This second version of the Linux Client Migration Cookbook builds on the content strategy we started with in the first version. Although anyone interested in using Linux on the desktop could benefit from different portions of this book, our primary audience for this book is existing business IT environments that need to begin an evaluation of desktop Linux, or in a broader sense any organization whose strategy is to move toward greater adoption of open source software and open standards.

For this version, our goal was to complete an end-to-end refresh of existing content, and add as much new content as possible. Some key areas that we have focused on included the following:


• The future viability of desktop Linux strategies is starting to brighten considerably. A key reason for that is that the desktop developer communities have started collaborating on projects and standards in a way that is now achieving unprecedented levels of cooperation. We highlight that fact in the Forward section of this book, as well as a new section in Chapter 1: 1.7, “Desktop Linux futures” on page 7.

  

• We have added key sections to the book that focus on illustrating the differences between Linux and Windows®. See 2.3, “What makes Linux so different” on page 42, and this new chapter: Chapter 5, “Linux architecture and technical differences” on page 109. When coming from a Microsoft® Windows orientation, these sections will provide important technical background for readers in understanding why a strategy based on open software and open standards can yield so many new, different, and potentially more efficient ways to design, deploy, and manage client computing systems.



• Once you settle on an open client computing strategy you still have to deploy the new platform. Because of the extreme flexibility of the Linux software stack, IT organizations will have many options for how to design their deployment model. When migrating from Windows based environments, often the best way to approach this process will be to step back and reevaluate whether or not it makes sense to continue a strategy of providing users with dedicated high powered desktop computers, each running operating system images that by default have many more applications loaded than they actually need. We have focused on adding content that illustrates the flexibility you have in Linux for designing operating system images and deployment models for those images. The Multi-Station computing deep dive provided in section 7.5, “Multi-station client architecture” on page 162 and in Appendix D.provides a great example of how the flexibility of the desktop Linux software stack facilitates innovative deployment models that consolidate client computing systems.
   Finally, once you have settled on the design and configuration of your Linux based desktop operating system image, and you have designed and tested a cost-effective deployment model that optimizes hardware usage and projected management costs, then you still have to migrate your users to the new systems. One key challenge in minimizing the disruption to users is this: how do you efficiently capture and migrate the set of important desktop personalization data from existing Windows based clients to the target Linux based clients? Tools for automating migration of this data are now available from multiple vendors. We highlight the importance of using these tools in a medium-to-large enterprise, and provide a deep dive introduction to how you can use one of those tools, in Appendix C, “Automating desktop migration using Versora Progression Desktop” on page 277.

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