I have been a Linux fan for many years, but I am still yet to see a distribution which would suite the entire purpose of an enterprise. Given any size of the organisation, distribution makers should consider the most important if not all aspects as to what makes up an enterprise distribution. RHEL or SuSE is not whole when it comes to providing a wholesome enterprise experience. If Mandriva claims that they have made an Enterprise edition of their software, then they should have addressed at least some of these common issues I feel on a regular basis while being a corporate user.
1. VPN support: Not the wimpy freeswan or drakevpn, but a commercial VPN Client from Nortel Networks ( apani)
2. Good integration of Evolution with MS Exchange
3. Native Lotus Notes/Samtime client install
4. Good support for asp/aspx webpages.
5. Good plugins support for all kinds of applications ( may it be Java or Adobe or flash/divx/WMV, etc)
6. Good support with other enterprise clients like webex or similar conferencing tools ( Even though Webex works on Java, I have yet to see it work on my linux box (RHEL / SuSE / Mandriva Spring / Xandros )
7. Cross Over Office or similar tools for people who need the advanced features of MS Office or MS only products. (Not all people within an organisation can be content with OpenOffice (I am ), so there should be a way/method to help them install MS Windows only clients or applications to work without hinderence.)
8. Updates to clients should be seamless from a single/multiple source within the organisation or at least be manageable.
When a distribution or company deals with all these issues and have a solution, only then there will be a true enterprise edition, until then they are not worth that title and are to be considered "Desktop Alternatives" and not replacements.
Learn about Linux
Download Linux
Get Linux help
Two new alternatives for the enterprise desktop
Posted by: ggvrsn on June 25, 2007 12:46 AM1. VPN support: Not the wimpy freeswan or drakevpn, but a commercial VPN Client from Nortel Networks ( apani)
2. Good integration of Evolution with MS Exchange
3. Native Lotus Notes/Samtime client install
4. Good support for asp/aspx webpages.
5. Good plugins support for all kinds of applications ( may it be Java or Adobe or flash/divx/WMV, etc)
6. Good support with other enterprise clients like webex or similar conferencing tools ( Even though Webex works on Java, I have yet to see it work on my linux box (RHEL / SuSE / Mandriva Spring / Xandros )
7. Cross Over Office or similar tools for people who need the advanced features of MS Office or MS only products. (Not all people within an organisation can be content with OpenOffice (I am ), so there should be a way/method to help them install MS Windows only clients or applications to work without hinderence.)
8. Updates to clients should be seamless from a single/multiple source within the organisation or at least be manageable.
When a distribution or company deals with all these issues and have a solution, only then there will be a true enterprise edition, until then they are not worth that title and are to be considered "Desktop Alternatives" and not replacements.
-GGR
#