SSH is one of those things you get forced to deal with a couple times a year for some irritating task, and it involves firing up Putty, figuring out where you left your key file, trying to remember how to actually load that key file, and a bunch of following steps on some website just to get connected to what you were trying to connect to.
It is not something that I love.
If you force me to use it just to log in to your website, I will decline to do so.
I think I found the Windows developer :). It is loved by pretty much everyone but Windows developers because it really is the best thing since sliced bread.
Funny thing is that many windows developers and administrators like to use RDP, while *nix users generally don't like it at all (usually because RDP doesn't allow easy scripting to automate routine tasks).
Yeah, the Windows-based alternatives (RDP, VNC, or even shudder something like GoToMyPC) are waaay better for quick dead-simple system administration. /s
SSH works great for systems that didn't have to have networked multi-user support hacked in later in their lifecycle. Systems that let you actually get stuff done without having to paint a whole GUI environment to do it.
I can automate running "git pull && mvn clean package && deploy-tool-of-choice" across N servers. I can't really automate "Okay, wait for the GUI to paint and then be sent across the wire, then click Start, then click on the GUI Git tool start menu entry, wait for it to load, then click the 'sync' button, then wait for it to finish, then open a GUI(!) command prompt (in my GUI environment!) and cd to the right directory, then type 'mvn clean package' and wait for it to finish, then click Start, then click on the deploy tool start menu entry, then wait for it to load, then click 'deploy'".
The fact that there are a number of tools that try to hack that sort of behavior in by emulating pixel-scrapeable virtual displays and mice/keyboards is a testament to how shoddy the alternative to SSH is.
Just the fact that you think SSH equates to Putty is laughable, and shows your ignorance. .NET and Java developers, at least the ones who seem to think anything non-Windows is bad, don't understand SSH. When you don't understand it, you don't see the value of using it, which means it doesn't get installed on your servers, and you are left thinking it's only an 'irritating task' kind of thing.
I use SSH on a daily basis. Right now, from work, I have five SSH connections open, one is tunneling, one is tunneling and providing an interactive shell on one of my personal machines, one is connected to the live environment for server monitoring, and two are connected to the development environment. I'm running everything from applications, to the command line to my IDE (vim) all in SSH sessions.
Just because you personally don't understand a key bit of internet technology doesn't mean it's the same for everyone else. There are those of us who see a valuable tool and use it properly.
I'm sensing a bit of ignorance or at least unrelated aggression toward .NET and Java developers. I'd actually say that ignorance of SSH is more related to application vs server developers, and since Java is one of the most popular server platforms, it seems unfounded to even bring up Java developers in your diatribe.
Note that although PuTTY has a graphical user interface, it is hardly user friendly. Using the command-line ssh (with a decent shell) is much more comfortable.
Really? Which developers?
SSH is one of those things you get forced to deal with a couple times a year for some irritating task, and it involves firing up Putty, figuring out where you left your key file, trying to remember how to actually load that key file, and a bunch of following steps on some website just to get connected to what you were trying to connect to.
It is not something that I love.
If you force me to use it just to log in to your website, I will decline to do so.