Pitfalls and Options For Business-Desktop Linux

swhiser writes "Tom Adelstein dispassionately surveys the remaining fixes that will put desktop Linux through in the enterprise. Peer-to-peer networking, functional printing, laptop support, single sign-on to Active Directory and a better Device Manager (with a driver-get mechanism) are among the things companies are asking for. He says, 'The Linux desktop could fail if companies continue to pilot programs and conclude that it's less trouble to buy Microsoft. Everyone loses in that scenario.'" Pre-loaded systems are no longer a pipe dream or an obscurity, though; read on for one reader's mini-survey of Linux systems from large computer vendors.

Acidus writes "I called around today to the big OEMs (Gateway, Dell, HP, IBM) seeing who offered systems with Linux pre-installed, and the results were good. 3 of the 4 offered Linux on workstations. While no one offered Linux preloaded on laptops, Dell has some references nn how to install Linux on their laptops, while IBM has a scattering of docs on their website about installing Linux on systems. The reps at Dell, even though they have a series of Linux workstations, had to ask me what Linux was, and how to spell it. "Is that L-Y-N-I-C-S?""

Comments

We've been running Linux for quite a while now

[YodaToo]

We currently use a kickstart install of Fedora for our EE workstations. Customized it with everything we need including configs for the various workstation/networked printers.

We use NIS so that workstations are completely interchangable. Had an EE harddrive meltdown, grabbed a spare machine, ran the kickstart, and the user logged back in via NIS within 15 minutes with no data loss! Could have had him backup instantly if he wanted to go to a spare office.

I can't believe how much easier workstation admin is now that we use Linux.

Cut Dell some slack!

[stratjakt]

The outsourced tech support probably couldn't spell "Windows" either. They don't even have the same letters on their keyboards as you do.

If someone called you up and asked you to spell some random word in Hindi I bet you'd mess up too.

As for the first topic, it should be no shock to any one that linux needs a whole shitload of stuff, Samba and others are great projects, and provide a lot of the desired functionality, but getting them installed and set up and "playing nice" with your Windows network can be a real bitch.

I mean, who here has jumped through the hoops of adding a linux server to an AD domain? Compare to adding a Windows server to an AD domain. Now imagine Betty McOfficeGirl trying to follow some written instructions to set up her fancy new linux desktop. Not all offices have a team of IT guys swarming around taking care of everything. Most people are on their own.

Linux needs to fight this battle in the small businesses of the world. They got a toe in the door as far as POS machines and kiosks, that type of thing. But linux needs to be running on the PC in the back office of every mom and pop grocery store or restaurant or doctors office, etc...

Everytime I criticize linux I get modded down and shouted at by morons for being a MS "fanboy" or "astroturfer". It's all obvious to anyone who cares to look, though.

Frankly, I don't think linux can do it (replace windows). I don't think linux will do it. I don't think we should be trying to shoehorn Windows compatibility into a Unix clone. Linux' strength comes from its Unix roots, and I think it should stay close to them, and stay focused on conquering the backend.

I see something like ReactOS developing into the horse to bet on.

To me, a Windows killer is something you install over some guys copy of Windows, and they never even notice that some of the icons are in different spots, or the Windows logo is replaced with something new. Everything works as it always did, albeit with all the transparency a GPL'ed project gives us.

Just my 0.02. I really don't think linux could ever replace Windows any more than a tractor trailer could replace a honda civic. All those regular non-mechanical folk don't want to drive a tractor trailer, and don't want to learn.

WHY?

[Libor Vanek]

8. Compatible Windows Media player Codecs.

WHY???? Show me ONE big corporation which needs to play movies on the users desktops!

Re:As long as tech-knownothing PHBs keep making

[killjoe]

If you want to migrate away from windows you need to start divorcing MS. Take a look at how Novell is doing their internal migration for example.

1) Do away with office. Replace office with openoffice the desktops (still windows).
2) Do away with outlook/exchange. Lucky for novell they have groupwise.
3) Set up a CMS system (novell used thei ifolder product) which keeps track of documents the employees create. This trains the employees to go to an abstract location for all their documents rather then "my documents".
4) Set up a desktop distro with open office, groupwise, ifolder and you are done.

It could be done with small gradual steps. Novell has done it, IBM is doing it and neither one of them is a small company.

Re:Wuh?

[iabervon]

I think Linux printing is ready, but just recently. That means that things don't come preconfigured to use CUPS yet, which means there's significant setup effort.

The way things go with Linux is that things start out unsupported. Then they get flawed support. After a bunch of development, the right solution is made, but it requires a lot of configuration to set everything up. Then it comes preconfigured and everything just works.

(When I started using Linux, in '96, in order to get X working, you had to write a mode line with the timings you wanted to get things just right. Then X started coming with mode lines for all the nice modes. Now you don't need mode lines at all; the server will come up with the right information itself. Imagine my surprised when my new X server, with nothing in the config file other than my monitor's capabilities (old monitor; new monitors report their own capabilities), instead of coming up in 1280x1024, came up in 2048x1536 because that's what it could do.)

Today you have to tell CUPS what your printer is. But tomorrow, you won't because the software will read /sys/bus/usb/drivers/usblp/*/../product, and look up the right info. Then it will look in /sys/class/printer.

The article is thinking in the microsoft way about getting drivers. Why should you have to click on an unsupported device in order to get a driver for it? Just try to use it and it should fetch (or build, or just load) a driver. If it doesn't know what the device is, it should use a cddb-like system to report the lack of support, and let users who get it working report what they did.

100% identical? Good luck.

[mgkimsal2]

I just ordered 100 lattitude D800 laptops. every one of them will be 100% identical

Wow - we ordered 2 *on the same day* and they both arrived the same day from the same location. They have different wireless chips inside. One person has wireless under linux, one doesn't.

Here's hoping all *100* of yours are 100% identical down to the internals.

It's more than money.

[khasim]

No. Your first step, as with any business decision, is to justify the cost of the process. If you can't justify the one time cost vs. the ongoing costs, you don't do it.

You've never been in a company where the new VP pushes a migration from a working to system to the "new" stuff. I have. I've seen working NetWare/GroupWise systems ripped out and replaced with Win2K/Exchange systems, even though more servers were required and more money was spent on the software than was spent in the previous 5 years on those systems.

Politics is a major factor and the numbers can be managed to show any results that you want.

Businesses aren't generally interested in throwing money down the toilet in the interest of their IT department's idealogical bents, so if the cost justification doesn't exist, it doesn't happen.

Yet in case after case, that exact situation has happened. Again, the numbers can be managed to show whatever someone wants them to show.

Being the new CIO or VP and doing nothing except maintaining the status quo is not going to look good on your resume. That's where the politics come into play. If you aren't already on the most popular system, lots of "problems" will be "found" that can only be "fixed" by migrating to the popular system. If you're on the most popular system, then most managers will not risk their career by championing a migration to a less popular system. Instead, they'll focus on centralizing that which is decentralized and decentralizing that which is centralized.

Blaming non-migrations on "stupid PHBs" is disingenuous.

And I did not do that.

If they think that doing it will save money or increase productivity, they're not going to stand there and say "hmmm... something I could take at least some credit for - nope, I don't I'll further my career today".

Incorrect. The actual thought process is more "hmmm... something that might save money, but might fail and cause me to lose my job - nope, I'm not risking my career".

OpenOffice does not function like Microsoft Office, like it or lump it.

Yes it does. I can sit someone down and they can type and print from OpenOffice the same as from MSOffice.

Each of these also lack features of Office that some users will have difficulty getting over.

Only if the users at the company in question are part of the "some users" group that you mentioned. If they aren't, then there won't be problems.

On top of that, a GUI'ed Linux system is about as stable as a tower of Jell-O.

Whatever. Lots of people use it and is seems to work for them. I'll leave out the rest of your ill-informed rant.

In business, it's about politics. That's the fact. The sooner you learn that, the sooner you'll be able to move beyond tech.