Re: Linux at work (real world)
Have they got usable tools for scheduling and planning by groups? I know I could use either of StarOffice or K-Office to write documents, create and publish spreadsheets, create presentations, create and manipulate vector or bitmap graphics, publish web-stuff, send, receive and manage e-mail, etc. But, can an office full of MS-Office users find/view each other's calendars, schedule meetings (including booking the conference rooms and A/V equipment), plan (and SHARE the planning of) projects, if they switch to a Linux desktop?
You'll find several tools of the sort you are looking for, all in various stages of development (that's the curse of open source development: far more gets started than finished). But have a look at Ximian's Evolution at http://www.ximian.com/products/ximian_evolution/download.html.
a) we could populate 80+ desktops for a few hundred, or a few thousand dollars (total, not each)Almost all Linux distributions are downloadable for free. Your main cost will be installation of workstations and the network. Your largest problem is likely to be hardware support. Linux hardware support is doing very well these days, and Linux probably runs on more older hardware than Windows XP does. However, to avoid headaches, check the hardware compatibility lists and do a trial install on a typical machine before diving into the project.
Provided you have no hardware problems, you should have no more trouble installing a recent version of Linux than you would installing Windows 98. I set up everything on my home workstation in about 30-45 minutes. If I was doing mass installs, I'd use a distribution that allows the creation of a response file to automate the installs, and the average time would be about 20 minutes.
b) we could count on having the majority of our (*)necessary tasks supported.These days, you can do pretty much every standard office task on Linux. If you do need a Windows program, you can run a Windows emulator such as plex86 or VMware.
Is the productive Linux desktop still the province of the loner, or can some of you vouch for it in a group setting, now? (Please say yes! :-)
Ahh...yes. In some cases, you will probably find the tools lagging behind their Windows equivalents, but, for the most part you should get along fine.
Naturally, as a person who might have some influence on which direction our company might take, I'd also appreciate your opinions on the preferred path from a tech-writer's perspective. If we were to pilot a desktop and a set of apps, which one should I plump for? And why?Install both KDE and GNOME desktops; neither takes a lot of space, and that way you can use apps written for one on the other. StarOffice/OpenOffice is your best all-round office suite so far, but keep an eye on KOffice.
Fair warning, though: StarOffice's word processor is only slightly better than MS Word for stability in version 5.2. Maybe the upcoming 6.0 release will change that, but, personally, it's not as handy as FrameMaker.
Nor does it match MS Word feature for feature. However, I doubt that most office workers would notice what's missing in StarOffice.
I'm interested in first-hand (or whatever I can get) observations either from people who HAVE a working office of ten or more people who use Outlook-like features in Linux, or from an office where you're doing a trial with enough people to make a realistic assessment.These observations are based on working in three different Linux shops. It can be done, and with very little pain.
BTW, you might also want to track down the reports of the conversion to Linux in Largo, Florida's municipal offices. I think they'd be 8 to 12 weeks old.
--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com
"But here's the latest phrase you hear as you walk down the street,
Oh, you can't be up-to-date if you don't call out when you meet,
'Are you working?' 'No, are you?'"
-British Music Hall Song, 1922
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Linux at work (real world): From: KMcLauchlan
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