Comment Take it for what it's worth. (Score 1) 98
Most of the advice in this article is sound enough, if you consider its intended audience. Windows is still their client platform of choice. But I do think that they committed a grievous sin of omission by failing to discuss scenarios in which Linux can replace Windows servers right now. With the proper network configuration and disaster planning, their customer service remarks are moot.
I just want to comment on two other things:
while PC server vendors are seriously considering a Linux strategy, fears of cannibalizing their own Unix strategies and concerns about the chaotic nature of the market will limit their sincerity to opportunistic sales
This is absolutely true. Nobody expects major resources from IBM, Sun, or SGI to go into Linux development; they are merely making a virtue out of a necessity, and that's what will dictate the extent of their commitment to Linux. If they don't provide Linux support for their hardware, someone else will. Any development they contribute will most likely be funded by a customer who requests it.
emulation a poor substitute for Microsoft compatibility.
This is one reason why Linux supporters need to keep pushing Java, or a substitute for it, as hard as they can; it does as much damage to the "Linux is not good enough for the desktop" problem as supporting GNOME and KDE does. In a post-scarcity world, which we are very much on the brink of, the difference between native opcodes and Java's bytecode will no longer be significant. And it will run on Linux and Win2000 equally well. So much for having to play catch-up with emulating Microsoft's latest API's. And so much for Microsoft incompatibility.
I just want to comment on two other things:
while PC server vendors are seriously considering a Linux strategy, fears of cannibalizing their own Unix strategies and concerns about the chaotic nature of the market will limit their sincerity to opportunistic sales
This is absolutely true. Nobody expects major resources from IBM, Sun, or SGI to go into Linux development; they are merely making a virtue out of a necessity, and that's what will dictate the extent of their commitment to Linux. If they don't provide Linux support for their hardware, someone else will. Any development they contribute will most likely be funded by a customer who requests it.
emulation a poor substitute for Microsoft compatibility.
This is one reason why Linux supporters need to keep pushing Java, or a substitute for it, as hard as they can; it does as much damage to the "Linux is not good enough for the desktop" problem as supporting GNOME and KDE does. In a post-scarcity world, which we are very much on the brink of, the difference between native opcodes and Java's bytecode will no longer be significant. And it will run on Linux and Win2000 equally well. So much for having to play catch-up with emulating Microsoft's latest API's. And so much for Microsoft incompatibility.
