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Freespire: Great idea? Awful idea?
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (May 2, 2006)
It's a simple idea. Take the Linspire Debian-based Linux distribution and bundle it with every proprietary driver and program that's available for Linux. Ta-da, an instant Linux that's compatible with far more hardware and applications....
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Making sense out of SUSE's delta releases
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (May 1, 2006)
With a cold on one side and a complete Internet connection meltdown on the other, I've been having a heck of a time keeping up with my email. Still, before my ISP, Bell South, hosed my DSL connection and my cold medicine knocked me out, I got a message asking: ...
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Student research report: Desktop Linux in Government
by David B. Rankin (Apr. 25, 2006)
Foreword: This research report by a third-year graduate student examines the growing use of desktop Linux among governments in the U.S. and globally. Drawing on published research and comments from industry analysts, the author hypothesizes that desktop Linux may be nearing a tipping point within government settings, ...
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Curmudgeon deems SUSE 10.1 "really cool and solid"
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (Apr. 19, 2006)
This is one really, really cool and solid distribution. OK, before I go any further I should point out that SUSE 10.1 (code name: Agama Lizard) isn't actually released yet. I've been kicking the tires of the first SUSE 10.1 "Release Candidate."...
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A Linux desktop fairy tale
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (Mar. 21, 2006)
Once upon a time, long long ago, everyone who was anyone in the Kingdom of Linux used SlackWare. Then, along came Red Hat, which many people in the kingdom thought was neater and had a great package manager....
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Top 10 reasons Linux pwns your OS
by Scott M. Morris (Mar. 16, 2006)
You've probably heard the talk and seen the articles from Linux enthusiasts on how virtually any Linux distro can run rings around Windows. To help clarify things, Scott M. Morris, the editor of Novell's CoolSolutions website, has complied all the key reasons in one handy, bookmarkable article....
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The other big Linux office suites
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (March 13, 2006)
If you're new to Linux, you may be excused for thinking that there are only two note-worthy Linux office suites: OpenOffice.org and its commercial brother, StarOffice. Nothing could be further from the truth. By my count, there are three other significant Linux office suites....
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Old OEMs, new Linux tricks?
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (Mar. 13, 2006)
I've been thinking a lot, lately, about PC manufacturers and desktop Linux. I've long believed that for desktop Linux to really get going, it needs big-time vendor support, with OEMs like Dell, HP, and Gateway putting Linux PCs on the shelves of Best Buy, Circuit City, and CompUSA. ...
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OpenOffice is ten years behind MS Office? That's just fine!
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (Mar. 6, 2006)
In an interview with Australian online technology newspaper IT Wire, Alan Yates, general manager of business strategy for Microsoft's information worker group, said that OpenOffice.org is about where MS-Office was 10 years ago. That is to say, Microsoft seems to think OpenOffice.org is only good for single-desktop users....
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WordPerfect for Linux lives on
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (Jan. 30, 2006)
Corel Corp. may have given up on bringing WordPerfect to Linux, but that doesn't mean Linux users have to give up on running WordPerfect on Linux....
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Why we need Windows apps ported on Linux
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (Jan. 27, 2006)
Novell has had one of those amazingly simple ideas that make you ask: "Why didn't I think of that?" The Linux vendor is using its Cool Solutions community-relations website to conduct an online public survey to determine which Windows-only applications people want to run on their Linux systems....
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Getting scanners to work with Linux
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (Jan. 26, 2006)
I recently received a note from a disgruntled Linux user. He was having an awful time trying to get his unidentified USB Canon scanner to work with his copy of Xandros Desktop 3. He's not the only one stuck in that position....
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Choosing a desktop Linux distro
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (Jan. 24, 2006)
Probably everyone who reads DesktopLinux.com -- and certainly yours truly -- encounters the same question over and over again: "What's the best Linux desktop distribution?" Now, while some people will swear up and down that Slackware or Fedora or even Puppy, for that matter, ...
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How one reviewer approaches the art of reviewing
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (Jan. 6, 2006)
I've been receiving a fair amount of e-mail from people who are sure that I don't know Linux, but their notes are really showing me that they don't know reviewing. I don't hold that against them. Few people know how reviews really work....
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Reviewer finds Ubuntu good, but not good enough
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (Jan. 3, 2006)
I can understand why many people love Ubuntu and its KDE-interfaced brother, Kubuntu. However, neither one is a perfect fit for me.
First, the good news: although they go by different names, there's really no fundamental difference between the Ubuntu brothers. ...
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Hunting for the perfect Linux Media Center
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (Dec. 29, 2005)
Over at NewsForge, Jay Lyman does a good job of explaining why HP's Media Hub, a Linux media system, came to nothing. He also talks with some analysts and people in the business about why Linux media centers haven't appeared.
That's all well and good, but Lyman doesn't ...
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The Great Drupal Web blogging project, Part 1
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (Dec. 28, 2005)
I may be good at some things, but I'm lousy at making Web sites. Oh, I know my way around HTML, and I'm decent at Macromedia's Dreamweaver, but just because I know how to paint, doesn't make me Van Gogh. ...
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Using a liveCD as your Linux Desktop
A guest column by Frank Richards (Dec. 22, 2005)
Most of the "Desktop" Linux liveCD distributions (distros) are meant to to be used for trying out or demoing Linux before installing them to your hard drive. Popular distros like Ubuntu, Mepis, and PCLinuxOS are good examples and in my mind are some of the best offerings. I've been there ...
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A sneaky Linux present for a Windows-using friend
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (Dec. 20, 2005)
Want a really, really sneaky way to get your Windows loyalist friends to give Linux a try? Boy, does Chris Ward, an IBM software engineer, have an idea for you!
In an IBM DeveloperWorks article, Ward describes how to put together a Linux LiveCD.
What's that, you say? ...
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Taking KDE 3.5 for a ride with SUSE
by Steven J. Vaughan Nichols (Dec. 19, 2005)
If you're like a lot of KDE users, you probably want to give the latest and greatest version of the popular Linux desktop environment a try. However, if you're like a lot of newer users, you're also not quite sure how to go about ...
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Damn, I like Damn Small Linux
by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (Dec. 5, 2005)
Some Linux distributions are more just clever tricks than anything useful.
Take, oh I don't know, the Free60 Project, which means to bring Linux to the Xbox 360 game console. Interesting to do? Sure, for those with a hackerish turn of mind. Useful if, like 99.9 percent of ...
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More Articles...
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Approaching the Linux Desktop
The purpose of this paper is to help organizations evaluate the Linux desktop against their own enterprise needs and discover what benefits the Linux desktop might bring to their organizations.
Migrating To Linux: Application Challenges and Solutions
Several solutions exist to help organizations migrate in an orderly fashion from Windows to Linux desktops. This paper establishes the characteristics of an ideal cross-platform solution and reviews these alternatives in light of this ideal standard. The paper takes a closer look at the pros and cons of various solutions and outlines the business benefits that can be achieved.
Linux Advantages: Publicly Available Information on Linux Software
This paper offers a brief summary of readily-available Linux information to help businesses sort out this widely misunderstood operating system.
Top 5 Strategies for Managing Linux
Despite continuous evolution in the manageability of Linux, a 2006 survey cited manageability concerns as a top reason why organizations are hesitating to adopt Linux. Levanta believes Linux can be as manageable, if not more so, than other operating systems by following key strategies. These strategic recommendations were developed from experiences in numerous customer environments, both large and small.
Why Choose Novell for Linux?
This paper outlines the benefits of switching to the Linux platform and choosing Novell as a high-performance, enterprise solution.
Enterprise Linux Selection Guide
Considering moving your enterprise to the Linux operating system? Since there are so many similar versions, choosing the right one can be tough. This paper offers a clear process to help you make an informed decision and get the features, support, and cost that are right for your business and technical needs.
Overcoming Challenges in Managing Linux
Levanta has created a new administration model with innovative technology that breaks down the barriers to making the most of Linux systems. This paper will provide an in-depth look at the workings of Levanta’s product, the first Linux appliance of its kind.
SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 for Retail Businesses
Discover why major retailers have switched to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop in the back office. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 is a low-cost desktop that offers a complete set of productivity applications and interoperates seamlessly with the other Windows, Macintosh and UNIX desktops in your store.
Moving to a Linux Desktop
Migrating from Windows to Linux on the desktop can be a substantial undertaking because it has the potential for touching -- and perhaps disrupting -- every user in your organization. Unlike a data center (server and infrastructure) migration that is largely transparent to users, the cultural and administrative transitions and environment readiness required to support a Linux desktop migration are extensive.
Seven Good Reasons to Exchange Exchange
This paper describes seven compelling reasons why you should switch from Exchange to Scalix.
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