Peter Nixon wrote:
You COULD do this, but I wouldn't recommend it. I don't know how large the 100,000 I think
company is that you are working for, but there are reasons behind company rules. Not only could you end up looking stupid if you do something by I admit I have mixed feelings agout rules but I do understand them. I have seen the damage coworkers do when they "think" they know what they are doing.
stealth you would most definately NOT be in my good books. I probably wouldn't get fired but your comment might apply
the job. Whether you (or I) think they are the appropriate tools has no bearing on the matter unless you are prepared to put the arguement to your Isn't that a contradiction? If I am to be provided with tools, of whatvalue are they if they don't help me or even hinder me in doing my job?
boss and have him sign off on a change of toolset. That is more-or-less what I am trying to do and this is why I am looking for help to provide a GOOD arguement.
You should convince your boss or your IT dept that linux is an alternative That is the really hard part.
If you are fairly new to linux, you would be better served by running it yourself at home for a few months anyway to make sure you really know what I would hardly consider myself on the same level as guys like Togan Muftuoglu but I have been tinkering since 1999 (SuSE 6.2). I have purchased several Linux programming books and have experimented a little with programming for Linux
I don't mean to flame you, but please look at it from the company point of I didn't feel the need for an asbestos suit :-)
view. When they provide the tools, they get to specify what they are. It Fortunately my group has been given a little more lattitude in that area. The problem is that my group is different that the majority of computer users in the corporation. I am in a small lab that does development and integration testing of Avionics equipment connected mostly by the MIL-STD-1553 bus. The primary (and almost sole) purpose of the computers here is to simulate 1553 devices or to communicate with other 1553 devices. The programs that run on these computers are written mostly by me using Borland C++. I would like very much to get away from the MS headaches we have to deal with over the years and I believe that Linux offers a good alternative.
On the positve side, I just finished talking with an engineer in another lab group within the company and found that they are using a lot of Linux. He just sent me several documents relating to this subject so it seems that the company is opening up to Linux at least to some extent. On the negative side, it seems that the company standard for Linux is Red Hat 7.2. Damon Register