Petition To Stop Indian Railways Wasting Tax Payers Money on Windows.

er....read the old topic which was banned....this is not another linux Vs. windows.....windows costs money and in some people's opinion, its a cost that can be prevented. So if you think its a good idea, fill up the petition.
 
I don't see the point of this thread. What does it matter whether Railways use Vista or any other OS as long as they can run the system properly and provide services to the people.

A lot of tax money is wasted over many things, I don't see threads being made over them.

Anyway if this is a question of using a paid OS over a free one, any sane enterprise level operation would choose a paid OS over a free one even if for the sake of instant tech support and maintenance support.

Linux or any other open source OS is nothing more than something that is to be experimented with. They do not fit well for use at large enterprise levels and especially in the case of an operation like Railways where reliability is a major factor. If reliability of windows questionable and a Xenix based OS is preferred, still a commercial enterprise version of Unix/Linux should be the choice. But they will cost a lot more than Windows.
 
>> Linux or any other open source OS is nothing more than something that is to be experimented with.

Ahmmmm ... Its my primary OS :p

>> They do not fit well for use at large enterprise levels and especially in the case of an operation like Railways where reliability is a major factor. If reliability of windows questionable and a Xenix based OS is preferred, still a commercial enterprise version of Unix/Linux should be the choice. But they will cost a lot more than Windows.

Xenix OS -> Errr ... this is 2008

You are pointing towards support/solid backing -> Why not RHEL?

(or CentOS which is used by slashdot.org. ****** :p)

Don't intend to start a flame, but at least the information posted

should be correct.
 
To Add:

Google runs on linux, mysql and apache modified.

Youtube uses lighttpd.

XP/Vista isn't suited for critical applications.

Last time I checked OpenSolaris (2008/05)

it was a total mess. However I agree with support,

maint. issues so I would recommend RHEL/xxx.
 
I am not sure as to why they chose Vista over XP in the first place? Isn't Vista sluggish on low end configs? All this is just to run a single railway reservation application does not make sense. There will be s/w costs and new h/w costs when the appln behaves sluggishly under Vista.

Poor choice I would say.
 
dhirukholia said:
>> Linux or any other open source OS is nothing more than something that is to be experimented with.

Ahmmmm ... Its my primary OS :p
Click to expand...

That's why I said its just to be experimented with. Home users can afford to use it. There is nothing large at stake here. Linux specially the free versions are not good enough to be used in such a large system without any sort of maintainance support

dhirukholia said:
>> They do not fit well for use at large enterprise levels and especially in the case of an operation like Railways where reliability is a major factor. If reliability of windows questionable and a Xenix based OS is preferred, still a commercial enterprise version of Unix/Linux should be the choice. But they will cost a lot more than Windows.

Xenix OS -> Errr ... this is 2008
Click to expand...

Sorry, I meant Posix, which is like a rule book of sorts for all *nix Operating Systems and clones. I don't know why I typed out Xenix. :ashamed: Maybe reference to Microsoft made me type it out absentmindedly.

dhirukholia said:
You are pointing towards support/solid backing -> Why not RHEL?

(or CentOS which is used by slashdot.org. ****** :p)

Don't intend to start a flame, but at least the information posted

should be correct.
Click to expand...

Yep I am saying that what ever OS they choose, it would need solid backing and maintenance help. Free versions of Linux or any other Posix variant do not cut it at all. Paid enterprise version with guaranteed instant support and maintenance is the way to go. Those big enterprises who run their systems on free Open Source framework also hire technology experts in house to do the tech support and maintenance and that is an even more costly solution than buying a pre-packaged enterprise version of Linux.

If you look form the pure cost perspective Total cost of ownership for Linux is a lot higher than windows. People who use Linux at their homes or in low stake situations that do not need a lot of maintenance or support do not realize that and think it can be deployed anywhere free of cost.

Linux definitely has its strong points, but its preferable in enterprise situations only when you can afford the cost and its a lot costlier than windows.

sydras said:
I am not sure as to why they chose Vista over XP in the first place? Isn't Vista sluggish on low end configs? All this is just to run a single railway reservation application does not make sense. There will be s/w costs and new h/w costs when the appln behaves sluggishly under Vista.

Poor choice I would say.
Click to expand...

Its not just for reservation system that Indian Railways use computers. Its a whole system that needs to manage train times, arrival/departure scheduling, rail switching, Information sharing and synchronization. Any glitches in their system can results in problems ranging from as small as delays and non-availability of information to as large as accidents.

With the right support and maintenance deploying Windows is a lot better than deploying a free version of Linux or any other OS. Of course Linux is better when you have paid support or hired in house experts, but it would be a lot costlier too.

People are mistaken if they believe that they can just take a Ubuntu or Fedora core DVD, install it and setup the requisite servers and just start using it when you are talking about a huge organization like that.
 
I think asking RedHat or Cannonical for support is the best option for IR.they or other 1000's of other consultants can implement the Linux system which should have saved millions of money spend waste for windows licenses :(. playing mission critical operations with windows vista is as dangerous as jumping from suicide point . :) [no it is not a flamebait] .

thing is ,vista/xp/nt whatever can be well used for gaming ,small operations. but with this kind of huge operations like IR does ,windows ,I repeat windows , simply cannot do it in a stabler way. :|

also ,the huge amount a central gov authority spends using public money to buy licenses....miserable :( . *nix are for stability dude ,first get it !.

remember Debian Linux is used for mars mission ,anything more?
 
Lord_Nemesis: Thanks for explaining the point clearly.

I am surprised to find TCO of Linux/UNIX > TCO of M$ products.

Any good third-party references I could use?

>>Paid enterprise version with guaranteed instant support and maintenance

OR if you have a full-fledged in-house expertise and support structure. :)
 
praka123 said:
remember Debian Linux is used for mars mission ,anything more?
Click to expand...
:mad:

we need a reliable system for our railways.:eek:hyeah:

railway timetables(arrivals mostly) are a joke.some trains run late by as much as 24 hrs(u may think they are on time but hey that is yesterday's train):hap2:

also for past 10 years i have never gone to a railway station on time to pik up relatives . i always thank railways for 2-8 hrs headroom they provide:eek:hyeah: .so linux wont cut the cake for railways:no: . we need something more....

high reliability,efficiency of linux , coupled with security provided by app Armour/se linux wont cut to the standards of railways.:no:

they need and highly advanced system which has got creative ability to eat cpu cycles for puny desktop eye candy.

only vista can provide that.

and as some guys in this forum have already pointed out "only vista has directx 10". and that is very crucial for railways.(we need to have a 3-d railway ticket rendered to perfection by a dx10 capable gpu):eek:hyeah:

also without vista how can our railways babus justify new expensive hardware they are going to buy(and fill their pockets in the process).

let us make a petition asking them to deploy no other version other than vista ultimate.

that would be best use of taxpayers money.
 
TBH to have Indian Railways run off linux, at the rate the communist govt is embracing open source in kerala, all we need is a Commie Railway minister. Us mallus can get a commie into parliament, but the other folks need to get them into power :bleh:

I'd vote for the commies , since i mostly agree with their ideology, but then again, most of the communists here are fags, so no point. I choose to abstain.

Edit: @ praka123 - i did not mean that commies = open source. just a comment that they seem to be convinced that it is good. RMS had a good part in convincing them though
 
Back
Top