[HECnet] Getting openvms going

[Dave McGuire]

On 11/13/19 7:13 PM, Dave Wade wrote:
> You move in technical circles and perhaps in the US things are different.... 
> But at risk of falling out with you again can I say that in the UK almost every local government user desktop is windows.
> I don't think I have ever encountered a Linux desktop in the UK in local government. The odd Apple machine where Desktop publishing was needed, but no Linux.
> Almost every desktop PC in the UK health Service (the NHS) runs MS Windows. I must admit I have only worked in three schools (and been a governor in one) but again all Windows desktops.
> There is some Linux on things like Raspberry PIs for Python but not for admin/teaching

  Well I did mention "selection bias". ;)  Government is about as far
from "high tech" as one can get.  I work in the tech industry as a
contract electronic designer.  Everything in this business is Linux,
with a few poor sods stuck with Windows because their *nontechnical*
manager told them what tools to use to do their jobs, and they didn't
quit on the spot as they should have.

  Solaris and HP-UX used to have a big footprint in this business, but
it's almost all gone at this point.

> There is a lot more Linux in the back office. So in Stockport Council we had around 250 windows server images (and again most councils are similar) but ran a Linux farm for running MOODLE and a couple of Linux servers for Oracle for some of the social care apps.  I see even Munich has returned to Windows (although that’s old)
> 
> https://www.techrepublic.com/article/end-of-an-open-source-era-linux-pioneer-munich-confirms-switch-to-windows-10/
> 
> I find this state of affairs very sad. Monocultures like this lead to vulnerable systems. A diversity would be much better. It would be really nice to have some desktop Solaris but SUN seem to have just about killed that.

  I agree 100%.  Oracle killed it the rest of the way, but Sun really
just paid lip service to desktop environments for several years before
that.  Sigh.

> Looking at the Google Analytics for Trafford & Hulme Campaign for Real Ale site (which is Joomla on Linux on Plesk) for October I roughly get
> (thcamra.org.uk)
> 
> 43% Windows,
> 23% Android
> 20% IOS
> 6% Macintosh
> 6% Didn't tell us
> 2%  Linux
> 
> Plus one session from some poor soul with Windows Phone. So whilst Windows is the biggest, if you combine the Android and IOS to get total mobile/tablet use it’s a little higher
> I know that I am of course only surveying beer drinkers which may be warped in other ways and it’s a small sample, but from what I recall the figures for the CAMRA pubs database site
> ( www.whatpub.com) are in similar proportions, and they gets a lot more hits.

  Well as Android is Linux under the hood, and iOS and MacOS are UNIX
under the hood, that makes those numbers look a bit different.

  But either way, it boils down to people who understand technology the
best typically don't run Windows.  If I'm at the grocery store shopping
for vitamins, and I see a doctor avoiding a certain brand of vitamins, I
follow his lead.  But the world of management and other nontechnical
types isn't quite so logical.

  We should probably talk about DECnet before we get smacked by Johnny
for liking each other enough to be sociable. ;)   */me pokes Johnny*

             -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA