Network Computing on Linux

MECC wrote in to send us an evaluation of Linux vs. NT that appears over at network computing. The review is a little more evenly considering showing that the OSs are much closer in performance than a certain "other" test, and that either can be made to outperform the other (surprise surprise). Some numbers, some samba benchmarks, and more. A good looking piece.

Comments

Re:The Staff Issue

[nevets]

I know this is some what reiterating what you already stated, but I really have strong feelings on this topic.

Linux is PERFECT for Universities. It's free, modifiable and it actually WORKS. I just completed a course in High Speed Computer Networks where we had to modify the Linux kernel TCP portion to implement a Credit/NACK protocol. The professor stated at the beginning of the semester that he choose Linux because the source is available and there is no problems with licensing. Every student that came out of this class, knew networking AND Linux. This is my third class that I was able to use Linux as my OS.

If this is the case in most Universities, then in (at most) four more years, there is going to be a large number of Linux administrators out there :)

Linux not that hard for NT-admins

[bog]

The article seem to make a lot of assumptions about how hard NT-admins would find it to run Linux.

A poll conducted by Sunbelt (that I think claims to be the largest online community for NT-users) suggest that this is not the case.

http://www.sunbelt-software.com/0399_ 2000.htm

In this poll something like 67% of the NT-admins was already running linux!

And in the next 12 months they were one average planning to add more linux than NT-servers!

And this poll was not /.'ed.

This make it seem unlikely that most NT-admins will have any major problems learning linux.

My own experience is also that this is the case. Most of the NT-admins were I work have already tried linux and if they were put the same amount of work they put into learning NT, into learning linux they would hardly have any problems.

This poll also suggest that /. readers should be a lot more careful about bashing NT-admins as there is about a 67% chance that this NT-admin also run Linux!

The Staff Issue

[Goonie]

Network Computing seems to be horribly worried about getting support staff. Two quick points:

1. Clueless "NT Admins" are a false economy. I doubt that finding truly useful NT admins is any easier than finding good Linux gurus. Paying big bucks, if need be, for competent system administrators is excellent value.
2. At least in my part of the world, a large proportion of the CS graduates are going to come out speaking fluent Linux. The IS graduates, for all I know, may well come out as clueless NT admins, but that's their loss ...

Could we find a way to put the "qualified staff" misconception to bed? Or are there are large numbers of NT administrators ready for hire out there who can keep NT networks humming along without constant downtime, and a dire shortage of people who can answer a few questions on a menu and then type "make"?