Dan H. wrote:
I worked for a very large computer OEM MFG as a "High Complexity, Alt-OS Server support Analyst" (If it was one of our Servers, and you had *nix on it, you got me if you called for support.) We opened a mirrored site with the Linux support capability for redundancy. I moved from supporting Windows on servers to Linux. I could not get the management to see that, as a Linux support tech, we NEEDED to run Linux on our boxes (if for no other reason, we were immersed in the OS) or to have a 2nd box running Linux. They always came back with "you have vms you can access". Most of my team mates had never run Linux before (but we had extensive training before taking the first calls) and it would have been a huge benefit to have been running Linux with windows on a vm (if needed to mesh with the corp. environment). Again, they said use the Linux vms. I asked them how well the Windows techs could do their jobs if they were forced to run Linux and could only access Windows on a vm. Def ears. IT would not let us run Linux, it did not fit into the IT security model provided by IT. All internal apps were windows based and half would not work in Linux.Well, I guess the subject caught your attention after all. Of course I'm not saying goodbye to Debian, at least not voluntarily and certainly not at home. But I just changed jobs, and so moved from a self- administered Debian box to a locked-up, preinstalled all-M$ Dell thing. M$ Office, M$IE, Lotus Notes 6 (soon to be migrated to Outlook Express). I've never really used Windows before and thought of it as just another system -- I like Debian, you like Windows, no sweat. Boy, what a piece of crap. It boggles the mind. This is how the world's office workers get their work done? Or do they? I managed to install Opera in a directory owned by myself, but whenever I try to open any page it keeps asking me for usernames and passwords, which IE somehow seems to inherently know about. That thing doesn't even have tabs or a decent bookmark handler. That's the #1 browser in the world! WTF? Am I missing something here? OK, this rant really doesn't belong in this group, but I need some sympathy right now. Thanks for listening, --D.
All in all, very frustrating. The ONLY dis-satisfaction I had with that job. I had to support my OS of choice, but could not run it myself. I do not ever want to take a job where I am forced to run Windows again. Ever. I can not tell you how many times I had to leave the customer hanging because IE crashed, or my box had to reboot due to some Windows bug or memory leak that would not clear up. And the entire time we had an official Linux desktop, just IT policy said no.
I share your pain. -- Damon L. Chesser damon@damtek.com