Microsoft: Linux is Brittle, and Insecure
The FUD is strong in this one
John Paczkowski says the FUD is strong with this one, commenting on an interview with Microsoft GM of Platform Strategy Michael Taylor in a ZDNet Asia interview. And it is. "These aren't the security holes you're looking for..."
The Linux phenomenon created this emotional hype or spike where, in some ways, people became less concerned about some of these practical issues around cost of ownership, reliability, security and so on," Taylor said. "But I think now, two to three years into this, we're seeing these issues around cost and reliability coming up such that, we now know we need to go back to the basics on how we evaluate a platform and choose it. ... You can build [a Linux infrastructure], design it, and it will work great. The trouble begins when you want to add things to it, add some services and things like that. Because of the brittle nature of the platform, when you do that, other things break. We see that in the labs all the time, and our customers see that as well.
You've gotta give the boy credit...
Got his OS'es messed up?
I mean, he said it himself:
Being one of those customers, when I want to add things to it, some other things break. Happens all the time, although with XP it is a bit better than it used to be.
To be fair
Sure people have problems with Windows. We have several macs, being an agency, and they are not exactly problem-free. I don't know a single person who hasn't had trouble with getting at least one piece of hardware to work on linux. I don't know why anyone would be suprised that Microsoft would want to have messages out there that counter the linux question, should they be bigging linux up? Meanwhile in the real world ..
Hardware problems? Yeah
Hardware problems? Yeah sure, maybe 3 years ago, I'd buy that, but not any more. Case in point:
I have Debian Sarge running on one of the Shuttle XPCs on my desk. It acts as a server for stuff I don't want to be running on the expensive hardware. So a few months ago we had a problem with DNS (related to our Microsoft ISA) which rendered my machine unable to resolve a client website's new IP. So I thought "Ive got a few hours, maybe I'll get X up on the linux box". 3 years ago, this really would have taken a few hours, but this time? "aptitude install x-window-system gnome-panel". The whole thing set up for me. Booted the GUI, worked on it for a bit, decided I needed to use a USB memory stick. Plugged it in, Jesus save me, it appeared immediately as /dev/sda1.
Fact is, with libdiscover, hotplug, and friend, linux is every bit as plug-and-play these days as everyone hopes it would be. And for the record, this machine has crashed more times than all of our linux servers put together.
"maybe 3 years ago"
Maybe I am wrong then. Anyone else on TW who uses linux *not* had a problem installing hardware in the last 3 years please speak up.
I just tried to search, I am sure nick has posted here about problems with Linux but all I managed to find was a problem where he searched through the Gentoo forums and found out he should have RTFM to find the mute option ;O)
My point (which I repeat every couple of months, heh) is use whatever floats your boat. Whatever makes you productive. I can't understand why people choose a technology choice like they choose a religion or in some cases more like a political party! Don't get suckered into getting your blood all boiling because of a quote from an interview or press release, it's just spin to sell more boxes of product. You would have thought TW readership would be more marketing savvy..
I await the day Microsoft releases a REAL operating system
All these pseudo-systems have been very frustrating. Maybe Vista will finally deliver on the promises of DOS....
Eh?
Michael Martinez what do you mean?
I mean, Microsoft doesn't impress me
On a technological basis.
Quality and innovation are two words I would never associate with Microsoft, on the basis of their track record to date.