People who like Linux obviously don't value their time. I have spent the last 2 months installing Linux on my server. (I obviously haven't spent 8 solid weeks, but I started the process 2 months ago. I have spent about 40 hours in the last week.)
I have used Linux before, but the server was about 15 years old. (It was given to me by somebody who upgraded their home computer and knew I was needing a server. So, it was obsolete to him, and that was 9 years ago.) And the version of Linux that was on it didn't get updated very often - aka ever. I will appreciate the comfort of knowing the there is an update engine now.
On the positive side, as I sort of stated before, Linux will run on very old equipment very well. And from past experience, it is very stable. I also have a Windows server and other than not getting along with my KVM switch, it has been very reliable, too. But the computer that is now running Linux was dying under XP, I didn't want to even consider Vista on it. I can see how if I was getting Linux for a desktop or laptop where I might not care so much about detail-tweaking Linux might be worth it.
On the negative side, since it is Open Source, the flaws are very exposed, which creates a very uncomfortable feeling. Several years ago, I actually received calls from a university because somebody had hacked my system, set up their own user account and was actively using that account to hack into the university's servers. Ever since then, I have never really favored the security model that Linux provides. Also, finding help with issues is very difficult for several reasons. First of all, the people like me who don't quite trust the reliability of Linux aren't willing to give too much information about their systems' setups for exposure reasons - if I talk about servicexyz on my system and the trouble I had with setting up the tuv-port, it would show that I might not have considered the issues with qrs-port that all the hackers are exploiting. Secondly, the assistance that I was able to find talked about servicexyz v4, and I really have no idea what version was included with my version of Linux. Finally, there are lots of wikis and forums on Linux, but I don't know if the post that I am reading was written by Linus Torvalds himself or somebody just as incompetent as myself.
I do feel that my server is up and running now, so our rss feeds and email should be much more stable. For now, I am going to do my victory lap as I sing "I am the champion... of my world!"
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