Linux vs. Windows for a shipping n-tier product
I'm trying to convince a friend to ship the web version of his desktop application, which will be deployed on customer sites, on Linux. He has historically done all his development on Windows, so there's a big familiarity/learning curve to climb. I've been in organizations that have deployed large numbers of Windows server applications across the globe, and while it can be done, I don't think he wants to hire the number of people I think it will take to deal with hardware issues, mandatory software upgrades, security patches, reboots etc. Plus on Windows you pretty much have to go with the unproven .NET platform.
With Linux, you can easily take the appliance approach where you ship a box and every single aspect of the OS on that box is under your control. You can partner with a firm like Red Hat or Progreny to make sure that you're kept up-to-date on any security patches, and that you have a mechanism for distributing them. If you used a scripting language like p(erl|ython|hp), you're working with older, slowly evolving technology that won't need to be forcible ported when a vendor EOL's an older platform (cough-.NET-cough).
I could go on.
Talli suggested my friend look into the Red Hat Network for application deployment. It's sounds a little too good to be true, but I'm willing to look into it. Alternatively, we could go with the Windows approach to distributing your n-tier server products: duct tape and prayer.
9:13:02 AM 
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