ZDNet Article

[Jeff Licquia <jeff@web.lanscape.net>]

There's an interesting ZDNet article by Jesse Berst (www.zdnet.com, or 
linked via www.msnbc.com) about being fired for promoting Linux.  It's 
not as bad as it sounds - Berst discusses Linux's good points, and 
basically wonders aloud on this subject.

I posted a response to their "TalkBack" forum.  Here it is:
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I was amused by the "Fired for Linux" story.  I've been a Linux fan for 
quite a while, and have been instrumental in getting Linux into several 
of my places of work, including my current one.  So far, I haven't had to 
worry; most of my bosses are rather open to "alternative" technology, and 
are willing to at least give the new ideas a try.

You make the claim that you can't yell at a sales rep if Linux breaks.  I 
have a few perspectives on that:

First, you can, if you want, hire someone to yell at.  There are many 
companies that sell support for Linux (one big one is Cygnus Support, 
www.cygnus.com).  Additionally, Red Hat and Caldera are setting up 
nationwide support networks (similar to Microsoft's "Solution Provider" 
program), and Red Hat (at least) is improving their support offerings.

Also, while you might feel good having someone to yell at when you need 
to, my experience has been that Linux doesn't give you the need as often. 
Having source partially means that you're no longer helpless; if Linux 
doesn't measure up to the task in testing, it's often as easy to add the 
functionality to Linux as it is to start over.  Additionally, chances are 
someone else has already tried Linux for your task, already found the bug 
and shortcomings, and fixed them.  This effect is magnified when you 
consider that the maintainers are often the biggest users of the features 
in question (being sysadmins themselves, not professional OS developers).

In fact, the Linux infiltrations into my corporate environments have been 
either as Web/Internet servers or to patch deficiencies in Novell NetWare 
or Windows NT. The Web angle you explored in your article; have you 
considered, however, that Linux is not just as stable, but often more 
stable than NetWare/NT?   As an example, we're now using a Linux RAS 
server at work (over objections from some of the decision makers).  We 
were using an NT RAS server, but we just couldn't get it to answer the 
silly phone reliably.  Now that it's there, the Linux box is enabling 
migration opportunities that weren't possible with an NT box managing the 
phones, but originally we just wanted a dial-in box that worked, and 
that's how Linux entered the picture.

InfoWorld, in its "Best of 1997" awards, gave the Best Technical Support 
award to "the Linux user community".  Strange?  Not if you read the 
reasons.  Most of us are tired of "having someone to yell at" - usually 
after waiting hours on hold and committing to a top-dollar support fee, 
only to talk to a drone who doesn't know an IP stack from a hole in the 
ground.  We'd much rather ask our peers what works, check a Web site, or 
even whip out the source ourselves if it comes to that.  And in these 
methods of support - informal though they may be - Linux is a pioneer, 
not an also-ran.
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