
What are you using in the real world?I'm Chris Walden, managing editor of Open Source on developerWorks. This group was initially started as an experiment with the developerWorks community tools, but I'd like to change that. I'd like to see it become a real reflection of the community who are using open-source projects every day to get real work done. I became a full-time Linux user many years ago. I started by playing with Slackware, then Red Hat. I've used Suse (both before and after Novell). Right now I'm working with Ubuntu. That shift to using Linux on my desktop forced me to deal with all of the tools that I needed to get work done. Suddenly, I could no longer put off finding open-source alternatives, I had to make it work. In reality, the situation was not much different than what I had dealt with on my other operating system. I bounced around to other software from time to time when someone pointed out something new. I quickly found tools to fill my basic needs of email, web browsing and document-creation. (I was an early user of Star Office, which evolved into OpenOffice.org and now LibreOffice.) Over the years, what was once a rather primitive landscape of applications has evolved into some pretty nice stuff, nicer than software that I've paid good money for. On a daily basis I'll use the following projects:
IBM provides Linux versions of some of the commercial tools that I need to use internally, like Lotus Notes and Lotus Sametime. Other tools pop in and out, as needed and I'm always discovering more. In personal web sites that I have, and help manage for others (don't all of us end up helping out with things like that because we're techies?) I use open-source projects:
This group is to ask questions, post answers and help show people that Open Source is doing real work right now. I've left the Wiki and the Blog open so that all members can post information. I'd like to see this become a truly interactive platform that provides answers to people seeking to take control of their IT on small and large scales. So, what is your story? What are you using, or what do you want to use? Share it here and you can get help, or help others. |