Mind Architecture Tech Opinions

Matt Gear - NEC Unified Solutions - Silly Question?

Yes, I would. There are many applications out there that are expanding
past the File Server/Printer Server/Repository architecture for Linux
devices.

One Very good example:
Convergence technologies-

On a Linux based platform, We have been able to design appliance based
PBX systems that are TDM and VOIP capable. In addition, using
Integrated messaging for Voice mail delivery into regular SMTP boxes
(Asterisk). We have also integrated dis-separate systems (NEC, Cisco
Call Manager, Nortel, Avaya) and used Linux boxes as a way of “extending
the network”
In addition, we have expanded more into Desktop applications
integrations (i.e Using Outlook, or contact based management and
creating TAPI interfaces for Dial from list features. Caller ID pop and
instant messaging).

Eric Smith - Mind Architecture - I have a Linux partition on my home system and barely use it. In my opinion, Linux is great for servers but has a long way to go to be a competitor to Windows.

The system-level knowledge that’s at times required to implement simple functionality like recognizing a USB flash drive or connecting to DSL makes it a tough sell for me…

Chuck Harris - Astrixs - For small businesses this is a huge financial question with immense benefits as well as potential pitfalls.

>From the financial stand point you are looking at basic operating
>system
costs of lets say a Microsoft workstation and a Novell workstation. OS price comparison alone:

MS Windows XP Professional: around $300 per machine Novell Desktop: around $50 per machine

Granted most computers come with an OEM software license which significantly reduces the cost of Windows to almost non-existent on some systems like e-Machines (cringes).

As for server for this office, obviously we want to be able to store files and share network services such as printers, scanners, faxes, etc. And to keep to the same apple to apple comparison we’ll stay with Novell vs.
Microsoft; again, just OS’s:

MS 2003 Server: around $1,800 per processor/processor core plus or minus a couple hundred pending seat requirements Novell 6 Server: around $1,035 plus or minus a couple hundred pending seat requirements

Again there can be some savings found in OEM purchases of these servers, but not much if any at all.

This now brings us to Office Suites. Here we are going to look at base cost for MS Office 2003 Suite verses Sun’s OpenOffice 2.x

MS 2003 Office: around $328 per user license Sun’s OpenOffice 2.x: FREE

Now this is where the big kicker comes in when speaking from a financial and risk assessment stand point. Owning a single Microsoft product opens you to a full and complete licensing liability audit from any or all of the software security firms like BSA. The financial risks are astounding!
Meaning a single violation could cost you more than $100,000 per instance, plus the cost of a new lisc, plus court costs and extra. However, running with the Novell and Sun products practically take those liabilities and risks and make them almost non-existent (being politically correct - a risk arises any time you install other applications, use fonts, images ect.).

Realistic? Usability? While there will be some complaints from people (as people as a whole do not like change) and a slight learning curve; your business would be able to function competitively and efficiently with the previously mentioned windows alternatives. The Novell Desktop looks, and feels much like Microsoft’s Windows. And the connectivity between the workstations and the Novell Server is easier to set up, configure and maintain than the traditional alternative. Not to mention that Novell’s long standing history and reputation for server reliability and security.

So all in all, to answer the question would switching to a linux environment would be feasible, or viable as an option; it most certainly is if starting from scratch. And then, it is even more so if you consider the financial risks that you or your business is taking every day; referring to software audits by the BSA or one of the other 90 firms that can kill any hopes of profitability as well as threaten jail time!

Steve Giunto - Bark at the Moon - Don’t think so. I know Linux has a penguin that strongly resembles “Wheezie” on Toy Story for it’s branding campaign, but that’s all that interests me.

Stephen Schneider - Mind Architecture - Probably not a total switch over for us. As web developers and internet database application developers, it probably wouldn’t matter. In fact I have used Linux to do some work. There are other items, though, that I use Windows for. Synching with my PDA. I have it get my outlook mail, contacts, to do list, and calendar. I’ve been using it for so long it’s just the easiest and does everything I want. The last time I tried to switch and synch using Linux, things got real screwed up and I wasted more time trying to fix it all. The other things about Linux is that I seem to spend a considerable amount of time getting things installed and then working. I wanted to get a screen grab and then resave as a smaller jpeg. After spending almost 4 hours and installing 3 different programs I still wasn’t getting a good enough image. I went back to Windows and had it done in 5 minutes as I wanted.

So for now, no I won’t be switching my desktop. BUT, we have Linux as our web server and use Linux in a few other capacities. Works wonderful for those items. I’m not against the idea and have been exploring using Linux in a VM, but I haven’t found anything I can do with Linux that I am not already doing with my Windows system.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 at 8:50 am and is filed under Windows, Mac. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.