Linux Loses My Desktop
Okay, I give up.
As i’ve written before, I’ve run Linux (SUSE) on my personal desktop and home servers for several years prior to moving to the Mac. I still run Linux for my home server. The only Windows computer I have running at home is my kid’s computer. They have games that won’t run elsewhere.
I installed Ubuntu 8.10 on my office desktop in a dual boot configuration. It handled my dual monitors, quad core CPU, 4Gb of RAM without a hitch. But what it couldn’t handle was working in my office. Now, I had no problem administering our dozen or so Linux servers, reading/writing Word, Excel, Powerpoint documents. I had no problems dealing with our various Java applications, or accessing data on our office network. But, two things have made a permanent conversion difficult, at best. Number one is Exchange/Outlook. I wrote about this earlier. Interacting with Exchange via Linux is painful if you use Exchange calendaring, contacts, or anything other than mail. There is no good way to interact with Exchange calendaring in Linux. Number two is somewhat surprising. As part of a server upgrade project we have adopted Citrix XenServer to handle server virtualization. This is based on the Linux-based Xen project. You would expect it to be very cross platform. You would be wrong. The management tools are Windows only. So, it uses a Windows only management console to manage Linux based hypervisors with Linux guest virtual machines.
Interestingly, both of these observations have been commented on in the last few days:
Where are the Enterprise Management Tools for Linux on the Desktop? by David Lane
What would you exchange Exchange for? by Doc Searls
So, I’m not alone.
I think as desktop virtualization matures, it will be easier to run the desktop of your choice. I use VMWare Fusion on my Mac to run Linux, Windows, and even Haiku. The downside for Linux is there will be less of an incentive to develop the replacements for Outlook and the enterprise management tools. There will also be fewer requests for those applications from corporate users. Why wait for the open source equivalent when I can run the Windows version in a virtual machine.
In the meantime, it’s back to XP. I’ve got work to do.
Exchange is the Key to the Enterprise
As an IT manager, I have to make various decisions that affect the operation of my employer. One decision I was able to make was what OS I would run on my desktop. We run a number of Linux servers, most of our desktops (except for the graphic artist’s Mac) are running Windows XP. Personally, I have a MacBook Pro, and I run various Linux distributions via VMWare Fusion. The workstation I inherited is quite nice, 4GB RAM, 250GB RAID 1 15K SAS, Quad core 2.4Ghz processor, dual LCD monitors. Way too much PC for a manager. We, like many (most?) enterprises rely on Microsoft Exchange and Outlook for our email and calendaring.
I am not a fan of Windows. For the last several years, the only time I used Windows was at work. Until now, I didn’t have the authority to choose otherwise. I decided about a month ago to switch my OS to Linux. Of course that means choosing a distribution. I used SUSE for several years, and was happy with it. So, I decided to load openSUSE 11.0 on my desktop. It was a painless install. openSUSE was considerate enough to make room for itself and leave room for Windows and set up dual boot. Very nice.
Time to boot up. Ok, I have two identical desktops running mirrored on both monitors. I find the desktop/monitor settings and set it accordingly. And it doesn’t work. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get openSUSE to correctly span my desktop across both monitors. It insisted on mirroring on both. That sucks. I got tired of screwing with openSUSE, and fired up the Ubuntu 8.10 install. I did have to intervene so it used the existing partition setup, but that was not a big deal. The install proceeded normally. I booted up and was met with a desktop that correctly spanned both monitors without intervention from me. Perfect. Ubuntu wins.
I have used OpenOffice (and NeoOffice) for several years. I have never had a situation where it couldn’t do what I needed, and interoperate with MS Office. But, I need to interoperate with Exchange. So, I installed Evolution and set it up to work with our Exchange hosting provider.
Evolution seemed like a good solution. It has many of Outlooks features, it sets up quickly. But, it stinks. It’s slow syncing mail. It would frequently freeze when trying switch to the calendar while mail was syncing. And the calendaring synchronization is terrible. It’s slow, it’s unreliable, and it only works with Outlook Web Access.
So, I loaded Thunderbird for email (using IMAP) and I update my calendar by hand.
Every year for the past 6 or 7 has been declared the year of the Linux desktop. The year it takes over the office. It’s not going to happen. Not until the Linux community recognizes and addresses the real obstacles to widespread adoption, MS Office and Exchange. OpenOffice addresses the main components of MS Offices (except Access, but there are substitutes for it). And OO works well. But, Exchange is entrenched in most enterprises, and it won’t be dislodged easily. Sure, there are alternatives for Exchange, IMAP/POP3 servers, iCal servers, etc. There is NO good way to inter-operate with an existing Exchange environment. And without one, Linux cannot make significant inroads in existing enterprises.
In the meantime, I am loading Windows XP as a VirtualBox VM so I can run Outlook.
Moving On
Well, it’s been a good run, 6 or 7 years. But, the time has come to fish or cut bait. I have decided to cut bait. I have finally abandoned the Palm OS. Over the weekend I purchased a new device to replace my phone and my current Palm PDA. I have owned four Palm PDAs since 1998, or so. My first was a Palm Pilot Professional, purchased on clearance at CompUSA. It boasted a black and white screen and 2mb of memory. It would run for weeks on a pair of AAA batteries. I eventually upgraded it with a memory card that turned it into a Palm III. It had a upgraded OS, as well as bumping memory up to 8mb. I carried it constantly, storing my calendar and contacts on it. It was the first time I ever consistently kept up a calendar, since it would sync up with Outlook on my PC. Around the same time I aquired my first cell phone, a Nokia that was included free with a 1 year contract.
After a nasty encounter with one or more cars on a busy Kansas City street, what was left of my Palm Pilot Pro/III was retired. I found a deal on a Palm IIIxe online, and made the purchase. It had the same 8mb memory, but with a grayscale display, and a better design. It served me quite well for a year or two. I was now carrying a company mandated Nextel Motorola phone, you know the rubber encased construction worker brick. Palm PDAs were quite popular within the company, and there was interest in developing software for them as part of a larger enterprise project. I was given a Palm m515 to use for development and for my personal use. I sold the IIIxe to a coworker and reveled at the new unit. It had an aluminum body, a color screen, 16mb or memory, and a SD memory slot. The only thing missing was some sort of network communication ability. I did have a data cable that would allow me to connect the Palm to my Nextel phone and get dial-up access to the internet. That was interesting for a few days.
I carried the m515 for a year or so, then I found the Palm PDA I had been waiting for: the Tungsten C. 400mhz processor, 64mb ram, SD slot, color screen at 320×320 resolution, a QWERTY keyboard, and best of all: WiFi! It has served me well for over 2.5 years. I have used the wifi at home and at work. I have acquired a variety of programs, and a few accessories. During this time I have never been interested in any of the Windows Mobile based PDAs. Very few of them were as powerful as my T|C and those that were cost far more. I had never found another PDA, Palm or other, that looked like a likely upgrade path. I have been watching the Treo smartphones since they arrived. But, until the Treo 700p arrived, I wasn’t interested. The 700 had the memory, but gave up processor speed, and WiFi. And, the cost, $3-400 for a downgrade. And, I didn’t want to change carriers. I’ve had a T-Mobile account for 6+ years, and have been happy with the service and cost. But, T-Mobile quit carrying the Treo line before the 700 arrived.
So, I haven’t been paying to much attention to the whole smartphone market, since nothing really hit my requirements: smaller than my Palm T|C, QWERTY keyboard, WiFi, T-Mobile, and optionally Palm OS. Then, last week I caught news of a new offering from T-Mobile, the Dash. The size is right, the keyboard is right, the WiFi is there (as well as GPRS/Edge, and Bluetooth), and it’s T-Mobile. What’s missing? Processor speed is half my T|C, screen resolution is lower (as is the size), and it has the Windows Mobile for Smartphones OS.
I decided that Palm wasn’t going to produce a Treo that hits my requirements at a price point I’m willing to accept and even if they did, T-Mobile wasn’t going to carry it. It is going to be rough converting to the new smartphone. I use a PC with Lotus Notes at work, and a Mac at home, so syncing is going to be an ordeal. But, now that I will always be carrying it, it can now be the unit with the master calendar and contact list. I rarely carried my Palm on weekends or after work hours. Combined with a cell phone, it was just too much stuff.
