"Use the right tool for the right job"- that's what I have always heard. As a Sysadmin, I have often found that sometimes the correct tool won't always be the one that you'd like to use. Let me give you an example:

The University Computer Group Director has become a bit of an Open Source advocate. So, when the Terabyte storage server that my predecessor had ordered arrived, I was invited to use Linux as the primary Operating System. Fantastic, isn't it? What a great way to prove Linux to the academic community here, right?

I didn't buy it. Not a chance in hell. Why not? Well, the equipment manufacturer was Dell, which means the supported distribution of Linux is Red Hat. At the time, it was Red Hat 6.2 and required that it was configured pre-shipment... or, if post shipment, an additional 22 patches were required. That doesn't sound too comfortable, does it? To make matters worse, the data that this server was to hold had been previously on Windows NT machines and the other administration staff here are Windows NT administrators, and in some cases, very poor Windows NT administrators. That's not too tragic, as Mandrake has the Drake tools which are simple enough that even a poor NT Administrator should be able to understand them; but, alas, Mandrake isn't supported on Dell (despite its close relation to Red Hat). This would mean that I, alone, would be responsible for this Terabyte server- the basket containing all of the eggs... with the NT administrators praying for this to fail so that their knowledge of Windows NT remains in demand.

Such a high profile failure would spell sure death for the budding Open Source movement here. I decided that it was better to not attempt it than to go ahead with the odds against me.

Several weeks ago, the limited support issue reared its ugly head again. This time it was an application (the guilty will not be named here) for a college web portal that required that it be on a Linux machine, again running Red Hat. That was all fine and good, as we're running Dell and for a test environment, I was willing to give it a try.

From the start, problems became evident. Red Hat 6.2 support is only for Red Hat 6.2 SBS, which wasn't downloadable anywhere. Red Hat 7.0 installed without a hitch, but when I attempted an Oracle install (the portal software specified using Oracle 8.5.1), we found that Red Hat's use of the bleeding edge glibc in 7.0 caused the specified JDK installation (1.2.X) to fail. As any Oracle folks out there are aware, all of the Oracle installations are done using Java- so, Oracle wouldn't install.

In short, each product had specific requirements that failed to cooperate. It was bad; it was ugly and it was very, very time consuming.

The solution came by the recollection of an earlier SuSE install where Oracle had been installed and went on without a hitch. Having little recourse, the proverbial bullet was bit. The Red Hat install on the Dell box was erased and a straight, out-of-the-box SuSE installation was done in its place. Oracle installed without any issues, as did the web portal product.

Now there was a new problem. The solution had been found, but neither the hardware nor the portal software vendor did support the SuSE Linux distribution.

Enterprise computing is more about corporate accountability in any case, and so this is definitely any issue; but, the nagging issue that I could not understand is why would a company claim to support Linux and the only support one flavor? I understand that Red Hat is sort of the name brand in Linux, but one of the greatest strengths of open source is having such access to "the right tools"- the Operating System is open, so why must the support be proprietary? I don't totally dislike Red Hat, but sometimes it is not the right tool for the job.

I took a quick poll of major and minor hard ware providers and this is what I have found:

Dell seems to have the most limited support of the major hardware vendors. Rack Space and Penguin may support other versions of Linux, but their web page has not indicated this. HP seems to have excellent support for distributions, as I have been informed, but looking at their website you would not know this. The only reference that I have seen was to Red Hat on the partners page.

IBM and Compaq are an exact match as per what they support, and are both decent, but relatively expensive as these things go. IBM has done an excellent job with producing and utilizing Open Source technologies (I am not as familiar with Compaq). I'd personally prefer that they support more distributions.

Cgallery.com and GnuPc.com were two vendors that I found listed in multiple Linux resources. They both support many distributions, but they lack in the form of name recognition; a shame, because that sort of versatility is exactlywhat we need.

These are just the hardware vendors; as mentioned in the anecdote above, it seems that many commercial software vendors are suffering from similar issues. Often they're not really Open Source folks and it seems that they choose to support their software under Red Hat just because it has the name recognition. In a situation like above, it doesn't make sense from the customer's- or the vendor's- point of view. An out of the box SuSE install worked where the Red Hat installation required much in the way of additional configuration.

One of the greatest things about Linux- and Open Source in general- is that there is so much variety. The right tool can be used for the right job, instead of always trying to force the issue, but this is undermined by the commercial vendor community that seems somewhat ignorant to the big picture. In the end, it's the commercial vendors that will feel the loss. Why buy a machine that only supports one OS and get locked into the party line?

Special favors may come in 31 flavors, but since when does the flavor of ice cream dictate the type of ice cream cone that I am allowed to use? Or the toppings that would go on top? Forget that. When it comes to me, I'm going to the ice cream parlor that gives me anything I'd like. IBM, Compaq: good work- we wish there were more like you.