I've been corresponding with an Assisant Dean at a large teaching
university who is pulling hair out over NT and the fact that the latest
required M$ patch <Y2k> fouled 600 machines.
I suggested that since Linux is stable enough to run Hotmail and the UK
perhaps thinking about Linux in terms of the future might be something
to consider. I offered a few Linux sites as points of reference.
I found the following comments particularly revealing..but then I am new
to land of the penguin.
"..snip..
about linux: i read about 20 magazines a month and am well versed in the
strides that linux is taking on the desktop. in fact we run about 10
servers and will be migrating from IRIX on SGI to Linux on Intel next
year.
what i am trying to explain is that the geeks have absolutely no control
over faculty desktops. our faculty are world class and select whatever
software they need to continue to produce worldclass publications and
research. if we are to converge on a single platform, it must be the one
with absolutely no limit on software available. otherwise they would
need to migrate to different computers to get the software they need.
in fact we have some sun solaris boxes and macs and others that were
bought solely to run a single (required) piece of software. and then me
and my small band of merry men and women have to support whatever is in
front of us.
business can be run top down and IT shops in businesses can set
standards. in academic environments faculty are in charge. period. (at
least at the top tier schools!) we can only make recommendations, act as
credible leaders and hope we are followed.
if i were to recommend linux on the desktop tomorrow, i would be looking
for a new job the next day... that has nothing to do with my sense of
where linux is going and how fed up i am with microsoft."
Pj
