On Feb 28, 2011 3:35 PM, "Dotan Cohen" <dotancohen@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 21:47, Jason Hsu <jhsu802701@jasonhsu.com> wrote:
> > Are there any rankings of the most popular Linux distros for the enterprise desktop? My guess is that the most popular enterprise desktop distros are Ubuntu, RedHat, and SUSE.
> >
> > What features/characteristics are needed for an enterprise desktop computer that aren't needed for a home desktop computer?
> >
> > Are there companies or organizations that use Linux Mint? Linux Mint is the distro I recommend to Windows users. Linux Mint has a Windows-like feel, and I find it more user-friendly than Ubuntu. Since Mint is based on Ubuntu, most of the help out there for Ubuntu also applies for Mint.
> >
> > For those of you who have helped a company or organization migrate from Windows to Linux or from one Linux distro to another, what is your preference?
> >
>
> This is easy: RHEL or it's twin CentOS. It is widely deployed on
> servers, probably on par with or more than Debian in my anecdotal
> dealings. It is also often found as a enterprise desktop OS, the only
> one that really competes with Suse. Other than RHEL/CentOS and Suse,
> you won't find anything on an enterprise desktop. I'm donning the
> fireproof undies now... Gentlemen: flame me with your Debian
> enterprise desktop experience please!
>
I can say that unless I *know* that I will be available to support the system for the full life span of the current hardware (I generally estimate at 4yr from new to trash) I recommend centos. The thing with cent is that redhat will immediately support it as long as the version isn't eol as soon as you buy maintenance for it.
While ubuntu, Oracle, IBM, Novell and others might have *nix support, it is either pricey, shitty, or untested by me. Besides redhat has an office in Va, a mile from me if I ever have serious issues. I seriously doubt they take walk ins, all the same - I know where they live. :)
So, even though I think I smell dog shit on the bottom of my shoes every time I type rpm or yum, I will still recommend them for corporate use just because I know support will be there if I'm not.
Ps - as much as I dislike redhat, sles takes the cake for the worst corporate *nix imo.