The Linux Guy
“Linux laptop” should not be an oxymoron.
Tuesday, November 15th, 2005
Over the summer, I decided to return to the corporate world after ten years as an independent consultant. One of the many perks of going to work for a giant information technology consulting firm is getting issued a new laptop. The awarding of the laptop is like anointment: Go forth into the world and do our customers’ bidding. Oh, and by the way, stay in touch with the home office to get your assignments. Mind you, I don’t mind traveling — I get to see new things (and eat my way across the country). However, I absolutely hate running Linux on my laptop. It’s a huge pain in the tookhis.
The company that I work for is one of the biggest consulting shops in the world, but it’s fairly new to Linux. I’m the designated “Linux Guy” who’s going to help break them into Linux consulting. That’s great, and I love my new job, but because a lot of the company infrastructure runs Redmondware, I have to run it, too. Stuff like Outlook, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Office.
So, I need Linux and Windows on one machine.
Sometimes I run VMware. I run Windows XP and its applications in it, including my VPN client. Simultaneously, I can use it to prototype Linux systems for customers. VMware is an awesome product and quite invaluable.
