[118972] in Cypherpunks
Re: An article from Microsoft
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (mgraffam@idsi.net)
Mon Oct 11 15:45:07 1999
From: mgraffam@idsi.net
Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1999 15:02:52 -0400 (EDT)
To: "J.A. Terranson" <sysadmin@mfn.org>
cc: Tom Vogt <tv@wlwonline.de>, mark galliart <mark@wi-ks.com>,
cypherpunks@toad.com
In-Reply-To: <026c01bf13f6$a82a72e0$0cb3eecc@tika.mfn.org>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.04.9910111359150.31548-100000@albert.critical.net>
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Reply-To: mgraffam@idsi.net
On Mon, 11 Oct 1999, J.A. Terranson wrote:
<much that I agree with snipped>
> Novell has a place. *nix has a place. Even Windblow$ has a place... A
> "skilled" administrator will not be any
> more interested in putting a M$ box in a mission-critical server application
> that s/he will be in putting a *nix
> box on a newbies desk...
I take exception with this. Linux is a viable desktop platform for some
newbies. Sure, Linux may be harder to install: but most newbies don't
install their OS. Most newbies use whatever apps ship with their computer.
If they get MS Office, they'll use MS Office. If they get Corel Office
Suite, they'll use that. If they got Linux and Applixware, they'd use that
too.
If the user is a true newbie who is going to fire up their computer,
launch an office suite, web browser, and maybe (when the boss isn't
looking> a card game or two, Linux (or FreeBSD, or whatever) is an
excellent choice. If your users will need a more varied array of
applications, then having Windows becomes more important.
Many places tend to have far more PC's doing tasks like the above than
they have mission-critical servers, and Linux can do those tasks cheaper
than Windows can. Linux itself is free, and solutions for the above
tasks are free, or of minimal charge -- certainly less than an MS Office
license. This can save companies lots of money, which is always nice, and
if you're an NPO, it is vital.
Michael J. Graffam (mgraffam@idsi.net)
"Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine."
Henry David Thoreau "Civil Disobedience"
