TEN REASONS TO DUMP WINDOWS AND USE LINUX
1. LINUX IS FREE
You may have heard that Linux is free. It is. Linux is free of charge
and it is free in the sense that it is also free of patents and other
restrictions that make it unwieldy for creative business owners who wish to
edit and enhance the source code. This ability to innovate with Linux has
helped create companies like Google, who have taken that ability and converted
it into big business. Linux is free, as in freedom.
2. WORLDWIDE COMMUNITY
Linux has the support of a worldwide community of developers who contribute
to the source code, security fixes and system enhancements. This active
community also provides businesses with free support through forums and
community sites. This distributed community gives peace of mind to Linux users,
because there's no single point of failure and no single source for Linux
support or development.
3. COMMERCIAL SUPPORT
In the past, businesses used the lack of commercial support as the main
reason for staying with Windows. Red Hat, Novell and Canonical, the "big
three" commercial Linux providers, have put this fear to rest. Each of
these companies offers 24x7x365 support for your mission-critical applications
and business services.
4. UNIX UPTIMES
Linux stability offers business owners the peace of mind that their
applications won’t suffer lengthy outages due to operating system instability.
Linux enjoys the same high uptimes (often measured in years) that its Unix
cousins do. This stability means that Linux can support your "99.999
percent available" service requirements. Rebooting after every patch,
service pack, or driver change makes Windows an unstable and unreliable choice
for those who need nonstop support for their critical applications and
services.
5. SECURITY
No operating system is 100 percent secure and Linux is no exception.
But, Linux offers excellent security for its users. From regular kernel updates
to an almost daily list of security patches, Linux code maintainers keep Linux
systems very secure. Business owners who rely on commercially supported Linux
systems will have access to every available security fix. With Linux, you have
a worldwide community providing security fixes, not a single company with
closed source code. You are completely dependent on the response of one company
to provide you with timely security fixes when you use Windows.
6. COMMODITY HARDWARE
Business owners will like the fact that their “out-of-date” systems will
still run Linux and run it well. Fortunately for Linux adopters, there’s no
hardware upgrade madness that follows every new version of the software that’s
released. Linux runs on x86 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. If your system
runs Windows, it will run Linux.
7. TRANSFERABLE SKILLS
One barrier to Linux adoption was the idea that Linux isn’t enough like
Unix, and therefore Unix administrators couldn’t successfully use their
knowledge when making the switch to Linux. The Linux filesystem layout looks
like any commercial version of Unix. Linux also uses a standard set of Unix
commands. There are some Linux commands that do not transfer, but this is also
true of any version of Unix.
Windows administrators might find that using a keyboard instead of a
mouse is a difficult part of the transition, but once they discover the power
of the command line, they might never click again. Don't worry, though, for you
GUI-bound Windows types, Linux has several desktop managers from which to
choose--not just one.
8. LINUX FOUNDATION
The Linux Foundation is a corporate collective of platinum supporters
(Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Intel, NEC, Novell and Oracle) and members who,
through donations and membership dues, sponsor Linus Torvalds and others who
work on Linux full time. Their purpose is to "promote, protect and
standardize Linux to fuel its growth around the world." It is the primary
source for all things Linux. The Linux Foundation is a big positive for Linux
users and adopters because its existence assures continued development of
Linux.
9. REGULAR UPDATES
Are you tired of waiting for a Windows service pack every 18 months? Are
you also tired of the difficulty in upgrading your Windows systems every few
years because there’s no clear upgrade path? (Ubuntu Linux offers new, improved
versions every six months) and long-term support (LTS) versions every two
years. Every Linux distribution offers regular updates of its packages and
sources several times per year and security fixes as needed. You can leave any
upgrade angst in your officially licensed copy of Windows because it's easy to
upgrade and update Linux. And, the best part? No reboot required.
10. .NET SUPPORT
Businesses that have standardized on Microsoft technology, specifically
their .NET web technology, can rely on Linux for support of those same .NET
applications. Novell owns and supports the Mono project that maintains .NET
compatibility. One of the Mono project’s goals is to provide businesses the
ability to make a choice and to resist vendor lock-in. additionally, the Mono
project offers Visual Studio plugins so that .NET developers can easily
transfer Windows-based .NET applications without changing their familiar
development tools. Why would Novell and others put forth the effort to create a
.NET environment for Linux? For real .NET application stability, Linux is a
better choice than Windows.
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