Van Dam Iron Works vacillates between Linux and Windows
Posted by: Anonymous
[ip: 71.131.185.64]
on October 24, 2008 01:59 AM
Ben's basically right. The problem with moving mission-critical apps to Linux is not the OS, but either the vertical-market application software and/or the relevant retraining and lack of trained employees in the job market. I have a client who converts consumer analog media into digital media (film, video, stills). He has to run Adobe media applications like Adobe Premiere, Encore, PhotoShop. Part of the reason is that those products support the available video and film and still capture devices on the market, for which there are NO Linux equivalents. And there simply is NO Linux functional equivalent to Adobe Premiere Pro (don't bother citing Cinelerra or anything else - they simply aren't even close.) The other problem is that the available pool of employees for this niche market pretty much requires either Adobe products or Apple products such as Final Cut Pro. The client would move to Linux in a heartbeat because he knows it's more reliable than Windows. But he simply can't.
And even once I get him to upgrade to higher performance hardware that might support running Windows apps in VM's hosted on Linux - which would at least let us remove the unreliability of Windows from the equation - the problem would then be getting access from the Windows guest OS down to the media capture hardware. Very unlikely these capture devices will be available to the VM. I'm going to research this closely but I doubt it will work.
So he's stuck.
As for the guy above complaining about the story, listen, there are millions of small businesses who really can't afford the downtime, unreliability and security issues of Windows. Being able to replace Windows in those small businesses with Linux is a definite market need. The big corporations can expends millions doing retraining, redesigning mission critical apps and the like. They can handle Linux. The small guys are the ones who have problems. It's not that it can't be done. But it has to be done with either a Linux-savvy user or a consultant. And it has to be done over time, with a plan. And in some cases it either has to be done while retaining some Windows machines in the mix - or it can't be done at all - yet.
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Van Dam Iron Works vacillates between Linux and Windows
Posted by: Anonymous [ip: 71.131.185.64] on October 24, 2008 01:59 AMAnd even once I get him to upgrade to higher performance hardware that might support running Windows apps in VM's hosted on Linux - which would at least let us remove the unreliability of Windows from the equation - the problem would then be getting access from the Windows guest OS down to the media capture hardware. Very unlikely these capture devices will be available to the VM. I'm going to research this closely but I doubt it will work.
So he's stuck.
As for the guy above complaining about the story, listen, there are millions of small businesses who really can't afford the downtime, unreliability and security issues of Windows. Being able to replace Windows in those small businesses with Linux is a definite market need. The big corporations can expends millions doing retraining, redesigning mission critical apps and the like. They can handle Linux. The small guys are the ones who have problems. It's not that it can't be done. But it has to be done with either a Linux-savvy user or a consultant. And it has to be done over time, with a plan. And in some cases it either has to be done while retaining some Windows machines in the mix - or it can't be done at all - yet.
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