Integrating Ubuntu with a Windows-based network is harder than it should be

I suppose you could look at this as a 'real world' example, but the guy really did everything wrong. I wonder if he did any homework first. If you're going to integrate Linux desktops into a Windows network, and your Linux skills are as weak as the author's, you don't use Ubuntu. Or Debian, or Fedora, or any of the main-line Linux distributions. Use Xandros, which plugs into a Windows network more easily than any other Linux distribution. File and printer sharing, domain authentication, Crossover Office- Xandros does this more easily than anyone. But this is not your starting point in any case.

The best starting point is to inventory everything- servers, printers, hardware, applications- then investigate what migration options you have, and then create a migration plan. You have to take into account downtimes, user resistance, and your own abilities.

Actually, the best starting point is not blaming Ubuntu, but recognizing that Microsoft has invested huge resources in preventing anyone from doing this sort of thing. Once you have the correct perspective, the rest of the pieces fall into place more easily.

Quoting: Use Xandros, which plugs into a Windows network more easily than any other Linux distribution. File and printer sharing, domain authentication, Crossover Office- Xandros does this more easily than anyone. But this is not your starting point in any case.

Haven't looked at xandros recently, but sles also seems to integrate nicely into the windoze world if so asked. I've always used it in a pure unix fashion, but a windows-oriented cow-orker recently installed sles on a laptop, using windoze ad authentication.

When he first logged into the sles laptop using his peecee credentials, a local home directory was automatically created, and everything worked as expected. I was actually a little surprised at how easily it all went.

This article is the sort of thing you get when you get ppl trying to save money the Microsoft way - why hire someone to write an app when you can do it yourself using MS-Access and Visual Basic?

Hey, anyone experience with Likewise "click&point AD integration for Linux"? I almost don't have any experience with Linux in networks (though I did got files to share via SMB from WinXP through Zonealarm & Gentoo) and no experience with AD at all, but I read this article a few days (or weeks?) ago:

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2228701,00.asp

Sounded promising, and I figured the 'free beer' version was at: http://www.centeris.com/products/likewise_open/

Maybe I should mail the guy who wrote the article 'Integrating... than it should be' to recommend it? Or is it the kind of software which tries to trap you into a paid model?