hi all,
A few of us have got together and run a management consultancy firm. last year i had
attended Stallman's talk in IIT and based on that and other stuff we read, we were all
gung-ho and went for linux installation in our office network around june this year. Our
Networking requirements were simple: 5 computers in a client server config. Since a peer
to peer with windows 98 was already in place. estimate of time was one week.
then on its been a nightmare, involving firing one vendor, etc. the current vendor has
worked hard, getting all his friends, colleagues, associates etc. to get help - to no
avail. the network is still not up and running fully (currently for instance, internal
mails are going via the internet and we are dreading an attempt by anyone to set this
right becoz it is bound to upset something else thats working fine just now)
a.. at least 10-12 vendors have had a go at trying to set the network right. sometimes
the problem is samba, sometimes squid, sometimes something else. no single vendor has been
able to fix all. each has fixed a small portion, in the process undoing some of what has
been done right earlier.
b.. Red Hat not only charges a bomb for everything but has also played truant. they are
not even available for promised help sessions (have tried with their mumbai and pune
offices)
c.. On the Harware front too our story was pretty bad. Sun started off by saying their
servers are meant only for large corporations and not small offices. however, we found
some more helpful people there - who have offered us the cobalt qube server (costing 45k)
as a Stand-alone non usable server - hardly a great option. given it poor config its a
bad option.
d.. For Broadband connectivity, dishnet dsl is constantly telling me that linux will
mean that i will have to install a router for broadband instead of a modem, again
increasing costs, reducing help if required at any time, etc.
Just wanted you people to know some of the ground realities. I started off as a very
enthusiastic supporter of Linux, already selling it orally to a lot of people i know. Even
did visioning with the vendor initially, to get him to specialise in linux, and offered to
help him get clients.
However, I now need convincing myself that Linux is all that simple as is made out (talk
of seminars where the most uneducated person in computers could install linux, etc. is now
sounding incredible to me).
Would be happy to meet anyone who is interested in helping us in the above. Since this
forum comprises die-hard linux fans, i thought if no help is available here, probably
linux is a bad idea.
ok then, lets see if we can