Open-Source Options for Small Business
Apr 17, 2009, 01:32 (0 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Drew Robb)
WEBINAR:
On-Demand
Re-Imagining Linux Platforms to Meet the Needs of Cloud Service Providers
"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Canada-based law firm, replaced outdated Windows 98 and 2000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."
Complete Story
Related Stories:
- Do Open Source Companies *Really* Support Free Software?(Apr 01, 2009)
- Server Sales Fall 14 Percent in Q4(Feb 27, 2009)
- Connecting to Windows servers from GNU/Linux using pyNeighborhood(Feb 21, 2009)
- Samba - The Interoperability Dance(Feb 19, 2009)
- Linux's Active Directory Killer Is A Step Closer(Jan 24, 2009)
- Active Directory comes to Linux with Samba 4(Jan 19, 2009)
- No Accounting Software for Linux?(Nov 26, 2008)
- Lenovo Offers 60-Day Money Back Guarantee On Linux and Windows Servers(Nov 15, 2008)
- How to Integrate windows Active Directory and Samba in Ubuntu(Nov 12, 2008)
- Lenovo Servers Debut With Windows, Linux Support(Oct 29, 2008)
- How to Network Vista, XP, Linux and OS X(Oct 21, 2008)
