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So why not put Linux on your business desktops?

• Tags:
• Exchange,
• KDE,
• GNOME,
• Linux

Peter Judge ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 28 Nov 2005 15:45 GMT

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The encroachment of Linux and other free or open source software on the server is well-documented; first at the edge of the network running web servers, email servers and the like, and now increasingly in the datacentre. But what about Linux on the desktop?

Linux desktop packages now include more and more features and are packaged up better and better. The specifications and prices of the packages in our current shoot-out of Linux desktops should be enough to make anyone at least consider making the switch to open source.

For many businesses it can make good sense, given that Microsoft's Windows Vista remains a distant prospect, and there are still exploits emerging for Windows XP, even with the latest Service Pack installed.

Any self-respecting Linux package now includes a complete office suite together with email, calendaring software and extras such as instant messaging. All for free — or at worst for around the price of Windows XP on its own.

Some large users, like Bristol Council, are using open source applications on their Windows machines, replacing Microsoft Office with OpenOffice or StarOffice, and Microsoft's Internet Explorer with Firefox. Paris is moving its government servers to Linux, and also using Firefox and OpenOffice on the desktop.

However when it comes to replacing the actual desktop operating systems with Linux there is more reluctance. The UK government-backed Open Source Academy points to Orwell School near Ispswich, which turned its PCs into terminals to use a thin-client solution, while Birmingham Council is running a trial backed by the Open Source Academy and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, aimed at assessing how practical a Linux desktop is.

Although Les Timms, IT manager at Birmingham Council, says the trial is going well — and 40 PCs in public libraries have been replaced with Linux machines — the final results are not due to be published until February 2006.

Why not just go straight away?
On the basis of ZDNet UK's experience, the problem is certainly not in the components of the operating system, nor in the way they are put together. We completed a shoot-out of Linux desktops designed to find out whether any of them is ready to step into Microsoft Windows' boots as a basic office software platform.

The reviews all took the same approach: install the software on a standard hardware platform, and check out basic features that matter when you have an existing (often Microsoft) infrastructure to make it work with. Features we considered important included email and calendar connectivity with Exchange, printer support for networked printers, instant messaging for other communications needs and software updates to keep patches and upgrades current.

Beyond that, we also looked at the availability — and price — of support. We tested Linux distributions both on a desktop machine and on a laptop.

The install
Installing a Linux distribution is not the same as installing Windows, but it is enough like it to be relatively unchallenging. It is also something — as with Windows installs — that will typically be done by whoever is in charge of IT, not by the ordinary end user.

There are one or two main differences with Linux installs. First, Linux distributions usually expect to find at least one existing operating system on your machine. The software offers to partition the hard drive for you, and preserve the Windows system that is (usually) already there. You then have a dual-boot machine, and can choose which OS at power-up. Of course if your office is going over to Linux, you won't need to make dual-boot machines as a rule.

Some installers are not so good at helping you through the partitioning. Of the ones we tried, SUSE's YaST2 configuration tool stood out. It explained things well, gave us a chance to back out of poor choices, and gave good prompts and advice. Unfortunately Ubuntu...

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