Comment by vocatus_gate | Hacker News Reader

Comment by vocatus_gate | Hacker News Reader

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They weren't "my" experiments - I was the station network engineer with double-duty as helpdesk/IT person.

Imagine this: you're a broke grad student and you're given $xx grant money to conduct a certain experiment in N months. What are you going to spend your VERY limited time+money on? Finding a good Linux hardware developer to roll some custom solution that no one can understand or support? Or just throw together some hacky Python or .net MVP that will run on Windows which practically anyone in the world can troubleshoot with basic knowledge?

Linux is great and all (runs on all my systems except one), but it is NOT the best option when there are heavy time constraints and the system is going somewhere very remote where there will be one, MAYBE two people with basic IT knowledge to troubleshoot.

What are you going to spend your VERY limited time+money on? Finding a good Linux hardware developer to roll some custom solution that no one can understand or support?

Just install some distro and "just throw together some hacky Python". If you had some hardware and measurement instruments that require Windows for drivers then I could understand it, otherwise it's just negligence.

> or .net MVP that will run on Windows which practically anyone in the world can troubleshoot with basic knowledge?

In my experience people who claim that they could troubleshoot Windows is usually just that - they claim it but rarely can they actually fix anything.

I don't know, maybe Windows is that much better and easier to use for everyone and I just can see it - who knows...

> If you had some hardware and measurement instruments that require Windows for drivers then I could understand it

It likely is. I have read similar stores about having to refurb an aging 386 or 486 running DOS. This because it is being used to operate a very expensive particle sensor, and the company that made it is long gone.

And if you want to replace said sensor you first have to get the funding to do so, and then you have to shut down the lab for a year to run calibrations so that the results from the new sensors can be compared to those of the old one.

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