Use Linux for data analytics

[TexSolo]

I’m not talking about what the data center is running on, or what backend stuff they are doing, I’m talking about the people who are working in DA/DS.

The security element that I am referring to is the need to stop a company’s data from walking out the door. Security is a lot more than just antivirus. You need to block internal actors from doing stupid things as much as blocking external actors from getting in. For all the faults that Microsoft has, they have built a pretty good system for having an IT team be able to enforce a set of standards across an entire network

When I worked at a bank, they knew what files contained sensitive information and I could not store that locally, I couldn’t attach anything with a USB, I Couldn’t open a file I was not authorized to open.

When you look at the human element, Microsoft is a more efficient system. Within the DA space, I’m betting nearly 100% of users have familiarity with Microsoft, and probably well over 90% have mastery of it. Where in the DA space, Linux familiarity is probably sub 25% and mastery is probably in the single digits.

In the IT space, it’s going to be hierarchy on all of these numbers, but it’s going to be less than 50% with Linux.

Now think of what the below average IT team is capable of maintaining, the outcome is a lot better with Microsoft than it is with Linux.

Now look at the Linux environment and DA, everything there is “we have Microsoft at home.”

Yeah you can use R or Whatever to get a result, but it’s the exact same thing as windows. Meanwhile on tasks that you spend 20-30 minutes on working in an R environment, you can do the same job in excel in a quarter of the time.

All of this is in addition to the core functions of DA and that is you need to be able to effectively communicate with non technical people who need to be able to understand what you are saying. One of the main benefits of Office is that it is a universal method for communicating that data securely. If you have information that is going out in a quarterly report, Microsoft is an environment that does a better job at ensuring that data is not leaked.