You bring up some very valid points. And Linux itself has a ways to evolve as a solution, but the tools are becoming available where developing a Linux solution is becoming easier as industry responce reduces turn-around time for support on popular hardware and features. As this time to market continues to shrink, Linux becomes a more viable platform for development and deployment.
There are projects out there that are trying to bring standardization about for the corporate environment, specifically userlinux and freedesktop, to name a couple beyond the obvious redhat and Novell/Suse ones. And they are in some respects an extension to LSB which operates at a more of a core level by insuring filesystem structure, application and library compatability.
I see Windows as best of breed for time to come, but as Redhat put it, Linux is ready for the corporate environment now. And things will continue to improve as it gains more traction, broader acceptance and wider support. And this will become a faster cycle much like the Windows cycle you described previously.
The main goal for the Linux standards base, LSB, http://www.linuxbase.org, and the Free Standards group, http://freestandards.org is to address this very issue.
And then the idea is to develop software that will reference and operate on a LSB 1.3 or higher compliant system. For instance, Debian Sarge's currently compiles with the 1.3 standard release. LSB 2.0, the next release, is in public review right now.
Slashdot Mirror
You bring up some very valid points. And Linux itself has a ways to evolve as a solution, but the tools are becoming available where developing a Linux solution is becoming easier as industry responce reduces turn-around time for support on popular hardware and features. As this time to market continues to shrink, Linux becomes a more viable platform for development and deployment.
There are projects out there that are trying to bring standardization about for the corporate environment, specifically userlinux and freedesktop, to name a couple beyond the obvious redhat and Novell/Suse ones. And they are in some respects an extension to LSB which operates at a more of a core level by insuring filesystem structure, application and library compatability.
I see Windows as best of breed for time to come, but as Redhat put it, Linux is ready for the corporate environment now. And things will continue to improve as it gains more traction, broader acceptance and wider support. And this will become a faster cycle much like the Windows cycle you described previously.
The main goal for the Linux standards base, LSB, http://www.linuxbase.org, and the Free Standards group, http://freestandards.org is to address this very issue.
And then the idea is to develop software that will reference and operate on a LSB 1.3 or higher compliant system. For instance, Debian Sarge's currently compiles with the 1.3 standard release. LSB 2.0, the next release, is in public review right now.