Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Recommendations For Linux Telecommuting Tools?
First time accepted submitter rodrix79 writes "Hi all. I am trying to move from Windows to Linux (Ubuntu, but maybe to Mint). The problem is I telecommute full time and I am having a hard time trying to find the right tools to keep communication flowing with my clients (which are mostly on Windows / Mac). Any good recommendations from Linux telecommuters?"
(1) Decide what you're trying to do
(2) Decide what application level software will do what you need
(3) Use whatever platform (2) runs on
I would not put my income at risk by playing silly games with the platform I use to earn my living. If I want to use something else for other purposes, then jolly good, I'll buy another box.
Can you be more specific? Like telling us what doensn't work? All major chat protocols work, email works, browsers work, OpenVPN works (others may work too). There are good terminal services clients. So, apart from the "I can't have Microsoft Office", what -pray tell us- doens't work.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
And using Skype on Linux is a problem because.... ?
Skype works just fine on Linux. I use it daily, yes, even for voice and video.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
oh, and if you conference in multiple people it sounds like mickey mouse being hit in the balls, repeatedly.
Again, YMMV.
So SIP isn't supported on Linux? Really? I'm sure Ekiga works as well as loads of others: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_SIP_software#Free_and_open_source_license_2
Even if its not your primary means.... and believe me, I am a hardcore linux guy whose used linux on his desktop, even while working at VERY windows centric shops that didn't entirely approve. The key is to have windows available, either as a machine you can RDP or as a VM (preferable).
95% of things, you can find a fine Linux based alternative.... but every once in a while someone is gonna send you a non-xml visio or maybe you have to talk to an exchange server (I never had luck with the linux tools.... even when I got them to work).
As I type this, my work laptop is, in fact, setting up a windows VM for this purpose. At my previous job, we had both desktops and laptops, so i just did nearly everything on my laptop, which ran Ubuntu, and would just rdp control my desktop for reading email and filling out timesheets (which required IE)
Personally, I would love to ditch windows completely...but I need it for steam anyway (my only non-work use for windows), and while I don't mind spending half a day getting a new free software alternative running... few people have the patients to wait for me to do it on their time.... so, I have windows for those times, and just take everything I have to do in windows as something to add to my "upgrade to linux" punch list.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Can you be more specific? Like telling us what doensn't work?
Having already posted a reply, I have a gut feeling this submission is in some way trollish. No specifics, vague notions of "telecommuting" (do people even use that word?), and management-buzzword phrases like "hard time trying to find the right tools to keep communication flowing with my clients". Really? IM, email, online doc sharing, VOIP, video chat, Libre Office (or even MS Office in Wine)... shit even old-school ftp drop boxes: none of those will work in keeping communication "flowing"?
I get the feeling the submitter is looking to say, "See? Even Slashdot -- largely regarded as Nerd Central -- can't think of ways Linux can provide the tools and services necessary to serve the business-ready needs of today's modern telecommuting professional". Or some such reverse-astroturfing thing.
It could also be that the submitter isn't a technical person. But the submission smells funny.
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
Who in this day in age (and I'm talking about someone on slashdot that asks a question about telecommuting)....cannot afford more than one computer?
Have one for linux..have one for windows.
Hell, what about running VMs? Have windows running on your linux box.....hell, get a mac, and run linux and windows on vms...and have the best of all 3x worlds.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
When did you last use Skype in Linux? About a year ago I had the issue you mention but now it runs fine for me (Ubuntu 11.10 x64). I'm using the version that's in the repositories - perhaps the Ubuntu team tweaked it? I've never had the ball beaten mickey mouse issues you mention below though.