View Source: WhyUnix - Waikato Linux Users Group

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; __Familiarity__ : Everyone knows [Unix]. Most college graduates are brought up on [Unix]. The effect is a large grassroots support network of users who have had the same problems as you before and can help you fix them.

; __Reputation for Stability__ : [Unix] doesn't die. People regularly compare how long their server has been up vs how long someone else's server has been up, even going so far as to buy [UPS] units for this.

; __Cost__ : Most of the Unices are [Free], but even commercial flavours have quite fair costs per [CPU] as compared to other [OperatingSystem]s.

; __Transparency__ :
;; __of processes__ : You can learn what every process is there for, what implications removing it has, or which alternatives for it there are.  For example, it's common to run a [Unix] machine with just a WindowManager instead of a full DesktopEnvironment, or even entirely without a [GUI], if it doesn't need one, thus saving plenty of resources.
;; %%% __of files__ : It is easy to find out what any file is needed for. Easily viewed and edited plaintext files are common.
;; %%% __of source__ : Traditionally you get at least a large chunk, if not all of the SourceCode of your [Unix] system. You can always read it if in doubt. (And even lacking source, strace(1), and ltrace(1) will both help you debug problems.)

; __Plaintext configuration files__ : Due to this format, configuration files are easy to search and manipulate with a host of standard tools shipped with [Unix] by default. For example, you can put your configuration files under version control.

; __Powerful scripting__ : Just about everything can be scripted. In fact a [Unix] OperatingSystem consists mostly of a loosely held together web of scripts. If a program doesn't support scripting natively, you can usually fudge it anyway.

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Last edited on Saturday, February 7, 2004 9:41:24 pm by AristotlePagaltzis

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