On Friday 08 April 2005 01:07 pm, Stephen Boddy wrote:
On Friday 08 April 2005 20:55, Brad Bourn wrote:
hmmm, ok, I see the distinction.
What about Novell desktop cost and release schedule?
I keep hearing on this list that Pro is for recreation/experimenting. (It is the only one I've ever used, server or desktop (Pro that is))
Well, my opinion would be:
SuSE x.x Std. == Windows XP Home (SuSE x.x Pro. | Novell Desktop Linux) == Windows XP Pro SuSE Linux Enterprise == Windows 2003 Server Not too sure about Data Center
Of course this is not comparing them on a feature basis, but more a target market basis.
Good thing you made that last clarification, because on the technical merit of the products involved your analysis is not correct. Windows Home is severely limited in the networking area and quite dangerous to install in any size network, as the sharing is essentially wide open. SuSE OTOH, installs securely even with the now defunct STD edition. Std edition simply lacked some server daemons, all of which could be installed via Yast from the ftp site. Pro offers everything SLE did except paid versions of some daemons. If you know what you are doing there is never a need for SLE unless you want the support and ease of configuring for large environments out of the box. Of course the same could be said for 2003 server. Its just more expensive with tighter more restrictive licensing, but offers no performance benefit over Windows 2000. WHICH BRINGS UP another point often missing in the cost comparison. How much does it cost to support the number of connections your organization requires? Windows is sold on a per-connection basis. Linux (any flavor) is not. -- _____________________________________ John Andersen