ENN is reporting that Dell is looking into providing Novell’s Suse Linux as an option on their complete desktop range. That’s a big deal. There is growing unrest, particularly in Europe, with increasing licensing costs which are highlighted by the cost differences between the USA and Europe. Being able to adopt lower cost and open source alternatives will be attractive to those who need to trim costs to a minimum.
But how in the heck do I manage Linux desktops? Well folks, you can manage Linux systems using Microsoft SMS 2003 if you extend it with the Quest Management Xtensions for SMS. And Linux servers? How do you manage those? Again, there are third party management packs and agents for MOM 2005 such as Quest Management Xtensions for MOM. OK, I’ve got one: I don’t want to maintain two accounts/passwords for every user. Ha! Not a problem. There’s plenty of solutions out there for enabling single sign-on between UNIX/LINUX and Active Directory, an example being Vintela Authentication Services by Quest 🙂
You see, you can use AD as your primary directory even in a heterogeneous environment and still take advantage of the excellent management and infrastructure solutions provided by Microsoft.
Credit: ENN.