[kwlug-disc] the limits of linux

[Chris Frey]

On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 01:14:57PM -0500, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> 
>   is it just me, or is this guy wildly out to lunch?
> 
> http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/3859146/The-Limits-of-Linux.htm


I'd say he's pretty much right on.  Give or take a few details.

Some consider the anti-proprietary nature of Linux to be an asset, not
a liability.  I do too, to some extent.

But even providing your own open source packages is a bit of work,
although you don't need a whole team of people to do it.

Depending on the level of the application (printers?  USB interfaces?
just a GUI?) it may be harder or easier.

Linux's 6 month release cycle is probably crazy fast and furious to
most software houses.  Compared to Linux, Windows and Mac OS X
are paragons of stability, in the sense that the rug is not pulled
out from under you without a few years of migration strategy first.

How much time have people on this list spent just getting things
working again after a linux upgrade?  And that is *after* the distro folks
have tested and claimed that it works.  Programmers are on the front
lines of these kinds of changes.

I'm not complaining, but if you're used to the crusty Windows API's
from the 90's working almost flawlessly on Windows 7, I can see how Linux
would be a bit of a shock.

- Chris