Linux Myths
by Dale Zeutenhorst
September 16, 2004
I got a call a few days ago from a local business. A friend had recommended me to them as a reference for Linux. The person was a local IT person for a company with several offices in the area. They were concerned about the support available for Linux and how hard it is to work on. She had been told that:
- If you have one person install a Linux server no one else would be able to work on it.
- Linux requires special training and she would not be in control and could not make changes to the server.
- Linux is not as reliable, in the long term, as Windows Servers.
- Updates are unreliable/unavailable for Linux servers to fix serious software problems.
- And my favorite: If they install one Linux server, they would be forced to convert all their servers and workstations to Linux.
After talking for a while she relaxed and I got her to realize that most of the issues were unrealistic. That my servers have been co-existing happily for several years, and that although it is true that it was sometimes difficult to work on a distribution of Linux that I have not seen before, it was the same between Windows 2003 Server and Windows NT Servers.
After a few more minutes I found out that:
- She never touched the Windows Servers they had because usually it caused problems.
- They had been with the same IT services firm because whenever they tried someone else it caused problems with their servers.
- Someone had downloaded the Windows XP Service Pack 2 recently on one of their machines and the machine had to be "rolled back" to its previous state so it would access the local file shares. This cost them 4 to 5 hours of consultanting.
- That if they wanted to keep getting their discounts and maintain the reliability of their servers that they were told to continue using all Microsoft products.
Isn't it funny that the expected problems with Linux are the same as the current problems with Windows. They bought and will install a SME Server as their first Linux server system.