Re: [silk] Migrating an organization to FLOSS
On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 10:16 PM, Thaths tha...@gmail.com wrote: Invest in automating the installation. Have someone figure out how things like cfengine could be used to do automated installations. If the desktops and laptops your company is using are diverse, expect more troubles. Uniformity in hardware makes such roll out easier. Yeah. Having a vetted 'recipe' for the kind of installations and getting a plug_into_the_network and get_your_hardware_installed would save you a large number on aspirins. Figure out if you are going to keep your 100 computers up with all upstream package changes or whether you don't mind lagging by a few months and having more controlled (and tested) roll out of selected and vetted changes. That's the LTS part isn't it ? -- You see things; and you say 'Why?'; But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?' - George Bernard Shaw
[silk] Migrating an organization to FLOSS
So I've been using Ubuntu on my machine at work and the team I manage all use Ubuntu - the rest of the organization seems to wonder why I never have virus problems and have seen that the basics an office computer requires, browser + office suite, is available on Ubuntu and we're considering migrating everyone to Ubuntu. Some 50 desktops and 50 laptops. Would anyone have advice? A manual? Guidelines? (And yes, other distro's might be better but this is the only one I'm comfortable using...) -- Please read our new blog at: http://blog.prathambooks.org
Re: [silk] Migrating an organization to FLOSS
On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 9:36 AM, Gautam John gkj...@gmail.com wrote: So I've been using Ubuntu on my machine at work and the team I manage all use Ubuntu - the rest of the organization seems to wonder why I never have virus problems and have seen that the basics an office computer requires, browser + office suite, is available on Ubuntu and we're considering migrating everyone to Ubuntu. Some 50 desktops and 50 laptops. Would anyone have advice? A manual? Guidelines? You could ask on the ubuntu-india mailing list(s) to begin with. There are the standard manuals/guides on System Deployment and stuff on the ubuntu wiki, but you probably have been there. (And yes, other distro's might be better but this is the only one I'm comfortable using...) Heh :) -- You see things; and you say 'Why?'; But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?' - George Bernard Shaw
Re: [silk] Migrating an organization to FLOSS
On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 9:40 AM, Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay sankarshan.mukhopadh...@gmail.com wrote: You could ask on the ubuntu-india mailing list(s) to begin with. There are the standard manuals/guides on System Deployment and stuff on the ubuntu wiki, but you probably have been there. I have not. I shall look. Thanks! -- Please read our new blog at: http://blog.prathambooks.org
Re: [silk] Migrating an organization to FLOSS
On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 9:41 AM, Gautam John gkj...@gmail.com wrote: On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 9:40 AM, Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay sankarshan.mukhopadh...@gmail.com wrote: You could ask on the ubuntu-india mailing list(s) to begin with. There are the standard manuals/guides on System Deployment and stuff on the ubuntu wiki, but you probably have been there. The biggest stumbling block I've seen in the desktop migrations I have done are : a) MS Excel spreadsheets with macros and use of collaborative workgroup features b) Peripherals - Scanners / Some of the printers / some webcams, WiFi dongles / PCI cards using prop. stuff c) MS-Access and VB apps d) Intranet sites that use ActiveX control or EOT web fonts e) MS-Exchange servers used with Outlook's Calendering / collab stuff So if you are not majorly into the above or have parallel systems in place you should be good to go cheers -indra
Re: [silk] Migrating an organization to FLOSS
Thanks Indranil. The biggest stumbling block I've seen in the desktop migrations I have done are : a) MS Excel spreadsheets with macros and use of collaborative workgroup features Don't use that much - we're a small non-profit. b) Peripherals - Scanners / Some of the printers / some webcams, WiFi dongles / PCI cards using prop. stuff Yes but we're lucky because we use HP printers and those are well supported. c) MS-Access and VB apps Nope. d) Intranet sites that use ActiveX control or EOT web fonts No to the first but yes to the second. As in, we do a lot of indic language content work. e) MS-Exchange servers used with Outlook's Calendering / collab stuff Nope. We use Google Apps for this. What about running Tally in a Virtual Box? -- Please read our new blog at: http://blog.prathambooks.org
Re: [silk] Migrating an organization to FLOSS
Gautam John wrote: Would anyone have advice? A manual? Guidelines? If you are in Delhi or NCR region, get onto the Delhi LUG mailing list and post your question there. Most likely, you will be get a response from Sudev Brar, who was instrumental in moving his entire company to Linux. He first made a group of influential people in his company, who were willing to experiment around, and migrated them to Linux. This gave them an idea of what the stumbling blocks are. These people then moved back to their own group and helped others in their transition to Linux. They adopted LTSP - one powerful box with dumb terminals connected to it. IIRC, they had some problem in migrating their accounting software. HTH -- raj shekhar facts: http://rajshekhar.net opinions: http://rajshekhar.net/blog I've never made anyone's life easier and you know it!
Re: [silk] Migrating an organization to FLOSS
Hi Gautam, On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 11:30 AM, Gautam John gkj...@gmail.com wrote: d) Intranet sites that use ActiveX control or EOT web fonts No to the first but yes to the second. As in, we do a lot of indic language content work. Moving towards Unicode and OTF along with the Web Fonts in CSS3 standards might be the way to go ahead. What about running Tally in a Virtual Box? multi-user version or standalone single user? -indra
Re: [silk] Migrating an organization to FLOSS
On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 11:29 AM, Raj Shekhar spa...@rajshekhar.net wrote: If you are in Delhi or NCR region, get onto the Delhi LUG mailing list and I'm in Bangalore but I will mail them to see what advice I can get. Thanks! -- Please read our new blog at: http://blog.prathambooks.org
Re: [silk] Migrating an organization to FLOSS
On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 12:16 PM, Indranil Das Gupta indr...@gmail.com wrote: What about running Tally in a Virtual Box? multi-user version or standalone single user? Multi, unfortunately. But can the server be on an XP box and the clients on a virtual box? -- Please read our new blog at: http://blog.prathambooks.org
