RE: Gartner Group: DO NOT USE IIS! -- MIDRANGE-L

Loyd,

The point is more on the server side rather than the desktop side. I fully
agree with everything you said about the desktop side, even linux people are
saying that Linux is not ready for mainstream desktops. But there are two
projects out there to do what Outlook does. I believe there is Cyrix
support. There are other CAD programs that run under a Unix environment (I
know AutoCAD is _VERY_ expensive). Office packages? StarOffice, OpenOffice,
and AplixWare, and don't forget about the Corel Office Suite. For everything
else, it can be tested under Wine. But, you don't have to convert all
workstations.

However, on the server side, most everything is can be done through Linux,
they even have the pretty GUI interfaces for all of the configuration files.
With the exception of what Exchange does for email, but then you can use
Domino on the 400 for that, at least I think that has everything needed.
Samba can perform as a Primary Domain Controller, or Secondary. It also does
Windows file sharing and user authentication. Databases? There are quite a
few of those.

There, an answer for every question! I am not arguing, just stating the
facts.

Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: Goodbar, Loyd (AFS-Water Valley) [mailto:LGoodbar@afs.bwauto.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2001 9:32 AM
To: 'midrange-l@midrange.com'
Subject: RE: Gartner Group: DO NOT USE IIS!


In all seriousness: Microsoft Office and Outlook (not Express).
Also, why buy/use another web server that is not point and click friendly
when Microsoft provides one for "free"?

[Devil's advocate]
I understand and share your concerns; however, our company are under a
strict corporate mandate to run Microsoft Products (TM). Virtually all of
the IT staff is trained on Microsoft. You do not get the strong
interoperability between products that admins and users are used to unless
you are running Microsoft Products. Introducing *NIX into the equation
brings learning curves, growing pains, and redesign of key infrastructure
that our corporate management is not willing to undertake. The only *NIX (I
think) systems we have run our DNS core and firewalling, and those support
personnel are outsourced, not in-house.

We do not get official corporate IT support for the AS/400s (a rare breed in
our corporation). I am a programmer, not a system administrator. However, we
(myself and two others) have enough resources and experience to be our own
system administrators. In the next few years we will be fighting to keep our
AS/400 to run JDE. (Corporate already has an enterprise license for running
JDE on NT.)

The predominant reasons I run Windows at work are 1) corporate mandate, 2)
Microsoft Office & Outlook, and 3) IBM Client Access. If I am to be fully
productive at work, I must have Office equivalents with full functionality.
Star Office does a decent job. However, we need better Powerpoint, Access,
and Project interoperability on other platforms. Somebody please show me an
equivalent to Outlook that provides Outlook's functionality (email, shared
calendaring, shared task lists, collaboration features). IBM should take the
initiative and develop a full-featured Client Access suite (emulator,
fully-featured file upload/download, printer emulation, and Ops Nav) for
*NIX, Mac, etc. Only when these things are accomplished can I even start
thinking about suggesting a move from Windows. My concerns here are the
other concerns raised whenever I mention Linux, etc. (Not to mention
Autocad, Catia, Mainsaver, Citrix, and numerous other packages we use on a
daily basis.)

Corporate management must change if we are to reduce the costs of these
viral/worm attacks, and get better control of our TCO and licensing issues
WRT Microsoft Products. However, until someone in the position sees the
light of other (non-MS) solutions and is agreeable to their implementation,
the current situation will not change.

Loyd