[olug] How's Running a Linux Desktop at Work?

[Bill Brush]

On 7/31/06, Aaron Grothe <ajgrothe at yahoo.com> wrote:

>  Here are the questions combined with my answers:
>
>  Q) If you have multiple machines which is the primary?


  A) Only one machine,  I use VMware workstation to run a Win XP box
for a couple of apps.

>
>  Q) Are you actually allowed to run Linux on your desktop or are you running "under the radar"?

 A) Allowed.
>
>  Q) Did you install Linux or did come that way from your tech group?

A) I'm one of the lead people in the I.S. department, so both.

>
>  Q) Are you encouraged, allowed or just tolerated?
A) I encourage myself as much as I'm able.  ;-)  My boss encourages us
to learn new skills, so pretty much all the engineers use a Linux
desktop, or have a Linux VM.  My boss has SLED 10 loaded on a laptop.

>
>  Q) How many people have you been able to convert?
around work :-)

A)  Just about 4 in the I.S. department, but we're actively looking
for ways to move it beyond the I.S. department.


>
>  Q) What are you running?

A) On my desktop I have Suse 10, although I'm thinking of going up to
10.1.  I've got a test box with 10.1, plus my home machine has 10.1
(hooray XGL and compiz) and I've got a SLES 10 Vmware server box for
hosting a testbed.

>
>  Q) What has been the biggest challenge in going to Linux?

A)  Overcoming inertia and just doing it.  When my job is finding and
solving problems all day I don't generally like to mess with a working
setup and create more work for myself.

>
>  Q) Thing that most suprises people about your desktop?

A)  Dual monitors.  Most people don't know what Linux is, and wouldn't
recognize that my desktop is different than theirs unless it was
pointed out to them.

Bill