Nevertheless, linux is taking the corporate software development world by storm (I'm talking about the $$ guys not just apache and company).
It's taking the corporate software development world by storm? Hahahaha. The only market it is taking is the market from Unix and possibly Solaris. Windows it has yet to steal any marketshare from.
By storm I don't mean it's dominating. I mean that it's breaking through as a
reasonable alternative and the executive guys at software companies are realizing the benefits to running linux. It's also growing ~_~.
In linux it's easier to customize things (you're building from the source and can manually do the ./configure and make options) and it's easier to develop -- languages like perl, python, and ruby grew up in the 'nix neighborhood and are naturally are easier to work with in a 'nix environment.
You actually think that they're going to pay someone in a corporation to hack together a source for them?
I don't. Know why? They're going to have to pay that person for support for that product.
They'd rather purchase a product to their specifications, and get the tech support that comes with purchasing the product.
What is the difference, you ask? The difference being that the person who wrote the software from the ground up knows how it works, knows what does what, and can fix 95% of the problems instantly. The person hacking the source has little to no clue of the structure of the program and can't fix it as quickly.
How much more does paying a sysadmin or two cost over buying a license for a whole corporate-network-full of Windows? Corporations and countries have already made the move (e.g., Thailand).
Also, if you're going to run Windows you probably do want to hire a security expert, because Windows security by default S.U.C.K.S (e.g., LM hashes). So I don't know if Windows is really that much cheaper than Linux, even in the very long run.
Linux software is also quicker to advance itself than windows software, as is the case with open-source software.
Wrong. Dead wrong. Open source software is written as a hobby, whereas products written for money are driven to be written by the sound of the dollar. One of the two will last as long as they need it. It isn't the open source software.
No, you're dead wrong. Look at the rate of linux distros and upgrades vs. that of Windows. Look at all the GNU software. Look at all the great open-source software and technologies that are predominant in the software development world. Apache webserver. Putty. Perl, python, and ruby. Do I need to continue? One of the founding philosophies of OSI is that software can evolve faster when it's open source.
Taken from OSI's site:
"The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing."
Proprietary software may be driven by money, but open-source software is driven by the whole
world.
linux's proven ability to outperform windows servers
Really? If it's so much more powerful, why isn't it taking marketshare from Windows?
As far as I know, it's not.
You may want to read this:
Stick to facts. If someone says something wrong about Linux, reply with the correct facts. Make sure they're facts, though, not just something you heard about. Don't spread lies or rumors. Check your facts. If you don't know how to do that, then perhaps you shouldn't take part in the discussion, except perhaps by making questions. Even better, give references so that other people can also check the facts.
Also, if Linux were taking the corporate world by storm, SuSE and Red Hat would be doing fantastically. They aren't.
I didn't think I needed to provide facts for this statement. Linux allows you to go GUI-less with servers. Windows doesn't. Kapeesh. (Vista is excluded from this statement.)