Agreed that Group Policy is wonderful for simple administration of multiple windows machines. You can get something similar to work with Linux, for example using Puppet, but it does take some work to tune it nicely. Powershell is a god-send, and it's about time that Microsoft started to embrace command line administration, although it still needs some tweaking to be as convenient as a unix shell.

There are a few confusing things you mentioned, though.

- 140+ dependencies to install one app? I assume this was done automatically, instead of manually. If not, what the hell distribution were you using?! If so, then I consider this an advantage, because it is a fine-grained system of separate packages, instead of one monolith installer which includes bundled libraries that end up being cruft over time.
- Reboot a lot? I'm still wondering what distribution you're using. I've upgraded whole Debian versions without booting.
- Want to automate firewall configuration? There's an app for that. Again, this can vary with distribution.
- Getting things to start up and talk? More distribution based behaviour.
- Configuration scripts can certainly tolerate typos, depending on the service. With many services, if you do make a typo, that setting is ignored and a warning is printed with the line number. No need to search a whole 10kb file. Unix services are generally very good at telling you exactly where and what the issue is. I only wish Windows services were as simple.
- Spaces in filenames? Works fine, though you _must_ encase filename variables in double quotes when doing scripting work. It's something that people often forget. Case-insensitive user names? Yep, you're right. Unicode text? It's there. I can type UTF-8 at the prompt without issue. IPv6? In theory and practice. GUI config wizards? Yes, depending on your distribution. Text based config wizards? There are some, but agreed, not many. Configuration change without having to stop and start? Look up the HUP signal. An editor more user friendly than vi? They're there (pico for example). Beats me why you wouldn't learn an excellent text editor like vi anyway. It's like not learning to touch type when using the keyboard. I install vim on most windows servers I administer.
- Those "-e" command line options are just shortcuts. There's often a long version of the option which is more descriptive. There's a long history in Unix of using shortcut options. Apparently, it's more efficient.

Most of the issues you mention vary greatly depending on the Linux distribution you use. If you have to complain, do so about the distribution you're using. Don't label them under the all-encompassing name of "Linux".

No idea. I very rarely deal with access databases, and then, only to set up/check ODBC entries for them.

Time to rise, sleepy-head.

I use Libreoffice at work, regularly editing word and excel documents. You had me worried for a sec, thinking all my work over the last few years hadn't been saved properly. I checked, and thankfully, they're all good. Phew!

If only Broadcast Television was available as a City Improvement in the game Civilisation. Easiest way to turn unhappy citizens into content ones.

We are simultaneously rational and emotional beings. The vulgarity evokes our emotional side, and helps to emphasise an important rational point. It can be pretty effective, and obviously shouldn't be overused. Also, it helps if it's backed up with compliments when appropriate.

All OSS circles are not the same. If you fear being insulted, I'm sure you can find many projects without that behaviour. Give it a go, though. Take a few insults, and see if it makes you a more effective programmer. If you feel it's too much, you can say as much. Try and see if for what it is, though.

Tim is smart enough to know that he cannot run. The Internet is everywhere. We will track him down, lock him up in a small room, Misery-style, and make him write the game we want. Along with the whole Broken Age team, of course. Can't expect Tim to do the programming and artwork, even if we hack off a foot or two.

Anyway, point being, Tim isn't going anywhere. I'm perfectly confident the game will be made, and it will be Schafer-awesome.

Thanks for the clarification. Some good information there, but still not as coherent as I'd like.

Excellent points about the security policy. Other than Activesync also possible to use with open source software, I can't think of any equivalent ability for the other features you mention.

I'm confused as to why you think OSS doesn't have adequate vertical scaling. Add more RAM, you can run more simultaneous connections. Add more/faster disks, you can fetch mail more quickly. Add more CPU, and, well, it's just as responsive. Mail servers aren't cpu bound, unless you have a fairly underpowered cpu.

Gosh, the old 2GB file size limit on 32 bit systems. Haven't seen that for a decade. Probably not a good example to use.

I quite like Maildir. I don't deal with hundreds of billions of emails, though. Just manage a mail server that stores email for 400-500 domains, with around 50,000 mailboxes, and 4 or 5 million emails. A one server job, really. Maildir works very nicely. It doesn't have an indexing system per se, but service software can implement that. Dovecot and Cyrus do just that. Works just as fast as the Exchange system we have here, which handles email for around 90 employees, although the Exchange system does suffer from the occasional Outlook connection timeout when it gets heavy with disk IO. I blame the sales people and their email searches.

Backups from Maildir aren't too bad. I get up to 80GB/hour. After hours, of course. Via Rsync, to a remote backup server. I do have directory indexing turned on for the filesystem. Necessary when dealing with so many files.

Maildir restores are far from impossible. Just copy the relevant restored mail files to the correct directory. Oh, and if running Cyrus, reconstruct the mailbox. Easy and convenient. Beats the hell out of having to splice the restored email into an mbox file. Haven't done that for years.

I think what you mean to say is the default MDA (or LDA) agent for sendmail writes a flat file. It looks a bit strange when you claim sendmail also has MDA duties.

Unsure why you think a flat file cannot exceed 2GB. Of course, it's not optimal to have a mailbox file that big, but if you're running a mail system that deals with large mailboxes, you'd have switched to the Maildir format years ago. This also helps with mailboxes with a very large number of messages, or at least, it pushes the problem to the filesystem. You can then pick and choose a filesystem, and tune it for a large number of small files.

Also unsure why you list Dovecot and Cyrus as a mail/IMAP client. I think perhaps you mean IMAP server, but you also mention Pine, which is a client.

With a bit of effort, you can scale these services over as many servers as you wish. Have a look at http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9804 for an example. It's an old document, but is still relevant for this type of design.

You're right that there's no push email feature for open source services. The closest I know of is using the IMAP IDLE feature, which keeps a connection open to the mail server. The mail server then notifies the client immediately through this connection. Not quite push email, but comes very close.

Unsure what you mean by enforcing security policy.

Thanks for the comment, my glass-half-empty friend.

Right now, somewhere, some kid with an eager mind has discovered the name of "FreeBSD" because of this story. Should they continue the investigation, fuelled by the insatiable curiosity that is the hallmark of younger generations, he or she will install FreeBSD onto their computer system. From there, the questions only grow, as they delve into its inner workings. It could be a life changing discovery. Only the future can tell.

Most people are unaware of what constitutes the core of their devices. That is true. What is also true is that some people do discover facts, thanks to articles like this.

Funny thing is, I'm not even much of a FreeBSD fan, though I do like their kernel. If some eager-minded kid is reading this ... install Debian! You've then got a choice of kernels to run your system with, including the FreeBSD kernel. I think even Illumos is available, though not sure if that Debian port is still active.

Well, I'm not saying it's a certainty, but it is a possibility. Hence why I used the word "could" in my original phrase. Even the small percentage of people who care can translate into more users.

I had no idea that the PSP uses a BSD variant. Thanks for teaching me. I find that interesting, and will bring it up in geeky conversation, should the situation arise.

It's publicity. Awareness of FreeBSD will increase, and that could translate into more users. Likely more users of the kind that are curious, inquisitive, and technically able.

Like you, I very much doubt that Sony will feed back any patches. Corporate structure means that the process of sharing code will include a series of approvals and legal checks, making the whole process painful for the programmer. No tech guy worth their salt wants to put themselves through that wringer, unless they're really really passionate about getting it through.

The FreeBSD kernel is top notch, so Sony will certainly benefit from such a solid system. PS4 users will benefit from decent scheduling and multitasking. The FreeBSD community should hopefully benefit from the increased exposure. It's really not a bad deal overall. Just a shame that the FreeBSD system won't get better graphic drivers out of it, but hey, anything potentially released would undoubtedly be unsupported and proprietary, and thus a pain in the arse for FreeBSD maintainers.

Actually, you are "selling it", metaphorically. You've put forward an argument. You've listed reasons why you think that argument is valid. Those reasons are "selling points" for the argument.

No need to worry, I'm not accusing you of being an MS apologist/shill. In fact, I'm sort of agreeing with you that Windows is a decent OS to use. Microsoft aren't all that bad. I love their SQL product. I hate their Exchange system. The rest falls in between.

Adobe, on the other hand ... from bad to a steaming pile of digital excrement. Ugh, I get a headache just thinking about it. I'm almost glad they've stopped supporting Flash for Linux.

Certainly, when it comes to application and vendor support, Windows comes out on top. System integration is one of Microsoft's strengths, and in a way, a weakness too. While no software is completely bug free, my gut feeling is that Windows has too many vectors of attack to ever be considered decently secure. That, and I dislike the way that Windows always gets in my way when I want to delve into the internals. When I do so, I always discover an absurd complexity that leaves me wondering how in hell it all runs so well.

Maybe people feel the same way about Linux. For me though, I've always thought there's an inherent simplicity to the unix design. Makes it a pleasure to administer and maintain. Maybe I've been using it for so long, my thought processes are aligned to the design, and therefore it all just feels natural to me. Whatever the reason, I'm quite happy to keep on going with Linux on my work and home PCs, and on the servers I maintain.

I'm not moving to Windows any time soon, though I do have it handy if I absolutely need to use it.

Actually, the latest Linux kernels have support for hard drive caching using an SSD. Kernel 3.9 has dm-cache, and the will-be-released-any-day-now kernel 3.10 introduces bcache support.

Of course, with a feature this new, the configuration is command line only for the moment. It's pretty simple for bcache though. Any self-respecting Linux power user should handle it easily. Not sure about dm-cache, since I haven't used it.

So, no luck needed getting it to work on Linux. Just a little knowledge and a command of the line.

Windows is nice and all, but just as a hint, never use Adobe products as a selling point for a platform. Adobe should die for their downright awful software! Every time I deal with their stuff, I feel like banging my head against a wall.

Long time Linux user here, both with server and desktop, for work and home. I don't mind Windows, but the interface has always felt a little clunky for me, especially when I'm so used to my own enlightened setup (E17 to be specific). Still, I've tried Windows 7 (haven't tried 8 yet), and it seems good enough to get things done. I wouldn't complain too much if I was forced to use it at work, though I'd be searching immediately for third-party virtual desktop software. Geez Microsoft, even OSX has native virtual desktops. Hell, even OS/2 had it. The Amiga had it!

I think you mean "no longer true".

And yes, lately, I've been playing games exclusively in Linux, especially with the Steam client. Have to say, it works very well for a still beta system. Very happy with it.

Booted up my Windows partition the other day, for the first time in about five months, just to install security patches, update firefox, and do a few other housecleaning things. I'll still keep it around, because things aren't all there yet with Linux gaming. Certainly improving in a big way, though.