this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2024
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago

Interesting (and poorly paraphrased) story about a successful Linux migration:

spoiler

Several years ago someone made a post or cross-posted on r/sysadmin where OP (lead sysadmin) was in meeting with management and they complained about windows and the licensing costs.

OP jokingly passed a comment about switching to Linux and management actually thought he was throwing out a real idea.

Upon explaining the much lower cost due to FOSS and maybe only requiring a small contract for consulting/support, management actually agreed to his idea.

He successfully transitioned the entire company to OpenSUSE which he determined was the best enterprise distro for desktop use.

The other important part was how he handled the transition. iirc he got it going by first offering it to tech savvy departments who were ecstatic to get new stuff, so he lined it up with a hardware upgrade.

Naturally the rest of the departments heard about it and also wanted the new stuff which locked them into using Linux.

There were several holdouts clinging to Windows, but with the majority showing success, management forced them to change as well.

For his use case, most of the employees were using web apps, so almost no additional desktop apps were required.