Trying toget my Company to go Linux!

cmt

cmt

cmt

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I work for a small Co.(10 people, 5 pc's, file sharing via XP) and am thinking of getting all the machines onto Linux.

Reasons for this are simple. Only one of the pc's has legit software on it (the others are all running the same installs) and to keep on the right side of 'the law' i am sugesting we use a 'License Free' OS.

Am i right in thinking that we will be able to do the basic networking, word processing, spreadsheets etc on a linux based system. There is nothing that we use that is specialist or window specific. is there anything a Linux system wont be able to do, or indeed do better.

I am on a limited budget hence the reason for switching as getting another 4 XP installs with Office etc is out of the question.


Thanks in advance! ;)

cmt
 
In principle it could work.

I'd recommend using a dedicated pc for filestorage and backup. Even if backups are onto an external HDD that is taken home every night. Rsync would be perfect for that.

In reality you're going to spend some time training users and dealing with niggles and issues, is it really worth it?

What are the plans for the future? Ie, what new software packages could become available that will only run on windows?
 
One of the pc's is basically a file & printer server, with regular backups done and moved off site.



All of the software we run is excel, word, outlook, IE.



I would rather the Co did not run non-legit software hence the Linux queries,and we do not have the budget for making them all 'legit'

cmt
 
OpenOffice is more than up to the task of basic office work, although if it gets more complicated you could be stuck :)

One problem I have had (use OO at work, boss uses MS Office) is that sometimes OO doesn't *quite* save the documents correctly if you specify an office format (doc, xls etc) sometimes a bit of formattings gone funny.
 
It is perfectly feasible and many large organisation as well as small businesses already do. Perhaps one way of persuading the company is to remind them that software piracy is illegal firstly but more importantly I understand that the potential fine for each software violation is £10,000. That could end up costing the company several hundred thousand pounds! :eek:

For normal office type work (word processing, spreadsheets, database and email) and normal computer use (web and media etc.) Linux is perfectly suited.

Ubuntu or OpenSuSE will do you fine. The only problem would be any specialist software but even then you may be able to use the Parallels route for that. :)
 
yeah, if you're a business you can get hit HARD with software piracy.

which is why when in my last job i was offered a burned office CD to install on my machine i declined.

I use OO.org and GIMP instead of MS Office and pshop.
 
You can afford five Windows licenses, surely. Just do that and use OpenOffice if you need MS Office compatibility. If you don't need Office compatibility and only need basic functions then consider MS Works perhaps.

Running unlicensed MS software at work is very silly with the big penalties you could face, which would dwarf the cost of legit licenses :)
 
dirtydog said:
You can afford five Windows licenses, surely. Just do that and use OpenOffice if you need MS Office compatibility. If you don't need Office compatibility and only need basic functions then consider MS Works perhaps.

Running unlicensed MS software at work is very silly with the big penalties you could face, which would dwarf the cost of legit licenses :)
Click to expand...

All true, but threw up a little when you mentioned MS Works :p

Stay away from it, go OpenOffice :)
 
dirtydog said:
Running unlicensed MS software at work is very silly with the big penalties you could face, which would dwarf the cost of legit licenses :)
Click to expand...

Hence the reasons for lookingfor an alternative.
 
Id guess the cost of five copies of XP home would be less than the relative cost of re-training all the empoyees?
Plus the maintenance and other issues associated.....
 
how does Open Office handle office excel macros?

(i suppose i could just download it and try)
 
Im going to have to agree with the consensus here. Stick with Windows on the user's desktop but if possible migrate them from MS Office to OpenOffice. I'd also look at setting up a Linux file server using SAMBA. This tends to be the main area where SME's benefit from Linux as opposed to Windows- server provision, as often MS Server offerings are either too restrictive, too expensive or offer too much functionality that they aren't really cost-effective for small operations requiring centralised services such as file storage, mail servers, firewalls etc.
 
I'm going to disagree with the consensus here. Why keep Windows and ditch Office? If anything I'd do it the other way around. Office is the core tool here, not Windows. If you must use some macros that are tested not to work in OO.o, run Office under Wine or Crossover Office on Linux. Otherwise OO.o on Linux seems like it would do the job just fine.

Perhaps I'm being thick here but I really don't see the benefit of OO.o on Windows in this situation.
 
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dirtydog said:
For a start, Windows is a lot cheaper than Office :)
Click to expand...
Ok, but what specific benefit comes from staying on Windows? It's not the software you can run since everyone seems to agree on OO.o which'll run on both platforms.
 
The main reason is that the chances are that the other users in the OP's office are not technical people, they are probably secretarial/admin types.
Changing the office suite is the lesser of two evils as far as learning curves go for non-techie (and probably techie) users Im afraid!

Also, OEM copies of XP can be bought for £50 a pop, you're looking at least double that for Office Standard.
 
M0KUJ1N said:
The main reason is that the chances are that the other users in the OP's office are not technical people, they are probably secretarial/admin types.
Changing the office suite is the lesser of two evils as far as learning curves go for non-techie (and probably techie) users Im afraid!

Also, OEM copies of XP can be bought for £50 a pop, you're looking at least double that for Office Standard.
Click to expand...


Deffinately non techie types in the office.

Will be having a look at Open Office later if i get chance..
 
If they are using MS Office at present switching to OpenOffice shouldn't mean re-training. It is virtually identical in interface and usage terms, it's only an office suite and most of the buttons are even in the same place. LOL. :D
 
AJUK said:
If they are using MS Office at present switching to OpenOffice shouldn't mean re-training. It is virtually identical in interface and usage terms, it's only an office suite and most of the buttons are even in the same place. LOL. :D
Click to expand...

You say that but it only has to look different to confuse somebody.
 
cmt said:
how does Open Office handle office excel macros?

(i suppose i could just download it and try)
Click to expand...

Considering all the macros are done in a VBscript sort of thing which is a MS propriety language you might run into some trouble there. BUT OO does have it's own version of it, which looks almost the same.

OO in Windows ****** me off, if you are going open source do it right go the full distance.
 
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