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Tales of Conversion - Using Ubuntu at Work
madgreek writes "Here is a short story about my switch to Ubuntu from XP at work. I have been Microsoft-free for 3 months now at a Microsoft heavy shop. Few people know I am using Open Office and Linux. I create countless documents that people open using Word, Excel, PPT and nobody can tell that they were created using Open Office. From the article: 'When I first started my experiment I was trying to keep it a secret out of fear of attacks from angry Microsoft worshipers (especially from the admins and desktop support). What I am finding out is that most of the folks that I was hiding from are sick and tired of supporting Windows and are proponents of Linux. Several of them are using Linux at home. One of the guys I talked to has Vista and XP installed on his laptop. He swaps out the hard drive when switching between OS's.'"
I've been using Linux (LFS) on my home box since 2003.
However, at work I use Windows XP. The office I work in relies heavily on Nortel VPN + Outlook + Exchange for e-mail and calendar/scheduling access. Not to mention the application I'm working on is strictly for Windows (despite being written in Java, go figure). Most of the GUI code is WORA but there's some middle layer issues that will come up if not run on a win32 machine.
Too bad, I guess.
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Strange, were you using 7.04? I remember, back before I reinstalled and went Linux only for this laptop, the default partitioning was setup to shrink my empty space of the windows partition and install Ubuntu on the freed space. Grub set up the dual booting (with Ubuntu as the default option) and both OSs booted and worked perfectly. I found myself booting into Windows less and less and about a month ago did a clean install selecting the second option, "Use entire hard disk."
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You might want to try Wubi. It's still beta, but reasonably safe, und you don't have to do Partitioning at all. ;-)
http://wubi-installer.org/
BTW: If you install Ubuntu the way one usually installs windows eg: Backup umportant data, Wipe Drive, Install, it is just as easy
I use linux in vmware and cygwin, I love the software, but linux and xorg has issues that make is so I cant use it as my main os. Cluster SSH is awesome, but I got it running under cygwin, so I'm happy.
1. Xorg crashs and takes out my ssh connections. I just cant have this issue happen to me. When I have multiple connections using putty on xp, explorer might crash, but my applications don't. (This is my main complaint, x crashs, all your apps die.)
2. Cisco VPN, my god what is it with IT using certs signed to the laptop name. I havnt tried hacking it enough, but if anyone knows how to copy an installed cisco install from windows to linux, please post it.
3 Exchange/Outlook. Ive found IE4linux runs exchange web pretty well, but outlook is just good at its job. And if you can script, vbscript (ya i know) is there, and can some cool things. (I save attachments etc)
4. Font's, I'm using a vga font for my terms, and the font hints are great, but I just don't find it as easy on the eyes as windows truetype.
5. Wifi, to be honest, my wifi has been crap under windows too, but on my 2 laptops, I just dont have the same quality or stability under linux.
6. File managers, I'm rather partial to Dopus or enhanced explorer, 2 browser windows. I can just navigate files quicker in windows. I find gnome to be a tad slower.
7. Taskbar, really, all i want is alt-tab and a taskbar, get out of my way and let me work. I don't want to have a million keys, just stay out of my way and let me work.
But then, try installing Windows for daily office tasks on a Ubuntu/Kubuntu system, where is the resize option? What is a unknown partition type?
If you figure this out and resize the partition in Linux so you can install windows along side with your Ubuntu/Kubuntu install, where did Linux go after installing it?
Where is the dual boot menu?
Where is the Windows application, registry entry, configuration file for setting up the Linux dual boot under Windows even?I didn't see a need to understand partitioning with the Ubuntu/Kubuntu installer, I did for the Windows installer.No, he has been told that Windows is more difficult to setup with preinstalled Linux system than Windows being preinstalled and Linux being setup after.Here is the thing, Ubuntu/Kubuntu already do this, it's been in the installer for ages.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
The default options selected in the installer are to resize the windows partition, install it. The boot loader updater program is set to automatically probe all partitions for other OS installations and set it up in the bootloader, so dual boot is ready out of the box.
Ubuntu will even give you a migration manager to migrate your settings from Windows such as bookmarks, documents etc.I honestly don't believe you tried Ubuntu from your descriptions.That's great and all, except the issues you complained about, don't exist.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
An even easier and less risky way to try Ubuntu is to use Wubi
How does Wubi work?
Wubi adds an entry to the Windows boot menu which allows you to run Linux. Ubuntu is installed within a file in the windows file system (c:\wubi\disks\system.virtual.disk), this file is seen by Linux as a real hard disk.
For many technically minded people, Linux does what they want and windows doesnt.
Remember, the more skilled you are at programming, the more linux will suit you because you can modify it to suit your needs. Similarly, the entire working environment is far more easily customised.
So you see, most linux advocates are technically minded people, who use linux for the above reasons, which fulfills the same basic requirements that you have.
Oh, and OSX is nice too but if the frontend doesnt suit you (and it cant possibly, one size never fits all) then your screwed unless you replace aqua with X11, and then you may as well be running linux.
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You could switch from OOo Writer to LaTeX. That way, your documents would look the same on every OS. Not practical, of course, if others need to edit your documents.
I encourage you to read about disk partitioning and then try to install Windows yourself. You'll see that the Windows installer is light years behind many GNU/Linux installers. Most users from the mass market are unable to install Windows themselves, and some times even to configure it properly through the control panel, not to say be able to work with Windows through its command line interface, and would of course be powerless to navigate in its predecessor, MS-DOS, even if they had to do that in order to save their lives! However, I'll agree that most OS installers out there, and not only GNU/Linux's, could be significantly improved in terms of user interface. But the fact is that an OS installer isn't supposed to teach you the basics. If you can't acquire this knowledge yourself, then you need to find a computer technician, knowledgeable friend, or member of the open-source community to do that work for you. I'm sure there are many GNU/Linux fans near you that would be happy to come and help you install any distro for you, even for free. The good thing with GNU/Linux and other similar systems like BSDs is that it's supported by a helpful community whose members don't need to call each other friends in order to offer some help, and this is also a good way to make our communities grow and teach new members the values of volunteerism, copyleft, etc that made GNU/Linux possible. So, for every question about GNU/Linux you have, your best option is to contact your local LUG (Linux User Group), usually through their mailing list, or join a GNU/Linux IRC chat channel (eg on Freenode) while you are doing an installation.
And if I have a linux computer, and want to install windows on it, what happens? NO CHOICE AT ALL! Windows will wipe out anything there! In other words, you didn't even consider the reverse scenario, which demonstrates the utter lack of flexibility of windows, amongst other things. It would appear that your IQ is therefore significantly LOWER than 90% of us...(you need to use something that doesn't allow options, doesn't require THINKING, or SELECTING OPTIONS, etc....yep, windows is perfect for zombies like you. Glad you like it. Keep using it.)...idiot M$ religious fanboy. :-)
This is no shocker. I've used Ubuntu exclusively on my laptop for work since 5.whatever - what was the version before 6.06? Now I'm on Ubuntu 7.04. Anyway, most people have no ideas that I suck their MS docs, spreads and presentations, etc., into OpenOffice and blow them back out as MS Office files routinely. We use spreads heavily, as an analytics/systems engineering organization. Spreads don't have to be 100% compatible (this vastly applies to most apps). What percent of MS Office feature do you think most people use? I have only occasional experienced interoperability issues with the following, all easily solvable: - One way issues (MS to OO) with graphics embedded in MS documents that were saved in MS Office proprietary format loading slowly or with distortion. I can usually ctl-x the graphic and paste special to an open standards image format. The problem doesn't go the other way. Any image created in OO and saved out into XP format does not create a problem (my experience -- exhaustive testing with all image fomats not performed). - Occasionally I'll get an MS document that becomes so distorted due to the accumulation of generational file junk (people tend not to use MS templates incorrectly and keep modifying old examples) that I have to recue it by opening it in oo, saving as ODT, opening it again, then saving it back as .doc -- this cleans the document.
- On the few MS spreads that we use that contain charts, I'll concede that MS does some complex charts better. Occasionally I've had to open in Excel (use Crossover Office for those emergencies -- with my old MS Office that I bought and paid for when I bought this same laptop).
- Same issue on Power Point when people use office graphics formats. Same solution.
I also use the myriad of open source apps such as Umbrello UML, saving out to OMG *STANDARD* XMI or png for others, and several others to intake. I really have come to prefer Ubuntu Gnu/Linux over Windows, and have experienced no real down sides, although I don't play games, so don't experience the issues that I understand others have experienced using their computers as playgounds. However, occasionally somebody enters my office and stops and stares at my screen before noting that my "screen" looks funny.
I decided to ramp up my eBay and web sales activity and formed a company. I decided to use Ubuntu 7.04 Linux on the business computer. There are some challenges in terms of software because of lack of mature eBay software for Linux. I circumvented that by using browser-based services: Auctiva - Listing design and other services ProStores - Web Store PayPal - Payments and Shipping USPS and UPS - Shipping when not using PayPal eBay Selling Manager, My eBay, eBay Store Manager - Auction management and reporting (also Auctiva) I also use the following software: Appgen MyBooks Professional - Accounting ($59) Evolution - Business Mail Gimp - Photo Touchup and Re-Sizing OpenOffice - Various Documents and Spreadsheets xSane - Scanning Images Two other programs I may use in the future are Scribus (desktop publishing) and Nvu (web site creation) All this works extremely well on a six year old 1 GHz Sony VAIO computer (try that, Vista!). My day job, however, is 100% Microsoft and it is impossible to do what you did because of VPN, Outlook/Microsoft Exchange, IT Support (including remote desktop access), etc.
mozilla-plugin-vlc should handle your in-browser media needs.
look! it's a bird, it's a plane, it's....a girl? yes, a girl browsing Slashdot on Linux
You'd be surprised... I was doing technical writing and documentation in an all windows shop and constantly got crap about it. Anytime something happened with the internet or a printer or anything the IT department would come yell (literally) at me and how my mac was screwing up their network. Never mind the fact that this was almost never the case and was usually a virus laden computer belonging to a boss who had a penchant for downloading porn at work. Strangely enough, I never heard a kind word when I was able to do layout and design work for a trade show that no one else new how to do with the windows computers. I decided there are better places to work and haven't heard a bad word about my mac since. So this may not be the norm, but it definitely happens!
Get a web developer
People modify all three desktop operating systems (Linux, Windows, OS X) to suit their needs, and it doesn't require programming. Windows and OS X desktops usually have dozens of little third party utilities installed, many of which cost money and many of which haven't been tested together. Of the three, Linux probably requires the least amount of tinkering, and all you need is included out of the box.
Sure you can alter windows with a disassembler, but is it legal to do so? And is it legal to distribute the changes? You may still be able to change things, but it's harder, slower and possibly illegal. Linux is free for you to change it however you want, and contribute the changes to others.
As for third party addons, shell replacements may exist but they always seemed very clunky compared to changing your window manager on unix. As for changing the filesystems, can you actually boot the OS from a new filesystem? Can you access a CD thats formatted with anything other than ISO9660/UDF?
Linux exposes it's flexibility from the get go, and encourages people to make full use of it. windows tries to hide the possibility of changing anything major.
Can you port windows to run on a new, previously unsupported piece of hardware? Can you take drivers which only exist for 32bit versions of windows, and port them to 64bit?
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