The All Linux Office

Bryan C. Andregg

Linux is the low-cost, high-powered Internet serving environment that is being adopted by many companies as their server room operating system, and that's all its good for. This popular sentiment is changing as more people are watching the growth of the Linux desktop with a close eye. Projects like GNOME (GNU Network Object Model Environment) and KDE are providing the base, while companies like Corel and StarDivision are providing the applications. This combination offers the user a familiar drag-and-drop, window-based desktop in addition to the stability of Linux. The remote manageability and native Internet Protocol support gives administrators more time to really focus on their other jobs: reading news and playing Quake. This article provides an overview of how to set up an all Linux office that's compatible with users' expectations.

User Desktop Environments

Desktop environments like GNOME and KDE seek to provide, as the project description (see http://www.gnome.org) says, "a complete, user-friendly desktop based entirely on free software." The features of such a desktop are familiar to those people who use Microsoft and Apple products: drag-and-drop, window-based configuration, integrated help documents, to name a few. These environments do not replace the window manager, which determines what menu choices are available and what the individual windows look like. Instead, window managers should take advantage of the desktop and make use of its features. KDE, (see http://www.kde.org), is the more mature of the two environments, and according to the Web page, "KDE is a completely new desktop, incorporating a large suite of applications for UNIX workstations.