Ask Slashdot: Recommendations For Linux Telecommuting Tools? 212
First time accepted submitter rodrix79 writes "Hi all. I am trying to move from Windows to Linux (Ubuntu, but maybe to Mint). The problem is I telecommute full time and I am having a hard time trying to find the right tools to keep communication flowing with my clients (which are mostly on Windows / Mac). Any good recommendations from Linux telecommuters?"
Re:Can you be more specific? (Score:4, Interesting)
And you *can* have Microsoft Office in a VM.
As a matter of fact, if the real problems are only on the edges then using Virtualbox is probably one of the directions to look. I do admin work is a split environment and it works well for me. Most of the time it's turned off but when I have to do an Active Directory change I have a saved-state windows instance ready to go.
Re:Can you be more specific? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Companies are obsessed with VPNs (Score:4, Interesting)
Security is a valid concern. The VPN is another layer of security. Let's say there's a zero day vulnerability in ssh. That's OK, you have to be on the inside of the corporate network to ssh into the server, so there's a layer of security there. Let's say there's a zero day vulnerability in the VPN system. That's where the security of ssh comes in. Why expose an extra potential vulnerability vector to the outside world? The VPN external interface already HAS to be exposed and can get you what you need from there.
For my more sensitive systems I actually have to get through three layers of password to get into root. Login to the VPN to get on the network, provide the password for my ssh key to get into the box, then provide either my own password (through sudo, my password is different than my ssh key password) or roots password (through su) to get to root. All three passwords are different, so that if one gets compromised somehow, you still need the other two.
Sure shh is secure. That doesn't mean you should rely exclusively on that security if you can avoid it.
Re:Skype (Score:4, Interesting)