[AUUG-Talk]: Proprietary Unixes (Dead?)

[Andrew McRae]

On Thu, 2007-10-04 at 12:21 +1000, Gary R. Schmidt wrote:
> Enno Davids wrote:
...
> > So proprietary UNIX dead? Not even close.
> Damn right.  The Linux stuff is fine for the beyond-the-bleeding-edge 
> stuff, where the prospect of down-time is offset by speed and cost (APAC 
> supercomputer, frex), and for tightly controlled stuff (how many NAS 
> heads are running a Linux variant, or mobile 'phone, or embedded thingie...)
> 
> But...
> 
> When it comes to *reliability*, long-term, 24x7, five-9's and all that 
> crud, you go to the high-end *hardware*, and then, after you've spent 
> the money, say, "I'll run so-and-so's Linux distro," and the hardware 
> supplier says, "That's nice, but we can't support you at five-9's for 
> that, you're on your own," you'll quickly swing back to the proprietary 
> OS.  And if you don't, the board will shortly have your head.

Well, hmmm, there are certain organisations out there that
have shown you get much better price/performance at real scale
when you avoid the expensive stuff and use a layer of software
over inherently unreliable hardware. The price you pay
for the 5 9's hardware is fine when you want 5 or 10 servers,
but starts to become expensive as you increase the orders
of magnitude.
Cheers,
AMc