Slashdot Mirror
Linux Case Studies Collected
Black Parrot writes "Linux Today posted
a link to this collection of case studies
of Linux in the enterprise. It makes interesting reading, and will
be a good advocacy reference for when your boss comes around
asking whether Linux can really do the job. "
This could be included as some chapters of the Linux Advocacy mini-HOWTO, written by Paul L. Rogers, Paul.L.Rogers@li.org.
I was looking at the v0.5, 7 May 1998 version: "This document provides suggestions for how the Linux community can effectively advocate the use of Linux." It has many sound ideas and appears to be a starting point for advocacy and could at least have pointers for studies for justifying Linux.
If someone wanted to write up a lengthy howto as you suggest, that would me most excellent!
Case 1: The ancient Novell 4 server is dying! Our 20-workstation system is in danger! Panic! Panic! Buy $Oz20,000 worth of NT server gear (multiple Xeons, bucketsful of RAM, hot swappable drives, the whole box 'n' dice) to replace it with! Well, almost... Settled for $Oz2400 worth of Linux gear and get brilliant response time now that the IPX protocol's been axed (MARS ain't so efficient). RAID-1 with caddies plus automated CD burning and checking for backup included.
BTW, all other boxes there are Windows: some 3.11, some 98, one 95, some NT 4.0 -- and not only did each OS have its own unique problem to deal with, but each machine had a separate different problem, except for one 3.11 box! I've spent four times as long tinkering with moronic workstations as I have on anything server-oriented to get the system on-line. Three of the workstations are about to become Linux, so that they don't need maintenance any more.
Case 2: We want to demo a brilliant new Web Commerce app... do we invest in an NT server and an NT client and $$$ worth of security stuff?
Naah, we patch Apache for 128-bit SSL, patch Netscape [hawk... spit; roll on Mozilla] for 128-bit SSL, and run the whole thing, SQL database and all, through a TCL/Tk plugin-and-app pair on one 32M Linux box that happened to be handy - or two Linux boxes, it makes no difference to security. Total elapsed development time, 16 working hours; hardware cost, nil; software cost, nil. Windows can't even keep the passwords secure - "How you say, emm dee five?" - and last week NT lost $2000 worth of telephone records here when it silently froze.
The halloween docs admitted that there were no one-day NT drivers, but forgot to mention the scarcity of NON-TOY one-day applications, even with the much-vaunted "Visual everything-in-sight" tools (ask the FoxPro developer community about that one - and remember to use words like "compatible" and "upgrade path" a lot).
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
SouthWestern Bell: Linux for monitoring a telco network
"One example of a large company deploying Linux in mission critical areas is SouthWestern Bell, said manager Scott Young in Houston. The company is running Linux on 36 online desktops and workstations that monitor switches, fibers and call centers as well using the alternative OS on file and web servers." (CNN)
Maybe BellSouth should follow suit, and perhaps start to support Linux under it's Internet systems. There would be a lot more happy customers, and Why Bellsouth won't take the opportunity is beyond me. Unless......"Bellsouth is a Registered trademark of Microsoft, Inc." Perish the Thought.
After poor results testing a memory-intensive application with Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT, a colleague had asked Kessel why, if he thought Linux was so great, he did not try it.
"So we took a mission-critical operation and we deployed a free operating system there," Kessel said. "And now we spend a tenth of the administration cost for those desktops that we do for the rest of the 315 we use."
Did you need proof that Linux can take on the tough tasks? Did you need proof that Linux could hold up better then a Windows platform on that tough task?
"The legal department says, 'When it fails, who do we sue?' "
Um, instead of a kneejerk reaction to SUE if your system hiccups, how about trying to fix the problem? It's probably something simple. (besides, are you going to sue Microsoft everytime NT gets a Blue Screen?)
"The IT department says, 'It's not a proved product.'
Funny, considering how your own tech department proved it themselves.
P.S., The IT department needs to brush up on grammer.
Corporate security says, 'It's hackerware.'
So? What's your Point?
P.S.: "Corporate Security" is an oxymoron.
---
The University of Nebraska Press replaced an outdated Novell network with a Linux server with Samba software to emulate Windows NT.
Based on my OWN experience, Linux on a P150 with 64MB RAM running Samba outperformed NT on a Pro200 with 128MB as a heavy load file server.
I won't ramble on anymore, You can read the rest and draw your own comparisons. I just had to pick a few things apart.
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
But the immature "First Post!" ruinied the credibility of your comment.
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
Wouldn't it be handy if there was a HOWTO describing the most common investment appraisal techniques (ROI, CBA, boundary values, etc) and providing skeletal material from which to write a full justification report?
Microsoft, Sun, et. al. provide white papers and sales material intended for exactly this purpose, and while there's a fair amount of source material available these days, so far I haven't seen anyone pull it together into a trivially-usable form.
-Graham
ps. First post!
Dude, no one reads the license agreement anyway, and I've never heard about anyone suing Microsoft for crashes so I must agree with your comment.
Individuals/small businesses may not care about the EULA, but if your corporation is big enough to have a legal department, you aren't exactly going down to the CompUSA and buying shrinkwrap stuff and pressing "I Accept".
Larger corporations have seperate licencing and support contracts with Microsoft/Sun/IBM/whoever, and work out all of the details seperately. These contracts certainly preclude the standard shrinkwrapped licences.
I don't know about Microsoft, but IBM has been sued many times for systems that didn't deliver.
--
Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
Here is a link to some more case studies over at Linuxcare.
---
Take a look at the Microsoft licensing agreement. You accept this every time you install a Microsoft product. At this point, you absolve them of responsibility for everything conceivable.
"Who do we sue?" I'll tell you this: It's certainly never going to be Microsoft.