Running Windows applications
One of the most promising developments in recent Linux distributions such as SLD -- and even the consumer-oriented Lindows.com -- is their ability to run some Windows applications. SLD comes with CrossOver Office, which allowed us to install Microsoft Office 2000 and Office XP without a hitch. These applications are well integrated into the overall system, for example printing to the right printer without having to be prompted to do so; dragging and dropping and cut-and-paste work seamlessly between Windows and Linux applications. There are enough native Linux applications to be able to more or less get by without Microsoft Office, but it's important for companies to know that, for example, they can launch Internet Explorer if they come across a site that won't work with Mozilla, Konqueror or Galeon. We did find minor flaws in the way Windows applications behaved; in Word, for example, if you select a window from the "Window" menu, the focus didn't shift to that window; and Outlook 2000's filters refused to add new addresses to the Junk Senders list. However, all the important features simply worked, and the applications performed as snappily as they did under Windows. Connecting to Exchange
It isn't necessary to purchase Office licences to get near-equivalent functionality, however. Ximian's Evolution has improved by leaps and bounds in the past few months, and now offers a robust organiser client that's familiar to Outlook users, and can connect to Exchange servers via a proprietary add-on. Mozilla, the open-source version of AOL Time Warner's Netscape browser, is a fine browser and rarely encounters an incompatible site; and then there's Sun's StarOffice, which comes bundled with SLD. StarOffice is intended as a Microsoft Office replacement, and can read and write Office file formats. For most uses, it should be fine, but it does have limits. It is a bit slow, and, frankly, a bit buggy -- some of our attempts to customise it consistently caused it to shut down, for example. There isn't a macro recorder, and for obscure technical reasons, there isn't likely to be one in the near future. The lack of a really top-flight office suite remains one of Linux's weak points, and it is one for which CrossOver Office isn't really a long-term solution: after all, if you're using Microsoft Office, why not use Windows as well? In fact, the lack of office-oriented applications -- ones that would make the transition from Windows really easy -- is one of the points that continue to concern us about desktop Linux. There are plenty of applications out there, but no one seems to have brought them to quite the polish needed for non-technical desktop users -- with a few exceptions, such as Evolution. Linux advocates will argue that in the fast-moving open-source development world this will improve quickly, but that remains to be seen. Another question mark is the availability of compatible software generally. We found that some key software, such as Ximian's popular Gnome-based desktop interface, was not available in packages designed for SuSE Linux 8.1; Ximian Desktop had been tailored for 8.2 instead, and wouldn't install on our system, which rather left us up a creek. However, this could be a problem with SuSE rather than Linux generally: software companies seem to be more ready to offer installers for older versions of the more popular Red Hat Linux. Conclusions
In all, we were surprised at just how easy it was, once SLD was configured, to get on with our job and forget which platform we were using. This bodes well for Linux in an enterprise situation, where the software may be expected to simply run particular software packages and communicate with other machines across the LAN. We found it difficult, in fact, to come up with a job requirement that SLD couldn't fulfil; there is even a media player installed by default, ideal for listening to MP3s while working on a long and complicated feature. A caveat is that some of this ease-of-use is due to SLD's ability to run Windows applications, a dependency which Linux must surely try to move away from in the long run. Pricing
Comparing SuSE's prices to those of Microsoft with Windows XP is tricky, since Linux isn't licensed in the same way as proprietary software, and Microsoft's volume-licensing programme is notoriously opaque. However, SuSE's prices seem reasonable, and the structure is straightforward. SuSE sells SLD only in combination with a maintenance programme that covers a minimum of five desktops. The five-desktop, one-year maintenance contract, along with an installation kit, runs at $598, with $99.80 for each additional desktop. A 10-client, one-year contract costs $998 with the installation kit and further discounts kick in for higher-volume customers.