30 Aug
2008
30 Aug
'08
11:48 a.m.
First off, you're a bit late, as that entire conversation came and went over
a week ago, but that's OK, I'll go with it...
----- Original Message ----- >
<Devil's Advocate Mode>
Linux $0, *BSD $0, OpenOffice.org $0. And you don't have to be a
student or teacher. It's the same price no matter what TLD your email
address is behind.
I would disagree with that - nothing is free. My time is worth something,
and unless you are volunteering up your free
time to support, it ain't free.
Second, I work for a multi-billion dollar company, and there is NO WAY on
this earth any minutely-responsible IT
department is going to run ANYTHING unsupported in a production environment,
especially with SOX and other
requirements.
That being said.... Yearly support+maintenance for my RHEL server is $798
per server...
My Microsoft yearly fees for support+maintenance on my Windows servers is
$710 per server in our True-Up agreement.
That is CORRECT - costs me less for Windows
Infact, some will even send you the install CD's
for free incase you
can't afford the network bandwidth.
Note that this is 2008 and current Linux Distros are very very
friendly. Infact, it's a lot easier to install Linux than it is to
install Windows these days, and they do support most hardware out there
without futzing with drivers, and they'll work just fine with older
machines - no need to buy a new computer every time MSFT puts out a new
rehash of its malware.
There is NO WAY on this earth I am putting Linux on my wife's laptop, and
the kids machines.
First off, Linux is awesome geekware, but it is NOT for the masses - I'll
throw the little NetBooks out there as examples.
Put the Asus EEE PC with Linux next to version with XP / Vista, and there is
NO comparison - it even LOOKS like a cartoony toy.
Second, that would completely handicap my and my kids abilities to play
online games because, well, there ARE NONE for Linux..
At least not anything good
There's really no excuse to use that nasty Redmond trash anymore.
Well, if you want to interoperate in the REAL business world there is...
If you want REAL support, there is.. don't even TRY telling me that my wife
should go on forums / UseNet for support - get REAL!
If you want to be able to game online, there is..
If a simpleton needs to take their linux laptop/desktop for fixing, there is
(Circuit City / Best Buy / Tiger / CompUSA / Etc..)
Maybe in a mom-and-pop shop, but any serious IT organization is NOT going to
run free stuff without some (outside the company) support.
If they are, someone needs to get fired. That is NOT fiscally responsible
and is, in itself, a SOX gap.
Now, please don't get me wrong - I love linux / FreeBSD and the like...
I started with 386BSD 0.1 back in 1994, and Linux back then as well, when it
was just a boot+root floppy.
I have my share of Linux servers in the office, and the have 60GB+ Oracle
databases on them, and yes, they have RH support plans,
and I have a few Linux boxes at home, but, the answer to EVERYTHING, it is
not.
Tony