The Windows FUDmesiters are out in force
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| caitlyn May 11, 2012 12:23 PM EDT |
The comments to my article yesterday were mostly tame. Today the Windows crows is out in force proclaiming the failure of Linux and even giving completely false numbers for the cost of Red Hat support and what the offerings entail. Windows cost of ownership is so much lower, donchaknow. Please, feel free to bring some balance and factual information to the discussion on the O'Reilly site. If Linux is such a failure on the desktop why is the Windows crowd so terrified of Linux? |
| Bob_Robertson May 11, 2012 2:24 PM EDT |
People tend to fear, and try to destroy, that which they do not understand. |
| Fettoosh May 11, 2012 3:54 PM EDT |
Quoting:and try to destroy They also fight the hardest when they are cornered and surrender as it becomes futile. |
| JaseP May 11, 2012 4:17 PM EDT |
M$ FUD is up all over the place. Methinks that M$ has ramped up the budget for viral marketing. SJVN's articles at ZDnet are getting a steady 23-25 users supporting pro-Microsoft comments in the feedback to his articles. That's suspicious. |
| tracyanne May 11, 2012 5:29 PM EDT |
That means, Windows 8 is due for release soon |
| Khamul May 11, 2012 5:35 PM EDT |
@Bob_R: True, but I don't think that's what's going on here. Here's a more accurate axiom for this situation: People tend to fear, and try to destroy, anything that threatens their gravy train. |
| gus3 May 11, 2012 5:44 PM EDT |
@Khamul, more broadly put as "none so blind as who will not see." |
| caitlyn May 11, 2012 7:05 PM EDT |
Seven comments and I agree with all of them. That has to be a first :) Thanks, Fettoosh, for your kind words in the comments section of the article. It is appreciated. |
| tracyanne May 11, 2012 8:31 PM EDT |
@caitlyn, as you know, I don't do kind words. I have however added some supporting argument in a couple of places. |
| caitlyn May 11, 2012 8:42 PM EDT |
I saw. Thanks, ta. |
| BernardSwiss May 11, 2012 10:48 PM EDT |
What always confounds me is how many "volunteer shills" swarm over FOSS-related stories to smear and denigrate FOSS, and explain how it just doesn't measure up to this or that proprietary option. The strange thing is that most of them clearly have a lot less Linux/FOSS knowledge than they realize. In fact most of them haven't ever actually touched it. But they will loudly proclaim Linux's shortcomings, nonetheless, often claiming significant expertise while making claims that clearly demonstrate they don't actually have the expertise they lay claim to. (Sometimes they don't even have the expertise they claim with Windows, either). Most of the rest once took a very casual, prejudicial stab at it without actually being prepared to learn something, and either gave up when it didn't work as expected, or with great effort wrestled it into a fragile state of temporary serviceability, by applying inappropriate approaches inspired by Windows-centric assumptions. (There is an additional, rather separate category of commentators who do have some routine hands-on exposure to Red Hat (or even BSD) on the server, in a mixed environment, and maybe even tried installing the same version on a laptop, and thus are quite sure of their expertise -- it wouldn't be entirely fair to lump these fully together with the previous categories, but again, they don't really know what they're talking about, and clearly view the situation from a Windows-centric perspective.) Of course there is the crowd that just blithely defines "quality" and "interoperability" chiefly in terms of familiarity and easy (regardless of cost) compatibility with Windows OSs and Windows-dependent applications. Thus, If Office documents are not 100% compatible with Open/Libre Office, this must by definition be interpreted as proof of the latter's inadequacy. if recent versions of AutoCAD don't run on Linux, this is considered a deficiency of Linux, not a deficiency or choice on the part of AutoDesk. These people frequently justify themselves as merely being "pragmatic". The strange thing is that these people are so committed to slamming Linux and FOSS software -- to the extent that I have taken to calling these people "volunteer shills". They are (most of them, I believe) not being paid; Indeed, a lot of them are actually customers, paying relatively large amounts for Windows software out of their own pockets. It is amazing that they are so committed to defending these purchased products by so vociferously denigrating Linux and FOSS alternatives. I really have trouble understanding this behaviour. |
| caitlyn May 11, 2012 11:00 PM EDT |
I agree with everything you said, Bernard Swiss. I think sometimes it is fear of change. Once upon a time I did five months of contract work for an insurance company. They decided to migrate as much of their infrastructure from Windows Server and Solaris to Red Hat for four reasons: improved security, improved reliability/uptime and no periodic need to reboot, less time spent on maintenance per server, and cost. They had significant experience and in house expertise with both operating systems and had made this decision after careful evaluation and study of how both were performing and being used in their environment. The manager was quite certain that his network and/or Windows admins were a sharp bunch and more than up to the task. The company was willing to send these people to Red Hat training. There was one guy who, in most respects, was especially good. He had a very solid understanding of networking and was more than bright enough to make that transition. Instead, he announced, publicly, in front of the entire team, that he would rather resign than learn Linux. From what I was told later he eventually did just that. I worked with this guy on some network issues. He could have moved to Linux without breaking much of a sweat. Sharp doesn't even begin to do him justice. Yet, in his fear of change, he would rather walk away from a high paying job that learn another OS. Never mind that having the Windows skillset and the networking skillset and the Linux skillset would have made him incredibly valuable to any company. This guy really was top notch and his fear got the best of him. Oh, and just to tell you how unusual this guy was in terms of gifts and blessings, prior to his career in IT he was a professional baseball player who briefly pitched in the major leagues. You'd think someone like that wouldn't be afraid of any challenge and could overcome any obstacle, wouldn't you? |
| gus3 May 11, 2012 11:05 PM EDT |
Quoting:he would rather walk away from a high paying job that learn another OS.Count me as someone who would rather walk away than learn That Other OS. A paycheck is nice to have. My sanity (what's left of it) is nicer to have. |
| gus3 May 11, 2012 11:11 PM EDT |
BernardSwiss wrote:a lot of them are actually customers, paying relatively large amounts for Windows software out of their own pockets.Right there is your big clue. People don't like having to admit they got ripped off. What's worse, there is no "satisfaction guarantee." Once they've opened the package, they're stuck with it. |
| caitlyn May 12, 2012 12:07 AM EDT |
@gus3: I still occasionally do Windows work as an accommodation to my *nix customers, usually dealing with interoperability issues. I also recognize that some of those customers need highly specialized apps that are only available for Windows so making everything play nicely together is essential. If used strictly as an application server and kept away from critical infrastructure Windows Server 2008 isn't that awful. It's certainly better than Microsoft's previous offerings. I'll also point out that I had a Windows NT skillset before I started working professionally with *nix (HP-UX at the time) in 1995. |
| Khamul May 12, 2012 1:07 AM EDT |
@Bernard: I don't know what the psychological classification for it is, but people will mentally go to great lengths to justify their past decisions, so that they don't have to admit to themselves that they made a poor decision and because they want to think that they made a very smart decision. So someone paying a lot of money for something (perhaps too much) will come up with all kinds of justifications for that decision, even if it means bashing the alternatives. @caitlyn: I hate to defend a Windows fan, but I have two points here: one is exactly what gus3 said: I'll happily walk away from a job if staying means having to become a Windows expert and not use Linux any more, because I'd rather have a job I enjoy for the most part rather than a job working with something I hate. 2 is that walking away from a job is frequently a good career move. I'm not sure about IT specifically, but I'm a software engineer, and staying at one company for too long is generally a poor career move, as you don't get any raises beyond inflationary adjustments, but new people getting hired in are given "market rate" which is continually rising. So I've found it's generally good to switch jobs every 3-4 years or so. Of course, you have to balance this with how much you like your job, as a slightly lesser-paying job that you really enjoy is better than a slightly better-paying job that irks you or has a bad commute or you don't get along with the coworkers as well, etc. But if your job has taken a turn for the worse, you've been there a reasonable amount of time (at least 1 year), and you're confident there's other jobs out there you can jump to fairly quickly, then it's stupid to stick around. Finally, there's the issue of being a generalist vs. being a specialist. If your job is developing Windows software in an all Microsoft environment, you've built up a lot of domain knowledge about that which makes you valuable. If your company decides they're not doing that any more and want you to switch to something else, you're now back at square one, just like a kid out of college with zero experience. Sure, your prior experience may help you learn a different OS faster, but employers don't really think that way; they (esp. HR people) look at buzzwords on your resume and match those up to buzzwords on the job requisition. If doing Windows work is what you like to do, it just makes more sense to go to a company that does that. Personally, I do embedded Linux device driver work, mostly a lot of testing and debugging and porting. I've had recruiters try to interest me in jobs doing Windows device driver work, but why would I bother? My knowledge is all on Linux, and while the fundamentals may be mostly the same, the details are certainly not (the recruiters don't understand this, but the hiring managers probably do). And I have little trouble finding jobs in this line of work, so why would I waste my time learning the Windows side when I can instead increase my experience on the Linux side? I can come to a new job and start producing right away on Linux (and now Android, I've started working with that, but that isn't very different); if I tried to do Windows driver work, I'd be lost for a while, and it'd take me quite some time to learn all the ins and outs of the platform to get to where I am now on Linux. |
| mbaehrlxer May 12, 2012 1:33 AM EDT |
khamul: i think that's the stockholm syndrome ;-) greetings, eMBee. |
| Steven_Rosenber May 12, 2012 10:56 AM EDT |
But how was his knuckleball? |
| Fettoosh May 12, 2012 12:44 PM EDT |
Quoting:Thanks, Fettoosh, for your kind words in the comments section of the article @Caitlyn, I was just speaking the truth. It hurts some but does hurt others. :-) Edited: It hurts some but not others, I like this better. Sorry about the misspellings and I wanted to elaborate more but it was getting too long. |
| tracyanne May 12, 2012 6:57 PM EDT |
The Truth will set you free, but first it will P155 you off |
| Fettoosh May 12, 2012 7:10 PM EDT |
So true @TA. |
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