Conversion to Linux

[Billy Crook]

The red pill for leaving windows, and entering GNU+Linux, is web
applications.  The more business people in your company can do in
their browser, the better off you will be.  So far as fat
applications, ASAP, more people from IE to FF and MSOffice to
OpenOffice.  Then the transition will be less drastic when it happens.
 Pidgin can do most IM protocols on Earth so if you have IM in your
company give it a shot.

Evolution can use an exchange server.  Originally it did this by using
outlook web access in the background.  Since MS' recent flirtation
with the EU's courts, it might support more direct integration now.
There is a Free Software protocol compatible replacement for exchange
if you wanted to move the email server to GNU before the last of your
Outlook using users.  Mail really should be a web app though.  It
avoids all the problems of concurrency, and synchronization from
having multiple clients.  If your company is small enough, you can get
company branded gmail from google (Google Apps)  It's also well worth
the cost to buy their paid service.  It works with outlook, and is
dead simple to set up.

You should spend time reading what SAMBA can do.  It is many many many
times more powerful than Microsoft's own fileserver implementation.
Its flexability alone is reason to use it over windows fileservers.
If you rely heavily on Active Directory, or specifically, group
policy, you might have some adventure ahead.  Complete drop-in
replacements for all of what AD's features do not yet exist in GNU,
but they are not all really necessary in GNU.  Learn bash scripting,
and setup key-based-auth for ssh, and you might be surprised how
manageable a fleet of GNU+Linux machines can be.

As always, if you get stuck on something, google it, man page it,
email the kclug list, or ask about it at the meeting.  Most likely
anything that you run in to, someone else has already.

Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 10:41, Haworth, Michael A.
<Michael_Haworth at pas-technologies.com> wrote:
> OK, now the real reason for joining KCLUG – I am looking for information and
> wisdom. The company that I work for is contemplating a major shift from
> Microsoft to Linux within the next year or so. I am pretty much the only
> Linux-savvy guy here, and that isn't saying much. I have messed around with
> Ubuntu, Linspire, and a few other distros, and Ubuntu is wowing the
> executives right now with its ability to access windows shares, etc. – they
> want me to draw up a rough plan of what it would take to switch to linux in
> a gradual way. I am looking for some help and guidance, please no flame
> wars…
>
>
>
> Michael Haworth
>
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