On 8/30/2011 4:04 PM, kuLa wrote:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 30/08/11 20:54, Stan Hoeppner wrote:I would make an educated guess that entities exercising system level change control policies probably aren't using Debian, but using a commercial distro such as Red Hat or SuSE.well guess again Stan :-) But I assume I'm working for exceptional company.
That's great, really, to see a commercial entity using Debian. I don't know if that's exceptional in the UK, but it's rare in the US. It's rare to find a commercial entity in the US running anything but Red Hat or SuSE, and usually it's only commercial entities doing OS package/file level change control. The reasons for this have nothing to do with technology, but legal liability/indemnification, skill set continuity, etc.
Anyone recall reading a fairly recent article/interview by a Red Hat exec WRT Red Hat spending millions each year providing blanket Linux kernel and user land app patent infringement liability coverage to all of its customers, stating it is simply cheaper to settle most of the claims than fight them? Due to the SCO fiasco and other cases, many/most commercial entities avoid any distro that can't/won't indemnify them from potential lawsuits.
If a company were to build its infrastructure with Debian, and its 3 man Debian strong IT staff were to all move to another company (this happens frequently as technical heads often prefer to take their team with them when they make a move), it will be more difficult to acquire 3 new Debian people than to hire 3 Red Hat/SuSE people, simply because there are far more of the latter in the talent pool. Granted, a Linux guy should be able to work efficiently with any distro given a little bit of time, but HR types are usually non technical, and don't know this. And since the technical manager is gone, the HR guy has no one to advise him. In his mind he "needs" 3 Debian guys so that's what he'd look for instead of 3 "Linux" guys.
There are dozens more reasons why Red Hat/SuSE are entrenched in US business, I've merely hit on a couple of the 'larger' reasons here.
-- Stan