[NTLUG:Discuss] Distros / Trusted OS options

[Mark Bickel]

> From discuss-admin at ntlug.org Tue Jun 12 17:08 CDT 2001
> X-Apparently-From: <sapremias at yahoo.com>
> From: "Frank Lewis Jr." <sapremias at yahoo.com>
> To: <discuss at ntlug.org>
> Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 17:09:40 -0500
> 
> For the record on the subject of distro of choice, I have to say that I
> really like Mandrake, but if RedHat would include support for ReiserFS
> in the install, I would switch my web servers back in a heartbeat.
>  
> I've tried Debian, Slack, SuSe, Caldera, Corel and Stampede, but I keep
> coming back to RedHat and Mandrake.
>  
> Anyone concerned with commercial viability is going to lean towards
> RedHat because it is a very well recognized name, and the only distro
> that can say that they have real certified engineers out in the field in
> commercial environments.    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I must disagree on both of your points.

Your first assertion seems to follow the "Nobody ever got fired for choosing
[Microsoft, IBM]" way of thinking about things. While this may be easier for
PHB:s to feel safe/comfortable about their choice of software, there is very
little in the way of logic or technical consideration to this way of thinking.

While Caldera also has a branded technical certification program, this again
would only carry weight with clueless PHB:s (which I grant you there are a lot
of to deal with in the business world). Certifications have there place, but 
they are only one way to try to measure competancy. Ask any IT manager about 
the wisdom of hiring an NT adminstrator based solely on having an MSCE ...

And then there is the question of why the RH cert would necessarily carry more
weight than the SAIR LCA cert. Personally I'd be a hell of a lot more impressed
by demonstratable competence and experience w/ other *nix - AIX, Solaris, etc. 

The GCC 2.96 issue alone would prevent me from ever recommending deployment of
the current RedHat 7.1 or Mandrake 8 distros on a _production_ environment.

YMMV,
Mark.Bickel at ericsson.com