Oct
21
Alright, there are a lot of distro zealots out there. If you’ve worked in IT for any extended amount of time, you will have known at least one or two. You know the type, the guy who tells you that “blank” is the best distro for everything. I’ll admit it, I was that guy once in my life. If you’re an experienced linux user, chances are you’ve been that guy too. Alas, we all grow up. The best way to sum up operating systems, in my opinion, has been quote I borrowed from Robert DeNiro’s character Sam from the movie Ronin. That quote being “Its a toolbox” in response to the question “What do you favor?”. Of course, he was speaking of guns. However, I am not a mercenary. I’m a system admin. The phrase still holds true for my profession as it probably does for many others. However, in my experience, I feel this is especially fitting to operating systems. At a job interview for my first real IT job, I was asked, “What is your favorite operating system.” Of course, I told the truth. I have no favorite. I use what works best for the job at hand. I felt this was a very good answer. However, the interviewer pressed the point, wanting to know what I favored. Its a shame I did not muster the afore mentioned quote. I finally just told him I preferred Linux, as the place I was interviewing for was a Linux shop and I knew that was the answer they were looking for. So, there you have it my $.02.
