In this article,
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Therefore, to us, this announcement we’re making today is just another footfall in the right direction. For a while now, all Vesess production machines have been running GNU/Linux, and with the launch of Vesess v5, we are proud to say that it will be our platform of choice from now on.

We will not be upgrading to Vista.

We will use a Free operating system.

Why? Well, there are lots of reasons.

First and foremost, it’s the right thing to do. In an age where proprietary software and software patents are crippling creativity, we refuse to use a locked down OS to do what we do. At Vesess, we’re in the business of sharing information, not restricting it, and thus GNU/Linux was the obvious choice when it came to picking an OS.

Secondly, it’s good business sense. Yes, you heard that right. Morals and ethics aside, Free Software makes for good business. All the CMS software we use is Free, both as in speech, and as in beer. With a wide support community, and hundreds of plugins developed by people just like us, the Wordpress, Drupal and MODx communities have all the support we could ever want. Why pay through your nose for overpriced (and often outsourced) tech support when you can get what you need straight from the horse’s mouth. Not to mention, there are often thousands of said horses.

Thirdly, it’s safer to run GNU/Linux. Everytime we take on a new client, we make a commitment to secure and protect more data. In today’s world, an organisation’s web presence is of utmost importance to them, and that’s why security is one of our biggest concerns here at Vesess. Our servers have always been powered by GNU/Linux, and always will be. No other OS out there can match the stability, flexibility and ease of use of a good server install of GNU/Linux, and no other OS has such a low turnaround time on security patches and fixes. We run GNU/Linux on our servers because we have no room for lapses in security, and after years of experimenting, have found that it’s the only way to ensure a secure web experience for all our clients.

So, in terms of ethics, business sense and security, Free Software makes a lot of sense, and we’re proud to announce today that we’ve officially made the move into the light.

Now on to the fun stuff. Here are our individual setups, and what we do with them.

Lakshan

Our resident RoR hacker, Lakshan currently runs Ubuntu 7.10, the most recent release of the Ubuntu Linux OS that has become so popular over the past few years. On a day to day basis, he uses Firefox and Gedit for research and development, along with Pidgin, Transmission and Amarok, for recreational purposes. In the console, he uses OpenSSH and git to keep the Vesess development servers running smoothly.

Amila

A veteran slicer and dicer, Amila uses Dreamweaver and Fireworks running under wine to handle all the design and coding he has to do. Having experimented with several other tools, he finds that he still works best with the Macromedia products. His favourite non-development tools include xchat and qBittorrent.

Laknath

Laknath, our PHP guru, frequently uses Gedit, Firefox 3, kTorrent, and Evince. Having got sick of Vista a while back, he now runs Ubuntu exclusively. While waiting for his favourite plugins to be released for Firefox 3, Laknath also looks forward to seeing Free, working drivers for nVidia video cards.

Mahangu

A Free Software zealot, Mahangu runs Debian Lenny, the current testing release of Debian GNU/Linux. Our resident writer, he makes use of vim and Ice Weasel on a daily basis. A console guy through and through, he uses fetchmail, Mutt and exim4 for email, and irssi via SSH for IRC. As far as moving pictures go however, it’s Deluge, and VLC all the way.

Well, there you have it – how the Vesess production team uses GNU/Linux for fun and profit. Got questions? Post them in this thread, and we’ll do our best to answer.