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Linux OS. I probably should have switched a year earlier, but it's definitely ready for most business users now. Wars have been fought over which distro to use, but Xandros can definitely help a small company be productive right now.

OpenOffice for word processing, spreadsheets, and even HTML authoring (until Nvu becomes available soon). OpenOffice has a good user interface, ease of use and interoperability. Like most open source products, it just keeps getting better.

Mozilla for email and web browsing. I'll switch to Firefox soon. From what I've read, Outlook refugees (poor bastards) would like Ximian Evolution.

Fax via email. I chose MaxEmail, but there are others. Way cheaper, better and less hassle than a fax machine. I strongly prefer email. MaxEmail allows technoweanies to send a fax and we can still handle it as email (choice of PDF or TIFF). They also provide voice mail systems, but we don't use them.

Cell Phones. This sounds a bit cheesy at first glance, but the world is moving to wireless, almost forcing employees to have a cell phone anyway. Unless you're running a call center, cell phones meet all the phone needs of a typical small business. Voice mail is included. The concept of a receptionist, or worse an automated attendant system, is outdated. Putting customers on hold and transferring them three times is not a "feature" anyone should want in a phone system. VoIP and hacking together open source voice mail systems are neat technologies, but they're overkill for typical small business. If you need a small phone system, Siemens makes the GigaSet line that is well engineered with voicemail and wireless. When I last looked, they were about $350 + $80 per handset, maximum of 8 users. New models include routers and other cool stuff.

QuickBooks. Definitely NOT open source, but hopefully someone will create an open source program that can read QB data, or at least a native Linux version of QB. For now, QB Pro 2000 runs under CrossOver, but it's ugly. QB can actually be used for a lot more than accounting. If you like, it'll manage a customer/contact database, track time for hourly employees, provide rudimentary project management, etc.

In the perfect world, there would be one system that did everything. It'd be well integrated, easy to use and open source. That world will never exist, but we can come close. The goal should still be as few systems as possible, less complexity, lowest cost, and maximum ease of use. It should scale well when new employees are added. A small geek company like mine could easily go broke trying to create the perfect system. There are times when close enough will have to do, so you can get to the paying work and the never ending stream of government forms and accounting.

Why are people STILL SPREADING THE MYTH that linux is hard to use on the desktop? ITS NOT! Please tell me what distro are you using? Distros such as Mandrake, Lindows and Xandros give you exactly what you want, they are all very focused for the consumer. So why are you spreading 5 year old myths about linux?

Linux is getting so easy to use its getting mainstream websites reporting about it

Other versions didn't work but QB Pro 2000 does. CrossOver should put more effort into supporting QB as a critical application that prevents businesses from adopting Linux. I don't care if it runs IE or MS Office. All I need is QB and OSS.

I'm looking forward to a native Linux port of QB, but CrossOver emulation is good enough for now.

I switched my small business to Linux 14 months ago and it's been great.

Um, I just clicked on that link, and it's good. I tried downloading the source for aalib (picked at random), and it worked.

this is a link to a page with this link which goes nowhere.

this is a link to a page with this link which goes nowhere.

Hmm, what is this? Flagrant violation should also be researched, eh?

Xandros

Being developed in leaps and bounds -- check it out.

But the NIC was $15, and Xandros is $89.

Seriously, though, that's interesting, because I've got Sarge right here and Xandros is based on that, right? Hmmm. Is it an NForce2? What's the ethernet controller chipset?

With distro's like Xandros getting rave reviews and Lindows pushing further integration and Suse getting EAL3 certified things are now starting to get interesting.

I am a huge Mandrake fan, but they seem to be falling behind in total integration and after using them since 7.2 for the first time I've been considering making a switch.

Their basic distro has not been really evolving and although it started out more evolved then its counterparts, this is starting to change. Most of the updates since 7.2 have been general software updates and a few esthetic changes. Here's hoping being in the black helps boost R&D back to what made them an early leader in usability. Philosophically they are still at the top of my (commercial) list, but I am pragmatic.

With distro's like Xandros getting rave reviews and Lindows pushing further integration and Suse getting EAL3 certified things are now starting to get interesting.

I am a huge Mandrake fan, but they seem to be falling behind in total integration and after using them since 7.2 for the first time I've been considering making a switch.

Their basic distro has not been really evolving and although it started out more evolved then its counterparts, this is starting to change. Most of the updates since 7.2 have been general software updates and a few esthetic changes. Here's hoping being in the black helps boost R&D back to what made them an early leader in usability. Philosophically they are still at the top of my (commercial) list, but I am pragmatic.

Check out the license here

In addition to the freely distributable Software Programs, some versions of Xandros Desktop may also include certain Software Programs that are not distributed under the terms of the GPL or similar licenses that permit modification and redistribution. Generally, each of these Software Programs is distributed under the terms of a license agreement that grants the licensed user to install each of the Software Programs on a single computer for the user's own individual use. Copying (other than for archival purposes), redistribution, reverse engineering, decompiling and/or modification of these Software Programs is prohibited.

That would seem to imply that you cannoy just blatantly copy it and give it to all your friends without violating the license.

WTF -over-. If you follow the download link,
you will see that they are charging the same price for a
downloaded ISO as the boxed set. Great idea...

Anyone know anything about the remote assistance clone they seem to include? Does that mean they've also got a working Remote Desktop Server?

Then again, I may well have become cynical ...

http://www.xandros.com/images/screenshots/switch_u ser_ss.png

here you can check what packges, and in what versions are used in Xandros.

here are their forums.

and here are updates. Unfortunately you cannot download Xandros for free.

here you can check what packges, and in what versions are used in Xandros.

here are their forums.

and here are updates. Unfortunately you cannot download Xandros for free.

How about the forthcoming release from Xandros?

Gentoo definitely is only for the experienced. I appreciate that it's possible to taylor it to one's liking, but to do this one should first know what one's liking is, or what is possible. If you want a distro to combine the good things of Debian (vast array of packages, tremendous package management) with commercial distros (easy, very new software), may I suggest Libranet or Xandros

There is lots of competition on the desktop right now, with:

Mandrake
Lindows
Xandros
Lycoris
Gentoo Games
Debian

And of course Slackware and Suse

Maybe they decided the market was already full. Turning it over the the community makes pretty good sense. Enterprise has always been their primary market.

I'm sure this information came out months ago. I remember seeing it all on Xandros. Any way, I'm still waiting for golive, not a fan of either Flash or Dreamweaver. Most flash stuff these days just looks korny.

I posted about this before here : obviously, someone at Sun got a free copy of Xandros when Xandros gave out 1024 copies at LinuxWorld Expo here, and decided "Hey - this is the way to do it!", and now they call it JavaDesktop...

In fact, in my opinion, CodeWeavers may even be working with Microsoft.

CodeWeavers' most promoted product is Crossover Office, which allows MS Office to run on Linux.

Does this help Linux and hurt Microsoft? No . . . quite the opposite, in fact. Microsoft wants Linux users running MS Office, because that keeps them locked in to Microsoft file formats while Microsoft prepares the .Net version of Office.

On the Xandros home page, the main heading states:

> Xandros Desktop now runs Microsoft Office XP

On the SuSE Linux Desktop page, one of the major benefits listed is:

> Codeweaver Crossover Office for the integration of MS Office

Notice how they don't say "for running Lotus Notes," or "for running Windows applications." They only talk about MS Office.

How did CodeWeavers manage to get Office working correctly when so many others had failed? How did they work out Microsoft's secret/obfuscated calls? Did they get help?

Or if they hacked the calls, why hasn't Microsoft sued CodeWeavers under the DMCA (or the "only run with Windows" clause in the licenses)? After all, Microsoft sued another company who made it possible to run MS FoxPro on Linux.

What argument did CodeWeavers use to convince people to LGPL the Wine source? They used the envy-based "we don't want others to profit from our work" argument. Have you ever heard a real Open Source developer say that? I haven't. Open Source developers may talk about how the GPL protects the source from companies like Microsoft, but part of the reason for Open Sourcing your software is the hope that others might profit from it.

Where have I heard the envy-based "surely you don't want others profitting from your work" argument? It was a common refrain by Microsoft astroturfers, who were trying to convince us that the Open Source development model will fail.

Was there a danger in using a BSD license for Wine? Not really. Since the purpose of Wine is to allow closed source applications to run on Linux, it matters little if those applications include some extra code from Wine.

What was the main result of changing the Wine license to LGPL? It hurt Linux! Here's how...

The biggest area where Linux is lacking applications is not office software. It's games! And when the Wine license was changed to LGPL, it prevented most Windows games developers from using it! Unlike Office software, for speed and other reasons, games need to include some library code, not just link to it.

What do you think the fuss was about? Why do you think many game manufacturers are working with Transgaming, instead of using the LGPL'd version of Wine? Now you know, and I thank Transgaming for their part in protecting the BSD'd version of Wine.

So, to summarize, CodeWeaver's involvement in Wine has:

1) Made them money.
2) Helped Microsoft create an MS Office lock-in on Linux.
3) Hurt Linux by making it harder to port games.

If you're looking for ease of use, then don't use a product like RedHat or SuSE, they're not aimed at users looking for a GUI-ified desktop. Use a tightly integrated end user oriented product like Lycoris or Xandros. You really need to use the right distro for a) your Linux "skill" level and b) your goal in using Linux in the first place. If you're looking for an environment where you can leverage your Windows experience, Lycoris and Xandros are for you. If and when you want to more fully customize or even modify your environment, use a more advanced distro like RedHat or SuSE. BTW, if any l33t jackasses criticize you for not using RedHat, SuSE, Debian, etc ... instead of the more GUI-centric distros, just tell 'em to shut the hell up.

What about Xandros--the coporate version of Debian for MS shops? http://www.xandros.com/windowscompatibility2.html

Xandros is derived from Corel Linux.

I can't find any additional information on the website, but I thought that XandrOS [ www.xandros.com ] was the successor to Corel Linux?

Xandros Linux is a Debian-based desktop linux that costs only $99, including Crossover Office 1.0.

Xandros' File Manager makes this very easy. Xandros has the best Samba setup and usage I've ever seen. It just works out of the box. I know we're talking another distribution other than SuSE, but still it's worth a mention.

Sounds like Xandros.

The distro has been dead for years, but I have yet to see a distro that is as easy to install as Corel Linux.

It's not dead, it was purchased from Corel by a group backed by Linux Global Partners, renamed Xandros, and developed further. I had them send a copy to my brother for Christmas.

Xandros Deluxe also resizes NTFS with PQDisk, proprietary software by PowerDesk (the makers of Partition Manager).

Mandrake's market niche is getting squeezed at both ends, by Redhat working to make their system more user-friendly as well as by up-and-coming distros like Xandros working to make a simpler Linux experience. If RedHat decides to work more at their dependency/updating system (outdoing urpmi and apt rpm) for 9.0, Mandrake's niche will disappear.

nevermind. I just found it here. It doesn't look like you can install Xandros by downloading that source, but it is enough to statisfy the conditions of the GPL I guess. Sorry.

Many of the licenses that govern the redistribution this software require Xandros to make the source code for these components available to anyone who receives a copy of the product. You can access the source code for the Free and Open Source software components in Xandros Desktop in our FTP archive.

Many of the licenses that govern the redistribution this software require Xandros to make the source code for these components available to anyone who receives a copy of the product. You can access the source code for the Free and Open Source software components in Xandros Desktop in our FTP archive.

Many of the licenses that govern the redistribution this software require Xandros to make the source code for these components available to anyone who receives a copy of the product. You can access the source code for the Free and Open Source software components in Xandros Desktop in our FTP archive.

In a way this makes sense. A big corporation will not only (if at all) consider ease of use at the GUI level to determine the right OS to save costs and get the job done.

It is normal for a big corporation to have standards and procedures and if they have them to get things done in windows they can certainly have them to do stuff with linux. As long as it can be proven that Linux can do the same tasks with the same amount of effort (but different knowledge and mindset) then the last decision will be about cost.

To pay Microsfot for support or have it's own support staff becomes irrelevant. What is important is the independence from the policies of ONE vendor.

Right now these options STILL are not as clear to many CEOs or even CIOs. With time and with improvements similar to Xandros will force Microsoft to change their ways (and as we have seen before, they will).

Linux will be ready for the desktop when Gnome or KDE drop dead (I can't wait) and some consistency settles in. Until then, I'll run BSD on my servers (the documentation is much better as a result of the consistency) and Windows on the desktop.

Then you should look at
Xandros Linux
Which is based on debian/corel linux and is quite good

Or
Lindows

Or
Lycoris

All of these are quite good Windows replacments and they will get better. Have a look at each and their prices/policies. Lindows has click'n'run which you have heard of. Lycoris I have used and is quite good.

Reviews are available from

Xandros Review

Lycoris Review

Xandros Review

Xandros Review

Xandros Review

Lindows Review

Xandros Review

Lycoris Review

Xandros Review

Lycoris Review

Lindows Review

I don't believe that they should merge. If they did I would have to put up w/the tons of shit from Mandrake and RedHat while all I want is Debian.

Then download Debian or buy a CD with Debian and install it and set it up yourself. But what about people you know who are not into computers enough to do it themselves, but still want occaisional access to your knowledge they can fall back on if they have problems, and you would prefer they have Debian? Well ... there's Xandros ... which is based on Debian.

Presumably, Libranet, Xandros Desktop, and the PGI installer image for Debian 3.0. All of those are drool-proof ways to get onto Debian 3.0 i386, providing preconfigured access to many of the desired "desktop" tchotchkes. The first two even prepackage the most-requested proprietary stuff (Acrocrap, Macromedia Flash, MS Core TrueType fonts, etc.).

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com

... is called Xandros or Lindows or even Knoppix. There are probably others. I say let the Debian developers make their distro how they want it and let those concerned with money-making worry about making it user-friendly for J. Random Luser.

"Fair Use" is quoting someone else's copywritten work in your review, news item, scholarly journal, or parody. If you can access the media at all, you can make a sound byte / note of it, and use it for your Fair Use claim.

Fair use is also ripping the CD I just bought to my computer, so I can add it to my playlists. Fair use is also burning those rips to another CD, so I can listen to the songs I want, when I want. Fair use is also being able to take that CD and play it on my computer at work.

I did all of that within the last 24 hours. Not once did I attempt to share these files with anyone who had not purchased the right to listen to them. No one's intellectual property was comprimised. But this would still be impossible under Palladium.

I'd love to dump windows and never touch MS again--in fact, name me a Linux distribution that can handle XP's NTFS, and I'll do a doc-and-music backup and install it tonight.

Well, Xandros is supposed to be able to do just that; I haven't tried it out personally, but that's what the reviews say.

More importantly, though; this points out why Palladium et al are bad things. You want to get rid of Microsoft. You want to use Linux. But you still want to be able to get at your data, which lives on a Microsoft partition. Why is this so difficult? Because your data lives on a partition controlled by Microsoft, you have to access that data in the way Microsoft dictates, or find some way to break the system. Now imagine your data lives on an entire computer, or an entire network, owned by Microsoft. Do you see how much harder it is to get to your data now?

It looks like I'm gonna have to stand up once again and go against the grain. I love everything I've seen on Xandros. I think the client is a great, great thing, and basing it on stable, bug-free code (KDE 2.2 instead of 3) is a very smart idea.

These guys are off on the right foot. They don't want /. readers buying the distro: They want corporate accounts. And by the looks of it, they're going to get them.

Why? Simple. The file manager is brilliant in terms of what it does, how it looks, and how it can be incorporated with existing machines, and especially, domains. You ever wonder what Linux has been missing? Well, this is it.

Does anyone else here, especially those bitching the loudest, actually administer users? I don't know about you, but any tiny change will cause an uproar. A rollout of Mandrake, Redhat, or SuSE would cause numerous heart attacks where I work, with users complaining about everything from clutter in the menus (why are there 4 different configuration menus in Redhat? No one's really sure...) to lack of a decent resolution changer, something Xandros already has. Training is a big issue in large companies, and the more you can port from Windows to Xandros, the easier (and more compelling) a choice it will be.

OpenOffice should save companies lots of cash. It's compatible with Office 97->XP docs, and the savings on the lack of licensing on that product alone will be worth raising an eyebrow for the upper execs. Those who still need it for Outlook, Powerpoint and/or Access can keep their copies at little to no cost of what businesses are paying now, or simply buy the products seprately instead of the whole office suite. The only thing needed now is a true, open source Exchange-connecting email client (I know Evolution can use the calendars, but it costs $70 and I love Linux because 95% of it is free) and then they'll really be in high cotton.

I know everyone's balking about the cost, the GPL source tinkering, and the rest, but from a sys admin's POV, this OS has done more in one release than Redhat did in five.

This screenshot has an Internet Explorer icon IN LINUX. Scary.

From the Screenshots page:

The Xandros Desktop menu is steamlined with no redundant applications

Steamlined, huh? Wow ill bet thats a pretty clean desktop!!

Seriously though, I dont agree with the need for this distro (we have plenty that are nice and useable IMHO) but I would avidly defend anyone's right to make their own distro in their own vision. Yay Linux development!

Readmore
" Technology Preview CD that is included with the product contains many of the most recent software releases including KDE3. "

From their "So Secure" page:

"Secure means users are less prone to virus attacks and security breeches as well as the down time, damage, and inconvenience they cause."

With Windows, I always felt claustrophobic below the waistline. Now that Xandros got rid of my pants, I can truly be free again. Thank you, Xandros, in the name of the entire office.

I've done so many apt-get installs/upgrades that I'm not sure you can still call it Libranet.

I'm waiting to take a peek at Xandros which is also a Debian-based disribution. Should be out in the next month or so.

Corel is not distributing WordPerfect for Linux anymore. Their website refers you to Xandros, who say in their FAQ that they do not have rights to distribute WordPerfect or any of the Corel graphics apps and that Corel has stopped distributing them for Linux.