good example, I am constantly having to maintain my PC (download service packs, virus database updates, anti-spyware, remove garbage placed on my system by bloatware vendors etc.).  Now if all my PC ran were some well defined IEEE protocols to talk to peripherals and all my information is on the web accessed by a browser I don't need a complicated OS and for when I'm some where with no web access I can use a local cache to continue working; with the system synchronising with the web data when I am back in range.

PCs need to become more like PDAs and mobile phones.  Desktop PCs are the past.  People will want smaller portable devices (or a unique ID) that they can take everywhere; so that when they are home they can integrate with home networked devices and when they visit a new workplace they can log in to their identity and have access to the same information and software where ever they are.

I say this as I'm really pissed with Microsoft. I bought a MESH PC with Mircrosoft Office Professional didn't think about the OEM EULA agreement.  Bought a netbook and now find I have to buy another license to use the software on my netbook; assuming I want to.  It's like buying a Mont Blanc pen and a paper notebook and being told that you can only use you're pen with that notebook.

I think Microsoft are going to piss off so many of their users that eventually everyone will say "Anything but Microsoft."

Naked_Christophe says ...

Licences, I know this is a real pain to pay I don't know how many times I got to crack this since Office 97, that's one of the thing I don't like about Microsoft, I don't like the fact it is very ressource hungry in some case.

 

I agree. I use general Unix/Linux because of the license issues. I find that LGPL/BSD usually works for the commercial market, while GPL works for those who want their code to be improved.

Thanks D_N.....

Yeah, I've read about people making references to something called a cloud, but haven't read much about it.

Thanks for the info., will look into it. It has been a toss up between Knoppix and possibly Ubuntu. The Adobe

and MS usage is tempting though, but I've heard that quite a few shareware apps like OpenOffice are a decent

substitutes for MS products. Will have to put those statements to the test I suppose.

Debian is a great place to find a usable Linux system.  Knoppix is a great rescue CD that you can use to open up the power of linux to an otherwise ordinary PC(like at a friends house).  Another solution is qemu-puppy, but this is more of a novelty.



Ubuntu is based on Debian, but all-in-all it's just a copy the original is better.



I don't think there is much place in the world for Windows anymore, soon to be replaced by ReactOS.



 

There were more posts on the 'secondary' Topic Geeks Like Me >> linux.

For the Linux VS Windows(Vista) OpenGL is about 10x faster, as if I didn't already know that.

http://graphcomp.com/pogl.cgi?v=0111s3m3

MChristophe says:

Are you talking about Cloud by Google ?

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cheako says ...

I don't think there is much place in the world for Windows anymore...

What about Active Directory??

cheako says ...

I don't think there is much place in the world for Windows anymore...

Oh...and what about Exchange??

I've talked to ppl about AD, basically they claim that LDAP can't be made to replace AD because ppl don't know the schema of AD well enough to understand it.

Between not understanding AD and LDAPs funky schema I'd suggest ppl use SQL to hold account information and NIS to map usernames to passwords or just use SQL for the whole thing.  LDAP is to crazy to be useful, that's why SQL is an option.

SQL has a vary advanced relational system, though most ppl use a flat collection of matrices, group policy can be done using joins and ternary operators.  This would likely be done with views(stored procedures), so the authentication system does not need to be altered every time there is a new policy rule you need to set.  I'm not sure LDAP is nearly as flexiable, though I am sure that AD might do magical things that an LDAP admin would be unable to figure out.  If AD can do it, great, I'd need to know how it looks in LDAP.

As for Exchange work every time.... Your kidding right?  Spend five minuets in the help desk area and tell me you were unaware that you would over hear about 7 Outlook can't connect to Exchange users needing to reboot or delete the profile ect, ect.

If only it were truly that simple.  Exchange is full of problems and unhappy users.  There are a number of technical issues, but by far the most disappointing is the "you just lost your connection" error that every user will get if,nay when, you reboot the server these clients are connected to.  I have information from the ticketing systems of to corporate IT companies and for both of them Exchange related issues were in excess of %75 of all the computer related problems.

I'm sure just about anyone will support the claim that Exchange and Outlook need a lot of Tier 1 and Tier 2 support.

If you can't use American made parts with your foreign sports car, you fail.  I wouldn't even bother deploying Windows so Samba's support for Windows hosts is of little concern to me. PAM is able to make use of SQL and thus I'm able to apply Polices to Groups at will, if Group Police is proprietary you relay have to asses weather it's of use in a world were there is an open version of just about everything.

There is no need for me to rant on like the RMS, if you don't know about the advantages of Freesoftware and how this applies to your corporation I suggest you have a quick read.