Our company writes our own software. Its Win based, so no way can I use Linux in the office....Of course you will ask why we do not just jump to linux.. well its not that easy.
10 years ago we ran our backend software on a VAX, with OS/2 as a graphical workstation. When Microsoft and IBM split, we stuck with IBM... and lost heavily when OS/2 vanished overnight.
Since we were vax based, we could have gone to Linux, Even version 1 of the next generation was poratble between WinNT and DecAlphas... but we had to make a choice and pick one main line to follow.
So.. the company made a decision..Microsoft was growing in popularity, we were burned once but not following them. Better to go that way. Now.. 10 years of development later (and easily 500 programmer years) we are where we are now... WInXP graphical interface, Win2003 back end. For the industrial devices that connect to out system, all of the programming and diagnostics tools are Win based. Our clients also run windows for their office apps, so it would be pointless of us to give them a Linux app to run on their Windows machines. Field technicians are screwdriver and wire guys... not IT people. Different Indusrty, different skill sets. If you give one of these a dual boot system (Win for corporate apps and Linux for field apps) they would just throw the laptop in the bin....
The investment required now to jump back to a Unix style platform is prohibative. But lets look at where we are:
- Unix Engineers charge about 3x as much as an MS engineer. Easier for customers to swallow an MS solution.
- Our systems run on isolated networks, so we just do not see the viruses and trojans that Web connected users see
- Training new customers on a brand spanking new system is halved as they do not need to learn new toys.
- Win2003 is proving to be solid. Our systems are typically based on install, configure and forget. If you do not play with it every day.. it just stays running.
I Love Linux, and would be happy to switch to it, but its OS Inertia. The cost to us and to our clients to move, not in licences, but in developments costs, in training and in system downtime and commissioning... its just too massive a leap.
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Our company writes our own software. Its Win based, so no way can I use Linux in the office....Of course you will ask why we do not just jump to linux.. well its not that easy. 10 years ago we ran our backend software on a VAX, with OS/2 as a graphical workstation. When Microsoft and IBM split, we stuck with IBM... and lost heavily when OS/2 vanished overnight. Since we were vax based, we could have gone to Linux, Even version 1 of the next generation was poratble between WinNT and DecAlphas... but we had to make a choice and pick one main line to follow. So.. the company made a decision..Microsoft was growing in popularity, we were burned once but not following them. Better to go that way. Now.. 10 years of development later (and easily 500 programmer years) we are where we are now... WInXP graphical interface, Win2003 back end. For the industrial devices that connect to out system, all of the programming and diagnostics tools are Win based. Our clients also run windows for their office apps, so it would be pointless of us to give them a Linux app to run on their Windows machines. Field technicians are screwdriver and wire guys... not IT people. Different Indusrty, different skill sets. If you give one of these a dual boot system (Win for corporate apps and Linux for field apps) they would just throw the laptop in the bin.... The investment required now to jump back to a Unix style platform is prohibative. But lets look at where we are: - Unix Engineers charge about 3x as much as an MS engineer. Easier for customers to swallow an MS solution. - Our systems run on isolated networks, so we just do not see the viruses and trojans that Web connected users see - Training new customers on a brand spanking new system is halved as they do not need to learn new toys. - Win2003 is proving to be solid. Our systems are typically based on install, configure and forget. If you do not play with it every day.. it just stays running. I Love Linux, and would be happy to switch to it, but its OS Inertia. The cost to us and to our clients to move, not in licences, but in developments costs, in training and in system downtime and commissioning... its just too massive a leap.