Windows is more stable than Linux
Hee hee hee… Ho ho ho… Ha ha ha…
I can’t type too well with all this laughing. I’m sorry. You need to give me a moment or two…
Isn’t it just wonderful, when something like that pops out of nowhere and sets you off into peals of laughter? I’m calm now. Just a huge smile on my face as I think of how to put this down.
ZDNet Australia is carrying a story with the above title, about how server manufacturer Stratus Technologies believes that Windows is going to become the server operating system of choice. Yeah, you read that right. Server operating system of choice! :)
Now before I offend the Microsoft fans out there, let me explain. I honestly mean no offence.
I’m a technologist. It just so happens that personally I use Linux. A lot. So does my organization. Our Linux based servers help us perform a lot of communication magic (predominantly email related), for our clients.
I have also had the opportunity to come across and use Windows based machines. They are cool. On the desktop. As a server platform, *I* haven’t felt confident enough to do deploy real-life services on them. But that may not be your experience. The claims in the above mentioned article may be true: “…the next generation of Windows is getting better every month.” I sincerely hope so.
What I know for a fact is that Linux is a perfectly good server platform for me *this* month. As it has been for me for the past six years or so. In real life. Playing a very real role in the revenues of my organization. And… Linux too is getting better.
In fact I have yet to see a Windows server outperform a Linux server built on identical hardware. Oops. Its easy to get carried away by the “Linux is better than Windows” argument. But that was not why I started this post in the first place.
You know, I was an invited speaker at the first Linux conference in India, back in 1999 or so, and since then have spoken at several other Linux oriented conferences. And I’ve always been amused by the response of the audience when I said that Microsoft Windows is not a bad platform. Most folks are so taken aback by such a statement at a Linux conference, that there is perceptible h..u..s..h - until the cacophony of non-agreement! :)
Come on folks, lets not be childish. The point I’m trying to make is that even though I usually favor Linux, by a huge margin, first and foremost I’m a technologist. And a good technologist uses technology as a means to the end. One has to pick the tool most appropriate for the job.
Having said that, till the forseable future, my servers will continue to be “Powered by Linux”.
As is my desktop :)