Giga's Stacey Quandt believes the perfect Linux desktop will remain beyond the reach enterprises as long as interoperability with Microsoft Office remains a barrier to corporate adoption.

Microsoft's Office suite is the most widely used set of business productivity tools-and, as such, will pose the greatest barrier to adoption of Linux desktops for most companies.

While many end users are expected to stay the course with Microsoft, considering the widespread deployment of Office 97 and 2000. during the past several years that help raisebuilt Microsoft's market share to more than 90 percent, some users are evaluating Linux as an alternative.

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In large part this is due to the present economic climate and increased emphasis on IT managers to demonstrate return on investment. The continued interest in reducing IT spending is fueling interest in a corporate Linux desktop, and this is an opportunity for users to consider StarOffice 6.0, Ximian Evolution, and other Linux supported applications as a means of lowering IT expenses.

While StarOffice does provide good file format compatibility, it does not enable macros, pivot tables, or anything developed in Visual Basic. So, companies with substantial use of VB scripting or macros would find a migration rather costly due to manual conversions and retraining. This does not mean that the adoption of a Linux desktop will not happen within specific corporate environments; rather, it means that compatibility limitations will be an important barrier to entry for some users.

Companies interested in evaluating StarOffice 6.0 should first adopt a co-existence strategy, not a replacement strategy, and if possible, start pilot programs on Linux desktop deployments. However, with the potential cost savings in reducing the use of Microsoft Office comes the associated cost of training end users and IT help desk staff to use and support StarOffice.

Of course, another requirement of a successful Linux desktop solution is e-mail. However, what many users require is an e-mail server solution that can support Microsoft Outlook's calendaring and public folder features. While Ximian Connector for Microsoft Exchange is a software extension to the Evolution groupware suite, it is a client solution and is not a viable server replacement for Exchange. The benefit of Ximian Connector is that it allows Evolution to function as a Microsoft Exchange 2000 client, which allows users to manage e-mail, calendars, address books and task lists. But even though the clients are running Linux, because it is they are accessing Exchange, users will still need to pay for Microsoft Client Access Licenses.

For these reasons, the most promising Linux desktop opportunity is in the context of a thin-client or desktop that supports Web-based or custom applications. Today, vertical market segments such as the oil and gas industry, electronic design automation, and digital content creation are adopting Linux desktops. The number of commercial applications for the Linux desktop is growing with additions such as the ACCPAC accounting application for Linux. Also, early next year Red Hat will release a desktop Linux product; however, given the barriers to adoption, it is more likely Red Hat will focus on target market segments rather than the general corporate user.

The perfect Linux desktop will remain beyond the reach of the general user as long as interoperability with Microsoft Office remains a barrier to corporate adoption. To determine whether a Linux desktop is a good fit, organizations should consider the following factors:

• The level of dissatisfaction with Microsoft licensing and Microsoft control
• The sheer volume of legacy Microsoft Office documents that will need to be supported
• The level of expertise of the typical user and the adaptive challenges, if any, in retraining employees and IT staff on a new desktop productivity solution
• The costs of staying with the current solution
• The impact of Microsoft upgrade cycles
• The benefit of using a possible move to StarOffice, Ximian and other alternatives as a negotiating tactic with Microsoft

What do you think would constitute a perfect Linux desktop? TalkBack or send e-mail to us.

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