Which Linux

[lightng]

But then you might be surprised just how many small businesses use key, specialist applications that are only available for Windows.

Maybe - I don't know enough small businesses to comment. The results of a survey would certainly be interesting. I'm sure they would still consider other open source products if not the desktop OS. E.g. Open Office.

I know of a medium sized firm who wouldn't have considered moving to linux due to a case-management system which was windows based. However, the tool got upgraded and moved from being thick-client to web-based. Guess what, they're now reconsidering their options.

[bogeyman]

Maybe - I don't know enough small businesses to comment. The results of a survey would certainly be interesting. I'm sure they would still consider other open source products if not the desktop OS. E.g. Open Office.

I know of a medium sized firm who wouldn't have considered moving to linux due to a case-management system which was windows based. However, the tool got upgraded and moved from being thick-client to web-based. Guess what, they're now reconsidering their options.

Interesting point. I think a lot of vertical-market app developers are looking to broaden their appeal and for some, web apps could be the way forward.

However, most of the expensive Windows specialist apps I am familiar with are intensive graphics, modeling or heavy number-crunching workstation apps which wouldn't fit the web app profile.

I was talking with a producer of a high-end circuit board layout/routing application a while ago (this thing sells for about £15K per seat) and he said they couldn't possibly entertain rewriting this for some other GUI. They are stuck with Windows!

Oh yes.

As far as Open Office goes (V3 on OS X Tiger 10.4) I would rather poke my eyes out with blunt, rusty scissors than use it ever again. Back to the NeoOffice fork for me.

[Shimano105]

I loved the idea of a free distro that could run on early 90's spec hardware (such as Debian based Damn Small Linux). In fact it gave me wood.

I longed for an OS that wouldn't require a machine to have to be specced to run the OS - kinda like a car driving its owner.

But I couldn't get any of them working fully - Ubuntu was the hardest to get going. Wireless problems then soundcard problems - and when I did get something it all seemed so slow (Linux slow? Surely not!).

But the only dicking about that gave me any reward was nLite with XP - totally stripped down OS with loads of open source utilities taking the place of the naff MS ones. Job done.

Seriously, try nLite with XP and it'll do everything you need without any bloat.

[Fred Bloggs]

Linux slow? Surely not!

it's not only you. I took Ubuntu off an Athlon 64 3GHz machine running 4Gb of Ram and put XP back on. Running Ubuntu was certainly no quicker and seemed to me more sluggish than the XP installation. I was surprised.

[VectraMan]

But then you might be surprised just how many small businesses use key, specialist (and expensive) applications that are only available for Windows.

I agree, and there's also an enormous amount of legacy apps out there.

My previous client had sold a system built on a suite of applications, half of which were 16-bit from Win3.1. Sounds terrible, and was a complete PITA for maintenance, but at the end of the day the system did work. Switching to "free" Linux would have cost a fortune in development fees, which the management would have been insane to agree to when the current solution did the job.

If you were an IT Manager for a business you'd have to be very certain that everything your staff needed to use would be available for Linux before considering switching. You'd look very stupid in front of the management as soon as something came up that couldn't be done.

[expat]

Linux is only free if your time is worthless.

And Windows is only £200 if your time is worthless.

[lightng]

I agree, and there's also an enormous amount of legacy apps out there.

My previous client had sold a system built on a suite of applications, half of which were 16-bit from Win3.1. Sounds terrible, and was a complete PITA for maintenance, but at the end of the day the system did work. Switching to "free" Linux would have cost a fortune in development fees, which the management would have been insane to agree to when the current solution did the job.

If you were an IT Manager for a business you'd have to be very certain that everything your staff needed to use would be available for Linux before considering switching. You'd look very stupid in front of the management as soon as something came up that couldn't be done.

Yes, certainly you have to examine case by case. I play the occasional World of Warcraft. Am I going to scrap my windows installation, install linux and rewrite the game? I don't think so.

I'm not advocating that linux should be take up by all. I am advocating that its use in business WILL increase. It WILL take a greater market share. Certainly at server level and to a lesser extent on client machines (at least at first).

Linux for the desktop is still a way behind but its catching up very fast. Smaller, newer companies will drive this change towards the increasing use of Linux desktop. I know there are larger companies out there who don't even know what applications they're running and therefore, a complete move over to Linux would be sheer madness.

I like to think I am vendor and technology neutral. I don't sit in the Linux camp sneering at all Windows users and vice versa I don't poke fun at Linux geeks 'cos I camp at Redmond. I really don't care who wins the "war". What I do care about is adding value to the client. Will Linux play a greater part in the business world? My prediction is - yes it will.

[BrowneIssue]

But I couldn't get any of them working fully - Ubuntu was the hardest to get going. Wireless problems then soundcard problems - and when I did get something it all seemed so slow (Linux slow? Surely not!).

I finally got around to putting a big hard drive in my 9 year old laptop a couple of weeks ago. That gave me the space for a Linux partition. It now has Ubuntu on it. Much to my utter amazement it simply works. Sound, networking, everything.

Given the weeks I spent trying to get Linux working off a USB stick last year, I was expecting another battle.

(Unfortunately, now I have Linux, I can't remember why I wanted it...)

[lilelvis2000]

I was unimpressed when I attempted to install Xubuntu on a PIII. It would boot half way then lock up. XP ran fine on it.

I generally stick to Linux as a server platform. it is quite reasonable at it if you remove all the bloat. What's that Linux is bloated!! Ubuntu is serious bloatware.

I would stick to Windows for my desktops..and use Kerberos or something similar to manage the authentication.

Linux has a way to go...and I don't think it will ever catch up.

[Netraider]

I like to think I am vendor and technology neutral. I don't sit in the Linux camp sneering at all Windows users and vice versa I don't poke fun at Linux geeks 'cos I camp at Redmond. I really don't care who wins the "war". What I do care about is adding value to the client. Will Linux play a greater part in the business world? My prediction is - yes it will.

WHS