Linux on the desktop: cheap trick or pragmatist’s dream?

Are you experienced?

By Jon Collins, 30th March 2009

Reg Tech Panel Welcome to our third and final poll on desktop operating systems. First, we looked at Vista readiness for business use: you can check out a short write up of that one here. Then we moved onto one of the main contenders to desktop Windows, Mac OS X. In this week's poll we turn our attention to desktop Linux: the challenge is to build a clear picture of where desktop Linux can fit, and if so how to make best use of it.

Regardless of where your open source desktop experience stems from – the wisdom of decades, hard-nosed business life or the wilful enthusiasm of youth - we’d love to hear your views on where things are at in your organisation regarding deployment of Linux on the desktop. There’s no such thing as a wrong answer in these things, but the more experience you have, the more we want to hear from you.

So, please do grab a coffee and take a few minutes out to complete our little poll. It has been designed to capture your words of wisdom, or indeed your frustrations: when we have sufficient responses we shall get back to you sharpish with as clear a picture as possible of what you told us, based on all three surveys.

The Register's Linux on the Desktop Survey

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Latest Comments

Posted Tuesday 7th April 2009 08:58 GMT

Walking Turtle

@ jake (Wednesday 1st April 2009)

> ..."So my 100K+ seat client doesn't really use Linux & BSD, then? News to me"...

Jake, if ever I should find myself in the unlikely position in this life of actually needing to know how to scale up to such a thing and all Google-izations just fail the concept, I think I'd lke to ping you next.

Until then, I'll keep the faith and count my blessings. Thanks for the good word. :)

Posted Wednesday 1st April 2009 21:46 GMT

jake

@Fraiser @zig158

"You are aware that an install base into thousands, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of seats couldn't exist without a pretty powerfull directory system? Currently the only directories that I can think of that are up to this are AD and maybe Novell's offering at a push."

Oh. So my 100K+ seat client doesn't really use Linux & BSD, then? News to me.

Just because YOU don't know how to do it doesn't mean it's not being done.

zig158: My aging Aunt calls it "Windows" even though the splash screen is Slackware :-)

Posted Wednesday 1st April 2009 09:40 GMT

Walking Turtle

@Fraser :)

Duly noted and thanks for the graciousness of your reminder. To be sure, I had overlooked that (to myself) mega-upscale aspect. Our tallest building is only maybe twenty stories; people who mostly don't do much business at all just live in it. We just aren't so very mondo-corporatized as that in this our own green and pleasant region of the planet, is what.

So what *is* the upper directory limit under Linux today, anyway, please? (I had not actually thought of things on your own sphere's apparent scale, ever, is why I must ask.) :)

Actually, you know, a full-scale Enterprise Installation in these green and pleasant wilds'd be anywhere from ten to forty-fifty desktop machines and a server box in-house as well, if it's a credit union or somesuch job. Just guessing, but I expect that range is well within today's Linux/*nix capabilities. One or two principals, three or four machines plus a printer ot two and a NAT router/gateway is pretty much as big 'n' scary as anyone hereabouts needs it to be, most every time. "Growth for Growth's Sake" just isn't "where it's at" in these parts. There's probably even still a bit of Colonial Scrip still stuffed into the walls and/or under the flooring of some of the older houses here and there. Been found a time or two before. (This is country livin'.)

Nice to meet, anyway. Thanks again for the tip, too. I'll keep your reply in mind as things progress/devolve Out There. Coat... Yeah.

Mine's the one with the well-worn Mandriva distro, magnetic-needle compass and tin of waterproof strike-anywhere matches in one pocket, also there's a handily small though fairly accurate transdimensional star-map of our somewhat harmless-in-spots galactic locale in the other. And the towel, of course - yeah, that's the one. :)