G'day Y'all,
If the PHBs pull their proverbial out of their proverbial I soon will be
working on a project of removing all our old windozw boxes (200 odd machines)
and "upgrading' to Windows 2000. No before you say "What does this have to do
with Linux?" let me continue (and I hope this is appropriate for the list as it
is more of an advocacy issue rather than software/hardware).
As an intellectual exercise I asked myself "Could we dump windows all together
and move straight over to Linux?" which leads to another questions which
is "How does one introduce Linux into a Microsoft dominated network?"
Regarding the first question, the answer I came up with is that it could be
done. But it wouldn't be easy and almost not worthwhile. Our users use Novell 5
(with Zenworks 2), Notes for email, require AS/400 connectivity and use various
closed source software for banking etc. The basic desktop could be replaced by
linux. Run Notes under Wine, use xt5250 for AS/400 and Linux can talk to Novell
(at least I had a linux box happily running under the old Netware 3.1).
Where everything falls down is that we have a large number of third party
solutions that are Microsoft (accounting, business intelligence etc).
And this is were I see the problem for introducing Linux into a corporate
environment. It is rare to find and IT Manager that is "Linux Friendly." Part
of the reason is that Microsoft orientated solutions are dominant. The other
factor is ignorance obviously is related to the first factor.
So there is this problem. To be honest, with the current setup, I can't see us
moving over to Linux on the desktop anytime soon. This is not about whether
KDE/Gnome is ready but that to do so would require major changes in the network
infrastructure to give our users to same level of services as they have now.
The solution I feel is in introducing linux as a backend solution first while
at the same time suggesting open source/linux solutions as an alternative for
problems/needs that subsequently arrive. Recently we moved our proxy server
from Microsoft to Squid and thus was created the first linux server on out
network. Also, I've introduced MRTG as a network monitoring tool (and if the
network admin will admit there is a problem on the switch with SNMP maybe I can
get it up and running). I am also considering putting VNC on some of the
servers.
Sometimes, when advocating linux, the answers to introducing linux to the
workplace are a tad glib. Yes Gnome and KDE are great desktops but corporate
environments are far more complex than a home users PC. Of course I could be
wrong.:-)There may have been instances where a company has made the switch from
Windows to Linux on the desktop succesfully. Of course with enlightened
managers and clueful network/sys admins it could work.
In the real world the variables are complex. Due to Microsoft's
dominance I don't see linux becoming part of the corporate desktop soon other
than isolated instances. However I am not preaching doom and gloom. I think
that there will be a time when it will be a viable alternative. They way I see
it happening is to first break Microsoft's stranglehold as the prefered OS for
third party solution. Adopting open source/linux solutions is the key here.
Show the PHBs how it works, impliment and get the servers away from Microsoft.
While I am more or less thinking out loud any comments are welcome.
Cheers,
Shaun
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