“Organizations can beneficially and successfully make the switch to Linux on the Desktop by keeping in mind two core factors. By applying the foundational principals behind two factors, even the most techno-phobic and proprietary software entrenched small sized companies can painlessly move to Linux on the Desktop.” Read the story at ReallyLinux.
Getting Linux to your Workplace: A Small Business Guide
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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I finally managed to switch our organisation at the time of the last regular re-install of the Windows 2000 Server.
I didn’t really have any problems with the “Human Factor” whatsoever. I’ve been a complete zealot for so long and, being the only one experiences with computers here, everything I said was taken as gospel.
I introduced people to the concept 12 months beforehand – substituting OpenOffice for their beloved MS Office, while still in the Windows environment. There was a few grumbles for about a week, then it was found to be *better*.
I finally went RedHat 8 with LTSP (The 2K Server was doing Terminal Services beforehand) at the last re-install. I went RedHat because I could forsee that the default BlueCurve environment would be so basic and simple for my users, that it would slot in beautifully.
Having the OO.o icons, Evolution and Mozilla on the panel by default made life extremely easy – as it is all that they use. I’ve now got them experimenting with the virtual desktops and other apps (like MrProject) and so forth too – expanding their horizons.
The human factor? Well, everyone is *more* than happy – I’ve only had positive comments, as opposed to the daily Windows gripes.
No demos before hand – I just did it. Why give them a choice?
No retraining, either. It wasn’t necessary – each of my computer illiterate users found Gnome to be more intuitive, and OOo was just as easy to use as before.
VIC?!
I’ve never been so insulted in my life. Imagine calling me a Victorian! Bah!
We use a number of third party Windows apps. This is what keeps us on Windows. WINE doesn’t cut it. Anyone out there in the OSS community want to write/support/update regularly insurance quoting software for free? I didn’t think so. Do that (or get a big enough market to get the insurance co to do it) and re-write our custom CRM app and maybe I’ll consider it. Till then it stays on the server in our org.
Anyone out there in the OSS community want to write/support/update regularly insurance quoting software for free? I didn’t think so
like that sh*t was free in windows.
OSS does not mean free u d*ckhead.
Do not f*ckin insult OSS programmers.
The software is free to us. Grow up.
The problem with software porting seems to be ignorance. Ignorance on the part of developers who think it is too hard, not enough market etc.
With libraries such as WineLib or toolkits like WxWindows, it is an extremely feasible option to port – in many cases, it’s a matter of just a recompile! (Assuming the product was written in a *real* programming language, of course…)
Have you actually experimented with WINE and your application on a testbed? You might be pleasantly surprised.
It’s also worth experimenting with CxOffice as well as a *Very* recent Wine compile – remember, they’ve made a *huge* leap forward in file-locking in the last week or so. It’ll have a *massive* effect on the success of using database-based programmes under WINE.
Give it a go before you say “it doesn’t cut it.” More importantly, give it a *recent* go. 😉 It *is* Alpha software, after all. It can change daily. 😉
I’ve also found that many WINE developers are more than happy to lend a hand if you’re willing to actually put some effort in and gather the required info. (wine –debug – it’s not hard!) It might take you a bit of time for a couple of weeks (debugging and testing the latest CVS as someone helps you), but it might work!
Performance seems quite good, too. I’ve had MYOB Premier running under it (albeit with a few bugs on startup) and it runs noticably faster than under native Windows.
Porting with WineLib might be feasible, but not likely till there is a significant portion of the agent user base using Linux on the desktop. Moving to a new toolkit like WxWindows would be too much to ask I think. Most of these apps seem to be written with Visual Basic (and some Delphi).
I haven’t experimented with WINE lately. I have heard that recent version have made great advances. That brings up another problem. I can’t justify having to test and package each of these apps against WINE every time we get an update or when there is an update to WINE. Our non-tech employees need to be able to slap the disk in and install it when it arrives (scary, but true). Still, I might have to try it again. It’s nice to keep the options open.
Is not people or companies that use highly specialized software. Its compaines that use off the shelf software that has OSS equivilants, IMO. Take my wife’s company: The only peice of custom software is a web-based app! Otherwise they use Outlook (Evolution drop-in), Office (OO.o drop-in), and IE (Mozilla/Konquerer/Galeon drop-in). Compaines like that could most certainly “[i]make the switch”. You just have to convince the established IT department that Linux is not to hard for them to use (which means they’d have to scrap the $10,000 the paid for their MCSE training and certification!), and its better for their company to make the switch.
Bravo, Antarius. Your strategy for switching your users sounds very effective. Give them as much OSS software on the MS platform that they’ll use on the GNU/Linux platform, and the transition will not be any where near as difficult (versus just switching overnight on a whim…). Nice job.
“Porting with WineLib might be feasible, but not likely till there is a significant portion of the agent user base using Linux on the desktop. Moving to a new toolkit like WxWindows would be too much to ask I think. Most of these apps seem to be written with Visual Basic (and some Delphi).”
…at a time when there was a lot of movement from mainframes to PC’s and such. In those days, such places had a lot of diversification. They also knew how to get developers to do what was needed to lower costs.
I would think the same would be true today. Assuming Microsoft doesn’t grow up and stop charging ridiculous sums of money for their development tools, or that insurance-oriented programmers would leverage free software in other ways.
I think in the long run, it really comes down to the price of upgrades vs. the price of change. It really is up to you, and I’m not religious about it. Still, I would suggest keeping an open mind and an ear to the ground.
What the author writes about handling the conversion to a Linux desktop on employee workstations is sound advice. A point that has perhaps been overlooked is the fact that he is recommending this for small businesses.
Most every business uses some form of specialised application, be it an off-the-shelf solution for businesses in that industry or a custom developed solution for that business. Often there is more than one such application in use.
In addition, the applications that businesses use store their data in all manner of formats on mass storage media. The formats can be entirely proprietary or entirely open, or anything in-between.
Businesses have their own life cycles. Old, badly-managed, or taken-over businesses ‘die’, while new businesses appear. These happen to businesses large and small across the globe, but the far majority of businesses, and especially new ones, are small businesses. In an increasing number of societies, the use of Information Technology is now considered a pre-requisite when planning the operations of a new business.
By choosing to use custom applications that are multiplatform-capable, by choosing open standards for data storage, and by choosing open source and free software where possible for applications, these businesses can give themselves more options and keep technology costs down. It is at this point that Linux solutions can enter in to these businesses.
I work for a large enterprise that is considering adopting Linux in a limited form, soon. At the desktop, we use a number of applications that are not currently available for the Linux platform and are unlikely to be available on the Linux platform in the near future. Most all of these applications also use proprietary formats for data storage. Thus, our enterprise, like so many others, is on the licensing treadmill, and due to the closed nature of many of the products employed would make transition to other solutions difficult at best, and most likely a non-starter.
Contrast this to a business that begins with a solution for desktops and for servers from Red Hat or SuSE (or a combination of these!). For ‘standard’ administrative and collaborative tasks, the pieces are already in place (desktop management, electronic mail & calendaring, ‘Office’ suite tasks). For custom applications, unless these require a desktop executable component that works only with Windows, these can be made available fairly inexpensively through a variety of methods (usually from the vendor and usually involving a web browser), and failing that, tools such as WINE and WINE/CrossOver allow many Windows applications to function. Some Windows clients can be introduced too for whatever remains (nothing wrong with networks being heterogeneous and using Windows where it will enable a solution).
Remember, the reason why Windows is so prevalent in homes now is because it did so well in the business world, and there was ‘entrenched competition’ there, too. If Linux solutions can do the same, that will increase their chances of being used on home desktop computers more than anything else. Should that happen, Linux systems will become ‘entrenched’ and subject to whatever comes after Linux, but the net result of this is that systems only get better, which is a benefit to all.
“I work for a large enterprise that is considering adopting Linux in a limited form, soon. At the desktop, we use a number of applications that are not currently available for the Linux platform and are unlikely to be available on the Linux platform in the near future. Most all of these applications also use proprietary formats for data storage. Thus, our enterprise, like so many others, is on the licensing treadmill, and due to the closed nature of many of the products employed would make transition to other solutions difficult at best, and most likely a non-starter.”
This is a good evaluation when applied to the insurance-company guy’s case. It might be worthwhile to consider that insurance policy rules change, and that insurance organizations do sometimes re-structure, and can form new companies by way of splits and mergers. Times of change would seem to be good times to explore alternatives. OTOH, it’s always good to determine the switchover costs, and how long it will take to pay for them, vs. the day-to-day savings for free software.
It would also be important to remember that the skill sets for Linux and for Windows are different. That implies re-training, skill upgrades, and staff changes.
You would think, though, that with all the UNIX big-iron that’s been floating around all these years, the staff upgrades wouldn’t be as hard as you might imagine.
A friend of mine who is planning to start up a small market research company has asked me whether there is an opensource equivalent of SPSS (the most widely used data analysis package for social sciences). I know there is a Linux version of SPSS but I did not find any usable opensource application similar to SPSS.
Does anybody have any experience about that?