InformationWeek On Windows-Linux Interoperability

prostoalex writes "InformationWeek magazine has a lengthy article about the issues that enterprises face when vying for Linux+Windows interoperability, as most of the corporate infrastructures are seldom monocultural. What's also interesting is the InformationWeek surveys of the IT professionals. The following questions are asked and the responses to them are nicely graphed: 1) Reasons for choosing Windows, 2) Reasons for choosing Linux, 3) Top Windows concerns, 4) Top Linux concerns, 5) Top interoperability issues."

Comments

Years ago in Byte.

[DAldredge]

I remember reading in Byte magazine years ago a quote from microsoft that went something like this.

"As soon as a Unix get over 1,000,000 seats, we will port Office over to it"

Valid criticisms

[smittyoneeach]

Linux has its own problems, including lack of a complete application lineup and concerns over accountability.

There are plenty of office suites, and you can argue over whether they are sufficiently robust.
The second point, accountability, is where managers, in my experience get concerned. While it was great that the company didn't get mugged on licenses, the learning curve for the admins is relatively steep compared to Monopolized Systems that are managed at the crayon level.
Businesses want to know that, in the event of the bus flattening the admin, they can get a replacement, and not here some line like "uhh, I'm a vi user, and my predecessor, apparently an Emacs LISP fetishist, (ran (the (whole (network (with {these (crazy (macros))))))))".
IANAT. In fact, I've reached a state of total agnosticism about platforms, languages, and licenses as a result of /.
Ulitately, I hope the market does, too, in favor of what really matters: standards.