Unix

Although many people claim that Linux is well on its way to replacing Unix the reality is that Linux is Unix: a particular stream within a much wider community whose traditions and ideas both surround and extend those found in the Linux group.

DECK: Author Paul Murphy's previous Linuxworld article on making the Unix decision suggested that Unix is usually a smarter business choice than Windows. The current article, fifth in a series, looks at what it takes to implement that knowledge.

The "I" in this scenario is that of a hapless systems consultant who didn't do his homework before setting off to meet the client.

While looking at a problem related to archiving thousands of project proposals and reports for a large IT consulting firm I was struck by the ease with which these could be classified into two strongly differentiated groups: those based on clerical or other worker replacement, and those focused on enabling an existing workforce to do more, better, or different things.