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Linux Desktop Deployment Postmortems?
duffbeer703 asks: "My employer runs alot of desktop and laptop computers -- something in the neighborhood of 40,000 PCs. Currently they are all Windows 2000 & XP managed by Active Directory and other big, complicated enterprise management tools, all of which can support Linux in one form or another. I'm looking for ways of making Linux (and maybe Unix or even Apple desktops) an option as we replace or add PCs. The problem is, most of the resources that you find online about deploying Linux focuses on server environment, and the articles that I do find about desktop Linux focus on standalone developer workstations, the IBM conversion to Linux (which doesn't seem to have happened) or things like LTSP, that won't integrate well with our infrastructure. Is anyone out there successfully using Linux for regular users? How did it go, and how did your IT and user communities adapt to the new kid on the block?"
IT's probably best to dive into a Linux or any OS migration for users head first, all at once, so everyone in the office has identical migration problems and can assist each other if the official tech support is busy. It's like the choice between staying with paper, or going with computers, that businesses had to make in the '70s, '80s, or '90s. There will be some people who would never bother to learn unless they are tossed into it kicking.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
Sigh.
First the Red Hat zealots came for me, and I said nothing because I didn't want to run a commercialized distro
Then the Gentoo zealots came for me, and I said nothing because I didn't want to compile everything
Then the OS X zealots came for me, and I said nothing because I won't pay for overpriced hardware
Finally the Ubuntu zealots came for me, and everyone was so sick of offtopic zealotry that no one spoke up at all.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
I can't believe PHB's are using "postmortem!" The term they are looking for is "After-Action Report", or "AAR" in mil-speak. Tell them that using military terms makes them sound bold and dynamic, while using medical pathology terms makes them sound weak and dying.
If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
*whispers* (welcome to slashdot)
-everphilski-
"Moral of the story: technical challenges aside, your project can always be torpedoed by someone who is self-important and more powerful than you."
Amen, brother.
Self-important twats have spoiled the flowering of several potentially beautiful projects.
The problem is not many people dig a paradigm shift, and Windows to F/OSS is definately one of those.
duffbeer703 asks: "My employer runs alot of desktop and laptop computers -- something in the neighborhood of 40,000 PCs
Wow, I didn't realize the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant employed so many people.
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
When I've put my systems live, I normally stand in front of a large banner with the words "Mission Accomplished", before spending a few years fixing a broken system that was poorly designed and planned for.