[CentOS] Headline - Linux misses Windows of opportunity

Thu Sep 29 21:54:44 UTC 2005
Leonard Isham <leonard.isham at gmail.com>

On 9/29/05, Les Mikesell <lesmikesell at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 2005-09-29 at 15:02, Mike McCarty wrote:
> > >
> > > Problems happen all the time. Why is this one newsworthy?  If someone
> > > made such a big deal out of every Windows BSOD there wouldn't be room
> > > to publish anything else?  The problem could almost certainly have been
> > > fixed as well by replacing the problematic hardware (even if the problem
> > > is in the Linux driver it will be fixed by using something different).
> > > Would it still be a big news item: "PC crashes,owner buys replacement!"?
> >
> > The point is fourfold:
> >
> >       (1) RHEL is PAID TO CARE
>
> Some PC's crash.  I'm sure everyone at RHEL feels bad about that.
> Others run for years running the same software.
>
> >       (2) MS software ran, and RHEL did not, so
>
> MS has some cozy arrangements with hardware vendors and may very
> well include code to work around specific bugs in specific hardware
> that is not disclosed to the public.  In fact I'd pretty much bet
> on it.  Is it the hardware vendor's fault or RHEL's that the
> same workarounds haven't been disclosed in open source drivers?  Or
> is it the customer's fault for not picking more dependable hardware?
>

I can tell you from experience that IBM is changing the components it
ships in their servers without changing the model number.  In other
words each and every shipment is different despite ordering the same
equipment and having the same model number on the units.  This has
caused multiple problems with Linux distros.

I can't recommend IBM servers based on this.

--
Leonard Isham, CISSP
Ostendo non ostento.