enterprise-ubuntu team mailing list archive

[Andreas Kernke <ak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings all,

since I work for a large public authority, I want to describe, what in
my opinion are the biggest barriers for ubuntu/Linux desktops in the
public offices. There are lot of specific applications for specific
public duties. These applications are developed for MS Windows because
PCs in the offices run MS Windows and the market for applications for
the public sector is very small. Therefore software developers prefer to
make MS Windows software, for economical reasons certainly.  Three
strategies concerning specific applications could help to promote the
spread of Linux desktops in public authorities:

a) Use of MS Windows emulation for proprietary MS Windows software on a
Linux desktop

or

b) Hybrid operation of two different desktops in the authority/company

or 

c) The use of virtualization for MS Windows applications.

The emulation of MS Windows such as wine is functional not satisfying. I
content that even the most enthusiastic proponent of open source and
Linux could not contradict this fact. A hybrid environment of two
different desktops is very expensive because of double expenditures for
the user support. So there's one opportunity left: desktop
virtualization. That's what I want to put up for discussion. Couldn't
(MS Windows) desktop virtualization embedded in a Linux desktop be the
solution for the barriers mentioned above?

Cheers

Andreas