I lurve ClearOS!

Been with it since Clark Connect version X.X 11 years ago. (Can't remember now)

Installed it in a client site 6 years ago and it has been restarted twice. Once to upgrade to 5.2 and another for some unrelated maintenance work where it had been up for over 2 years! That was 463 days ago and it hasn't been down since.

(See my post dated 8th May 2013 https://www.facebook.com/jimscomputerservicesact for a screenshot)

In the meantime I have tried both Zentyal and Univention and while both work neither offer the ease of use or robustness of ClearOS, IMHO.


Can't wait for ClearOS 7

In my opinion ClearOS is a great cloud-connected Server, Network, and Gateway operating system designed for homes, hobbyists and Linux developers. I use ClearOS in a home environment. I'm using ClearOS 5 years now and there is no better solution out there. ClearOS receives regular updates and new marketplace apps. The development team s now busy with version 7.0 and a public beta is scheduled for October. See this thread...

To someone who has been using ClearOS / Clarkconnect for a long time your questions seem kind of strange, but I guess not everyone is aware of where ClearOS as a distro has come from or is going. The following might help give a flavour:-
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=clearos
https://www.openhub.net/p/clearos

I guess a lot of the developer activity is hidden or not very well communicated, but the team are always busy improving ClearOS for the next release. The tracker roadmap gives a few clues as to what is going on behind the scenes. As Nick pointed out they are gearing up for ClearOS 7 shortly....ClearCenter who provide the professional support services for ClearOS have a much better feel for how it is received in the enterprise / SOHO sectors.

Hi Mike,

I would consider myself as an enterprise user, although we only use the COS box for firewall and VPN roles. I've been with Clear (and Clark Connect prior) for a number of years, I don't think there is a better package on offer at the moment in terms of ease of use and integrated features. COS has built a good reputation on the web forums for such products, and I certainly don't see it going anywhere, other than from strength to strength. :-)

I'm sure I speak for many when I say I wish SAMBA had stopped 'debating' which authentication method was best for the previous X years, and got on with creating a compatible active directory implementation that worked 'easily' with a Windows 2003 domain. Whilst I can in no way criticise the work of volunteer developers who generously give up their free time to create a product, It annoys me slightly that I think the 'open source' community of Linux distributions has not been able to capture the ground left by the 'millions' of customers from the end of the MS SBS platform, because the lack of a fully compatible domain controller.

That aside, I think the developers of COS are doing a fantastic job, and I would like to see (similar to the adoption of Libre Office by various governments around the world), the number of SBS users increase to such a point whereby the number of active developers (and money!) reach what I call 'critical mass', I guess where it goes from a hobby to a mainstream commercial option that the 'non-technical' small and micro businesses feel they can consider as a viable option.

Yeah, I have a full support package. Looking forward to Samba4 getting rolled in soon, Based on your response (and total number of posts), I take it you are quite comfortable with the distro and don't see it going away anytime soon?

Support on the forum is largely by volunteers and I'd love to see more people get involved. Although I've posted a lot I have a limited field of knowledge. Tim has much more knowledge, understands more of the guts of ClearOS and writes packages but as the gap between his and my post count gets smaller, I suspect he has more family or work pressure these days. The devs do post in fits and starts. As a corporate user I'd certainly take out a basic subscription which allows you to raise support tickets which Clearcenter will answer directly. I'm only a hobbyist so all my support is through the forums.

Development is consistently occurring - look at 6.6 and 7.0 on the horizon. New apps get released to the marketplace but not all are free. Clearcenter need to make money somehow. There appears to be a huge amount on the horizon. The question is how far away the horizon is. There is a roadmap here.

I understand what you're saying, but I'm more looking for the gut instinct of the user base. Is development consistently occurring? Are support questions answered in a timely fashion? Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be negative. I'm just looking for an honest assessment.

Just have a look at the site and look for references to ClearOS 7 and 6.6!