RE: [OS:N:] OSN - what are the best desktop systems foreducational use?

[Chris Spencer <cspencer cait org>]

On Wed, 2003-11-05 at 16:24, Brian E. Adams wrote:
> The security point is almost moot.  Sure MS is the biggest target right now,
> but what if you get your Linux dreams and these pukes have nothing better to
> do than to attack Linux.  
> 
> Open Source does not, in and of itself, mean more secure.  Sure, there may
> be more *opportunity* for someone to discover a bug from a source code
> review, but from the Linux users I've worked with (and I see plenty in the
> enterprise space), they are not looking at source code.  They just install,
> deploy and pray...  If it doesn't work, they use their *paid support* to get
> answers and fixes.  That's where the cost difference just doesn't make
> sense.  The two platforms are almost equal when you figure TCO in large
> orgs.  Where Linux seems to be winning is in small orgs with little IT
> budget.  

It's true that open source does not mean more secure, but, if you ask
security experts if an open or closed system is more secure invariably
the answer is that an open source system is more secure because of the
ability for all experts to review it.

As for the total cost of ownership I have seen many examples of
companies switching to open source and saving money over what they had
previously.  Moreover the number of servers a *nix administrator can
administrate is *always* higher than the number of that could be run by
a Windows admin.  Add to that the fact that more services can exist
peacefully under an *nix box than on a windows box and you find that a
single full time support person can do a lot more.

> Ask some folks running Linux why they moved to Linux and almost every time
> it comes down to OOB cost.

OOB cost is a motivating factor but I will predict in the future people
will migrate because Linux offers better all around personal support.

-Chris

"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty
when the Government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are
naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded
rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment
by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." - Supreme Court
Justice Louis Brandeis, Olmstead v. U.S. (1928)