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Yankee Group report: Linux won't disappear

Checking out Data Point, I found this Yankee Group release on heterogenous networks that states the obvious "Linux is here, Windows is not going away and heterogeneity is the order of the day." I'm glad we've finally established that.
Written by Joe Brockmeier, Contributor

Checking out Data Point, I found this Yankee Group release on heterogenous networks that states the obvious "Linux is here, Windows is not going away and heterogeneity is the order of the day." I'm glad we've finally established that. I'm eagerly awaiting the next Yankee Group report, "Many system administrators drink coffee."

Enough snark, though. There is some solid (if obvious) advice. For example, the Yankee Group advises that "Microsoft and its third-party ISVs must work cooperatively with the Linux distribution and application vendors to foster smooth integration between the two environments." Indeed. Businesses and organizations have been looking for this kind of support from Microsoft, ISVs and OEMs for quite some time -- it's about time that the consulting firms start advising cooperation.

I particularly like this advice from Yankee, "Don't be afraid to take your business elsewhere, if faced with vendor recalcitrance." For quite some time, the attitude seems to have been that vendors really only needed to support Windows, and the Linux community would have to be responsible for going the extra mile to try to ensure that Linux worked on the full gamut of hardware and so forth.

It seems that everyone, including Microsoft has realized that their customers want Linux. Of course, realizing it and acting on it are two different things. For those of you "in the trenches," I'd like to ask which vendors are doing the best of supporting Linux and Windows, and which vendors are providing the best tools for managing a heterogenous infrastructure. I have a few ideas of my own, of course, but I'd like to hear from you. Give me your thoughts in the TalkBack.

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