Question about Linux distro for a business

[Goober]

Hi Guys,

At College, I am part of a team that is creating a fictional Business, a small restaurant, and I was recently told to do a "Technological Environmental Analysis" as part of one of the requirements for the project. Now, this isn't a difficult assignment, but basically I want to reccomend that this fictional business use a Linux distro for things like bookkeeping, tracking inventory, cash flow, etc. Which distro would be best for something like this?

I thought SuSE, Linspire, or Red Hat Enterprise might be good distros to select, but what do you guys think?

(Thanks in advance, as always)

[majikstreet]

Hi Guys,

At College, I am part of a team that is creating a fictional Business, a small restaurant, and I was recently told to do a "Technological Environmental Analysis" as part of one of the requirements for the project. Now, this isn't a difficult assignment, but basically I want to reccomend that this fictional business use a Linux distro for things like bookkeeping, tracking inventory, cash flow, etc. Which distro would be best for something like this?

I thought SuSE, Linspire, or Red Hat Enterprise might be good distros to select, but what do you guys think?

(Thanks in advance, as always)
Can you guess what most people here are going to say? :P

Ubuntu.

[Kapre]

Hi Guys,

At College, I am part of a team that is creating a fictional Business, a small restaurant, and I was recently told to do a "Technological Environmental Analysis" as part of one of the requirements for the project. Now, this isn't a difficult assignment, but basically I want to reccomend that this fictional business use a Linux distro for things like bookkeeping, tracking inventory, cash flow, etc. Which distro would be best for something like this?

I thought SuSE, Linspire, or Red Hat Enterprise might be good distros to select, but what do you guys think?

(Thanks in advance, as always)
Goober - Why is Ubuntu not on your list?? Are you reserving Ubuntu for another project..Anyways, I would go with SUSE (it's fictional anyways) ;)

[mstlyevil]

Red Hat is geared more towards businesses. They might have support and applications access that the others may lack for a business enviroment.

[stuporglue]

Linux distro for things like bookkeeping, tracking inventory, cash flow, etc. Which distro would be best for something like this?
I thought SuSE, Linspire, or Red Hat Enterprise might be good distros to select, but what do you guys think?


Depends on what you're going to use for the bookkeeping, tracking inventory, and cash flow.

If you're doing a "real" analysis, I'd check which programs you're going to use for those tasks, then see for which distros those programs are available. Suse is a very nice distro, but I found a lack of packages last time I tried it -- if what you need is there, it's quite good.

How big is the business supposed to be? If you're big enough to need enterprise level support, then Suse or RHE are going to be good choices.

If you're a smaller business, then something easy to maintain is probably more in line. Ubuntu or annother Debian derivative would probably be best for that.

Who's using the computers? Do the users already have a preference of distro, or is it all just Linux to them?

These are just some of the factors I've been looking at while planning my business.

[Goober]

Well, I was making an attempt at being "non-partisan", but I guess you guys are right, I should include Ubuntu. I really am not sure what program we would use for bookeeping, etc. I have been googling, but, well, sometimes Google doesn't answer all questions.

The Business is going to be very small, at first, but we have plans to expand later. When we have more restaurants (well, theoretical), we will probably need a server of some sort to link the computers. Initially, we just need, well, the basic programs, probably a simple program to keep track of inventory, cashflow etc. When the business gets bigger, we will probably look at a more advanced computer program. At first, the business will be one restaurant, with, well, a small number of employees. I don't know exactly how many, in fact, we should be determining that at a meeting tomorrow.

The users will be Managers mostly, and, well, they can be taught. I just don't want to go with Windows to try and save money. Our expenses are balooning already (you would not believe the price of land around here), and, well, we need to cut cut cut.

Anyway, thanks for the helps and replies so far, they are very useful. Keep in mind this is a fictional theoretical business.