Re: Linux is not free nor is it an overall improvement from Windows 2000.

From: Remote Wonder (ati_at_kicks.***)
Date: 09/09/04 

Date: Wed, 08 Sep 2004 16:16:18 -0700

Gautam Bhayana wrote:

> Hello all,
> I work as consultant employed by a small firm and most of my clients are
> small and middle size business companies.

Yes, drug dealing encompasses all sorts.

> We have been exploring Linux, in
> particular Redhat Linux, for over a year now as a solution that we can

Oh really?

> offer our clients almost all of whom use Windows 2000 as both a
server and
> desktop operation system.

Go on, tell me more!

> We have sucessfully replaced Windows 2000 server with Redhat Linux
server,
> but we have had some very real problems attempting to replace desktop
> systems with Linux.

I see...wow. So in other words, Microsoft has given up on servers, and
hopes to maintain it's desktop share -- good luck. Oh, yes, I'm still
listening...

> The long story is that we had major hardware problems in all but one
> client who happened to use IBM hardware. The Dell and Compaq hardware
> simply would not fully function with Linux no matter what we did.

Well, I've heard that in you country, pouring water on the transformer
and shouting "malakaka coo coo" is the standard procedure for debugging
hardware. Maybe that's part of it !

> In particular, modems, scanners, video cards and printers were
problematic
> for almost all systems involved.

You left off the little rubber feet on the keyboard.

> We have spent 100's of hours trying to make Linux work and fianlly had to
> trash it and use our bailout plan which was a restore to Windows 2000.

Right. But you guys usually pirate those, so you probably couldn't find
all the CD's -- right ?

> This has not only cost our firm 10's of thousands of dollars in fees but
> has sullied our reputation somewhat with our clients.

Those crack vials need to be delivered right on time -- every time !

> And before some eagle tries to say we are incompetant, we have 4 out of 5
> people Redhat certified and they also have extensive Unix experience so
> that is certainly not the problem.

No, no, why would it be? A Unix expert who can't make a video card
work. That happens all the time! Right?

> Moving to Linux is not a good solution IMHO because the intangebles are
> too many and it simply does not work very well for a desktop user.

I once ate at a fine cafe in your capital city. Braised squirrel was
the entree. Very tasty!

> For the small group we used as a test bed, the desktop support line was
> flooded with requests and this is despite the training we offered them.

Maybe you should outsource tech support...oh wait! You *are* outsourcers!!!

> The other problems revolved around the plain fact that the users HATED
> LINUX!

C'mon. You guys usually have 100 people to one PC. They couldn't all
hate it!

> They didn't like the way it looked, felt or ran and they had nothing but
> troubles with older documents.

If you flip the monitor over, it's just like reading right to left.
That /could/ be the problem!

>
> All in all Linux worked great for the server side of the room but was a
> miserable failure on the desktop side.
>

When you're finished be sure to put some more newpaper on the
fire...otherwise the generators will stop functioning.