Re: If they're unreliable as heck... (was Re: [Nolug] someone's gotanaxe to grind...)

At the job I mentioned we actually *were* supporting a major UNIX app
and continued to do so. Each user was given a domain login and they
would access everything they needed by jumping on a thin client, logging
into TS, and then jumping into Outlook, the Internet, Word, ACT!, or a
telnet session into the UNIX software that ran the company.

I had a similar job for a software firm where we had a lot of people
running UNIX on their desktops. It's a myth that UNIX/Linux is any
easier to manage for desktops. It's still a hassle, and you have to use
some snazzy but in-depth tools to keep everything humming along. I know
this not from reading articles or the Internet or running a box at home,
but from actually being in the trenches. It's work.

That said, I will say that a UNIX desktop can be easier, *in some ways*,
to manage than your average Windows desktop. But if you throw TS or
Citrix in the mix, and that's where the enterprise has been for a very,
very long time now, it's actually easier to manage the TS envrionment
that a full-blown UNIX as the server and the desktop scenario. That's
just my personal experience.

Personally, I've just found that it takes less time and less money to
manage 100 thin clients running off of TS than it does running 50 UNIX
desktops. X workstations are a good idea of course, and I'm not going to
discount that either. I know there were some pushes to offer
Windows-like functionality (i.e., offering software that a business
requires or they won't buy from you) from X TS boxes. I'm curious where
that went.

--
Dustin Puryear
President and Sr. Consultant
Puryear Information Technology, LLC
225-706-8414 x112
http://www.puryear-it.com
Author, "Best Practices for Managing Linux and UNIX Servers"
   http://www.puryear-it.com/pubs/linux-unix-best-practices/
techmaster@gmail.com wrote:
> Exactly, they complain enough if their icons move around or their wallpaper changes.
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Jeremy (mailing list box)" <listbox@unix-boy.com>
> 
> Date: Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:19:39 
> To: <nolug@nolug.org>
> Subject: Re: If they're unreliable as heck... (was Re: [Nolug] someone's gotan
>  axe to grind...)
> 
> 
> Dustin Puryear wrote:
>> Yes he did. And I'm thinking he may have meant WordPerfect (WP).
>>
>> I think his thoughts are that you can replace TS with Pine and 
>> WordPerfect and people are good to go.. ;)
>>
> 
> I'm pretty sure his intention is to try and get a rise out of the group. 
>     The idea that you replace applications like Outlook and Word in a TS 
> environment with Wordperfect and Pine is way out there.    Seriously, as 
> much trouble users are for us admins, you don't make their lives harder 
> unless absolutely necessary if you value your sanity.
> 
> Jeremy
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