GS wrote:
> Dr. Balwinder,
>
> Appreciated for your response, You mentioned many severs installation
> and setup, If I take any one of the Distribution for example RH, all
> those servers are part of the package, Or do I have to separately
> download and install it. I believe all those are part of the package. I
> tried to install the RH, it gave me soma options like 1) Server 2)
> Desktop 3) Workstation 4) customized, if I select Server for Server, it
> should install all the server packages, similarly for client machines,
> If I select client, then it should install the necessary client
> packages, mainly I have to setup based on whether it is for client or
> server, I am reading Linux is very popular on Servers side only, but on
> client side still many corporate offices are using Windows desktops I
> believe. Please correct me if I am wrong here.
>
> Thanks again,GS.
>
Well, you are right, but there is some movement back to terminals on the
desktop - not old green screen terminals, but GUI based RDP, X or
whatever. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, see
http://aplawrence.com/Unixart/winterminalserver.html
The advantages to business are return of more control to the MIS
department, easier deployment of upgrades, less concern about viruses,
spyware, etc (or at least less kittens to chase). These terminals can
also be less expensive, more reliable, and easier to "repair" (just
replace it). Many of these, particularly at the low end of the market,
run Linux as the underlying OS.
So, yes, right now Windows desktops are the most common circumstance,
but MIS departments expend tremendous energy and money because of that,
so the tide may be shifting. The ability to do this has been available
for quite a few years (I was doing Citrix stuff longer ago than I care
to remember, and X terminals before that), but it's much more palatable
then it was a decade ago. That's partially because the technology has
gotten better, particularly for remote office use, partially because
Windows apps now play much better in a multiuser environment than they
did previously, but I think mostly it is driven by the frustration with
viri, spyware and the many inscrutable and time consuming glitches that
plague Windows desktops.
The beautiful thing about it from a Redmond hater's point of view is
that the client/server model makes it much easier for an app vendor to
return to or switch to Unix/Linux and much more likely that they will
contemplate doing so. We may yet see the day when people say "Gawd..
remember when we had all that awful Microsoft crap in here?"
--
Tony Lawrence
Unix/Linux/Mac OS X resources:
http://aplawrence.com
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