On Tue, 29 Sep 1998, Marinier, M. Claude, G. wrote:

>
>This is probably a common problem. Holefully is has a common answer.
>
>I am building a network server (DNS, DHCP, ...) from a big PC and NetBSD
>1.3.2. At some point I will have to justify this decision. Three questions
>will arise 1) Why did you not use one of the SPARC systems? 2) Why did you
>not use Solaris 2.6? 3) Why did you not use Linux?

	1. Sparcs cost a lot. My PPro200 can kill SS5 in most cases.
	2. Would you get 2.6 with source? With free support?
	3. Linux is not a server OS. It is more of a desktop OS from what
	I been able to observe lately.

>
>Being a government agency means that we have tight budget constraints,
>i.e. we are not likely to purchase any new SPARC systems. The SPARC
>systems we have are old. I can blow the doors off those old systems with
>the PC (Intel Pentium II, 233 MHz, 128 MB RAM) and it is a proper server
>box. So the answer to the first question is that this gives us cheap
>reliable performance.
>
>The second question is harder to answer. Solaris is a standard commercial
>operating system. It has an air of respectability and it is supported
>commercially. How do I answer that? Is there a standard "Why you should
>use a free OS" paper out there?

	Yes. Check out
http://sagan.earthspace.net/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/
	Also tell them that a lot of places use free OS just fine. They
include Yahoo (who use close relative of NetBSD, FreeBSD), many ISPs, etc.
	Also tell them to take a look at the number of security related
patches Solaris put out recently vs. NetBSD.

>
>The third question is tricky. Most people have heard of Linux; it has
>earned some respect and is supported commercially. Some people have heard
>of FreeBSD but few have heard of NetBSD. I think that NetBSD is solid and
>very well supported. How can I convince management?

	I heard someone say "Linux is taking over Win95" - that scares me.
I don't want Linux (or any other unix for that matter) to become
Windows95. Tell you management that Linux is more of a desktop OS and it
is more of an OS for someone who is new to unix.

>
>I would prefer to show management an article in the trade press or some
>account of personal experience and success with NetBSD.
>
	
	Hmm.. don't know of any. But do this. If they do force you to use
Solaris or Linux - tell them you want to get paid over time if systems
will have problems. Might do the trick.

-- Yan