Real world requirements
User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0 (Windows/20041206)
I'm guess this has something to do with a draconian employer?
James.
No, it has to do with the real world requirements of my job.
G.
Such as? I'm actually interested by this. The last three years of my working career I've used primarily Linux. For a while (at my previous job) I had to KVM to a windows box periodically to use OutLook and some legacy customer management software. Now it's only Linux. Cheers, James.
James Clark wrote:
Such as? I'm actually interested by this.
Sure. Here's a list: 1. Outlook+Exchange. I run Thunderbird to read my home email over an ssh vpn (thanks putty). 2. VPN access to client sites for remote maintenance. This could be avoided by using a more open VPN platform, but we integrate with certain vendor proprietary security products which simply do not work in Linux, *BSD, or any other open platform. Ubuntu now does pptp VPN connections out of the box, but that only solves a small amount of this particular problem. 3. Occasional need to install random windows only products for evaluation. 4. Requirement to edit proprietary data formats in a seamless manner. No, close enough is NOT good enough. 5. Most importantly, ability to have a windows environment to hand for support reasons. I can, and have, run Linux only here at work. My laptop dual boots, and there are semi-workable solutions to most of the above problems. It's just too much work to do this on a daily basis though. Maybe when it becomes easier, I can re-visit this. I am paid to do my job though, not to muck about with computers and software. Perhaps it will become easier in time. If I didn't believe this to be the case, I'd hardly be involved in the WLUG, let alone be it's president, would I? ;)
The last three years of my working career I've used primarily Linux. For a while (at my previous job) I had to KVM to a windows box periodically to use OutLook and some legacy customer management software. Now it's only Linux.
Horses for courses, James. We all have different work requirements. I've actually started to quite like Windows XP. I've even been running it by choice at home occasionally. It's not as bad as people make it out to be, though I am no friend of Microsoft, their business practices, or their showstopping, jaw dropping, chip popping bugs. I'd like them to go away. It's not going to happen in the near future, and I need to do my job in the meantime. G.
On Mon, 2005-04-04 at 10:35 +1200, Greig McGill wrote:
James Clark wrote:
Such as? I'm actually interested by this.
Sure. Here's a list:
1. Outlook+Exchange. I run Thunderbird to read my home email over an ssh vpn (thanks putty).
Have you tried the Exchange connector for Evolution? I'd be interested to hear how that works.
4. Requirement to edit proprietary data formats in a seamless manner. No, close enough is NOT good enough.
I find Codeweavers CrossOver Wine product to be exceptionally good at running MS Office apps (and others like Photoshop 7).
I can, and have, run Linux only here at work. My laptop dual boots, and there are semi-workable solutions to most of the above problems. It's
My laptop has Windows XP on it too. But I only ever boot it to run iTunes, dump CDs, and sync my iPod. Which is why I'll probably get a Mac Mini in the not too distant future for this exact purpose. Then I'll have zero reason to boot it. :)
just too much work to do this on a daily basis though. Maybe when it becomes easier, I can re-visit this. I am paid to do my job though, not to muck about with computers and software. Perhaps it will become easier in time. If I didn't believe this to be the case, I'd hardly be involved in the WLUG, let alone be it's president, would I? ;)
It is a pity we still have to deal with proprietary software but much of the world has yet to "see the light" as it were... ;)
Horses for courses, James. We all have different work requirements. I've actually started to quite like Windows XP. I've even been running it by choice at home occasionally. It's not as bad as people make it out to be, though I am no friend of Microsoft, their business practices, or their showstopping, jaw dropping, chip popping bugs. I'd like them to go away. It's not going to happen in the near future, and I need to do my job in the meantime.
Recently I had to setup a few office workstations for a company. The only two major proprietary pieces of software I installed on them were Windows XP and MS Office 2003. All the rest was OSS (or freeware). I installed FireFox, Thunderbird, PDF Creator, Putty, ClamAV, etc. Had the business not already had a lot of MS Office documents and the need to transmit those documents to and fro they could have potentially done without MS Office. The OpenSource software stack is getting quite good. It's not quite there yet but it is getting close. There was an article in a recent Linux Magazine regarding the "little things" that block peoples transition to OSS or Linux desktops. Users get so used to a small feature or idiosyncrasy of an existing application or environment and become almost dependent on it. Without an almost 1-for-1 replacement of that feature they are very reluctant to change. Only if the benefits significantly outweigh the costs of change do they concede. My own experience with FC3 and Gnome 2.8 (I'm not up to date with regards to KDE) on my laptop has certainly taught me that Linux has some way to go with regards to the desktop. I'm a computer geek so I can handle the constant irritations. I have solutions other than "reboot it". But I have to pull out my command line swiss army knife too often for problems that shouldn't exist. Eg, I often have to kill gam_server just so I can unmount my USB2 HDD. gam_server is a fam (File Alteration Monitor) replacement for Nautilus. It is a very young codebase (v0.0.25) and still has many "issues". Normal desktop users shouldn't have to deal with these things and as time goes by the problems will be solved. This problem is pretty endemic in open source software. Coders focus on adding features and neglect to polish the features that already exist. That is because adding features is more fun. Polish is often boring. The problem is that polish is what makes an app reliable and useful to the masses. Regards -- Oliver Jones » Roving Code Warrior oliver(a)deeperdesign.com » +64 (21) 41 2238 » www.deeperdesign.com
1. Outlook+Exchange. I run Thunderbird to read my home email over an ssh vpn (thanks putty).
Have you tried the Exchange connector for Evolution? I'd be interested to hear how that works.
It works really really well. I surprised myself when I first looked at it. Click it on and you have full access to what appears to be everything. It's a bit disturbing that instead of Linux being a server OS, we are closer to a Linux desktop that has complete interoperability with a Windows server, than the other way around. Craig
Craig Box wrote:
Have you tried the Exchange connector for Evolution? I'd be interested to hear how that works.
It works really really well. I surprised myself when I first looked at it. Click it on and you have full access to what appears to be everything.
Hrm, having used it every day for about 3 months, it is a bit less than stable. The two biggest problems I had were: 1. Destruction of email. It seemed to "partially receive" email, and *somehow* manage to mangle the server stored copy, so that even if I accessed it later using Outlook, I'd just get a blank email, with mangled "garbage" headers. I wish I had kept one of these, as I meant to file it as a bug, but was too busy at the time. 2. General instability. It crashed a LOT. Evo seemed fine running on its own, but add the plugin, and the evo root window would just vanish at random intervals. Needs more work. I've not used it again for about 3 months though. This may be fixed now... G.
participants (4)
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Craig Box -
Greig McGill -
James Clark -
Oliver Jones