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Desktop Linux Mass Migration
Rob writes "With many Linux vendors attempting to push the open source operating system as a
desktop alternative to Windows, Computer Business
Review reports on Novell's migration to Linux on the desktop. From the article: 'Changing any mission-critical technology is a daunting task, and despite the growing maturity of Linux as a desktop operating system, it is little wonder that the vast majority of businesses are sticking with Windows.'"
Until this problem is solved, Windows will be an outsider. Fix'd
Becuase vendors must sell Windows on their hardware, with the rare exceptions of some which might sell Linux preinstalled to only businesses, Windows is now seen as COTS; i.e. it came with the machine so use it.
Businesses are all about using COTS. They don't want to download third party software or utilities if such functionality exists already, even if the functionality is below par. An issue arose at work, where Solaris falls short in many ways to the utilities available on modern FreeBSD/Linux boxes. A "solution" existed for the particular task with generic Solaris, but was subpar. My idea to expand it's functionality was shot down simply becuase what was available already for Solaris.
I refuse to believe that drivers are an issue for Linux, as so many claim. I don't run into any more driver problems on Linux than I do on MacOS X or Windows. Sure, my MOTU 828mkII doesn't have Linux drivers, but it's Windows drivers aren't worth a flip either[1] and, well, that's why I have a Macintosh. There is only one peace of hardware I have that I don't use in Linux and that's a certain 802.11g mini-pci card in my laptop. I can use ndiswrappers for it, but I choose not to. So, there is a solution, I just choose not to use it.
Nonetheless, the two main problems with businesses adopting Linux is it's speed of development and the fact it's not distributed on a mass scale by the hardware manufacturers. Speed of development is a real issue and warrunts a paper in it's self, but it is a real issue. For a sum up, the problem is that companies often verify their configurations, and some applications absolutely requires it. Anyone who has worked with real life crypto can attest to the poor technology floating around the crypto industry. Hand held key generators that are slow, clunky with 1980s wrist watch LCDs... but they are certified for that task by the government, military etc. Air traffic control systems, power grid systems... Linux moves to fast, Microsoft, Sun can extend support on a particular version of their OS long enough for a configuration using Solaris or NT to pass through all the paper work and still be of age. Meanwhile, if you don't update your Linux box for six months, you are seriously behind. I don't think this is a problem and would never want to change it. But, it is a reason why a lot of systems don't adopt Linux. I bet the version of Linux that might be currently used in a mission critical application is really old.
[1] Now that Apple has purchased Logic and killed the Windows development, and MOTU refuses to port Digital Performer and/or Audio Desk to Windows, drivers for high end audio equipment is more a joke for Windows as Windows only has crap consumer level audio software. It's funny, Audacity for Linux is probably better or just as good as anything off the shelf for Windows.
> When I want to plug in a USB mouse I have to hack the XF86Config.
Nope. That just works. Linux has full USB plug&play support. Unlike Win2k, it detected all my USB devices right away (HP scanner, Brother printer, USB mouse, keyboard) and installed them all right away, without the need to go through endless "new hardware detected" dialogs and forced reboots. Switching mice is no problem at all. It even has full "hot-plugging" support for removable devices such as USB sticks. Using a desktop environment like KDE, an icon for your flash memory will come up on the desktop as soon as you plug it in.
> When I want to change screen resolution I have to do the same thing.
Not true. I simply go into the control panel, change the resolution and restart the graphical system.
> Copy and paste is hopelessly broken as different applications seem to use independent copy-and-paste buffers.
I agree. That's my main gripe with Linux dekstop environments. KDE is doing a bit to solve the problem, but as long as I can't simply select a graphical region in GIMP and simply paste it as a graphical object into OpenOffice presentation program, that part of the desktop experience is a major hassle and Windows will be at an advantage.
> There's no consistency between one GUI application and the next.
True. But there are some pockets of inconsistency within Windows apps as well. And thinking of the totally inconsistent drag&drop on Windows makes me shudder. Why should I have to know wether a directory is a netowrk directory, is on another partition or on the same partition, as well as the TYPE of the file I'm dragging, simply to be able to figure out the semantics of drag&drop - i.e. is it copy, link, or move? And that's just WITHIN MS Explorer, forget about consistency across applications.
> The 'productivity' apps are very poor imitaions of Office lacking countless features useful in everyday life.
Nope, I disagree. OpenOffice/StarOffice blows MS office out of the water. It has a totally consistent GUI. Everything is where I'd expect it to be (unlike MS Office, wich, for instance, has formatting opations scattered across at least four menus). It has all the features I require and fixes a lot of things that are broken in MS Office (using lots of images in a large document, for example). PLUS, it comes with an aboslutely brilliant PDF export which is the best way to generate PDF from your Office documents, presentations, etc.
> Printer support is horrendous.
No, it's not. To my experience, printing just WORKS on Linux. I have a mix of local and network printers, a printer connected directly to the TCP network. Configuring these using YaST and CUPS on SUSE is an absolute breeze.
> Linux is not the most pleasant option for your desktop.
"Pleasant" is a highly subjective measure.
> At least in my company they have the sense to give admin staff Windows machines.
???? Where's the sense in that? What are they administering? If they're administering WIndows networks, well I'd give them Win boxes as well. But for anything else, I'd stick to Linux.
Dan.