For the moment, I have concluded my experiment with Linux, Installing it on two different servers on two different networks. One thing has become absolutely clear- all reports of Linux being difficult to install are a few dog years behind in their accuracy. The computer world changes rapidly- and Linux doubly so. Red Hat Linux was about as difficult to install as OS8, I kid you not. Insert the floppy, answer a few questions, check what software and services you want- and voila! You've created a Linux server. I know there are horror stories about hardware not recognizing and such- and I'm sure its all true. The flip side is that hardware support is robust enough to work consistently with mainstream components, and so long as you stick to fairly new hardware you should have no trouble at all.

What do we do now?

Unfortunately, Linux still has a long way to go to rival NT in ease of administration. One can spend endless hours just perusing MAN pages (the de facto built in documentation and help system) discussing proper syntax of commands just to do very basic things. On one server, for example, I spent a whole day just figuring out how to mount a FAT32 (the enhanced File Access table used by Win95/98, similar in concept to HFS+) volume, and I ended up having to manually tweak text configuration files before I got it to work. Thankfully, there is much effort to create more GUI driven applets to make such chores easier. For the moment, however, these are too immature and don't work very well. Linux proponents often cite the wealth of information available about Linux and the ease of which information can be obtained, and I can confirm this- Information can always be found, but you need to look for EVERYTHING. Setting up user Ids, shares, print queues- nothing is 'intuitive'.

To be fair, I wasn't disappointed with what I got versus what I expected. Linux is every bit as powerful and stable as advertised- The only time the server goes down is when I bring it down. The command line is so powerful that I could barely even describe it- for example, you can nest commands by piping the results of one to another command! Talk about automation and batch processing possibilities! What did become clear is that there is HEFTY amount of research, memorization, and PRACTICE required for a new Linux administrator, particularly to do setup and maintenance. Even journeyman and advanced administrators spend much of their time studying and learning about this always changing environment, which luckily is afforded to them by the awesome stability of the platform. The lesson I learned there is that I can't find a better overall server solution for mid size-large workgroups than Linux.

Notice that I didn't include small workgroup in this recommendation. Given the heavy investment an organization needs to put in time and training an SA for linux (or the money to hire one) It doesn't make too much sense in the small (<25 workstations) environment. NT is easier to master, and doesn't introduce a significant cost in licensing at that scope. Also, NT is quite stable at low load conditions, lessening the stability disparity with Linux.

The last logical question that some of you are wondering about at this point is Linux's viability as a standalone/client station. I'm sorry to report that Linux is not a viable client solution AT THIS TIME. Linux behaves well on a network and has a solid base of good (if not mainstream) user applications, but the training overhead coupled with the yet unpolished and awkward GUI makes it completely uncompetitive with MacOS or Windows based clients.

As I said before, the Linux landscape is growing and improving at an unbelievable pace. All the UI shortcomings of Linux are rapidly being addressed- my first exposure to Linux was about a year ago, and all I can say is when I installed Red Hat 5.1 it bore almost no resemblance to what I remembered. Given this rather unscientific measurement of progress, I venture to say that Linux UI could become a useful end user platform within 18 months.

Watch out, Mac and Windows users. The carpet is about to be pulled from undeneath you.

I welcome all questions and comments at akoyshman@jps.net or designamics@jps.net