Cloud Computing: Linux Desktop In The Enterprise – Ubuntu Vs. Windows

Grazed from NetworkComputing. Author: Joseph Granneman.

The "year of the Linux desktop" has been prophesied by Linux supporters almost every year for the last decade. This was once a lofty goal in the Microsoft-dominated enterprise, but times are changing. Linux has grown into a formidable competitor in the smartphone and cloud computing markets, which has caught Microsoft off guard. More importantly, Google, IBM, Red Hat, Facebook, and Netflix have made huge investments into Linux innovations.

Now, with shrinking technology budgets and rising Microsoft licensing fees, it’s time for IT to seriously consider desktop Linux deployment as an alternative to Windows. The timing for this couldn’t be better: Windows 8.1 was just released, as was the latest version of Ubuntu, 13.10. Windows XP has just five months of support left, so companies need to make the switch to something new. Ubuntu may just have what companies need to support their desktop OS needs. I’ll look at various considerations for making the Linux desktop switch, including training and support, as well as potential complications…

I know that Ubuntu has lost some of the favor it once enjoyed in the open source community. Canonical, the creators of Ubuntu, have made some unpopular choices, including changing the display manager — the base component of the graphical interface in Linux– to the internally developed Mir instead of Wayland. However, Ubuntu remains completely open source and offers the most painless install of any Linux distribution or even Windows version, for that matter. Canonical also offers paid support, which may be needed in enterprise environments…

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