"Perhaps the easiest place to begin with open source is at the
desktop. Simply add a few Linux desktops and get a feel for how it
works. Most organizations can do this without consuming too much
time learning or administering it.
"Unfortunately, the land of Linux can get pretty complex when
you try to define all the possible choices. There are so many
variants and offshoots that we decided to focus on only a handful
of the more popular options.
"SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop by Novell has a growing presence
among SMBs. You can choose from a variety of subscriptions
including: $50 per year per user with minimal support; $120 for a
year with better support; and $220 per year for top-notch support.
According to Grant Ho, a Novell product marketing manager, the
software takes less than 30 minutes to install. Whitelaw Twining, a
Canada-based law firm, replaced outdated Windows 98 and 2000
desktops with SUSE. This move saved the company 30 percent in
hardware costs and reduced desktop maintenance time by 20
percent.
""Migrating from Windows 2000 to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop
is no more difficult for end users than migrating to Windows
Vista," said Richard Giroux, IT manager at Whitelaw Twining.
“We did a little training with our users up front and have
had almost no help-desk calls since."
