Re: Need Advice on Linux vs. Windows for a Database-Driven Web Application

From: James McIninch (james.mcininch.nospam_at_comcast.net)
Date: 01/19/05 

To: Curious Pete <virtualcowboy2004-curiouspete@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 23:32:31 -0500

>From the user's point of view, there's little difference. Linux ought to be
able to handle greater loads and perform better on the same hardware, but
to the end-user, it's simply a web application.

For you, there are several issues. Does anyone at your site have any idea
how to admin Linux properly? How about Windows? Most businesses, if honest
with themselves, would have to answer "no" to both, but for some reason
feel that they are more likely to figure it out as they go along under
Windows.

Linux has the advantage of being more secure and less of a liability
(license restrictions, need for upgrades, onus of proof of compliance,
etc.). The open-source solution also has the advantage that you could later
run the code on any operating system (Apache, MySQL, and PHP run under
Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, Mac OS/X, Solaris, AIX, etc.). That is not true
for a Microsoft-centric solution, which locks you into that platform. I
would suggest, however, that you ask them to use PostgreSQL (also free
cross-platform open-source software) as it's a better database in many
aspects than MySQL.

The Linux solution is also cheaper. The Windows solution, if you don't get a
deal, is some $10,000 for the licenses for the OS, IIS, and SQL Server (if
you want to be completely legit). The Linux solution involves no cost.

The big advatange to Windows is really buy-in and lock-in. You may actually
want to force the company into a vendor lock-in situation (perhaps to
receive certain "incentives" or to attract a particular group of
customers). Also, your IT staff may be more experienced in Microsoft
products and resistant to change.

<posted & mailed>

Curious Pete wrote:

> Hi there. I am hoping that someone here can offer me some database
> advice.
>
> I work at a small company that makes frozen products that are sold in
> supermarkets. We recently hired sales reps in several cities in the US
> and Canada to maintain our displays in stores and to take orders from
> those stores. Each rep visits 12 stores a day and take a digital photo
> of our display at each store. Then they go home, write up an email to
> us about the situation at each store, attach the digital photos to the
> emails, and send it to us. Then they write emails to the local
> distributors containing their orders for the day and send them,
> cc'ing us.
>
> The system is working well, except as we add more and more sales reps,
> the flow of information into the Head Office is becoming a raging
> torrent, and frankly we can't keep up with it. So, we came up with
> the great idea to automate the entire process via a database-driven web
> application. The idea is that the sales reps should be able to log into
> a site, enter a user name and password, then enter and upload their
> report, photos and orders for the day, which would thereafter be stored
> in a database that we could access from the Head Office.
>
> There is a lot of data to input: Store Name, Street Address, City, Zip,
> Store Contact etc. etc., plus all our various distributors and
> individual products. We figure that the system should be robust enough
> to handle at least fifty sales reps covering a total of 3,750 stores.
>
> We sent RFPs to several software companies and received several bids
> back. Okay, here comes the question part: Roughly half the bidders want
> to use Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP while the other half wants to use
> Microsoft/IIS/MS SQLServer/.NET. (We are currently running a Microsoft
> server in the office, but if it was cheap enough, I suppose we could
> add another server running LINUX.)
>
> My question is: Which solution is "better", and, from my (user's)
> point of view, do I even care? (The software-building costs are about
> the same for both types of system.)
>
> I am looking for a robust system that will last our company for several
> years, that can be added to as we think of more bells and whistles, and
> that will need minimum maintenance.
> Thank you in advance!
>
> Curious Pete 

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