"The goal of this IBM Redbook is to provide a technical planning reference for IT organizations large or small that are now considering a migration to Linux-based personal computers. For Linux, there is a tremendous amount of "how to" information available online that addresses specific and very technical operating system configuration issues, platform-specific installation methods, user interface customizations, etc. This book includes some technical "how to" as well, but the overall focus of the content in this book is to walk the reader through some of the important considerations and planning issues you could encounter during a migration project. Within the context of a pre-existing Microsoft Windows-based environment, we attempt to present a more holistic, end-to-end view of the technical challenges and methods necessary to complete a successful migration to Linux-based clients.

This second version of the Linux Client Migration Cookbook builds on the content strategy we started with in the first version. Although anyone interested in using Linux on the desktop could benefit from different portions of this book, our primary audience for this book is existing business IT environments that need to begin an evaluation of desktop Linux, or in a broader sense any organization whose strategy is to move toward greater adoption of open source software and open standards. For this version we have completed an end-to-end refresh and have added a significant amount of new content. Some key areas that we have focused on included the following:

• Greater emphasis on illustrating the technical details of the Linux client operating system stack, and understanding how to best leverage those differences in a migration scenario from Microsoft Windows
  
  
• The tremendous amount of flexibility that Linux gives you to design custom client operating system images
  
  
• Deployment models: understanding how Linux's flexibility allows for new, innovative, and cost effective approaches to deploying and managing desktop operating systems
  
  
• In larger IT environments, the importance of automating capture and migration of end user's client-side personalization data"
  

Part 1 Choosing Linux
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. The case for migration

Part 2 Planning the pilot migration
Chapter 3. Organizational and human factors planning
Chapter 4. Technical planning
Chapter 5. Linux architecture & technical differences

Part 3 Performing the pilot migration
Chapter 6. Migration best practices
Chapter 7. Client deployment models
Chapter 8. Client migration scenario
Chapter 9. Integration how-tos

Part 4 Appendixes
Appendix A. Linux glossary for Windows users
Appendix B. Using enterprise management tools
Appendix C. Automating desktop migration - Versora Progression Desktop
Appendix C. Multi-station computing deep dive - Using Userful Desktop Multiplier
Appendix A. Desktop automation and scripting
Appendix D. Client personalization
Appendix G. Application porting

• IBM serves up free "Linux Client Migration Cookbook"
  
• Free IBM book on migrating to desktop Linux