You caught me. I know this seems like flame bait so I will try not to stoke the fire too much 1) You are correct about Knopix, but their are a number of specialty live distros I have used over the years, including one base on widows xp. That said these are primarily used for diagnostics and recovery not for every day use. 2) For virtualization I am still a fan of VMware and have never found a compelling reason to change. However, if you are looking to cram your server full of less robust, but just as secure, containers OpenVZ really does look like your product. I have never been in this situation so I can not say how it performs in an enterprise environment, but from what I have seen I like it; but not as much as standard VM solutions. Then again, to me Free as in Beer is almost as good as Free as in Freedom; for many people here this is not the case. The nice thing about VM ware is that if all you need is simple virtualization, you can use their free products, but if you need the power of this mid rang and higher end products you will not find anything better and I can almost guarantee despite the upfront price your TCO will be lower. Again, this is just my opinion based on my experience and I know their will their will likely be a small flame war and so I apologize. 3) SmartMail does not look to be a true exchange substitute. Perhaps I did not see it in my quick look at their site, but the beauty of Exchange is the collaboration components. Even simple items like shared calendars, tasks, contacts, public folders, etc. are the core of exchange. Not only that it is an amassing platform for custom plug-in development extending it's capabilities far beyond a simple mail server. Exchange really attempts to be the perfect PIM. And, as buggy as it is I have not found a substitute that is remotely close. Though I have been tempted by some projects like hula or a grouping systems like Zimbra, Suger, etc. together to take over the functions of exchange, the cost was just way to high and the return was negligible over exchange. If all you need is mail, run postfix/SquilMail and be done with it. If you need other functions but can not afford to run your own exchange server and BES just outsource your email to Google. Sure Google is no substitute for exchange either, but it is a bit closer and it is basically free. And I take some exception at the "Exchange is hard" stereotype. Sure it is convoluted and patchy, but so are all Microsoft products. IMHO Exchange is no harder the any other MS server product. ;) Ok, now that I have dove in here, let me get the fire suit on before I get roasted alive :) _____ From: plug-discuss-bounces@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us [mailto:plug-discuss-bounces@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us] On Behalf Of Lisa Kachold Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:56 PM To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us Subject: RE: new hotness? No technical professional today can afford to not become familiar and proficient with KNOPPIX including checking out the excellent O'Reilly Knoppix Tools books that provide s-hexy solutions that defy nix arrogance to trancend Microsoft, Apple and web systems tricks. As for Linux based toys and tricks (as well as alternatives to Microsoft) you might try: OpenVZ: http://wiki.openvz.org/Main_Page Virtuozzo was built upon OpenVz which is a great FREE Open Source Linux based Windows and Linux virualization suite should you want to play with multiple integrated web systems on one server. Unlike VMWare OpenVZ has great ROI cost (free) as far as bridge overhead and disk memory requirements. A great cheap tool built upon OpenVz that uses Microsoft (Intead of Linux) to create multiple virtual systems is Virtuozzo: http://www.parallels.com/products/virtuozzo/ Virtual Linux platforms are wonderful for a development web environments that can host for development QA or Disaster Recovery. I also recommend Vmware ESX server (now available for free download) which allows you multiple virtual machines, including Solaris, Linux of many versions, and Windows. Unlike "Open Sores" purists, I will play with an implement anything and you can benefit from the experience with these Virts! Also, for those professionals locked securely with one foot in a Gates World and the other in Linus Land, check out SmarterMail: It's a wonderful and very cheap alternative to Exchange/Webmail that allows for IM/iPhone access within range, Blackberry portals, mass marketing mail plugins, domain keys and DKM (for ensuring deliverability) and really reliable spam scraping and virus controls via that oh so horribly "difficult to manage" Microsoft-ish interface. https://www.smartertools.com/SmarterMail/Features/Windows-Mail-Server-Softwa re-Webmail-Exchange-Alternative.aspx obnosis.com | wiki.obnosis.com | (503)754-4452 PLUG HACKFESTS 2nd Saturday Each Month@Noon - 3PM > Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:51:55 -0700 > Subject: new hotness? > From: cryptworks@gmail.com > To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > > I have been looking about for the new hotness as it were. and > wondering what dis has something really groundbreaking that makes it > worthwhile to look at. > > I guess part of me is tired of the flavor of the month distributions > that are esentially something else with a new look and a slightly > different package base or whatnot. > > for example Fedora Directory Server is very interesting to me, because > whether we like it or not this will be a windows heavy world for some > time. but what else is there that i cna really sink my teeth into. or > even whats worth doing that with? > > My personal list of Distributions i have spent some real quality time with > > Ubuntu/Debian > Fedora/Red Hat new and old/Centos > Suse/Opensuse > Gentoo > > and a few other that more or less were a repackage of one of the above > > -- > A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from > rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button. > > Stephen > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss _____ Get more out of the Web. 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