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I disagree. It isn't that it works well but merely that it is there. In fact the majority of Windows networks both corporate and small business I can safely say
by buffoon 11y ago
I disagree. It isn't that it works well but merely that it is there. In fact the majority of Windows networks both corporate and small business I can safely say that it barely works and is usually a mismanaged unpatched mess or filled with crapware. Occasionally there's a nice tight network (our operations guys run a tight ship which is cool) but the general case is a pit of incompetence.
The mantra among the consults I've met in the UK is if you're charging by the hour, do it in .Net on Windows. If you're charging a fixed rate, use Linux and Python.
I'm not suggesting there is anything better for an end user but I'm pointing out that it doesn't work well enough.
I still use it however and have a fondness. The accumulated knowledge of fixes is incredibly valuable.
- NeutronBoy 11y agoIn fact the majority of Windows networks both corporate and small business I can safely say that it barely works and is usually a mismanaged unpatched mess or filled with crapware. And yet, no vendor can hold a candle to Active Directory, which is the single best thing about running Windows in an enterprise. You literally cannot manage SSO, patching, and config management on a non-Windows environment for more than a few hundred machine without the right tools. Shell scripts and Chef aren't going to cut it when you have 20,000 laptops to take care of.
- buffoon 11y agoYou're 100% right. Sort of. I've built many an AD forest in my years and it is certainly powerful. However when your laptops drop off the domain after a month or so, things get hairy. That and numerous other problems such as an entire network of 5000 machines with TrustedInstaller.exe hanging at 100% CPU etc etc and it's not all smooth. I've got my fair share of horror stories there. One of our enterprise clients has just bought 500 Chromebooks and we integrated OpenID in our application and no one has to deal with AD, SSO is sorted and zero management overhead. I really like this solution. If someone could build a standalone product with equal quality it would destroy Microsoft overnight. Their ops team is 4 people and two of them are network people to keep the pipes (and APs) working. And of course there is FreeIPA and PolicyKit as a contender but that's not really there yet.
- ocdtrekkie 11y agoI'd really like to know how those 500 Chromebooks are doing in a year.
- buffoon 11y agoWell it's been two months and I haven't heard any complaining other than one ActiveX based drum scanning thing doesn't work. Turns out the scanner's direct descendant has a web API so we're integrating that. To be fair they are financial point of sale machines so it's all process driven and they're not general purpose computers.
- ocdtrekkie 11y agoI'm just saying I'd like to see how it goes long-term. Particularly in terms of TCO. Google, AFAIK, doesn't have any vendors making Toughbook-style Chrome OS machines yet.
- buffoon 11y agoSame. For the price of a toughbook you just buy 5 Chromebooks and throw them away.
- ocdtrekkie 11y agoSure, but then the question is which lasts longer: Five Chromebooks or one toughbook? :D
- buffoon 11y agoThat's a good question!