Originally posted by: drokk
I wondered how long it would be before a *nix guy would chime in. Unix is way more expensive than windows my friend. If you talking about linux, then free yes..... rule the server world...NO! Apples and Oranges : )
First, did you pay for your copy of Server 2003? How much was that?
I know you're talking about manpower to run *nix being more expensive. I can't argue with that. Do you know *why* they are more expensive? Because 1 *nix admin can usually fill the shoes of 3-5 windows admins. The best career move would be to have knowledge of both. Limiting yourself to one or the other is a silly thing to do.
Originally posted by: drokk
Believe me, there is alot of work in the Windows world. Windows 2003 Server will steal even more market share from Unix as time goes by. It is a great product! With that said, I do run linux and it is a neat toy! It works great and fun to play with, but I would not put it in a production environment, and neither will most IT CIO's and Directors no matter how many of our subordinates are running it in thier bedrooms telling us it is going to change the world!
How bout
the CEO of the company choosing *nix after Microsoft bullied his company (their own customer!) This guy made a company-wide switch, and guess what? It costs less. Note that this is a
real person running a
real company and not some "privately-funded study" that comes out whichever way the backing party prefers.
You'd put windows in a production environment? Do the letters RPC mean anything to you? Do you work in IT and have dealt with that mess? I have, and let me tell you, it's quite upsetting. Have you not heard that Microsoft's security problems are actually effecting their bottom line now? That's an "uh oh." If anyone says "oh you just need to keep up with the patches" I'm gonna scream.

Saying that just tells us one thing: you don't work in IT and don't fully grasp the problem.
Like I said, learning server 2003 is good
also, but if you think that it's taking business from the unix side, you need to look at some non-microsoft reports and quit deluding yourself.
The university I work for with 40,000 clients runs mostly *nix on the backend. I guess 40,000 clients isn't enough? So does our sister university. I would guess most do. How 'bout NASA, how bout IBM, etc. The Department of Homeland Security (as silly as I think it is, you do have to agree it's high-profile) runs linux by choice! How can you argue with that? The "bedroom" argument is stale and weak. That's been weak for a while now, so it's time to get a new one.
Basically the story as of now is windows owns the desktop (and I'm running XP right now), and *nix runs the server. Please note that I'm not bashing windows... hey, I use it myself! I'm just saying that many places already (or have always) ran *nix in the server room and now more and more places are dropping Microsoft because of the upgrade treadmill. Our whole state university SYSTEM decided not to renew our enterprise contract with MS, because the pricing has gotten ridiculous since "Software Assurance."
I promise not to post in this thread anymore.

I am trying to say "get out there and learn how to run a *nix server, cuz the demand is only growing!" Don't wait until it's late and then have to learn it anyway.