Linux vs Active Directory

In an effort to improve security, increase managability and extend the life of technology resources we have settled on two primary solutions. Linux LTSP and Microsoft Active Directory. We also show our legacy DeepFreeze option for comparison purposes. See the table below.

Note: These results reflect our currently supported environment. For example you can run many Windows games on Linux or Steam but we are not currently setup to support that functionality.

	Linux	Active Directory	Windows with DeepFreeze
General
Lifetime of client computer	8+ Years	5 Years (Without hardware Upgrades)	5 Years (Without hardware Upgrades)
Operating System Updates	Automatic Nightly	Nightly when power on	Manual process
Application Updates	Automatic Nightly	Automatic with exceptions	Manual process with the help of Ninite
Operating System Upgrades	Managed Process	Managed Process	Suprise upgrades during manual updates
Session Management	Libki	Cassie	Cassie
Session Statistics	Libki / Activity Monitor	Cassie Only	Cassie Only
Print Release	WebPrintRelease	Cassie	Cassie
Performance	Excellent	Excellent	Good to Poor
Purge patron data on reboot	Yes	Yes	Yes
Prevent system changes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Automatic Shutdown	Yes	Yes	Yes
Automatic Startup	Yes	No	No
Remote Support	Yes	Yes	Unmanaged
Computer Replace/Reimage	5 Minutes	2 Hours	2+ Hours
Gaming
Roblox	No	Yes	Yes
Browser based	Yes	Yes	Yes
Windows Games	No	Yes	Yes
Minecraft	Yes and No	Yes	Yes
Applications
Microsoft Office	Free Online Only	Yes	Yes
Libre Office	Yes	Yes	Yes
Internet Explorer	No	Yes	Yes
Google Chrome	Yes	Yes	Yes
Firefox	Yes	Yes	Yes
Java	Yes	Yes	Yes
Networking
Wired	Yes	Yes	Yes
Wireless	Yes but slow with additional hardware	Yes	Yes