Client Wants To Transition From Windows To Linux
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@phlipelder said in Client Wants To Transition From Windows To Linux:
Curiosity question: Are the users already familiar with FOSS to some degree thus the request?
I'd really like to hear about how the transition goes and how long it takes the users to regain their efficiencies.
The client's staff are all relatively young and all have expressed interest in this move which was the primary reason why they're entertaining this move. Being a small company with few employees, getting the existing staff onboard was important and moving forward, they will be creating onboarding documentation to help new employees less familiar with non Windows OS.
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Thanks for all the feedback. I'll be creating a few VMs for the staff to "play" with to see what flavor of Linux they like best. These suggestions will be very useful.
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@nashbrydges said in Client Wants To Transition From Windows To Linux:
Thanks for all the feedback. I'll be creating a few VMs for the staff to "play" with to see what flavor of Linux they like best. These suggestions will be very useful.
Fedora seems to be a really good one to select... I know of several that are using Fedora 28 as a full replacement - myself included.
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@gjacobse said in Client Wants To Transition From Windows To Linux:
@nashbrydges said in Client Wants To Transition From Windows To Linux:
Thanks for all the feedback. I'll be creating a few VMs for the staff to "play" with to see what flavor of Linux they like best. These suggestions will be very useful.
Fedora seems to be a really good one to select... I know of several that are using Fedora 28 as a full replacement - myself included.
Providing the users with different Desktop Environments would help too.
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The above posts concentrate alot on Linux equivalents to Windows software. Have you considered the impact to the business and the day to day business operations that may be impacted by going non mainstream?
Puts Devils Advocate hat on.
What happens when they need to use software from a supplier / client / producer / whoever that was written for Windows and can only supply it for Windows. Also that party may only provide support when that software runs in a Windows environment.
You could run it in a Windows emulator. There's added complexity for staff & support, plus additional time in getting it all running.
Staff will need to be retrained as things won't run just like they do in Windows. New employees will be Windows aware few to none will have any Linux knowledge.
The entire world uses Windows, a few small islands use Linux.
I'm not anti Linux nor pro Windows, I can just see lots and lots of headaches, incompatibilities, duplication of work, confusion, retraining, cost, time.
Can the business run reliably & efficiently on Linux? What's the support base like in the area where the business is located? If you're hit by a bus is there anyone else who can support their Linux based business?
Will their phones, cameras, ipods, wahetever be able to plug into their Linux workstations and work?
What happens if it just doesn't work and it becomes too difficult? You may have to end up going Windows and have wasted time & money and will be asking for additional time & money to roll out the MS solution.
Be careful, this is the sort of thing that can destroy reputations.
And again, I'm not anti Linux nor pro Windows, bring back pen & paper I say!
Good luck.
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@jaredbusch said in Client Wants To Transition From Windows To Linux:
@nashbrydges said in Client Wants To Transition From Windows To Linux:
I've started compiling a list of software they use and corresponding Linux alternatives. Here's my list so far. You'll notice that some don't list an alternative or have more than 1 shown. I'm interested in what this group prefers.
MS Office = OnlyOffice (because of its native use of pptx, xlsx, docx file types)
Desktop email = Evolution, Thunderbird? Sure they could simply use web mail but they do prefer the desktop client experience.
Notepad = Will likely suggest Nextcloud Notes?
Softphone = Linphone, Zoiper?
Notepad++ = Notepadqq, Atom?
MS Publisher = ???
Screen Capture = ???
Visio = Draw.io, Dia?
OneNote = ???- Office: Use LibreOffice for free or OnlyOffice if you require the compatibility, which it seems you want.
- Email: I have been using Evolutoin with no problems, but someone else had issues with it staying updated
- Notepad: VSCode
- Softphone: Not ZoIPer as they are now paid only for commercial use.
- Notepad++: VSCode. How is this different from Notepad?
- MS Publisher: LibreOffice Draw maybe? Who uses this? Just eww.
- Screen Capture: Shutter or Flameshot
- Visio: LibreOffice Draw
- OneNote: Nextcloud Notes
Scribus is a Publisher replacement. But I agree, eww.
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Also if you have any nerdy people in your office, LaTeX can do anything.
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MS Office = VIM
Desktop email = mutt
Notepad = VIM
Softphone = Slack
Notepad++ = VIM
MS Publisher = VIM (or LibreOffice if your employees are all underachievers)
ScreenCapture = Stop using GUIs
Visio = LucidChart
OneNote = VIM (or Evernote for the underachievers) -
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Hi,
I liked how you moved past the OS distro and focused on the apps. Cause that will result is waste of time.
I second Thunderbird especially with outlook accounts.
Check Wine, maybe it can help you with MS Publisher
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