> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On > Behalf Of Dan Minette
... > But, from my experience, Linux is a nightmare for commercial use. For > example, I'm working for a customer who has flavor X of Linux running on > company Y's portable computer. When company Y came out with faster > portables, flavor X of Linux was unsupported by both the Linux software > writer and portable manufacturer. (I don't want to provide > names, but this > company uses its own system to provide information services to its > clients.) That's not a fair generalization. It depends very much on the application. And look at the support that IBM is giving Linux now, and even Sun. It's coming into mainstream, slowly but surely. > After looking at the options, the software manager came to the regretful > conclusion that he was not going to obtain drivers for flavor X Linux > unless he paid to have them written. Going to flavor W was a better > option, so he did that. > > Given that lack of support, I think it will be a very long time before > Linux has any real market share. Linux drivers often come out later than Windows or Unix drivers... but many big companies don't want to upgrade immediately anyway. On the other hand, it's amazing the variety of machines that are supported by Linux. I just installed Red Hat 8.0 on a Satellite 325 CDS, a pretty old laptop, with zero problems having to do with hardware support. Configuration was another story, but it continues to become easier. And hey, this mailing list runs on Linux! Nick _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
