[SLUG] Migration of Office from Windows to Linux?

From: John Clay (john.clay@lfr.com)
Date: Mon Jun 16 2003 - 13:48:15 EDT

Have any of you migrated a professional services company from Windows to
Linux?

I work for a 30 person office of a 400 person consultancy that's wed to
Windows NT server and Windows workstations with the usual Windows
applications (Office 97, Outlook 98, Exchange 5.5, Access and so on).
Over the past year or so I've been teaching myself Linux to the point
that I have the following GNU elements in good operational order (RedHat
7.3 based):

      * LTSP server with 3 client terminals (two users - me and a part
        timer)
      * A Linux/NT workstation
      * OpenOffice.org
      * Ximian Evolution using our local Exchange LDAP, POP and SMTP
        functions
      * Samba (no winbind - just same passwords as NT domain)
      * LinNeighborhood
      * Internal (to the LAN) ftp server (for testing)
      * DHCP server (on the LTSP server) for the entire LAN
      * CUPS
      * AOL Instant Messenger
      * Netscape etc.
      * Xpdf and Adobe PDF reader

I've been using these elements exclusively for 6 months or so. The
system works well in our NT domain. We (in this office only) are about
to try to get 2 or 3 staff members moved to the LTSP system (for
testing) and I'd be interested to hear about the experiences of any of
you who have undertaken a similar project:

      * What worked, what didn't.
      * How did you handle mandatory applications that weren't available
        on Linux or that just didn't work so well (like some pdf files
        that work under windows but don't open properly under linux, or
        accounting applications and timesheets (BST product) that aren't
        suppported under linux).
      * How did you handle the fact that most users documents and
        applications will still be windows - only the test users will be
        in linux - but linux and windows users will require access.
      * Were there any unforeseen big problems?
      * Did you find it reasonable to convert and edit OO.o docuneeded a
        document (generated by a linux app) in an MS format - as good as
        OO.o is, some reformatting would be generally required in my
        experience.

Any comments, cautions or ideas appreciated.

John Clay
Tallahassee

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