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10 Years of Pushing For Linux — and Giving Up
boyko.at.netqos writes "Jim Sampson at Network Performance Daily writes about his attempts over a decade to get Linux working in a business/enterprise environment, but each time, he says, something critical just didn't work, and eventually, he just gave up. The article caps with his attempts to use Ubuntu Edgy Eft — only to find a bug that still prevented him from doing work." Quoting: "For the next ten years, I would go off and on back to this thought: I wanted to support the Open Source community, and to use Linux, but every time, the reality was that Linux just was not ready... Over the last six years, I've tried periodically to get Linux working in the enterprise, thinking, logically, that things must have improved. But every time, something — sometimes something very basic — prevented me from doing what I needed to do in Linux."
Oh please. Yea, no support in Linux for Exchange, wow, newsflash, I am stunned. Transitioning from Office to StarOffice is a bitch, yup, been there. Linux doesn't work just like Windows, hate to break it to people, you have to be able to adapt.
If you're serious about using Linux, and you absolutely have to have Exchange and MS Office, you need to come to terms with running those applications in a terminal services environment...Or, (for Exchange) if you're a cheapskate, just use the Exchange web interface that fricking comes with Exchange! It doesn't look as good in Firefox as it does in IE, but if you're doing it on a shoestring, that's what you get, and it is feature complete.
Expecting WINE to make Linux run MS programs identically to Windows is never goign to happen. Depending on WINE to be super stable and reliable in a deployment environment is a mistake, so don't do it. Spend a little money to get the tools to do it right, or don't try and do it at all. And if you try to do it without the tools or the skills to make them work, don't whine about it. We fricking know it's difficult to intergrate Windows apps on Linux machines...If anyone could do it, there wouldn't be Windows anymore.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
Ever since 1994 I've been saying, "Linux isn't ready today, but it will be in about 5 years." How is it that linux always stays about 5 years behind commercial offerings such as MacOSX and Windows?
One can argue that linux is far superior to Windows or MacOSX to just about anyone and how they have their grandma using linux, but the reality is that without someone totally tech savvy sitting there behind this "grandma" and practically doing everything for her, she wouldn't be using it. I guarantee the stories about "grandma" using linux are begin with, "I put my grandma's computer together and installed linux for her and set it all up perfect for her. She uses it no problem."
Give me a story where grandma bought a computer and installed linux and has it running for a few years without any problems, then we'll talk.
I reiterate that you are not alone in your frustration. You didn't fail to adopt Linux, Linux didn't fail to meet your needs, it was the entire community and their business practices that failed you.
you mis-spelled "we failed to completely research the concept before we tried to implement it."
when a project migrating to linux fails it's fault is the people that started and approved the migration without getting all the facts and information first.
Anyone trying to do a complete linux migration without having as step 1, " remove all microsoft servers and services with OSS or compatable replacements" are incompetent at best.
Yet these same incompetent people get articles published as if they are experts.
He failed because he was incompetent. He did not get the information needed BEFORE presenting the idea of "switch to linux" as to what is really needed to do the switch.
The only person that failed was him, because he went into it blind and refused to do what was needed to make the switch. Firefox with the calendaring plugin works very well as groupware if you want to go legacy style groupware... most companies want the latest CRM webware and there are several great ones that run under linux well and have good pricing and support from the maker.
Got vertical critical apps like scarborough data minimg software? Maybe some sales apps or billing apps that cost $90,000.00 that are only windows? Citrix is the answer there, run them perfectly under linux desktops and even reduce your licensing costs that way.
everyone looks at linux as "ohh FREE IT! GIMMIE!" it's not and never will be. you need to have competent IT staff at higher wages unlike the certified bumblers they hire today at minimal pay rates. Migration to any different platform is always costly as you replace infrastructure and retrain for different apps (retrain is not that hard, if your people cant handle a change in application design you need to fire them now before office 2007 is deployed.) You switch to linux for data and business freedom. You can have a new app written for your company by a group in india for less than paying another company to do the same thing but tack on profits for themselves. (Yes this is a solid fact in the Vertical app world.) But that requires having a programmer or two on staff as your support guys. That means eliminating a middle manager or two that are really not needed (Taboo to speak of this in the corperate world!) to offset the costs if your business is really that bad off. Switching to a model like this gives the company a GIGANTIC edge on the competition that is stuck with windows and buying software. you can have apps developed as you need them instead of waiting to jump on the "mee-too" bandwagon like companies are doing with CRM right now.
lack of Information, knowlege and understanding of what you are about to embark on is what causes all migration failures.