“One thing that is very important is to deploy the same, or similar fonts,” Tyler says. “The Standard OpenOffice font set on Linux is reasonably close [to Microsoft’s],” he says. However, for true compatibility, users can also get Microsoft Web fonts, which were made available few years ago from Microsoft. Although Microsoft has since withdrawn the distribution of these fonts, the license under which they were released allows them to continue to be distributed and used.
“This includes things like Arial and MS Comic Sans — all of those fonts that are typically found in Office documents,” Tyler says. There are a number of sites that make them available.
Starting to migrate users to a document formats that works well across Linux, Windows and other platforms is another good step to take before making larger desktop moves, IBM’s Kelleher says.
“Part of the strategy is not just the strategy of migrating end users and their applications,” he says.“To take it to the next level is to think about file fidelity and document format.”
A Linux desktop and its Windows-compat-ible, or nearly-compatible, applications may run well in a lab and provide low cost of ownership, but“it won’t really meet the needs of the end-user .. .if you’re in a big organization and the fonts don’t come across on 10,000 documents. That’s a substantial issue.”
“Our goal is to go ahead push out desktop Linux to users, but it’s not a fanatical movement,” O’Connor says.“Our IT department is philosophical about going 100% open source, but there are some very real-world constraints we’re working with.”
Instead of ordering 200 workstations with Linux preloaded, O’Connor is deploying a very limited number of desktops to a select group of office administrators. O’Connor says he and his staff avoid disparaging or promoting one operating system over another, and letting small groups of end-users see for themselves the differences, ask questions, and make suggestions on what might make it easier for them to use Linux.
n By Ellen Messmer
“Virtualization, as with any emerging technology, will be the target of new security threats,” said Neil MacDonald, a vice president at Gartner, in a published statement.
Virtualization software offers the ability to run multiple operating systems, or multiple sessions of a single operating system, on a single physical machine, whether server or desktop. But virtualization soft ware, such as hypervisors, present a layer that will be attacked and security strategies need to be put in place in advance, Gartner warns.
“Many organizations mistakenly assume that their approach for securing virtual machines will be the same as securing any OS and thus plan to apply their existing n Limited visibility into the host OS and
virtual network to find vulnerabilities and correct configuration.
configuration guidelines, standards and tools,” MacDonald said. While this is a start, a closer look at securing virtual machines is required, especially since needed tools may be“immature or non-existent,” according to Gartner.
Among the specific points about virtualization and security which Gartner will address at the conference are:
n Loss of separation of duties for administrative tasks.
n Restricted views into “inter-VM traffic” for inspection by intrusion prevention systems.
n Mobile VMs and security policy.
n Immature and incomplete security and management tools.
n Patching and signature updates and protection from tampering.
Gartner speculates that the “rush to adopt virtualization for server consolidation efforts” will result in many security issues being overlooked. That, in combination with the lack of available security tools for virtualization, will mean“as a result, through 2009, 60% of production [virtual machines] will be less secure than their physical counterparts.”
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