Ubuntu Domain Server

[Joseph Miller]

OK,
I've been using Linux for about 10 years.  And at first, I did think it was
hard.  Now I've come a long way, but so has Linux.  I do also work on
Windows desktop systems (mostly XP) from time to time and manage a small
Windows XP network.  I am not what you would call an IT Professional, but I
do the management/programming/etc/etc/etc as needed.

Whoever decided that Windows point and click on servers was easy is fooling
themself.  I just installed a Windows Server 2008 for the first time.  I
have never used a Windows Server product in my life.  My knowledge of
Windows XP was completely useless.  All I wanted was a terminal server so
everyone can run Quickbooks and Mozilla Thunderbird from a terminal.
Pointing and clicking (the so-called easy way) led to much frustration and
error messages that I did not understand.  I wanted to point and click to
change my IE security level because I couldn't visit any websites.  Nope,
had to spend some time searching on Google for this "special security
mode."  Installing terminal services told me I would have to reinstall any
applications that I wanted to use on terminal services.  After setting up
terminal services and some users and adding them to the "Remove Users Group"
I still couldn't get them to log on, and forums on the Internet had
instructions from older versions of Windows Server that didn't even help me
at all.  Now I know that I know nothing about Windows Server.  That's my
point.  If you don't already know it - it isn't *more* user-friendly.
Eventually I got everything working (keeping fingers crossed.)  But I had to
go through cryptic error messages, hard to find configuration settings,
strange default security settings, and the OS yelling at me the whole time
that everything I was doing was wrong.  And dependencies on IIS that
disappointed me because who wants to run a web server if they don't
absolutely have to (because of security concerns)?

The thing is, doesn't matter if it's Linux or Windows or anything, you must
know the specific operating system in detail or spend a lot of time learning
each concept before you can set up a proper server.  People who think one is
easier is just because they are more familiar, have specific objectives, or
just plain preference.

If someone wants to make a tool that makes it easier for Windows admins to
run Linux servers, I'm sure that would be useful to some.  But to claim this
as a cure-all for the perceived (but nonexistent) additional complexity is
bogus.

-Joseph
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