Zaskoda
October 19th, 2006, 07:00 PM
I'm not currently a business owner.. however, I once was and am strongly considering doing it again.
My last business, and likely my next, revolves around Web development. While I've explored Ubuntu in the past year, and gotten up to speed with the current state of Linux on the desktop, I've kept in the back of my mind the notion of using Ubuntu exclusively across an entire business.
As a workstation, I'm content with Ubuntu. All of the usual tasks are covered well including email, calendar, word processing, spread sheets, IDEs, graphic manipulation, etc.
As a server, Linux in general has always been rock solid. File server, web server, and even print serving.
However, there's a spot in the middle that's kind of overlooked between the the desktop and server installs of Ubuntu. The desktop install is exactly that.. and the server install is really kinda meant for setting up an Internet server it seems.
I would really like to see a complete office package put together pre-configured with all the related apps. I want to install the workstation distro on the workstations and the server distro on the server. I want the install to include a complete groupware package with e-mail, calendar, to-do lists, etc. I want a quick and easy way to setup a file server with private space, public spaces, and group spaces. I want dead easy to use user management tools. I want the server to cache apt-get upgrades. I want the option of running a DHCP and domain server quick an easy.
This is stuff that I know I could do now - but not without learning a lot. As a potential business owner, I don't want to spend my time learning software - I want to spend it working on the business. I won't be able to hire an IT guy for a while.. probably long after I have a few other hires working for me.
Anyone else thinking in this direction?
My last business, and likely my next, revolves around Web development. While I've explored Ubuntu in the past year, and gotten up to speed with the current state of Linux on the desktop, I've kept in the back of my mind the notion of using Ubuntu exclusively across an entire business.
As a workstation, I'm content with Ubuntu. All of the usual tasks are covered well including email, calendar, word processing, spread sheets, IDEs, graphic manipulation, etc.
As a server, Linux in general has always been rock solid. File server, web server, and even print serving.
However, there's a spot in the middle that's kind of overlooked between the the desktop and server installs of Ubuntu. The desktop install is exactly that.. and the server install is really kinda meant for setting up an Internet server it seems.
I would really like to see a complete office package put together pre-configured with all the related apps. I want to install the workstation distro on the workstations and the server distro on the server. I want the install to include a complete groupware package with e-mail, calendar, to-do lists, etc. I want a quick and easy way to setup a file server with private space, public spaces, and group spaces. I want dead easy to use user management tools. I want the server to cache apt-get upgrades. I want the option of running a DHCP and domain server quick an easy.
This is stuff that I know I could do now - but not without learning a lot. As a potential business owner, I don't want to spend my time learning software - I want to spend it working on the business. I won't be able to hire an IT guy for a while.. probably long after I have a few other hires working for me.
Anyone else thinking in this direction?