Quite uninformed

Story: Us Marshals Switching to Red Hat LinuxTotal Replies: 2
Author Content
rittmey

May 29, 2006
10:17 PM EDT
Just look at this sentence of the article:

"Red Hat Enterprise Server is cheaper and has better features than the Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW) SCO Linux the Marshals have used for years, Campbell said."

What? SUN's SCO Linux? What the ...?

SCO is obviously SCO (previously Caldera) and definietly not SUN! And they provided some time ago something like Caldera Linux as well as SCO UnixWare and SCO OpenServer (which they still provide). Both of the latter traditional UNIX systems. This is the company we all learned to love some years ago because of their famous lawsuit about IBM allegedly taking UNIX sources and transfering them to linux.

So what actually did the US marshalls use? An operating system of SUN Microsystems (Solaris) a UNIX of SCO or Caldera linux?

The other parts of the article are not that much better either. I wish we'd still have a rating system here at LXer...
Scott_Ruecker

May 29, 2006
11:38 PM EDT
I did some searching and came across several notifications on the Sun website http://onesearch.sun.com/search/onesearch/index.jsp?charset=... that detailed error reports for commands in SCO Linux across several Sun products.

I have worked for the government and I can tell you from experience that if a Federal Department wants a customized version of software, they get it. Because SCO has acquired all kinds of Unix/Linux software over the years it is more than feasible that the U.S. Marshalls had their own customized version of Unix/Linux software stack.

Not to mention the fact that the Federal Government never willingly gives a straight answer about what they use and what its for. I was surprised that it was allowed to be reported. Because if you think that the 'Feds' don't know what gets reported, your wrong.

Of course the press didn't get their information correct. The fact is, that the 'mainstream' press never gets the facts straight. Ever. There is a reason for that of course but we should just stop asking questions and buy something from their sponsors before we get noticed by the wrong people.

Please understand that LXer.com is about presenting information. That you can then interpret and decide for yourself its value to you.

There is something to be learned from the fact that the U.S. Marshalls, from what we are told, switched to Red Hat Linux from something unix/linux related. Its what they do not tell you and what they get wrong that tells you what might have actually happened.

Its easy to think that the author and/or source is sub-par but that is what your supposed to think. Why cover something up when you can just lie about it. If the lie comes first, it must be the truth The government has no reason to want to tell you the truth, about anything.

Please understand I am not trying to berate you. I am trying to inform you, because that's a part of my job. :-)
dcparris

May 30, 2006
1:43 AM EDT
Jack Loftus, over at SearchEnterpriseLinux.com, interviewed me and wrote up two stories out of that with inaccurate information. Sometimes, things just sort of run together as the journalist rushes to get the story out the door. I understand that a little better now. I won't excuse the inaccurate info, but just know that Scott does have a point - the Marshalls switched from UNIX to Red Hat Linux. That's the main thing.

The report _is_ written as if by a newbie reporter though.

Posting in this forum is limited to members of the group: [ForumMods, SITEADMINS, MEMBERS.]

Becoming a member of LXer is easy and free. Join Us!