We just order a new PC for the office. As the guy go about installing the necessary softwares, I reflect on what went into the desktop and how I could influence and introduce opensource applications into the software mix.
Operating system : Windows XP
As much as I want to use Linux as the office desktop platform, Windows XP is still the dominant OS. The learning curve is too steep for the staff to climb. Time is also a factor.
My plan is to allocate time for one of the programmer to explore Linux. Already he had setup a FreeBSD server in the office.
Office productivity : Microsoft Office, Open Office
MS Office is also very much ingrained. Most user learnt to use it in school and is very familiar with it.
I have Open Office installed. My observation is that it us easier to get a non-tech person or less compute-savvy user to start using OO. They do not have much prior experience so learning OO or MS Office isn’t too much of a difference to them.
Browser: Firefox
Firefox is installed and set as the default browser. Especally for the less savvy user, using IE is a potential hole for exploit and melware.
Whenever someone got infected by melware through IE, they are reminded to use Firefox.
File archiver : 7-zip
Graphic viewer: Irfanview
Anti-virus: ClamWin
Development tools: XAMPP, TortiseSVN, WinMerge
What opensource softwares do you install on your new system?
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