Information systems for the SME
Today is a red-letter day in the development of Severn Delta.
We actually installed our first Ubuntu thin client on the shop floor!
Now, many of you will know that, being a finance professional, I have an aversion to unnecessary spending. I have also specified, installed and maintained many information systems over the years - and therefore have a lot of experience of waste in this area! Combining my two passions - saving money and IT inevitably led me to Linux.
When Clive and I started Severn Delta in 2003 we had to build our IT system from scratch. Needing to keep costs down we went down the Open Source/Linux route for our servers. Since then we have gradually migrated to Open Source client software (Firefox, Thunderbird Open Office etc)- but still on Windows PCs. The reason? Hard headed commercial reality. As well as being FD, I own 50% of the business - so any IT spend comes out of MY pocket.
Kind of focuses the mind.
Also I’m in control. Nobody can stiff me for more licence fees if I want to move to a bigger server or I take on 5 extra people. I can upgrade and develop at my own pace, and I can use old hardware until it falls apart.
That’s how the real world of manufacturing has always worked, so I don’t see why the IT bit of my business should be any different.
Part of my vision has been to install thin clients running Linux rather than “thick” windows PCs - possibly using regenerated (old) hardware.
Today we achieved step one of that vision.
For the record - Linux works. Out of the box. At low cost. And it is good for the environment.
I will never buy a Windows based PC ever again.
Are you listening Bill?
August 21st, 2007 at 12:05 pm
[...] the punchline to Martyn Shiner’s post about installing an Ubuntu thin client on his company’s factory floor. [...]
August 21st, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Having just bought a shiny new laptop for my girlfriend running Vista I can see what you mean. Getting Vista up and running took best part of an hour with several blue screens and it still seems really slooow at accessing directories etc.
Next machine will be Linux based for sure…
August 21st, 2007 at 1:09 pm
Windows is dead, long live Linux and OSX!
Seriously though, on the point of Vista, a friend recently bought a brand new laptop with Vista Home somethingorother. The performance is terrible, opening folders and navigating files are core functions and were / are as slow as hell (echoing the above comment). All this to compensate for a shiny new interface with transparency, something which both OSX and Linux (beryl / compiz) do and have done with ease for some time now. In terms of vista in the corporate network, I see absolutely nothing extra over WindowsXP. Then there are the driver issues.
Windows is supposed to be easy, however unless using a pre-installed OEM copy, installing drivers is a pain in the backside. Using Linux, drivers are kernel modules included with the distribution (in most cases, see Nvidia/Intel IPW3945 etc). I plug in my creative zen MP3 player and it Just works(TM). In windows I need to install software and drivers etc.
When will the world wake up and realise that? Probably never, what with the MS marketing budget. For business use, i.e. where IT staff are employed because they are supposed to actually THINK about IT, it’s a no-brainer. For kiosk systems - no-brainer, for thin-clients….you guessed it, no-brainer.
All we really need is for hardware manufacturers to start playing ball.
December 1st, 2008 at 3:09 pm
[...] http://blogs.severndelta.co.uk/?p=5 [...]