EWeek Details Linux to Windows Migration

nakhla writes "Even though we always hear stories of companies migrating from Windows to Linux, eWeek is running a story describing several companies that have migrated from Linux to Windows. Among their reasons are inadequate support options, application compatibility issues, stability problems, and the added cost of troubleshooting."

Comments

The Big Versus

[psbrogna]

It's been my experience that most organizations have problems because they're staff are inadequately trained. I myself and just as guilty of slapping up incredibly-complex-software-that-has-been-shrink-w rapped-and-commoditized (ie. firewalls, mailservers, database servers, etc...) and the post-incident debrief revealed that of course there were problems- I didn't RTFM. Apples to Apples though- correctly implemented, it has been my experience that Linux/BSD/*ix stuff is faster, more stable, and just damn better designed. The product evolution strategy is always value driven vs. some other ulterior motive (ie. revenue, locking a customer into your product line, etc). Given this, the freely available Unix distros have always provided me, & the companies I've worked at, the maximum ROI.

Re:Complaints are too vague to counter

[spikev]

Speaking of details, I think it important to remember that one of the companies, Combe, switched to Linux nine years ago and back to Windows two years ago. It seems they bailed out too early for their words to be relevant now.

Brylcreem Nuff said

[bstadil]

These guys are the sleaze folks that makes Brylcreem for crying out loud.

If you do a little sleuthing you will discover this is part of the MS Get the Fud program from May 2004. You relly should visit and admire the Linux = Shareware blurb.

Check with Netcraft and you will find that they reason the switched was that their ISP went out of business and the one that they teamed up with that got them to "switch" has managed to gain ZERO additional clients since. Again Source Netcraft.

Certifications

[einhverfr]

I hold the Linux Professional Institute Certification Level 2, and I passed the combined exam while it was in beta. I also hold other certifications as well (MCSA, MCSE, Inet+, A+, Network+, and Server+).

As a Linux-centric consultant, here is what I have to say about the questions people talk about:

1) Which distro to learn on? Doesn't matter. But learn how to read configuration files and use command line utilities. This is more important than what distro. Also learn about the boot sequence and learn how to configure both LILO and GRUB.

2) How much learning is enough? You will NEVER know everything you need to know to impliment Linux solutions which stretch your knowledge. However, you need to know the fundamentals of networking, security, and other basic cross-platform topics. You also need to be comfortable *in the Linux world* to understand how to put together a solution which will meet an arbitrary set of needs. Finally you need to know where to go to get documentation. Beyond that, you can learn as you go.

Also best IT practices in general are a good thing to know. Beyond that you can read up on documentation and play with programs. This is where OSS kicks the competition out ;-)

Re:Complaints are too vague to counter

[beacher]

The article is *very* misleading- Here's the *REAL* source of this news bit That's right, MicroSoft. Their ISP provider went bankrupt in 2001 (fancy that) and gave them 2 weeks to switch their code over. Very misleading article.