Beware the Experts

A few recent stories from experts in the field or journalists have raised my ire more than a bit. Seemingly well intentioned, to inform and educate the reader, criticized where more research (or common sense) would have served better.

The Square Peg in the Round Hole

The first set of stories began with the idea of shoehorning an enterprise Linux distribution (i.e. workstation/server class) into a netbook computer . I read the first headline of this misadventure and was baffled by the idea and just couldn't understand the logic.  Netbooks are not tiny notebooks, but a whole different class of machine. This grand experiment evolved into a tirade against CentOS in general. As a CentOS user, this again made no sense, in that one who uses CentOS is aware that updates are generated from sources of upstream vendor and small delays have historically occurred. The delay of CentOS 5.3 had me considering moving to another distribution, and I still haven't made a final decision. Yet, I have always been in complete knowledge of the derivative nature of CentOS and the pluses and minuses of a distribution that is dependent of another.

Ms. Martin later brought up valid points how security delays could effect an organization. However, her article was poisoned by using a Firefox update as an example of an important update that was delayed. This poor example, unfortunately, led the discussion away from a constructive dialog. The combination of poor distribution choice and poor examples diluted the conversation and the noise soon overcame the signal.  Plus, recommending another derived distribution (that admittedly the author hasn't had much experience with) that is seemingly on safe ground as it is supported by public funds.  It's nice to know that no government or university funded project is ever eliminated.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Another, no doubt, well intentioned article attempts to revive the tired story of non-standard Linux. Calling for an “official” Linux distribution to be the standard to which all others are derived. It would be interesting to find out which distribution the author deems authoritative to all others.

Let's twist this slightly though and use another operating system as an example. Oh, just off the top of my head, let us change the operating system to Windows and re-tell this tale.

In my day job I support both Linux and Windows and routinely take courses or read on “upgrading skills” to the latest version (read distribution) of Windows. Is this an attempt to compare to the “standard” of Windows, where no such standard exists?  What operating system is identical in use and management for all platforms and between major version numbers? Where is this ideal that Linux is compared to and denigrated by?

Let's Learn a New Word

The final article that pushed me to speak out was the mis-guided journey to use an install media as a working desktop. Yes, the Ubuntu Desktop distribution CD can be used to try before you commit. I have never seen any documentation or claim to indicate this media, although can be made to be bootable via USB stick, be used as a portable Linux. There are distributions designed to be used on USB media with the ability to save updates and add-on software. The new word we are learning today is, persistence. A little research would have led one to learn about persistence and the ability to customize, update and save a USB bootable Linux distribution.

Then why would one need the ability to boot an install media off a USB stick?  Getting back to netbooks, my netbook, like many others do not have a CDROM.  So making a USB bootable install media is much simpler than finding or buying a USB CDROM.

The Distro Landscape

The Linux kernel and GNU utilities make a fantastic base to several distributions which serve many different purposes, desktops, servers, appliances, netbooks, firewalls, and several specialized tools for dedicated roles such as recovery, backup and diagnostics to name only a very few. Choosing the right tool for the right job may seem intimidating, yet a little research, experimentation and experience (or the experience of others) will often lead to the correct choice.  Using the wrong tool for the job and then boviating about it helps no one and in the end may just show ignorance.