Christopher Cox wrote:
> > There is a good "Excel-compatible" spreadsheet in Star
> > Office. Also SO is backwards-compatible with Office-97's
> > word DOC files. It is my understanding that GIMP is quite a
> > powerful graphics editor. Also, Star Office has a
> > presentatino program which I think is supposed to be
> > compatible with Powerpoint. That only leaves Quicken,
> > Turbotax and VB.
> > John
>
> I have yet to load Star Office, but have it sitting next to me. Gimp does
> net even come close to a Image Composer of sorts. I will play with Star
> Office to see what that plugs up. The off the shelf stuff like Quiken,
> TurboTax and the lack of a VB is really going to be tough to fill.
>
> Later
>
> Christopher Cox
Actually, the major complaint I hear is "Where's Publisher?" That hacked-up
reissue of Word with clipart and a different file format is inordinately
popular for what it is. I think that might be an easy package to write,
comparatively speaking, among all the missing analogs.
For Quicken, try MoneyDance available by searching linuxberg or freshmeat.
If you need accounting applications, (NOT TurboTax, but real accounting)
http://www.hex.net/~cbbrowne/finances.html has a non-exhaustive but rather
large list. I haven't found any tax packages for linux.
For VB, there is no substitute or analog, true. I am not of the opinion
there should be<g>, but it would be nice if there were, for those who nust
have it. Still, it would NOT in all likelihood be totally satisfactory to
VB programmers because linux exposes far fewer APIs than Windows does (to my
way of thinking, a good thing, most windows exploits cruise in through one
of the 70,000 or so APIs windows exposes to programmers).
In the application space I am in, we can get by without windows, and we are
in the process of expunging it. This is NOT generally true. Linux is not
for everyday users, at least not the distributions I have seen. One barrier
which will be an INCREASING problem among the distributions is the lack of
an analog of the "InstallShield Wizard". I think one could be written. In
fact, it seems like a good project, but the objectives are far more
demanding than the Windows environment.
Basically, to do it, the Wizard would need to
a) Analyze the install package (gzipped tarball, rpm, bz2, etc.)
b) If a binary, then figure whether it is staticly linked and, if not, which
libraries it needs and go get 'em (or tell the user to, if not on-line).
Moreover, make sure those libraries and their pointers do not interfere with
installed software. Example: You can break KDE by installing Qt2.x libs in
the standard places, yet 2.x is needed for such programs as the latest
versions of KOffice and Kvirc Millenium.
c) If source, check the requirements of the config file and make sure the
resources are available. If not, ask the user if they should be installed
and go get em. Same cautions apply to libraries as in b).
d) check the distro on the machine against the distro the package was made
for and adjust directory assignments (REALLY tough, figure on revising once
a week or so), or instruct the user to find the right package (kinda like
"<sigh> Read The Fine Material available", which is what we have to get away
from if we make linux available widely).
e) now write a script to perform the necessary actions, put it somewhere,
make it executable, and do one of those background runs in su mode, making
sure you capture the pid of the script and keep checking it while displaying
some amazing graphics for the entertainment of the user.
****Hey, that sounds like a project I'd be willing to work on if someone
will lead it. I think if we start with simple requirements (tar.gz source
and binaries) and add functionality later for other packages, it could
work.****
KOffice is likely to supply something we really need. By that, I mean KWord
looks like it could do the same jobs as PageMaker with much more simplicity
for the user, and the other segments I have checked are looking good. A
great set of filters for file interoperability will be a necessity, though.
Still, I do need to leave Windows on a couple of machines here for some
functions it is not possible to produce in linux at this time. I have
assured that those windows installations know nothing of how to access the
network, however. I have had quite enough of people wiping out their
systems with internet-borne exploits. If they need to compose something in
windows using Microsoft-compatible software, fine. Then they can attach it
to transmissions by booting into linux and picking it from the /dos
partition as an attachment.
Civileme
