[Leaplist] centrally manage Windows XP Home?

[Jason Boxman]

Ray Brunkow wrote:
<snip>
> no need to run a batch file, but yes you can do this.  when you map a
> network share (drive, printer, etc.) there should be a check box option
> to automatically connect at login.

Excellent.  That's essentially all I was expecting from Home.

<snip>
> Thunderbird has, to my knowledge, no enterprise capabilities.  running
> IMAP as your e-mail is about as close as it will come.  You do not have
> a central database for address books, or contacts, or any of the
> "Outlook/Exchange" tools that you do with enterprise tools.  There are
> some OSS enterprise mail server client combos out there, but i do not
> think they are free.

That's so far been my discover as well.  I'm already up with IMAP and that
works perfectly.  It's only three systems, so there's no pressing need to go
overboard at present.

I wouldn't mind plugging into LDAP, but I've never discovered a LDAP aware
email client that supports writing.  I'm pondering doing up an app in Rails
that supports simple contact data I can then import into LDAP periodically. 
Low priority though.

<snip>
> Last I looked a 5 license winXP Pro Corp. ran in the $500 - $750
> range.   Good luck finding one now that Vista is all the rage in Redmond.

Oh, wow.  For only three systems that's not likely to happen.

<snip>
> Got ya, been there done that.  upgrading to winXP Pro and putting in a
> win2k or 2k3 server as a DC running AD will go a long ways to helping
> secure the user level, the network, and make life much simpler to
> manage.  If you need help with that, this is one of the things i do.

That's what I thought might be the case.  For three boxes it's probably
overkill.

<snip>
> Again with a true server you can centralize the files and make life
> simpler for everyone.  By setting up a file server (SAMBA or win2k or
> 2k3) then mapping out the shares makes it easier to locate files and
> what not.  Then it is just a matter of training the staff to save things
> were they belong.  One thing that Open Office does well is remember were
> you saved your last file and will automatically try to save the next
> document in the same location.

Yes, that's my primary objective now that centralized mail with IMAP works
happily.  With all the files in one place (mostly) backups will actually be
possible.  It's far easier to have RAID 1 on the file server and backup
off-site than on all the various desktop systems.

> Example:
>
> Document A is opened from //serverIP/sharename/documentA.odt
>
> then when you create Document B OOo will automatically try to save it to:
>
> //serverIP/sharename/
>
> and wait for a name for the new document.
>
> To sum things up:
>
> 1.  winXP Home will not work for what you want to do.
> 2.  win2k pro or XP Pro will do what you want/need to do.
> 3.  roaming profiles requires a domain controller AND active directory
> 4.  for enterprise e-mail client/server combinations you need to buy
> enterprise server software.  IMAP is as close as you can get to
> enterprise e-mail in thunderbird, but you still will not have shared
> address books, contact lists, etc...
> 5.  better file structure will be better then adding more 3rd party
> software to an already bloated OS.

Sounds good.

Thanks!