GNU/Linux naming debate

[mikebw at bilow.bilow.uu.ids.net (Mike Bilow)]

John Chambers wrote in a message to Mike Bilow:

 JC> In the cases I've seen like this, what was always happening
 JC> was  that the  management had decided on NT and the techies
 JC> were trying hard to get them to use Unix/linux instead. In
 JC> such cases, there really isn't a  question of which system
 JC> to use; there's a question of which group has the clout to
 JC> force their "decision" on the organization.

This is true to a point, but there is an additional dynamic which I often see
at work, even if no one will admit it.  There is an assumption on the part of
management that administration of NT requires less skills by technical staff
than administration of Unix, so they figure that they can find a larger pool of
applicants at lower pay for technical staff positions.  Sometimes I deal with
this head-on, since it is my belief that very little network administration
knowledge is platform-specific, and that the vast majority of knowledge
required is simply a reflection of the complexity inherent in the tasks
themselves.  This is a view which goes down very hard with management, but I
can usually get the point across by saying that it would be foolish to hire
someone to do strategic planning just because they hold a certificate that says
they know how to operate an adding machine.

 JC> Similarly, people who have used both Windoze  and  Macs  are
 JC> usually quite  clear  which  they  prefer

I don't see Windows vs. Mac as the same kind of issue, but am much more
prepared to see it as a personal preference issue.  I've tried using Macs and I
just can't stand them, but I also know people who feel almost religious about
them.  From an objective technical standpoint, I think there is a lot to
criticize in MacOS, since the memory architecture may have been a good idea in
1984 but by 1990 was not up to the standards of, say, Windows 3.0.  Most
business decisions against Macs, in my experience, have been motivated almost
entirely by cost issues, since buying an approximately equivalent amount of
computing power costs between two and three times as much in the Mac universe
as for Windows-based systems.  I even have one client -- in the printing
industry, no less -- who ended up replacing Mac workstations with IBM RS/6000
under AI/X to save money!
 
-- Mike


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