When considering whether to use or expand Linux desktops within a corporate environment, many IT managers will need to grapple with their enterprise requirements and the relative ability of easily integrating Linux desktops to their existing IT environment from an infrastructure and applications perspective. It's not always an easy undertaking trying to be the pioneer of innovative technology because you end up being the first one dealing with technical and operational issues that no one else has faced before, which is why some IT managers take the path of least resistance. They wait until someone else has become the guinea pig before them, trying out the new technology. When there is significant evidence of other enterprises successfully using the new technology that is when they jump on the bandwagon to start deploying it. It's no different with Linux desktops.
First, I'm going to address some of the reasons that may hold some IT managers back from adopting Linux desktops in the enterprises. The first reason is obtaining adequate technical support for Linux desktops. Some IT managers may fear that since most of the world is familiar with Windows desktops as the corporate standard, they will be unable to staff their desktop support crew with the required Linux expertise. The second reason is integration with their IT corporate application and infrastructure environment. They may be afraid that the current applications and networking tools they use to manage their daily operations may be severely impacted by technical incompatibilities with the Linux desktop. The third reason is familiarity breeds laziness. Because they are more familiar with the Windows desktop environment, they are afraid to try something new which they have no experience in. Also, they do not want to put in effort in researching alternatives when daily operations seem to be working fine.
Let's start by addressing these concerns. If you are running an IT Shop, chances are strong that you actually do know what Linux is. You're probably used to supporting it on the server side for web applications, content management systems or databases. However, it was probably a long shot for you to even consider using Linux on the desktop, considering how firmly entrenched Windows desktops were with Windows applications such as Outlook, MS Access, MS Office, SharePoint and ERP systems. You pretty much were in a situation where you were locked into the Microsoft ecosystem of apps and infrastructure products. However, in case, you haven't noticed the IT landscape has been changing quite dramatically over the years. What you don't realize is if you set up your IT corporate environment to more open and flexible IT standards, you don't have to be locked into the Microsoft ecosystem anymore. You can choose to limit your portfolio of Microsoft products to just what you truly need and value in your enterprise and the rest you can replace with open source solutions like Linux on the desktop. As for technical support, Linux is being taught in more universities to meet the staffing demand on the server side so you can rest assured, the workforce of tomorrow will be filled with young grads who are 'Linux knowledgeable'. In terms of commercial support, there are Linux vendors and consultants today who will provide you with the expertise to help you support your enterprise. The Linux Friendly Vendors tab of this site lists some of these vendors. I will be covering more on this subject in a later post.
How is the IT landscape changing? Look at what consumers value most for entertainment and personal use: tablets and smartphones. The sales of those two devices are rapidly outpacing the sales of desktop laptops and PC's. What is the most prevalent OS in those 2 devices? It's Android, a hybrid OS, with a Java front-end on a Linux kernel. With workers asking their corporate IT administrators to support their device of choice aka BYOD, the pressure is on to support cross-platform devices. Also, the emergence of cloud computing has driven the trend for applications to go from native on the desktop to a web app served from the clouds, making it no longer a requirement to be tied down to a Microsoft OS platform on the client side. This also addresses the second concern of integrating with corporate applications and infrastructure.
If you make it company policy to produce and maintain documents in open formats like PDF, XML and ODF, which can be consumed by any device regardless of platform, you are no longer limited by your Office application formats such as DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSW, PPT, etc. If you are working with entities outside your company, you will then be able to share, exchange and edit documents without worrying about the different platforms they were created or revised on. This was an important lesson learned from the City of Munich's successful Linux desktop deployment. Also, if your ERP systems are now web applications either in PHP, JAVA or .NET, make sure you test thoroughly how they will run on your Linux distro of choice and browser of choice. That's already half the battle of your decision to either go with Linux on the desktop or not.
As for the third reason of familiarity breeding laziness as opposed to contempt, being an IT manager, you can ill afford to sit on your laurels forever. The IT landscape is changing as we speak and your users are going to become even more demanding when they see that other enterprises are successfully meeting their own end user requests for BYOD. You are going to be forced eventually to not just support Windows desktops, but to create applications enabled by flexible infrastructure, allowing users to consume and work on those applications anytime, anywhere, any location and on any device. That's quite a tall order for any IT manager. But lucky for you, that's where VDI comes into play.
I am not going to expound in great detail about VDI on this particular post. I will reserve that discussion for a later post. All that you need to know is that the concept of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure will enable you, as an IT manager, to meet that requirement from end users to consume and work on applications anytime, anywhere, any location and on any device. For reference, take a look at this example. A university in Japan with a specific requirement to support and access both Linux and Windows desktops for professors and students was successfully documented using a VDI solution from a company called Virtual Bridges. The product they used was called VERGE. Keep in mind there are also other VDI vendors, with one of the more well-known being VMWare.
Throughout the years, there have been attempts by enterprises around the world to use Linux desktops within their corporate environment. Some have encountered success while others have ended in failure or mixed results. If you are an IT manager who is seriously considering using Linux on the desktop environment, you need to learn from the mistakes and successes of others who tried it before you. More importantly, you need to do your own due diligence. That means you will need to come up with a business case to help you decide whether it's the right fit for your organization and not just because everyone else is doing it. It's very easy to get sidetracked by the promise of Linux openness and flexibility. After all, there are many benefits to expanding the Linux desktop, mostly due to IT purchasing flexibility, reduced licensing and support costs, improved security and improved systems administration tasks. However, before any of those benefits can be realized, one most execute all the important steps that will lead to a successful outcome, which includes creating a suitable business case, garnering corporate stakeholder support and producing a rock solid implementation and change management plan. These topics and more will be discussed in later posts if you subscribe to this site.
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Monday, December 23, 2013
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Linux Email Clients
Here are two email clients you can use for personal or business use. I spent about 3 weeks using Evolution and about a week using Thunderbird. I found both email clients capable of handling most tasks I usually perform with email. The tasks I performed included:
Please note that in my videos, I did not cover encryption of email messages because I just wanted to give a preview of both options. It's a setup you are going to want to add when configuring both options for personal or business use.
Evolution
Here's a video I created to set up Evolution:
Thunderbird
Here's a video I created to set up Thunderbird:
- sending/receiving email
- creating a signature
- creating calendar events
- integrating calendar events with Google calendar
- creating and tracking tasks.
Please note that in my videos, I did not cover encryption of email messages because I just wanted to give a preview of both options. It's a setup you are going to want to add when configuring both options for personal or business use.
Evolution
Here's a video I created to set up Evolution:
Thunderbird
Here's a video I created to set up Thunderbird:
Friday, October 4, 2013
Still to Come - Evolution Versus Thunderbird Email Clients
Dear Readers,
I spent a considerable amount of time evaluating both Evolution and Thunderbird email clients for Linux desktop users starting Monday of this week. I used the same gmail account to grab the same mail and calendar events which I have stored within Google Calendar as my central Calendar repository. I also have Google Calendar app on my Android smartphone so that whenever I create an appointment within my Samsung Stellar smartphone, it automatically syncs to Google Calendar which can be accessed by Evolution or Thunderbird. This also means that whenever I create a new appointment within Evolution or Thunderbird it also shows up on Google Calendar and my smartphone Calendar. Mail seems to be good for both as well as tasks. Running a couple more tests this week before I post my final evaluation. Having had previous experience working with Outlook, Lotus Notes and other email clients, this is a first for me to work with Linux email clients extensively. So far, if I had to choose between Evolution and Thunderbird, I would not be able to recommend one over the other. They both seem very comparable to Outlook, which is what most corporate users are familiar with. Stay tuned because I will be updating this post as needed.
The Editor
P. S. Here is a preview of what it's like to use Evolution on a Linux desktop.
I spent a considerable amount of time evaluating both Evolution and Thunderbird email clients for Linux desktop users starting Monday of this week. I used the same gmail account to grab the same mail and calendar events which I have stored within Google Calendar as my central Calendar repository. I also have Google Calendar app on my Android smartphone so that whenever I create an appointment within my Samsung Stellar smartphone, it automatically syncs to Google Calendar which can be accessed by Evolution or Thunderbird. This also means that whenever I create a new appointment within Evolution or Thunderbird it also shows up on Google Calendar and my smartphone Calendar. Mail seems to be good for both as well as tasks. Running a couple more tests this week before I post my final evaluation. Having had previous experience working with Outlook, Lotus Notes and other email clients, this is a first for me to work with Linux email clients extensively. So far, if I had to choose between Evolution and Thunderbird, I would not be able to recommend one over the other. They both seem very comparable to Outlook, which is what most corporate users are familiar with. Stay tuned because I will be updating this post as needed.
The Editor
P. S. Here is a preview of what it's like to use Evolution on a Linux desktop.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Email Clients Versus Collaboration Tools
In this constantly evolving world we find ourselves in -- from getting up-to-the-minute news in the blink of an eye on our mobile devices to encountering increasingly integrated software apps -- it can be quite overwhelming for the average small town business owner when making decisions about which apps to use to run his/her business. What if you pick an app that steals your contacts or puts malware on your applications? What if you purchase an app that you don't understand how to use and manage because you got sold by fancy marketing PR that was thrown at you when you clicked on the website?
So, let me try and simplify the decision-making process a couple notches down for an area that most businesses require to run effectively - Communication. If you are a business owner, how do you want to exchange information with your Customers, Employees and Vendors? Does your business typically rely on on-line interactions the majority of the time versus verbally or in person? Well, if it does, stay on this page because I will be discussing some Linux-based Email clients versus Collaboration tools.
So, you've made a plan to switch over to a Linux desktop with LibreOffice, what next? You need an Outlook replacement, right? Answer: It depends. The reason why I say "it depends" is that technology has evolved to the point that Collaboration tools include email and other additional communication functionality. Do you really need an email client if a Collaboration tool has email and more? Do you really need email if your work processes rely more on updates or exchanges that can be better handled within a Collaboration tool?
Let me give you some examples:
Example #1: Your firm is a bakery. You order your own ingredients and make your own baked goods within your small shop. If you buy most of your ingredients by going to Costco, Sam's Club or a local grocery store, do you really need email to run your business?
Example #2: Your firm is an Engineering firm that designs semi conductor components for the telecommunications industry. Your customers interact with your Designers and Engineers through meetings and reviewing drawings. If most of your work processes revolve around updating the status of the design process for a component until final approval by the customer, do you really need email to run your business?
For the first example, you would probably think email was not really necessary since you do most of the tasks yourself, supplying inventory, baking and interacting with customers in person. For the second example, you might be tempted to say you really need the email so that your designers can attach drawings to emails they send to customers to review.
What if I were to tell you that there are feature rich tools within the Linux ecosystem that could handle enterprise-wide transactions and processes in a collaborative manner? These tools consist of the following on a single platform:
The above is what is displayed on Egroupware's site.
Just think. If most of your processes revolved around approving drawings with internal and external resources, why not handle those processes within a Collaboration tool such as Egroupware or Group-Office? You save the drawing one time into the tool's repository database. Any comments, calendar events, resources or other updates would be associated with that drawing generating a history of the transactions related to that drawing. Why there's even version control, tracking the changes to the design as it is approved by all parties throughout the design life-cycle.
Now wouldn't that be a better approach than exchanging emails with attachments back and forth, where the attachments could clog up the memory of the email server, requiring frequent system administration to free up memory resources for storage? With exchanging emails, it's very easy to lose or find the right email when you are sending it to someone who gets 300 emails a day. However, with one of the Collaboration tools above, the history of revisions and approvals for each drawing is kept intact in one place where all resources, whether employee or customer, can look up information related to that same drawing as long as they all have a login account to the tool.
If you decide that your business really does need email, there are two Linux email clients that come to mind: Thunderbird and Evolution.
I'll go into those two in more detail in a later post but for now, just giving you some food for thought.
If you would like a Consultant to evaluate your organization for a potential migration to LibreOffice or other Linux products, please fill out the form provided in the Contact Us page.
So, let me try and simplify the decision-making process a couple notches down for an area that most businesses require to run effectively - Communication. If you are a business owner, how do you want to exchange information with your Customers, Employees and Vendors? Does your business typically rely on on-line interactions the majority of the time versus verbally or in person? Well, if it does, stay on this page because I will be discussing some Linux-based Email clients versus Collaboration tools.
So, you've made a plan to switch over to a Linux desktop with LibreOffice, what next? You need an Outlook replacement, right? Answer: It depends. The reason why I say "it depends" is that technology has evolved to the point that Collaboration tools include email and other additional communication functionality. Do you really need an email client if a Collaboration tool has email and more? Do you really need email if your work processes rely more on updates or exchanges that can be better handled within a Collaboration tool?
Let me give you some examples:
Example #1: Your firm is a bakery. You order your own ingredients and make your own baked goods within your small shop. If you buy most of your ingredients by going to Costco, Sam's Club or a local grocery store, do you really need email to run your business?
Example #2: Your firm is an Engineering firm that designs semi conductor components for the telecommunications industry. Your customers interact with your Designers and Engineers through meetings and reviewing drawings. If most of your work processes revolve around updating the status of the design process for a component until final approval by the customer, do you really need email to run your business?
For the first example, you would probably think email was not really necessary since you do most of the tasks yourself, supplying inventory, baking and interacting with customers in person. For the second example, you might be tempted to say you really need the email so that your designers can attach drawings to emails they send to customers to review.
What if I were to tell you that there are feature rich tools within the Linux ecosystem that could handle enterprise-wide transactions and processes in a collaborative manner? These tools consist of the following on a single platform:
- Information sharing and CRM
- Project, task and event management
- Online file server and document management
- Data exchange and synchronization
- Incident tracking
- Website content management
- Email integrated with calendar management
- Chatting
The above is what is displayed on Egroupware's site.
Just think. If most of your processes revolved around approving drawings with internal and external resources, why not handle those processes within a Collaboration tool such as Egroupware or Group-Office? You save the drawing one time into the tool's repository database. Any comments, calendar events, resources or other updates would be associated with that drawing generating a history of the transactions related to that drawing. Why there's even version control, tracking the changes to the design as it is approved by all parties throughout the design life-cycle.
Now wouldn't that be a better approach than exchanging emails with attachments back and forth, where the attachments could clog up the memory of the email server, requiring frequent system administration to free up memory resources for storage? With exchanging emails, it's very easy to lose or find the right email when you are sending it to someone who gets 300 emails a day. However, with one of the Collaboration tools above, the history of revisions and approvals for each drawing is kept intact in one place where all resources, whether employee or customer, can look up information related to that same drawing as long as they all have a login account to the tool.
If you decide that your business really does need email, there are two Linux email clients that come to mind: Thunderbird and Evolution.
I'll go into those two in more detail in a later post but for now, just giving you some food for thought.
If you would like a Consultant to evaluate your organization for a potential migration to LibreOffice or other Linux products, please fill out the form provided in the Contact Us page.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Evaluating LibreOffice For Your Business
So you happened to click on this site or another Linux site and were intrigued about the new world that opened up to you when you heard of the benefits of a Linux operating system: modularity, security, versatility, etc. Then you chanced upon some articles related to using LibreOffice, the much touted drop-in replacement for Microsoft Office. You figured to yourself, "Maybe I could garner operating expense cost-savings in the long run if I decide to replace all my Windows desktops loaded with MS Office with Ubuntu desktops pre-installed with LibreOffice..."
Here are things to consider before you make the migration:
1. Interoperability - How important is the integration of documents or files within LibreOffice to other applications your business relies on? Does your SAP, Oracle or other ERP system allow you to export data to LibreOffice Calc or Base?
2. Collaboration - To what degree does your business share document or files internally and externally? Is this critical to the execution of your business processes? For example, do you share large documents which are heavily formatted with version tracking with customers, vendors or employees? If so, can it be handled with LibreOffice Writer?
3. Compatibility - Think of all the file formats your business uses and whether LibreOffice can handle them. For example, LibreOffice Calc was able to read an Excel Chart and data with an .XLS file but unable to read the Chart with an .XLSX file in my video below:
If this is the case, think of how you want to handle this situation. Do you want to give users access to both LibreOffice and MS Office to account for situations like this?
4. Process Execution - Can I execute this particular process and all its associated set of tasks using LibreOffice? For example, can you take all your processes which rely on Microsoft Access/Excel VBA code and macros and recreate them in LibreOffice Base/Calc Basic and Python code?
5. Support Resources - If you are considering migrating over to LibreOffice, do you have an experienced resource you can rely on when you run into issues using the new software? For commercial support, LibreOffice provides a list of certified partners.
6. Differentiation - What does Office have that LibreOffice doesn't have? How often are those features or functionality being used by your users? For example, if you are a small Design firm and your staff primarily use office to send Powerpoint presentations with associated Artwork to clients, it is probably overkill to have each member have a licensed copy of Office. If the presentations can be viewed in Impress and occasionally there is a Word document with formatting that does not translate to Writer, then you only need one copy of Office stored on a Windows laptop or server for the staff to use when they need to view Office documents or files.
Here are things to do to make the migration successful:
1. Create a detailed LibreOffice Migration plan.
2. Encourage your employees to start using LibreOffice at home in preparation for the actual migration. To download a free copy of LibreOffice, click here.
3. Decide whether you want to standardize on LibreOffice or operate with a mixed environment.
4. Create the business case for the LibreOffice migration and determine if there is a return on investment (ROI).
5. Start a pilot project with departments where the migration change is going to be the least disruptive to evaluate the usefulness of the product and how it integrates with the department's normal workflow.
6. Evaluate the pilot project after the evaluation period is over: 30 days, 3 months, etc.
7. Conduct meetings with staff members from the departments which evaluated LibreOffice to determine whether there were any gaps in business processes that LibreOffice did not meet and whether they could be adequately addressed by using a substitute process or technology.
8. Determine any additional benefits gained from using LibreOffice over MS Office.
9. Compile the pros, cons, migration costs and operational savings gained to complete your business case.
10. Make the decision to migrate based on the results of your pilot project and business case in Step 9. Do the benefits and operational cost savings that will be gained from the migration outweigh the cons and migration costs?
11. If you decide to migrate, ensure that you have appropriate Support resources and a plan to handle legacy documents created with Windows formats. Perhaps, you want to keep an old Windows 7 laptop loaded with Office 2010 with each department or put a few licensed copies of Windows 7 loaded with Office 2010 on a citrix server that any employee can access via thin client.
There are numerous benefits to using LibreOffice: no license costs, cross-platform compatibility (Linux, Windows, MAC) and a near drop-in replacement for MS Office. However, before you take the plunge, you must evaluate whether LibreOffice can fill most of your office critical needs. If you find that LibreOffice will fulfill most of your critical business needs, you must prepare your organization adequately to ensure that the LibreOffice migration will be successful.
If you would like a Consultant to evaluate your organization for a potential migration to LibreOffice or other Linux products, please fill out the form provided in the Contact Us page.
Here are things to consider before you make the migration:
1. Interoperability - How important is the integration of documents or files within LibreOffice to other applications your business relies on? Does your SAP, Oracle or other ERP system allow you to export data to LibreOffice Calc or Base?
2. Collaboration - To what degree does your business share document or files internally and externally? Is this critical to the execution of your business processes? For example, do you share large documents which are heavily formatted with version tracking with customers, vendors or employees? If so, can it be handled with LibreOffice Writer?
3. Compatibility - Think of all the file formats your business uses and whether LibreOffice can handle them. For example, LibreOffice Calc was able to read an Excel Chart and data with an .XLS file but unable to read the Chart with an .XLSX file in my video below:
If this is the case, think of how you want to handle this situation. Do you want to give users access to both LibreOffice and MS Office to account for situations like this?
4. Process Execution - Can I execute this particular process and all its associated set of tasks using LibreOffice? For example, can you take all your processes which rely on Microsoft Access/Excel VBA code and macros and recreate them in LibreOffice Base/Calc Basic and Python code?
5. Support Resources - If you are considering migrating over to LibreOffice, do you have an experienced resource you can rely on when you run into issues using the new software? For commercial support, LibreOffice provides a list of certified partners.
6. Differentiation - What does Office have that LibreOffice doesn't have? How often are those features or functionality being used by your users? For example, if you are a small Design firm and your staff primarily use office to send Powerpoint presentations with associated Artwork to clients, it is probably overkill to have each member have a licensed copy of Office. If the presentations can be viewed in Impress and occasionally there is a Word document with formatting that does not translate to Writer, then you only need one copy of Office stored on a Windows laptop or server for the staff to use when they need to view Office documents or files.
Here are things to do to make the migration successful:
1. Create a detailed LibreOffice Migration plan.
2. Encourage your employees to start using LibreOffice at home in preparation for the actual migration. To download a free copy of LibreOffice, click here.
3. Decide whether you want to standardize on LibreOffice or operate with a mixed environment.
4. Create the business case for the LibreOffice migration and determine if there is a return on investment (ROI).
5. Start a pilot project with departments where the migration change is going to be the least disruptive to evaluate the usefulness of the product and how it integrates with the department's normal workflow.
6. Evaluate the pilot project after the evaluation period is over: 30 days, 3 months, etc.
7. Conduct meetings with staff members from the departments which evaluated LibreOffice to determine whether there were any gaps in business processes that LibreOffice did not meet and whether they could be adequately addressed by using a substitute process or technology.
8. Determine any additional benefits gained from using LibreOffice over MS Office.
9. Compile the pros, cons, migration costs and operational savings gained to complete your business case.
10. Make the decision to migrate based on the results of your pilot project and business case in Step 9. Do the benefits and operational cost savings that will be gained from the migration outweigh the cons and migration costs?
11. If you decide to migrate, ensure that you have appropriate Support resources and a plan to handle legacy documents created with Windows formats. Perhaps, you want to keep an old Windows 7 laptop loaded with Office 2010 with each department or put a few licensed copies of Windows 7 loaded with Office 2010 on a citrix server that any employee can access via thin client.
There are numerous benefits to using LibreOffice: no license costs, cross-platform compatibility (Linux, Windows, MAC) and a near drop-in replacement for MS Office. However, before you take the plunge, you must evaluate whether LibreOffice can fill most of your office critical needs. If you find that LibreOffice will fulfill most of your critical business needs, you must prepare your organization adequately to ensure that the LibreOffice migration will be successful.
If you would like a Consultant to evaluate your organization for a potential migration to LibreOffice or other Linux products, please fill out the form provided in the Contact Us page.
New Category Featuring Articles on Using Linux in Business
Dear Readers,
This site was primarily created to bring more public awareness to using Linux on the desktop as a viable alternative to Windows, MAC and other desktop operating systems. Most of the articles up to this point have been geared toward personal and home use. As Linux gains more acceptance in corporate enterprises the world over in the server, mobile and desktop arenas, I feel the time is ripe to introduce a new section on this site which features articles from the perspective of a business owner, whether large or small. My own background encompasses working in Fortune 500 companies and small to mid-sized businesses in both technical and business roles. Therefore, the articles here will serve as guides to aid business owners when making technology decisions about whether to add Linux products to their enterprise.
Sincerely,
Editor
This site was primarily created to bring more public awareness to using Linux on the desktop as a viable alternative to Windows, MAC and other desktop operating systems. Most of the articles up to this point have been geared toward personal and home use. As Linux gains more acceptance in corporate enterprises the world over in the server, mobile and desktop arenas, I feel the time is ripe to introduce a new section on this site which features articles from the perspective of a business owner, whether large or small. My own background encompasses working in Fortune 500 companies and small to mid-sized businesses in both technical and business roles. Therefore, the articles here will serve as guides to aid business owners when making technology decisions about whether to add Linux products to their enterprise.
Sincerely,
Editor
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