Re: [tlug] google ditching windows and going for open source software

[Attila Kinali <attila@example.com>]

On Fri, 04 Jun 2010 01:18:00 +0900
"Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com> wrote:

>  > Is there any benefit by switching from Windows + M$ Office to Linux
>  > + OpenOffice?  For most of the companies, there are none: We face
>  > the problems of training (to use the new combo), compatibility and
>  > such.
> 
> Well, aside from the legal liability, *if* you have moderately skilled
> people, it's much easier, cheaper, and more reliable to automate
> common tasks with *nix systems.

Yes it is, and no it isnt.
Yes, if you know Unix, then it's quite easy and fast to automate things.
No, it isn't because hardly anyone knows Unix, even those who think
they know Unix don't know it. And if that wouldnt be enough, you'll
still have the "We dont have that software available on Unix/Linux"
problem.

But let me explain what i mean.

For the people here, knowing how a Unix (Linux in particular) works
is pretty much a given. And compared to other LUG's i know (mostly
from Switzerland and Germany) the technical level here is very high.
Most people, even those who work with Unix and/or Linux for a long
time do not have that knowledge. Hence a lot of scripts and automations
i see in the LUG's and at work are about as half assed as their counterparts
on windows would be. Yes, it is still easier to get something working
on Unix, but it would be as brittle as the windows solution.

Not to talk about the issue, that the general office worker does
not know anything about Unix. Heck, even our company where all but
two people are engineers with at least a BS if not PhD do not know
much about Unix/Linux at all. Which is especially confusing as some
used to work in software companies that wrote software for Unix.

The knowledge problem aside, there is the problem that office is only
one software package people use. It might be the most important one,
but it is defintily not the only one. Our company (small electronics
engineering company) would love to switch to Linux on the desktops
(the central servers have been Linux for a long time), but we cannot.
Most of other software we need has basically no replacement on Linux.
But the funny thing is, that we are using Eclipse + gcc + OpenOCD for
our cross compiling toolchain and struggle with a lot of issues because
windows isnt a unix ^^;

			Attila Kinali

-- 
If you want to walk fast, walk alone.
If you want to walk far, walk together.
		-- African proverb