I am on a committee of a national organization called Associated General Contractors. Our committee is called the Electronic Information Systems committee (http://www.agc.org/page.ww?section=Technology&name=Electronic+Informatio...) and we are getting ready to have our annual meeting.
As background, I am the MIS person for our company. For the last year +- I have been learning to use Linux. I started with Fedora FC4 then went to FC5 and now FC6. I use it on my personal laptop and have probably installed it twenty times and I am sort of getting the hang of it (sort of being the operative word). I know there are other flavors of Linux but have never used them (not enough time in the day). I have read everything I can get my hands on on Linux and really enjoy using it. I have deployed it to one jobsite as sort of a beta test site. The interesting thing there is that the guy had never really used a computer and had no preconceived notion of "that's not the way Windows does it" and the test has been great.
I have to give a brief presentation this Saturday on Linux to my fellow committee members. There are so many resources I am not sure where to start. Would any of y'all have any suggestions? My thoughts are to sort of outline what it is, how many people use it, the issues surrounding the windows fear factor etc. I don't want to get too deep but I'd like to wake up more people to the virtues of the product.
Any help any of you could provide would be welcome and deeply appreciated!
Arch Parks Construction www.tuparks.com
On 1/31/07, Arch Willingham wrote:
I have to give a brief presentation this Saturday on Linux to my fellow committee members. There are so many resources I am not sure where to start. Would any of y'all have any suggestions? My thoughts are to sort of outline what it is, how many people use it, the issues surrounding the windows fear factor etc. I don't want to get too deep but I'd like to wake up more people to the virtues of the product.
You can have a look at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Presentations
Chitlesh
Does anyone know where I can find a tutorial for setting up Domain Authentication using Fedora 6 and Samba.
Thanks,
Kevin
On Wed, 2007-01-31 at 17:03 -0500, Kevin Gutch wrote:
Does anyone know where I can find a tutorial for setting up Domain Authentication using Fedora 6 and Samba.
I HIGHLY recommend buying O'Reilly's book:
"Using Samba" Gerald Carter, Jay Ts, and Robert Eckstein http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/samba3/
---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens@vitalstream.com - - VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com - - - - You know you've landed gear-up when it takes full power to taxi. - - -- Chuck Yeager - ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks....that will be a huge help! I am also hoping to find some help as part of he presentation showing the increase in Linux sales/market share and some comments to help others over the "its not Windows" hump.
Arch
-----Original Message----- From: fedora-list-bounces@redhat.com [mailto:fedora-list-bounces@redhat.com]On Behalf Of Chitlesh GOORAH Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 4:51 PM To: For users of Fedora Subject: Re: Need to give a presentation on the benefits of Linux
On 1/31/07, Arch Willingham wrote:
I have to give a brief presentation this Saturday on Linux to my fellow committee members. There are so many resources I am not sure where to start. Would any of y'all have any suggestions? My thoughts are to sort of outline what it is, how many people use it, the issues surrounding the windows fear factor etc. I don't want to get too deep but I'd like to wake up more people to the virtues of the product.
You can have a look at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Presentations
Chitlesh
On 1/31/07, Arch Willingham arch@tuparks.com wrote:
Thanks....that will be a huge help! I am also hoping to find some help as part of he presentation showing the increase in Linux sales/market share and some comments to help others over the "its not Windows" hump.
Arch
[snip]
On 1/31/07, Arch Willingham wrote:
I have to give a brief presentation this Saturday on Linux to my fellow committee members. There are so many resources I am not sure where to start. Would any of y'all have any suggestions? My thoughts are to sort of outline what it is, how many people use it, the issues surrounding the windows fear factor etc. I don't want to get too deep but I'd like to wake up more people to the virtues of the product.
List applications your group members typically use on Windows platform. Present the GNU-Linux equivalents. Big plus if data can be exchanged between platforms.
You can have a look at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Presentations
On Wed, 2007-01-31 at 21:37 -0500, Arch Willingham wrote:
Thanks....that will be a huge help! I am also hoping to find some help as part of he presentation showing the increase in Linux sales/market share and some comments to help others over the "its not Windows" hump.
You're now becoming a market leader, a trendsetter, and all those other buzzwords that mean nothing other than impressing someone else who doesn't know anything about what you're talking about.
"It's not Windows" is a something to reduce the worries about using something full of bugs and complying with anti-piracy software audits.
On Wed, 2007-01-31 at 21:37 -0500, Arch Willingham wrote:
Thanks....that will be a huge help! I am also hoping to find some help as part of he presentation showing the increase in Linux sales/market share and some comments to help others over the "its not Windows" hump.
---- It's impossible to get a handle on how many people are actually using Linux since so much of it is never sold or is simply counted as a Windows sale - for example, we have been buying systems from Dell which have WinXP home preloaded and are never booted as a Windows system since the first boot is a kickstart Fedora Core 6 install.
I think the most important things to realize are: - Windows has some advantages, as does a Macintosh, as does Linux. - No one OS is the best choice for all users - The average desktop user isn't going to do much more than basic e-mail, word processing, spreadsheet, web browsing and the OS is probably only an issue of familiarity and of little consequence.
In my situation, I have LDAP for user authentication, a home directory created for each user which is the same home whether the user logs in via a Macintosh, Windows or Linux, in essence, his home directory, files, login name and password are the same and the only difference between the various OS's is the applications available to the user which in the case of things like e-mail, have to be set up the first time a user logs in per OS. I have created a 'roaming profile' for all users, regardless of operating system...it works.
Thus when the options were made available, it became mostly a matter of cost vs. convenience of the familiar and I didn't have to really push hard for Linux because the benefits are obvious. Rather than push to sell it - I found it most effective to put a fully configured Linux system on the 'boss's and had him use it.
The real issues are the files that you create - the intellectual product of your organization and the fact is that most businesses blindly use the proprietary formats commonly known as .DOC | .XLS | .PPS Does it make sense to create document after document that is undocumented? These formats are in their final stage since the newest versions of Microsoft Office are pushing to use their Microsoft Office XML format which is incomprehensible for just about everyone (weighing in at over 6000 pages).
These formats (whether MSO XML or .doc/.xls/.pps) are poisonous to the continuity of any business since they become unwieldy and migrating from them will be painful. OpenOffice.org (and others) support the ODF (see http://www.oasis.org for more information) and this format is open, documented, unencumbered and fully usable by virtually any software that chooses to use it. This is the ground that must be fought for.
Likewise, things like Exchange Server and Outlook are also used to create vendor lock-in - the addiction to the Microsoft behemoth that are so hard to break.
To a business that is on the up and up, maintaining a License 6 Microsoft Windows desktop with Microsoft Office is a pretty costly system and a Linux system would have to compare favorably for many, many users.
Craig
Thanks a million.....that is a huge help!
Arch
-----Original Message----- From: fedora-list-bounces@redhat.com [mailto:fedora-list-bounces@redhat.com]On Behalf Of Craig White Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 11:31 PM To: For users of Fedora Subject: RE: Need to give a presentation on the benefits of Linux
On Wed, 2007-01-31 at 21:37 -0500, Arch Willingham wrote:
Thanks....that will be a huge help! I am also hoping to find some help as part of he presentation showing the increase in Linux sales/market share and some comments to help others over the "its not Windows" hump.
---- It's impossible to get a handle on how many people are actually using Linux since so much of it is never sold or is simply counted as a Windows sale - for example, we have been buying systems from Dell which have WinXP home preloaded and are never booted as a Windows system since the first boot is a kickstart Fedora Core 6 install.
I think the most important things to realize are: - Windows has some advantages, as does a Macintosh, as does Linux. - No one OS is the best choice for all users - The average desktop user isn't going to do much more than basic e-mail, word processing, spreadsheet, web browsing and the OS is probably only an issue of familiarity and of little consequence.
In my situation, I have LDAP for user authentication, a home directory created for each user which is the same home whether the user logs in via a Macintosh, Windows or Linux, in essence, his home directory, files, login name and password are the same and the only difference between the various OS's is the applications available to the user which in the case of things like e-mail, have to be set up the first time a user logs in per OS. I have created a 'roaming profile' for all users, regardless of operating system...it works.
Thus when the options were made available, it became mostly a matter of cost vs. convenience of the familiar and I didn't have to really push hard for Linux because the benefits are obvious. Rather than push to sell it - I found it most effective to put a fully configured Linux system on the 'boss's and had him use it.
The real issues are the files that you create - the intellectual product of your organization and the fact is that most businesses blindly use the proprietary formats commonly known as .DOC | .XLS | .PPS Does it make sense to create document after document that is undocumented? These formats are in their final stage since the newest versions of Microsoft Office are pushing to use their Microsoft Office XML format which is incomprehensible for just about everyone (weighing in at over 6000 pages).
These formats (whether MSO XML or .doc/.xls/.pps) are poisonous to the continuity of any business since they become unwieldy and migrating from them will be painful. OpenOffice.org (and others) support the ODF (see http://www.oasis.org for more information) and this format is open, documented, unencumbered and fully usable by virtually any software that chooses to use it. This is the ground that must be fought for.
Likewise, things like Exchange Server and Outlook are also used to create vendor lock-in - the addiction to the Microsoft behemoth that are so hard to break.
To a business that is on the up and up, maintaining a License 6 Microsoft Windows desktop with Microsoft Office is a pretty costly system and a Linux system would have to compare favorably for many, many users.
Craig
On Thu, 2007-02-01 at 08:01 -0500, Arch Willingham wrote:
Thanks a million.....that is a huge help!
Snip!
OpenOffice.org (and others) support the ODF (see http://www.oasis.org for more information) and this format is open, documented, unencumbered and fully usable by virtually any software that chooses to use it. This is the ground that must be fought for.
Likewise, things like Exchange Server and Outlook are also used to create vendor lock-in - the addiction to the Microsoft behemoth that are so hard to break.
Craig
Hi, Arch, Another thing to add about file formats... They change, but when they are open, tools will be created almost instantly to migrate your data to remain current, and you have the advantage of retaining the format document, which means historically you will always be able to retrieve the original information. Formats are like hardware storage, and will age, become obsolete, and so forth. With an Open format, the documentation will be available somewhere nearly forever, but with proprietary formats, you don't even get the documentation. As your data ages, it can be non-retrievable, Not important to end users, but to corporations and governements, historical records are vital to watching over the company's or country's property.
ODF means Open Document Format. Open in this case does not mean everyone can see the material in the document, only that the standards are open to public view, so that new tools can be created that adhere to the standards. This will become more important as the capabilities of software and systems continue to grow. Visualization software, that is tools to generate different virtual views of data, needs to be able to extract data from existing formats to utilize it. When the format is proprietary, you may not be able to have the same vision of your data that competitors will. This can represent a loss of competitive advantage, or a gain, depending on which side of the edge you are on.
Regards, Les H
On Wed, 2007-01-31 at 16:49 -0500, Arch Willingham wrote:
I am on a committee of a national organization called Associated General Contractors. Our committee is called the Electronic Information Systems committee (http://www.agc.org/page.ww?section=Technology&name=Electronic+Informatio...) and we are getting ready to have our annual meeting.
As background, I am the MIS person for our company. For the last year +- I have been learning to use Linux. I started with Fedora FC4 then went to FC5 and now FC6. I use it on my personal laptop and have probably installed it twenty times and I am sort of getting the hang of it (sort of being the operative word). I know there are other flavors of Linux but have never used them (not enough time in the day). I have read everything I can get my hands on on Linux and really enjoy using it. I have deployed it to one jobsite as sort of a beta test site. The interesting thing there is that the guy had never really used a computer and had no preconceived notion of "that's not the way Windows does it" and the test has been great.
I have to give a brief presentation this Saturday on Linux to my fellow committee members. There are so many resources I am not sure where to start. Would any of y'all have any suggestions? My thoughts are to sort of outline what it is, how many people use it, the issues surrounding the windows fear factor etc. I don't want to get too deep but I'd like to wake up more people to the virtues of the product.
Any help any of you could provide would be welcome and deeply appreciated!
Arch,
By far, my favorite thing about open source software and Linux is the quality of the software. The freedom that open source software provides is great, but as a software _user_ what I really care about is that my applications work well. Because the software is built as a community effort, the software developers get a lot of feedback from users, and users who also happen to be developers sometimes join the effort and help that way too.
Why is Apache the most widely used web server? It's not because people are attracted to it ideologically, or because of the price tag. It's because it's the best web server on the market. It's small, it's fast, and it performs really well. Same thing with MySQL. MySQL is giving the big database vendors a run for their money because not only is it free, but it's incredibly robust and scalable. It's a pattern that you'll see over and over. Ditto all the other common applications in the LAMP stack -- they're just the best in class software.
The extensibility of the software is another huge asset. I work at a Web 2.0 startup company. You wouldn't think that we would have a huge need (or ability, given the small number of employees) to modify any of the software that we are running. But one of the proprietary backend tools that we bought from another company required some special mechanism for receiving audio. Rather than pay for their solution, one of the developers at work spent a couple days and patched lame to work with the backend, saving us a lot of money and making things easier to maintain. We also had a case where we wanted to do some mail filtering (in this case, removing certain attachments). Sendmail and Postfix have an open API for developing milters (mail filters), so one day I sat down and read the API and wrote a milter to meet our needs. This is something that just couldn't be done with an email server like Exchange.
So to summarize what I'm trying to say here... as a sysadmin, I have found that the open source software out there is the best. It's fast and scalable, things are coded to open standards to the software interoperates well. And in the case that you actually need the software to be changed slightly, you're free to get in touch with the original developers of the software and file a bug report, or even make the changes yourself if you have people with programming knowledge working for you.
-- Evan Klitzke
Evan Klitzke wrote:
Why is Apache the most widely used web server? It's not because people are attracted to it ideologically, or because of the price tag. It's
Another point is that it is MUCH safer to invest time, mindshare and money in an open project. Apache isn't going anywhere, your competitors aren't going to buy it, it will work basically the same for at least the next few years... Microsoft can't change the licensing for it once they have you addicted and make you pay each year like a trapped animal...
Even projects that might fade away leave you all the bits you need to support it internally: if the quality was good, that is not only no worse than using internally generated software, but much better because it cost you $0 to develop... If you get into that situation you can also offer money to the original devs to maintain it for you...
I'm sure somebody can step up and help me, but I can't think of any negatives about using FOSS stuff.
-Andy
On Wed, 2007-01-31 at 14:26 -0800, Rick Stevens wrote:
On Wed, 2007-01-31 at 17:03 -0500, Kevin Gutch wrote:
Does anyone know where I can find a tutorial for setting up Domain Authentication using Fedora 6 and Samba.
I HIGHLY recommend buying O'Reilly's book:
"Using Samba" Gerald Carter, Jay Ts, and Robert Eckstein http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/samba3/
Or you can go to: http://www.samba.org/samba/docs/
How did you do roaming profiles in Linux???
-----Original Message----- From: fedora-list-bounces@redhat.com [mailto:fedora-list-bounces@redhat.com]On Behalf Of Craig White Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 11:31 PM To: For users of Fedora Subject: RE: Need to give a presentation on the benefits of Linux
On Wed, 2007-01-31 at 21:37 -0500, Arch Willingham wrote:
Thanks....that will be a huge help! I am also hoping to find some help as part of he presentation showing the increase in Linux sales/market share and some comments to help others over the "its not Windows" hump.
---- It's impossible to get a handle on how many people are actually using Linux since so much of it is never sold or is simply counted as a Windows sale - for example, we have been buying systems from Dell which have WinXP home preloaded and are never booted as a Windows system since the first boot is a kickstart Fedora Core 6 install.
I think the most important things to realize are: - Windows has some advantages, as does a Macintosh, as does Linux. - No one OS is the best choice for all users - The average desktop user isn't going to do much more than basic e-mail, word processing, spreadsheet, web browsing and the OS is probably only an issue of familiarity and of little consequence.
In my situation, I have LDAP for user authentication, a home directory created for each user which is the same home whether the user logs in via a Macintosh, Windows or Linux, in essence, his home directory, files, login name and password are the same and the only difference between the various OS's is the applications available to the user which in the case of things like e-mail, have to be set up the first time a user logs in per OS. I have created a 'roaming profile' for all users, regardless of operating system...it works.
Thus when the options were made available, it became mostly a matter of cost vs. convenience of the familiar and I didn't have to really push hard for Linux because the benefits are obvious. Rather than push to sell it - I found it most effective to put a fully configured Linux system on the 'boss's and had him use it.
The real issues are the files that you create - the intellectual product of your organization and the fact is that most businesses blindly use the proprietary formats commonly known as .DOC | .XLS | .PPS Does it make sense to create document after document that is undocumented? These formats are in their final stage since the newest versions of Microsoft Office are pushing to use their Microsoft Office XML format which is incomprehensible for just about everyone (weighing in at over 6000 pages).
These formats (whether MSO XML or .doc/.xls/.pps) are poisonous to the continuity of any business since they become unwieldy and migrating from them will be painful. OpenOffice.org (and others) support the ODF (see http://www.oasis.org for more information) and this format is open, documented, unencumbered and fully usable by virtually any software that chooses to use it. This is the ground that must be fought for.
Likewise, things like Exchange Server and Outlook are also used to create vendor lock-in - the addiction to the Microsoft behemoth that are so hard to break.
To a business that is on the up and up, maintaining a License 6 Microsoft Windows desktop with Microsoft Office is a pretty costly system and a Linux system would have to compare favorably for many, many users.
Craig
Arch Willingham wrote:
How did you do roaming profiles in Linux???
You can NFS mount the whole /home directory, or let the automounter mount individual home directories on access. It's not quite the same concept but does what you usually want with a bunch of workstations on a LAN with users logging in anywhere. Or you can just run your X desktop on the server.
Arch Willingham wrote:
I am on a committee of a national organization called Associated General Contractors. ...
I have to give a brief presentation this Saturday on Linux to my fellow committee members. ...
Contractors? Hmm... why not put it in terms they can identify with (and have a little fun--shamelessly stolen from various OS/programming gags):
Microsoft "Saw":
* Comes free with $750 purchase of lumber and acceptance of user license agreement. Lumber may only be used with MS "Saw".
MS "Saw" must be activated by calling MS before use. You also agree to allow MS "Saw" to contact MS when you're not looking and report on who's using it, where and how it is being used, and well, whatever else we'd like to know.
* MS "Saw" never needs complicated maintenance or blade replacement. Should the blade become dull, you can try "rebooting" MS "Saw" by unplugging and re-plugging it. If that doesn't help, you can simply purchase an upgrade to the next new release.
* Choose from 128 colors that look just like your kid's crayons!
* MS "Saw" requires no training to use, or complicated plans to follow: you just "play around with it until it looks ok." (However, if you lose a finger or someone gets hurt on your poorly-built deck, remember: we have way more lawyers than you. Ask how you can purchase a "MS Certified Sawing Engineer" badge.)
* MS "Saw" (Home Basic) can cut lumber to any size, from 12" to 18" in 1" increments. To cut longer or shorter sizes, you must upgrade to "Saw Premium". To cut lengths more precise than 1", you must upgrade to "Saw Extra Precision" (good to 1/4") or "Saw Professional" (1/16").
For arbitrary length and precision, you will need MS "Saw Enterprise Edition" and you must purchase a "Contractor Access License" for each and every project with such requirements. "Saw Professional" and "Saw Enterprise" will refuse to function during evenings or weekends.
What about the Linux saw?
* Completely free, no licenses, no expensive extras. You may have to make your own blades--but it's fun.
* Comes with hand-crank power module, good for almost 20 seconds of use.
...
Ok, I got a little carried away; you get the idea.
I guess it would go over like a lead balloon if your audience worships Bill Gates, or can't appreciate geek humor. Oh, wait...
Joking aside, you could make a point with something like this (not as long of course). As I see it, Linux is a lot like a standard power tool that you own and use however you like, no strings attached, to the best of your training, imagination and ability.
<Joe
On Thu, 2007-02-01 at 22:59 -0600, Les Mikesell wrote:
Arch Willingham wrote:
How did you do roaming profiles in Linux???
You can NFS mount the whole /home directory, or let the automounter mount individual home directories on access. It's not quite the same concept but does what you usually want with a bunch of workstations on a LAN with users logging in anywhere.
---- indeed - and the users' home directory is provided by LDAP and the kickstart that I created automatically creates the nsswitch.conf/ldap.conf/auto.master/ssh-keys, certificates and paths necessary for the mount points so on first boot, any user can log in and begin working. Of course (and this will make Les smile), the kickstart install went from 20 minutes to over an hour because after the install, a yum-update is performed and many, many packages have to be updated.
Macintosh was a bit trickier because it required an anonymous connection via afpovertcp (netatalk) and some extra hacks in LDAP that provide the various paths (recalling from memory) apple-user-homeDirectory apple-user-homeurl from a rather inane apple.schema and hacking each Macintosh's Directory Services.
Craig
Those are great and will be appreciated!
-----Original Message----- From: fedora-list-bounces@redhat.com [mailto:fedora-list-bounces@redhat.com]On Behalf Of Joe Smith Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 12:26 AM To: fedora-list@redhat.com Subject: Re: Need to give a presentation on the benefits of Linux
Arch Willingham wrote:
I am on a committee of a national organization called Associated General Contractors. ...
I have to give a brief presentation this Saturday on Linux to my fellow committee members. ...
Contractors? Hmm... why not put it in terms they can identify with (and have a little fun--shamelessly stolen from various OS/programming gags):
Microsoft "Saw":
* Comes free with $750 purchase of lumber and acceptance of user license agreement. Lumber may only be used with MS "Saw".
MS "Saw" must be activated by calling MS before use. You also agree to allow MS "Saw" to contact MS when you're not looking and report on who's using it, where and how it is being used, and well, whatever else we'd like to know.
* MS "Saw" never needs complicated maintenance or blade replacement. Should the blade become dull, you can try "rebooting" MS "Saw" by unplugging and re-plugging it. If that doesn't help, you can simply purchase an upgrade to the next new release.
* Choose from 128 colors that look just like your kid's crayons!
* MS "Saw" requires no training to use, or complicated plans to follow: you just "play around with it until it looks ok." (However, if you lose a finger or someone gets hurt on your poorly-built deck, remember: we have way more lawyers than you. Ask how you can purchase a "MS Certified Sawing Engineer" badge.)
* MS "Saw" (Home Basic) can cut lumber to any size, from 12" to 18" in 1" increments. To cut longer or shorter sizes, you must upgrade to "Saw Premium". To cut lengths more precise than 1", you must upgrade to "Saw Extra Precision" (good to 1/4") or "Saw Professional" (1/16").
For arbitrary length and precision, you will need MS "Saw Enterprise Edition" and you must purchase a "Contractor Access License" for each and every project with such requirements. "Saw Professional" and "Saw Enterprise" will refuse to function during evenings or weekends.
What about the Linux saw?
* Completely free, no licenses, no expensive extras. You may have to make your own blades--but it's fun.
* Comes with hand-crank power module, good for almost 20 seconds of use.
...
Ok, I got a little carried away; you get the idea.
I guess it would go over like a lead balloon if your audience worships Bill Gates, or can't appreciate geek humor. Oh, wait...
Joking aside, you could make a point with something like this (not as long of course). As I see it, Linux is a lot like a standard power tool that you own and use however you like, no strings attached, to the best of your training, imagination and ability.
<Joe
I just finished giving the presentation about three minutes ago. They were blown out of the water about Linux.
Thanks for all of y'all's comments and help!
Arch
-----Original Message----- From: fedora-list-bounces@redhat.com [mailto:fedora-list-bounces@redhat.com]On Behalf Of Andy Green Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 4:08 PM To: For users of Fedora Subject: Re: Need to give a presentation on the benefits of Linux
Evan Klitzke wrote:
Why is Apache the most widely used web server? It's not because people are attracted to it ideologically, or because of the price tag. It's
Another point is that it is MUCH safer to invest time, mindshare and money in an open project. Apache isn't going anywhere, your competitors aren't going to buy it, it will work basically the same for at least the next few years... Microsoft can't change the licensing for it once they have you addicted and make you pay each year like a trapped animal...
Even projects that might fade away leave you all the bits you need to support it internally: if the quality was good, that is not only no worse than using internally generated software, but much better because it cost you $0 to develop... If you get into that situation you can also offer money to the original devs to maintain it for you...
I'm sure somebody can step up and help me, but I can't think of any negatives about using FOSS stuff.
-Andy
On Sat, 2007-02-03 at 12:09 -0500, Arch Willingham wrote:
I'm sure somebody can step up and help me, but I can't think of any negatives about using FOSS stuff.
Documentation can be spotty as heck. But that can be a universal problem when coders are called upon to become doc writers. A good doc-writer is not necessarily a good coder, and visa-versa. They are two separate skills.
User interfaces can be cryptic, but that is a Universal problem as well. But, Linux has its roots in UNIX/Admin mentality and it shows it's head at times. Let's face it, the entire reason PC's caught on in the first place was to get something done sooner without having to kiss someone's butt to do it. Then Windows arrived and even the Pointy Haired Boss could deal with a computer, as well as Joe Lunchbucket. So, guess what gets chosen for company wide use? Something with that comforting M$ flag waving on it.
Now we're starting to see more and more Mac users, on an Intel platform using another flavor of UNIX and people seem to love it. I think we screwed the pooch on this one. That ought to be our market, not Jobs. He's eating ribeyes off our plates. That's the helluvait is that the application suites installed on an Intel Mac are not that many in number, but he wisely focused on Audio/Video. He's kicking Windows in the butt as well. On the other hand, he didn't have to handle the drivers for 1,000 different soundcards, either. So, in the traditional UNIX niche, Linux shines brightly. For a newbie-level user installing for the first time, their mileage may vary as to the degree of usefulness actually achieved. That's the minus. Ric