OSS in IT
What is OSS?
  Examples
  More examples
  Extreme
What is Linux?
  Distributions
  Support
  Free? How?
  Stable? Secure?
Commercial
Solutions
  Server
  Networking
  Desktop
  Emulation
Questions
  Jobs
Links
 Low cost, high reliability, high security solutions.

  • For server and networking solutions, Linux is ready now.
    • In most cases, not using Linux for networking and serving infrastructure simply means money which could have purchased additional desktops were wasted on server licenses.
    • Free OSS solutions are available to handle most modern networking and server issues.
    • High end commercial databases and application servers are available for Linux where free solutions are not yet ready for use.
    • Linux is more stable than either MS NT or MacOS.
    • Security is stronger and more robust.
    • Most ISPs use Linux or Unix for their systems. Many have NT machines solely for their clients who ask for it.

  • The Desktop. The final frontier.
    • Working upon the rock solid stability of Linux, user ease-of-use issues have been consuming considerable effort by OSS developers.
    • Depending on what the "application space" is, a Linux based desktop could be possible now, or might only be appropriate after about another 12 months of development.
    • Partial deployment of Linux and/or dual-booting allows for in-field experimentation without risk (and because it's all free, there's no cost beyond time.)

Copyright 1999 Chris Halsall and the Victoria Linux Users Group. Reuse permitted for OSS promotion.