MIGRATION & INTEGRATION
Linux or Unix: Making the right decision
Ken Milberg
10.05.2006
Rating: -3.73- (out of 5)
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So, Windows is no longer cutting the mustard and you need a more scalable, reliable and higher performing environment. You may be running Oracle Financials, PeopleSoft or any of a number of ERP applications. Or you may be looking to deploy a new Web portal with something like IBM WebSphere with a DB2 backend or WebLogic and Oracle.
In years past, you would have purchased one of the big-three Unix manufacturer boxes (IBM, Sun or HP) and that would have been the end of it. But these days, Linux is also a perfectly viable option worthy of consideration. How can you evaluate which one is right for your company? In this article, we'll discuss the pros and cons of Unix vs. Linux, and hopefully provide you with some decision criteria.
Unix
Unix has been around since 1969. It's a mature operating system. It is supported by all ISVs and also has hardware support from companies like IBM, HP and Sun. The major Unix flavors, AIX, HP-UX and Solaris, while all different in many ways, all are mature, stable and scaleable.
The top reasons for going with Unix are:
Here are some of the downsides of Unix:
Linux
Although Linux does not have the storied history of Unix, it has been around for
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almost 14 years. In many ways, Linux is nothing less then a Unix variant. For those of you familiar with recent litigation, SCO will tell you it actually is Unix.
Created by Linus Torvalds, a student and one time hacker, Linux evolved from Minux though the GNU Project (GNU is Not Unix) in 1984. It was formally released in 1994, licensed by the GPL. Unlike proprietary Unix systems, each of which are maintained by proprietary hardware manufacturers, Linux is maintained through the help of a community of thousands of developers all over the world; writing, testing and enhancing code.
While Linus continues to function as the caretaker of the Linux kernel, several Linux distributions control the high end market that sell to the corporate world. By far, the two top variants are Red Hat and Novell's SUSE.
Here are some of the key points in favor of Linux:
Here are some of the downsides of Linux:
Having used Unix and Linux in a corporate environment, I can tell you choosing between the two operating systems is never an easy task. The decision usually comes down to money and what people are most comfortable with. We will get more into the details in subsequent articles in our series.
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