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Three Windows to Linux Migrations (and Vice Versa)
daria42 writes "In this extended article, ZDNet Australia goes under the hood of three enterprises that moved their back end servers from Windows to Linux and open source software. Two of the companies ended up eventually going back to Microsoft, with the third one still going strong with Linux."
Read The Fine Article more carefully. The businesses they're talking about didn't use Microsoft Windows. They went directly to Linux and have been running it for a long while. Coffey, for example, had standardized on Mandr[ake|iva] back in 1999. They came to the eventual conclusion that Linux wasn't meeting their needs, and so they went shopping. They (unsurprisingly, yet frustratingly) settled on Microsoft software.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I don't know what will happen with mods on this, but here goes....
In my experience I've found a striking number of highly technical, free thinking, smart IT people absolutely REFUSE to learn anything about Linux. Their world is all windows and if you try to get them to open up to new ideas they put their hands over their ears and shout "Na, na, na, I'm not listening!!!".
Of course that means that they really aren't the highly technical, free thinking, smart IT people they're making themselves out to be.
"The problem was that just one or two people in the group [out of 15 IT staff] could do that, and it was hard finding people who understood that [open source] isn't just about playing with these tools, but delivering something. The moment we switched to Microsoft, the field opened up." I've seen this happen before when sometimes people are led to believe that OSS is the panacea for all their ills. However, you need people with a wide breadth of knowledge of different OSS applications in order to fulfill expectations. Then they need to have a good track record of actually implementing solutions versus theorizing about them, especially if they will be a "new hire." Many times it simply is difficult to find a Linux person with that wide range of exposure and commensurate experience in delivering solutions; often it is easier to find someone with the same broad range but in Windows apps (even w/consultants). Can you blame them for going with the easier path, especially if it would save them time (which means $)?