Why not Linux? (WinXP + MS Office Pro cost P28,700)

**roninblade** · January 8th, 2007 11:51 PM

I will be de-commissiong a project this March e I need a lightweight Linux with GUI and usable programs that will run on Pentium II based computers with 64Mb memory... kaya kaya patakbuhin ang Fedora Core 6 at Ubuntu 6.10 or Novell Linux 10??? o dapat hanap ako ng XFree86 na distro?

if you have that much [lack of] memory i would recommend not running X at all.

you can also check out vectorlinux. or Damn Small Linux, can run light enough on a 486 with 16Mb RAM. yun nga lang Fluxbox ang default desktop environment.

**froshie1** · January 9th, 2007 04:59 AM

My reply re: why not linux?

It's not automatic to say P28k vs FREE software equals cheap. Maybe for some yes, but if you're managing gazillions of machines numbering to 20+K, using "Free" open source software is not always the right solution.

**mikmik316** · January 10th, 2007 01:35 AM

Originally Posted by froshie1

My reply re: why not linux?

It's not automatic to say P28k vs FREE software equals cheap. Maybe for some yes, but if you're managing gazillions of machines numbering to 20+K, using "Free" open source software is not always the right solution.

Pero sir if you are managing gazillions you should be using a Linux Server right? And I read some days ago that Linux Server Administration is getting more & more market share... This really makes sense since when buying Windows Servers you have to pay for the Server Software + Client Access Licenses... A lot of money wasted in using bloated software..... I heard using the LAMP combination (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and Perl/PHP) will lower you IT costs... yun nga lang hanap ka ng expert... ganun din naman sa Windows hahanap ka din naman ng experts to administer your server...

**froshie1** · January 11th, 2007 06:52 AM

Originally Posted by mikmik316

Pero sir if you are managing gazillions you should be using a Linux Server right? And I read some days ago that Linux Server Administration is getting more & more market share... This really makes sense since when buying Windows Servers you have to pay for the Server Software + Client Access Licenses... A lot of money wasted in using bloated software..... I heard using the LAMP combination (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and Perl/PHP) will lower you IT costs... yun nga lang hanap ka ng expert... ganun din naman sa Windows hahanap ka din naman ng experts to administer your server...

pre hindi automatic na nakakatipid ka whether you're using Open Source or Closed Source. The key here is to know which technology suits the direction of your business/company.

Sa company na pinapasukan ko, pag deploy namin ng apps rapido. Hindi pwede iyong mabagal kasi kung mabagal mawawala kami sa negosyo. Some applications naka opensource pero hindi pwede ilahat dahil hindi tugma sa business model namin.

Sa case ng open source or maski closed source hindi lang naman lisensya ang pinaguuspan natin dito. Sa open source nakalibre ka nga pero pag may sira or problema excellent ba ang after support na mabibigay ng isang open source (hindi ko nilalahat, ibig ko lang sabihin dito dapat itake into consideration ang mga bagay na iyon)? Naconsider po ba natin iyong oras na pagbuibuild from scratch? Oras pagbuibuild pag nasira?

**mikmik316** · January 11th, 2007 05:54 PM

that's why what we have to prevent is the company being tied up to a vendor... dami proprietary systems that do not adhere to standards kaya you cannot easily migrate... because of this proprietary nature of some software we create another layer of "analyst" positions in the job market just trying to understand and combine what the business needs & what the technology can provide...

what's good with Open Source is definitely they would want to adhere to standards... thats also the reason why Microsoft phased out Frontpage to come out with Expression Web and a variant of Sharepoint to adhere to standards...

Anyway kung jackpot ang company na makakuha ng magaling na IT personnel... kahit Windows yan or Linux they will maximize company resources... problema sa I.T. people ngayon... they are influenced more on purchasing some items to "play around" with the features rather than delivering profit from a TCO perspective...

Kaya as a business owner... why waste so much money on software? we are suckers for something free...

**Jun aka Pekto** · January 11th, 2007 09:49 PM

Originally Posted by mikmik316

Kaya as a business owner... why waste so much money on software? we are suckers for something free...

When it comes to business, support is key. Businesses don't care about open-source or standards. All they care about is the business running smoothly. Whatever standards the business use, proprietary or otherwise, their customers will follow suit.

Warranties and support matters more. And there's simply no way individual IT guys can provide support the way commercial companies can.

We have Dell servers running Redhat at the back and we've collaborated with other servers elsewhere running (Dell servers) Win 2003. None of us really see a huge advantage with either OS. But, we love the customer support. Dell actually sends a technician to help us out with certain problems.

**mikmik316** · January 12th, 2007 02:02 AM

that's why in my previous post... get a Linux admin... or get an outsourced Linux admin which is equivalent to the support person from your hardware vendor... and that's the reason why you pay a measly amount for Linux Servers to get proper software support via updates, documentation, and access to KBs....

**froshie1** · January 12th, 2007 02:52 AM

Originally Posted by mikmik316

that's why in my previous post... get a Linux admin... or get an outsourced Linux admin which is equivalent to the support person from your hardware vendor... and that's the reason why you pay a measly amount for Linux Servers to get proper software support via updates, documentation, and access to KBs....

some questions:
1.) What happens if your admin leaves you?
a. Do you feel secure if up to 15 days you haven't hired a competent staff?
b. What if the open source app went down and your admin is not yet around, what will you tell your investors? (if applicable)
c. Don't you see attrition as loss of money?
2.) Can your business survive with a support that comes with newsgroups, email, and forums?
3.) What happens if your open source app gets abandoned? Can your application grow with the demands of your biz?

Now if you're still comfortable answering those questions that yeah my biz will still be ok. Then open source is for you.

Ang hindi lang ako agree is to say automatic that Open Source saves you money. Again it depends on your organization. Hindi lang cost ng software ang kinoconsider dito.

**roninblade** · January 12th, 2007 10:02 AM

i agree with froshie and JAP, it depends on the organization on what type of solution they really need. opensource doesn't necessarily mean you save money automatically.