It would be easy to fall into the trap of the recent flame bait on the
"debate over Linux and Solaris" issue, especially given that a NOAAPort
competitor of ours espouses that Linux is slower than Solaris, unreliable,
buggy - then points out the company I work for has a Linux based NOAAPort
receive system.
Planetary Data is a *nix shop. We not only build and support Linux systems,
but we also are certified by the respective vendors for HP-UX, SUN Solaris,
and SGI IRIX, to provide system support. In fact, my resume has more SUN
Solaris certification entries than any other *nix combined - and includes the
high-end SUN High Availability Cluster software and Veritas file system
managment. I just finished a job with one of the largest aeronautics
contractors in the US - supporting a range of SUN/Intel hardware with SUN
operating systems from the lowliest, antique SUN LX (even an ELC or two, for
those that remember the monitor/computer in one from SUN) to the high-end
Sparc servers; running everything from Sun OS 4.4.1 to Solaris 7 and
specialty software like the before mentioned HA Cluster software.
The point being - we know and support Solaris.
I could counter Dan Vietor email on this issue point for point, with
references, and create an entertaining read for those that like to see two
commercial entities flame it out on a mail list sponsored on an *.edu.
Unfortunately, Dan lumps all Linux distributions together, when the fact
remains that Linux distributions differ as much as Sun OS/Solaris and, say,
AIX or the now dead Ultrix.
The bottom line - we went with a Linux distribution for our NOAAPort products
because a stable Linux distribution is more reliable, configurable, and
easier to maintain than Solaris - and faster.
If you need proof - just ask our customers.
--
Stonie R. Cooper,
Science Officer
Planetary Data, Incorporated
3495 Liberty Road
Villa Rica, Georgia 30180
ph. (770) 456-0700; pg. (888) 974-5017; fx. (770) 459-0016
