JDPFu.com 2025

Options, or switches, to command line programs are case sensitive in Linux. They always have been. Filenames are case-sensitive too. Not knowing that is a noob mistake.  Improper expectations.

I don't expect my Linux admin skills to transfer to Windows – I know they do not. I learned that after typing

C:\>ifconfig

‘ifconfig’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,

operable program or batch file.

at a Windows prompt about 20 times. Improper expectations.

To the people who believe that software licenses are cheap compared to people time – I guess you've never purchased a US$25M piece of software from Telcordia for a business or seen a bill from Oracle for $400K?

Where I work now, we use F/LOSS whenever possible running on Linux. We have about 20 servers

• $0 in software licenses
• No CAL licenses
• No DBMS licenses
• No email server licenses
  Nadda.
  We aren't violating any licensed software agreements and don't need to call Microsoft to transfer a server license between machines. Sure, there are a few commercial software licenses – just a few – and those are easily managed on a single spreadsheet. I love MS-Visio and use it to create documents for our clients. We pay for that. We also use LibreOffice instead of MS-Office. With the ribbon introduction, some of us didn't want to bother learning MS-Office all over again. LibreOffice works for us. The PDF provided to our clients looks just as good all for $0. Expectations.

I suppose if you are used to running MS-SBS for businesses of 20 people, you'd think that software licenses are cheap – even if you are actually properly licensing the CALs.  I run Linux servers for a few clients. Our software costs are $ZERO and my administrative time to manage 20 servers for each client is about 15 minutes every week unless I'm doing a system update outside the package manager control. I actually look at the system logs. Patching 1 or 50 servers is about the same amount of effort for me.

When planning a major system update from MS-Exchange 200x to MS-Exchange 201y, wouldn't you spend at least a few hours planning and even perform a few test migrations?  If you aren't perfectly comfortable with the migration, wouldn't you hire an expert to help? The same applies to complex Linux installations and upgrades. Expectations.

When I read that other blog entry and saw that he was mixing package managers, I immediately thought noob. He shouldn't be allowed to have the
root or even sudo access on any Linux machine. Linux is DIY for small operations who can handle steep learning curves, but in real businesses, we hire professional Linux admins to manage systems.

He’s a Noob

If nothing else, the fact that he was running Gnome on a server screams NOOB to me. Claiming to have been a product management or teaching college level programming means nothing. I've written kernel code too. So what. That doesn't make me an expert in the entire kernel. I think he may have had skills 20 yrs ago, but now his skills are crufty. Out of practice. Why is he compiling anything? As a noob, he needs to stay within the walled-garden that is a distribution package manager. Expectations.

Don't Run Windows Servers

MS-Windows Servers are complex. I don't run them. They scare me. I know I don't have the appropriate skill to install, manage, or maintain them. Heck, I don't think I could even back one up without $1000s in commercial software. OTOH, I know Linux pretty well. I can rebuild a server in about 20 minutes. I can back it up, restore that backup to new raw-metal and have the entire thing working again in an hour. Expectations.

His last statement, “No way. You couldn’t pay me to run Linux on my raw iron. Never again” Good. Professional Linux admins don't want to clean up the crap that people like you leave behind._