Hi Gary,
Just a few thoughts from my own experiences.
I also support a network of WinXP machines (40+, so fewer than yours).
I use FOG ( http://www.fogproject.org/ ) to automate tasks and re-image
the machines, and everything runs quite smoothly.
Some time ago, I tested a Fedora install with VMware Workstation running
our WinXP image for the Windows-only apps (CAD, Sketchp), and it worked
really well;
- the only problem was strong resistance from stubborn users.
You can also run IE on Linux machines under Wine, but I understand that
only 6, 7, and 8 are supported that way (however, it is always possible
to address that on your own machine, so my experience is that you
*could* get IE9 working as well)
Alternatively you could run a VM which contains Windows and IE. See the
following link for more details, including a link for MS-provided VMs:
http://www.rdeeson.com/weblog/126/how-to-run-internet-explorer-7-8-and-9-in-linux-with-or-without-wine.html
If you are happy with Fedora, you can install it and leave it for 12-18
months, and then update when you've found a stable version of the latest
Fedora release. Since you don't want to update all the time (eg every 15
minutes), the fact that the repos of your installed version will
disappear isn't really a major problem.
I have recently installed Stella at 2 other sites. Stella is a desktop
spin of Centos - basically it is to Centos what I understand Mint is to
Ubuntu.
Stella is really simple to install (simpler and quicker than Fedora for
example), and has >90% of what I want already installed - and far less
unwanted stuff.
So far, I am really happy with Stella on the desktop and ClearOS (also
CentOS based) on the servers.
I am gradually adding features to FOG to improve support for linux
machines (both desktop and servers).
The only real-world installation of thin clients that I have seen was in
someone's home (3-5 workstations). They used LTSP, and it has been
working really well.
I am still looking at LTSP myself, but with the ease of management I get
from FOG, I'm not sure I would get much benefit.
My experience with Macs is mixed: many Mac users love them; they are not
too difficult to support; and while the early versions of Safari and
Mail were useless, we just installed Firefox and Thunderbird, and all
was good.
I can't say the same for iPhones. Trying to bend our infrastructure to
work the way iPhones demand is way too much effort. Android phones are
much easier - and that is despite having to install 5 or 6 apps to get
support for all the protocols eg, WebDav, ICS, etc.
Hope this helps,
Cheers!
Nik
On 04/12/2013 12:01 AM, Gary Stainburn wrote:
I still have 70+ users running WinXP and for the moment have no plans to
change them just because support will cease. I'm sure there are others in a
similar situation.
I would love to move all 200+ users to Linux + LibreOffice but I'm stuck with
having to use Internet Explorer 8/9 for the application we use to run our
business. The providers have specifically written the application to work
with IE but even then have to "mend" it for each new release.
Having said that I'm not sure I would use Fedora as the release/update cycle
would be a nightmare to administer for 200+ seats. I would be interested to
hear people's comments on which dist would be better for desktop (non-IT)
users. Centos? Mint?
I do have two Macbooks in the company and I do like the look and feel of them
but to be honest I'm glad I don't have to *use* them. They're not used by
what I could call "business users" tho so I don't know how they would perform
in the real world.
I'm yet to be convinced about thin clients, be they ChromeOS or any of the
other cloud based ones. I would be interested to hear of real world examples
of it working tho.
On Thursday 11 April 2013 14:25:01 Michael Leung wrote:
I am thinking about some linux based opensource tablet os.
On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 8:32 PM, Tim <ignored_mailbox@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Thu, 2013-04-11 at 16:43 +1000, Michael Leung wrote:
Now is a post-pc era.
I've never been in the major computing rat race, I've always used the
alternatives (never had a C64, used Amiga when Windows became all the
rage, Linux later on, and other things before we had personal computers
that we'd recognise today). There's always been something different.
It's rarely been a competitor on an even footing, but existed for many
years because people did want something different. I don't see that
situation going away. There will always be some alternative, and Linux
needs to stay being an alternative, not a clone of the world's worst
operating system ever foisted upon the public.
--
[tim@localhost ~]$ uname -r
2.6.27.25-78.2.56.fc9.i686
Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I
read messages from the public lists.
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