Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on June 04, 2002 02:31 PM
Anonymous reader #1 posted: 1) Familiar ground: Unless IBM has made a serious effort for AIX5L being Linux-like (not only on the API) a Linux user will be quite disoriented by AIX: files are not at the same places, there is no /proc filesystem, administrative commands like "free" don't exist. That means higher training costs since you cannot benefit if the experience acquired with Linux by people who learned at university or at home.
2) Unless IBM has made a serious effort for enriching AIX you will miss many of the things you get on your average distro: for instance no Samba so you will have a hard time with users who work part on Windows and part on AIX. But also no Perl, no Python, no decent editor so programmers will complain.
3) Unless it has udergone drastic changes in AIX5L then, by Linux standards, AIX user environment stinks. To begin with the standard Unix commands (aka grep, find, awk) are severeley crippled respective to their Linux counterparts, use older algorithms (read they are slower) and have limits who don't exist in their Linux counterparts (eg AIX's awk has a limit in line length, while Linux's gawk hasn't). Add to this that as a GUI CDE is several degrees below Gnome and KDE. In fact where I work we have to drag windows users kicking and screaming to AIX. And those same users are jealous of my Linux box who at times runs Gnome and at times KDE. So this reluctance of users to use the unpalatable AIX environment leads to them using Windows even in situations where they should use the AIX server.
Response: 1.) Linux-like does not always mean best. Ask a FreeBSD project member and see what [s]he has to say.
2.) I run a dedicated samba server providing file access to Windows users. It's been running on AIX for years. As for perl and python, we use those too. In fact, the majority of our administration scripts are written in perl and ksh. No decent editor you say? vi/vim/gvim, emacs/xemacs/memacs, nedit, and more are used on a daily basis by the hundreds of users on my AIX servers.
3.) The GNU versions of grep, awk, tar, bash and many other command line utilities can be installed on AIX. Yes, even X11 desktop manager suites like GNOME and KDE run on AIX just fine. I run most of these programs on many Power CPU-based servers myself. Visit: <A HREF="http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/aix/products/aixos/linux/download.html">http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/aix/products/aixos/li nux/download.html</a ibm.com> to download 120+ such applications for AIX 4.3.3 and 5L.
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Another anonymous reader posted: "There is a reason why the Unix community calls AIX "Ain't Unix"."
Response: Actually, AIX follows most of the various open, industry-proven, long-lasting UNIX standards. I.E.: POSIX, OSF, CDE, and it has a truely even mix of both System V *and* BSD in its pedigree.
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Previous Anti-AIX Posts With Little/No Truth
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on June 04, 2002 02:31 PM1) Familiar ground: Unless IBM has made a serious effort for AIX5L being Linux-like (not only on the API) a Linux user will be quite disoriented by AIX: files are not at the same places, there is no /proc filesystem, administrative commands like "free" don't exist. That means higher training costs since you cannot benefit if the experience acquired with Linux by people who learned at university or at home.
2) Unless IBM has made a serious effort for enriching AIX you will miss many of the things you get on your average distro: for instance no Samba so you will have a hard time with users who work part on Windows and part on AIX. But also no Perl, no Python, no decent editor so programmers will complain.
3) Unless it has udergone drastic changes in AIX5L then, by Linux standards, AIX user environment stinks. To begin with the standard Unix commands (aka grep, find, awk) are severeley crippled respective to their Linux counterparts, use older algorithms (read they are slower) and have limits who don't exist in their Linux counterparts (eg AIX's awk has a limit in line length, while Linux's gawk hasn't). Add to this that as a GUI CDE is several degrees below Gnome and KDE. In fact where I work we have to drag windows users kicking and screaming to AIX. And those same users are jealous of my Linux box who at times runs Gnome and at times KDE. So this reluctance of users to use the unpalatable AIX environment leads to them using Windows even in situations where they should use the AIX server.
Response:
1.) Linux-like does not always mean best. Ask a FreeBSD project member and see what [s]he has to say.
2.) I run a dedicated samba server providing file access to Windows users. It's been running on AIX for years. As for perl and python, we use those too. In fact, the majority of our administration scripts are written in perl and ksh. No decent editor you say? vi/vim/gvim, emacs/xemacs/memacs, nedit, and more are used on a daily basis by the hundreds of users on my AIX servers.
3.) The GNU versions of grep, awk, tar, bash and many other command line utilities can be installed on AIX. Yes, even X11 desktop manager suites like GNOME and KDE run on AIX just fine. I run most of these programs on many Power CPU-based servers myself.
Visit: <A HREF="http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/aix/products/aixos/linux/download.html">http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/aix/products/aixos/li nux/download.html</a ibm.com> to download 120+ such applications for AIX 4.3.3 and 5L.
*************************************************
Another anonymous reader posted:
"There is a reason why the Unix community calls AIX
"Ain't Unix"."
Response:
Actually, AIX follows most of the various open, industry-proven, long-lasting UNIX standards. I.E.: POSIX, OSF, CDE, and it has a truely even mix of both System V *and* BSD in its pedigree.
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