Making desktop Linux work for business | InfoWorld | Analysis | 2008-07-01 | By Neil McAllister
Today's IT managers face tough choices. PCs that run fine today have an uncertain upgrade path, now that Microsoft has chosen to discontinue Windows XP. Upgrade costs associated with Vista, coupled with the ever-escalating cost of application licenses, make switching to desktop Linux an increasingly attractive option.
For many businesses, however, it's difficult to know where to begin. The Linux market is broad and thriving, with myriad options to choose from. Most organizations will want to phase in Linux gradually, which in many cases will mean supporting a heterogeneous computing environment for the first time. As a result, it can be hard to predict where software incompatibilities might affect critical business processes.
Fortunately, the future of Linux on the business desktop has never been brighter. Bolstered by contributions from some of the biggest names in IT, today's Linux offers a rich, highly functional user experience to compete with any proprietary OS. With appropriate planning, integrating a limited number of Linux desktops into your existing environment can be undertaken with minimal difficulty, paving the way for a broader migration tomorrow.
Making desktop Linux work for business | InfoWorld | Analysis | 2008-07-01 | By Neil McAllister
Dell Vostro – Low cost quality PCs to power your business.
When you need a PC for your small business, you have to consider price, usability and quality (often in that order.) Dell has been the preferred vendor of the business world for a long time now, but their offerings were often priced higher than competitors for the same caliber of PC. You often paid a premium for a uniform vendor for all of your technology needs, and this was before you even purchased support. I will say that their line of business laptops (Lattitude) was definitely a cut above the rest, but not all small businesses need that kind of PC. Dell's Optiplex desktop line is also the premier line of desktop PCs in the business world. They are fine machines that perform excellently. Recently, however, Dell shifted their focus to the small business owner. According to the most recent US Census data, small businesses account for over 70 percent of businesses in the US. Naturally, this is a pretty large segment to cater to, and it seems like Dell has finally figured that out.
Not to long ago, Dell announced the launch of their new Vostro line. Tagged as "Designed for Small Business," the new Vostro line of laptops and desktops comes with no trialware (translate to no bloat that slows down the PC from the beginning,) a 30 day money-back guarantee and a comprehensive set of standard services for small businesses. The new look of the Vostro line is also minimalist yet refined - a perfect match for the professional.
Although desktop PCs are still being used, recent improvements in mobile technology have allowed laptops to come close to the performance levels of their non-mobile counterparts. Laptops with 17 inch screens like the Vostro 1700 pictured here also feature full size keyboards with number keypads. Unless there is a reason that you absolutely do not want a laptop (such as a receptionist workstation) I would recommend opting for the best laptop you can afford.
In order to make life easier, Dell offers professional services to the small business owner to help with the day to day needs of information technology. Dell Connect allows a Dell technician to troubleshoot your PC remotely. DataSafe Online Backup allows you to securely backup your data so that it can be restored even if a disaster causes your PC to be destroyed. PC TuneUp keeps your PC running at maximum efficiency. Dell Network Assistant allows you to easily connect to most simple networks. Warranty terms of up to 4 years allow you to protect your investment for the long haul.
You can also purchase Dell Customized services to make your business life easier. Complete Care Accidental Damage Service also covers issues like spilled liquids and accidental drops which standard warranties do not cover. ( I have this for my XPS laptop and it has saved me thousands of dollars in repairs!) Dell On Call phone support service puts you in contact with trained support professionals 24x7x365. On Site System Setup plans get you up and running with ease and confidence. Recycling services make sure that your old PCs are disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. Asset Recovery services kick in if your PC is stolen and help local authorities recover your assets. Gold Technical Support provides top tier professional support from North American based support centers. (If you've ever called for support and been routed to India, you know how much frustration this will avoid!)
All in all, Dell has really stepped up their presence in the small business arena. The new low cost Vostro line definitely delivers the best mix of price, usability and quality to the small business user. The myriad of Dell services available with the Vostro line gives the small business owner the opportunity to own business class technology without having to hire dedicated IT staff to maintain the equipment. Backup and repair services give the small business owner peace of mind when disaster strikes their business. The style and performance of the Vostro line are perfect for small business. It goes without saying that I highly recommend the Dell Vostro line to any small or medium sized business who is in need of new PC(s).
Choosing a good business documentation wiki – Docuwiki Mediawiki Tikiwiki
Although I have been very diligent in the past with regard to creating documentation for various projects that I have undertaken, there still remains the problem of organizing and managing that documentation. A slew of text files, even with descriptive names, doesn't help someone looking for a specific instance of information. This becomes more frustrating when that information is needed promptly to address a pressing issue. With the advent of more powerful search capabilities and indexing of every single file sitting on a computer, these stresses can be greatly reduced, but that introduces a new limit to that information - it is locally held on a single PC. It doesn't take long to realize that if there was a way to present this information via a web based interface, so that a group of people can view the information and edit it if necessary, it would be a great thing. Although there are several ways to approach this situation, one of the best and easiest ways to do so is via a wiki.
A wiki is software that allows people to easily create, edit and link web pages. It is mostly used to create collaborative web sites such as Wikipedia. A wiki lend itself perfectly to the creation and maintenance of collaborative documentation products. Moreover, with a database back end or easily portable text files, the wiki can be backed up, moved to a new location and searched with ease and convenience.
There are a myriad of wikis available for various stated uses, but I have narrowed down the field to the three wikis that I feel are the best out there. One condition that I established early on (and is entirely arbitrary to my situation) is that the wiki be free to use and distribute. This means that most likely, the wiki would have to be open source. With that said, the top three condenters are DocuWiki, TikiWiki and MediaWiki. All three wikis are free and licensed under some form of the GPL. This means that they are able to be freely distributed and modified in any way, and that you are obliged to submit any modifications you make to the open source community for the improvement of the project.
MediaWiki is the same wiki used by Wikipedia, and I would ventire to say that if it can handle the heavy use of Wikipedia, it would be more than able to handle a collaborative documentation project. MediaWiki is easy to use, supports multiple languages, indexes content on the fly and supports discussions.
TikiWiki is more along the lines of groupware or content management systems, but functions as a wiki as well. It has many additional options not found in other wikis such as forums, image and file gallery and calendaring. This is a great wiki for an online collaboration site of just about any topic.
Lastly, DokuWiki is a standards-compliant wiki that was designed for documentation. DokuWiki has a powerful syntax and is based on text files that can be easily read outside the wiki. It is a great wiki for documentation purposes because of the way it supports structured format.
Of the three top contenders, it is hard to choose one as the true best. I would say that if your primary purpose is documentation only, I would go with DokuWiki. If you want something that is slightly more diverse than documentation, but not 'all over the place' then MediaWiki is your wiki. If you want something that functions more like a CMS in which users can not only collaborate on content, but also have discussions in forums and share files and images, then TikiWiki is it. For the project I am currently working on (which needs a wkiki type information bse), I decided to go with MediaWiki to give me a little more than just a documentation based wiki, but I am considering changing some of my blogs over to TikiWiki to enable readers to discuss things in forums and share files and images.
My Twitter Stream
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