Linux-Advocacy Digest #673, Volume #34 Mon, 21 May 01 18:13:03 EDT
Contents:
Re: Why Linux Is no threat to Windows domination of the desktop ("Vallely's Dirt in
Boss King's Ditch..")
Re: Linux beats Win2K (again) (Pete Goodwin)
Re: Mandrake 8 sets the standard - for Desktop users anyway. ("Mart van de Wege")
Re: It would be nice if (quux111)
Re: Dell Meets Estimates (quux111)
Re: Linux on the desktop potential, suggestions needed (quux111)
Re: W2K/IIS proves itself over Linux/Tux ("Aaron R. Kulkis")
Re: Why Linux Is no threat to Windows domination of the desktop ("jet")
Re: Linux on the desktop potential, suggestions needed ("Mart van de Wege")
Re: RIP the Linux desktop (mlw)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Vallely's Dirt in Boss King's Ditch.." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: soc.men,soc.singles,alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
Subject: Re: Why Linux Is no threat to Windows domination of the desktop
Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 15:27:15 -0500
Aaron's a homophobe, in addition to being a pathetic little right
wing gunny turd..
"Aaron R. Kulkis" wrote:
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> >
> > >>>>> Aaron R Kulkis writes:
> >
> > Aaron> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > >>
> > >> >>>>> Aaron R Kulkis writes:
> > >>
> > Aaron> Roberto Pavan wrote:
> > >> >>
> > >> >> "Aaron R. Kulkis" wrote:
> > >> >>
> > >> >> > You guys STILL have yet to demonstrate that homosexuality is
> > >> >> > anything OTHER than defective behavior.
> > >> >>
> > >> >> Why? Seriously. Why should they demonstrate anything?
> > >> >>
> > >> >> Seeing as it affects you not one whit whether someone chooses to have sex
>with
> > >> >> someone of the same gender, why should they have to prove anything to you
>at all
> > >> >> regarding this behaviour? Why not go on wearing your tutu and playing
>with your
> > >>
> > Aaron> If a car that I don't own, and I'm not riding in, crashes, killing all
>aboard,
> > Aaron> due to brake failure...
> > >>
> > Aaron> are you trying to imply that I should be prohibited from commenting that
> > Aaron> the car was obviously defective in some way...
> > >>
> > >> >> sock while listening to Barry Manilow records and staring at pictures of
>flatulent
> > >> >> field mice and leave them the hell alone? Both you and they will be ever
>so much
> > >> >> happier...
> > >>
> > Aaron> Personally, I wish all of these defective people would quit running
>around
> > Aaron> demanding that I give them special rights, so that they can indulge in
> > Aaron> their defective behavior.
> > >>
> > >> Can you name a single right being asked for that heterosexuals
> > >> do not either already have,
> >
> > Yes> The PRIVILEGE of not allowing others to judge their behavior.
> >
> > Aaron> For example, *I* get judged on my behavior all the time. Why should
> > Aaron> homosexuals get a special exemption?
> >
> > Who is asking for such a thing?
>
> The gay privileges lobby.
>
> >
> > >> or would have along with gays should
> > >> the proposed item be passed into law?
> >
> > Aaron> They tried that in my home town just this week.
> >
> > Aaron> Although public opinion polls showed the special-rights-for-gays proposal
> > Aaron> to have a slight majority....the ACTUAL VOTING TURNOUT was a landslide
> > Aaron> defeat for the homsexuals.
> >
> > Name one of the so-called special rights.
> >
>
> The privilege to NOT bear the consequences of one's behavior.
>
> > Aaron> Imagine that.
> >
> > >> I will not hold my breath.
> > >>
> > >> There is nothing "special" about equal rights.
> >
> > Aaron> Homosexual already HAVE equal rights.
> >
> > No, they are not allowed to marry the willing adult of their
> > choice, and are thus shut out of a large set of rights, privileges
> > and responsibilities.
>
> Any man is allowed to marry any woman whom he so chooses.
> Any woman is allowed to marry any man whom she so chooses.
>
> All gays have these rights, just like anybody else.
>
> >
> > Aaron> Any additional laws are Special Privileges.
> >
> > I have yet to see a single special right or privilege being
> > asked for.
>
> You wish to escape the consequences of your deviancy.
>
> >
> > You have, despite several challenges, failed to come up with
> > one.
> >
>
> > Big surprise.
> >
> > --
> > Andrew Hall
> > (Now reading Usenet in alt.fan.rush-limbaugh...)
>
> --
> Aaron R. Kulkis
> Unix Systems Engineer
> DNRC Minister of all I survey
> ICQ # 3056642
>
> L: This seems to have reduced my spam. Maybe if everyone does it we
> can defeat the email search bots. [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> K: Truth in advertising:
> Left Wing Extremists Charles Schumer and Donna Shalala,
> Black Seperatist Anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan,
> Special Interest Sierra Club,
> Anarchist Members of the ACLU
> Left Wing Corporate Extremist Ted Turner
> The Drunken Woman Killer Ted Kennedy
> Grass Roots Pro-Gun movement,
>
> J: Other knee_jerk reactionaries: billh, david casey, redc1c4,
> The retarded sisters: Raunchy (rauni) and Anencephielle (Enielle),
> also known as old hags who've hit the wall....
>
> I: Loren Petrich's 2-week stubborn refusal to respond to the
> challenge to describe even one philosophical difference
> between himself and the communists demonstrates that, in fact,
> Loren Petrich is a COMMUNIST ***hole
>
> H: "Having found not one single carbon monoxide leak on the entire
> premises, it is my belief, and Willard concurs, that the reason
> you folks feel listless and disoriented is simply because
> you are lazy, stupid people"
>
> G: Knackos...you're a retard.
>
> F: Unit_4's "Kook hunt" reminds me of "Jimmy Baker's" harangues against
> adultery while concurrently committing adultery with Tammy Hahn.
>
> E: Jet is not worthy of the time to compose a response until
> her behavior improves.
>
> D: Jet Silverman now follows me from newgroup to newsgroup
> ...despite (C) above.
>
> C: Jet Silverman claims to have killfiled me.
>
> B: Jet Silverman plays the fool and spews out nonsense as a
> method of sidetracking discussions which are headed in a
> direction that she doesn't like.
>
> A: The wise man is mocked by fools.
------------------------------
From: Pete Goodwin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Linux beats Win2K (again)
Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 21:06:53 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] says...
> >That's your dogma.
>
> No; that is my conjecture. I have no dogma, Pete.
Oh yes you do! You regularly inject "monopoly crapware" into your posts,
frequently out of context to the topic.
> >You gotta get Linux desktop up to scratch before it can even compete with
> >Windows (98).
>
> Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Still grasping at straws, Pete; you are still
> grasping at straws.
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/opinions/3387/1/
Some straw.
--
Pete
------------------------------
From: "Mart van de Wege" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Mandrake 8 sets the standard - for Desktop users anyway.
Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 23:46:41 +0200
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Pete
Goodwin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] says...
>
>> > I try not to be a fanatic. After being a Born Again Christian, I
>> > don't want to be that fanatical or closed minded again.
>> Amen!
>
> And amen to that too!
>
>> > Why do you think my 3D
>> > scene editor MSE is available on both Windows and Linux?
>> I have three theories:-
>>
>> 1/ You're a degreed Electronics and CS person who loves technology and
>> is excited about it. Sadly you ran over a gypsy once, who pointed a
>> finger at you before dying and uttered the words "Linux.....DHCP". This
>> unfortunate event has placed a curse on you, and you will never get
>> DHCP working!
>
> No...
>
>> 2/ You're a Wintroll and need to add some legitmacy to your Linux posts
>> (a new and confusing technique).
>
> No...
>
>> 3/ None of the above :)
>
> Correct!
>
Pete,
With all due respect of course, but can it be that you have so much
experience on other OS's that you overestimate your knowledge a little?
You constantly seem to miss things that are blindingly obvious to a lot
of Linux users. Can it just be that you miss something obvious because
you keep thinking that you know what you're doing and go:'naah, can't be
that. That'd be too simple'?
Mart
--
Gimme back my steel, gimme back my nerve
Gimme back my youth for the dead man's curve
For that icy feel when you start to swerve
John Hiatt - What Do We Do Now
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (quux111)
Subject: Re: It would be nice if
Date: 21 May 2001 20:51:52 GMT
"Edward Rosten" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in news:9ebps5$e5m$[EMAIL PROTECTED]:
>> It would be nice if Red Hat 7 + KDE had an easier way to change monitor
>> resolution than using Xconfigurate or manually editing an X
>> configuration file ... or have I just confused my way into missing the
>> easy way?
>
> What's difficult about XConfigurator?
>
>
> -Ed
>
You mean besides the fact that it produces broken configuration files and
requires hand-tweaking for things like refresh rates and default
resolutions? I just wish someone would port XF86Setup to work with XFree
4.0.x; that was the best configuration tool!
quux111
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (quux111)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,misc.invest.stocks
Subject: Re: Dell Meets Estimates
Date: 21 May 2001 20:49:40 GMT
"Ayende Rahien" <don'[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in
news:9ebrta$6f6$[EMAIL PROTECTED]:
>
> "Edward Rosten" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:9eb1ir$rrr$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
>> > If you're looking for a scalable system, that's the
>> > ultimate: you can scale from a basic single processor server all the
>> > way up to the high end machine, without much more work than putting
>> > in a new machine. There is no equivalent to that in the Linux or
>> > Windows worlds, and it gives Sun an important selling point: they
>> > scale further.
>>
>> That is in no way true. Linux scales from far lowre than solaris to
>> nearly as high. Both will run on anything from a single processor
>> machine (linux goes to lower ones) through mainframes up to
>> supercomputers (where solaris goes slghtly higher).
>>
>> Linux is one of the most scalable OSs on the planet, along with
>> solaris.
>
> No, it isn't.
> Once you got to high end, Solaris kicks Linux to the ground without
> even trying.
>
This is meaningless PR-speak. Do you work for Sun, or what? Solaris on
SPARC hardware *can* scale up to about 62 CPUs (the SunFire boxes can go
that high), but the efficiency of that scaling is debatable -- the per-CPU
cost is much higher than, say, a System 390 mainframe. It's even higher
than an SGI Origin machine running an equivalent number of MIPS CPUs.
And if you're talking about clustering (Beowulf-style), Linux is *far* more
efficient than Solaris on equivalent hardware. Solaris x86 is a complete
pig, in fact, and Linux on SPARC competes pretty well with Solaris until
you get into the 4-CPU range.
I've never understood the fascination with the "high end" of computing.
Low-end and midrange is where all the action is; 4-CPU SMP is the sweet-
spot for most manufacturers, and clustering is taking a lot of the
limelight from the traditional 32-way and 64-way SMP boxes.
Solaris is a fine OS; I've used it for many years and I like it quite a
bit. On commodity platforms like x86 (and I expect Itanium too) Linux is a
better solution than Solaris. On SPARC, Solaris is probably better, but
that's hardly a surprise, given that Sun controls both the hardware and
that software.
Regards,
quux111
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (quux111)
Subject: Re: Linux on the desktop potential, suggestions needed
Date: 21 May 2001 21:04:56 GMT
(Jeff Cochran) wrote in news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:
> I'm back to reviewing Linux for our desktops again, it's been a year
> or so since we determined it was not an option in our case but things
> may have changed. Here are my major sticking points that I need
> suggestions on:
>
> I need a satisfactory substitute for MS Office 2000, with Word, Excel,
> Access and PowerPoint, full file compatibility and that inexperienced
> users can easily adapt to. In other words, it has to be really close
> to the MS Office in both functionality and actual use.
>
First, I'd ask why these requirements are stated in this way. If your
needs are for a complete and exact copy of Office 2000, why not just keep
using Windows and Office 2000?
If you can live with some file-format differences, there are lots of
options to choose from:
1. OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org)
This is the new version of StarOffice, and includes many advanced
features. It's still in beta, but it is more than useful enough for
anything I do.
2. StarOffice 5.2.
It's a pretty good Office clone, and even mimics Office's look and feel
somewhat. It's rather large and slow, but again, it's more than good
enough for most folks.
3. KOffice.
I haven't used it myself (I'm a GNOME kind of guy) but a lot of people
think highly of this suite.
4. Applix Office.
I use this suite myself. It's lightweight and fast, and can save both
older Word and WordPerfect formats. It's full-featured and inexpensive --
you can pick up a copy for about $50, which is a steal for what you get.
>
> I need a substitute for Outlook/Exchange. It has to have calendering
> and contacts as well as e-mail functionality, and has to have shared
> calendars. It would be okay if this were a web-based solution, a
> Linux server for this is a no brainer. Some of the forms routing an
> collaboration in Outlook/Exchange would be great, but I think we can
> work around not having those functions.
>
Again, why switch if what you have works for you?
Still, if you're determined to switch:
1. Evolution. It's a pretty blatant Outlook ripoff, and includes all the
features you need. It's still under heavy development, though, so be
prepared.
That's about it if you're determined to have calendaring/to-do list
functionality. Personally, I despise Outlook specifically due to this kind
of bloat. If I want a caldenar/contact-manager/PIM, I'll get one. I want
my e-mail program to do e-mail, period. For this, I use Balsa
(www.balsa.org), a very nice and lightweight e-mail client.
>
> I need a GUI that is reminiscent of 95/98/NT/2K that won't confuse
> users. There seem to be a number of them out there and I'll probably
> have to wade through a bunch. A substitute for Windows Explorer
> should be easy, but I can't be retraining users for what are natural
> tasks to them now.
>
ICEWM (www.plig.org/xwinman). It mimics Win95's UI very closely, and
shouldn't overburden older machines. KDE is very good, but can run very
slowly on anything less than a PII.
>
> We have a million other little programs we deal with, and I think
> Windows emulation will solve some of them, others we'll migrate to
> Linux solutions. The biggies are the Office/Outlook/Exchange issues.
>
> I still can't migrate most of my servers that rely on MS-SQL, but this
> would allow me to move the Exchange server, as well as a few of the
> file/print servers to Linux as well. We already use Linux for
> web/internet functions, but that's been about the only area we could
> justify it. I already will need to retrain admins, some of whom were
> tough to train in NT/2000 in the first place. :)
>
> Thanks for the suggestions.
>
> Jeff
>
You mentioned several times that you were looking for exact feature-matches
between the Linux stuff and your Windows stuff. In my mind, that's kind of
a dumb approach because all you're really saying is that you don't want to
change at all -- you want everything to look and act exactly the same. If
that's the case, why switch at all?
Linux can bring substantial savings in both up-front costs and productivity
gains, but you have to be willing to experiment a bit and get your hands
dirty. It's been my experience that users of modern software don't really
give a crap what's in front of them -- as long as it looks sort of GUI-ish
and has some familiar icons, they'll figure it out in a couple of days.
Then it'll be like they never worked on anything else.
Regards,
quux111
------------------------------
From: "Aaron R. Kulkis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy
Subject: Re: W2K/IIS proves itself over Linux/Tux
Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 17:52:56 -0400
Jan Johanson wrote:
>
> "GreyCloud" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
>
> > Bias is all too obvious. Propaganda has certain forms and patterns.
> > Jan / Jon is predictable... an agenda.
>
> You are enitrely too shallow and immediatey jumping to the wrong conclusion.
>
> I don't need an agenda nor follow one. Propaganda? hehe... biased? yep. hell
> yes. JUST as linvocates are biased towards linux and anti-MS in every word
> they spue.
You write like someone who is a brainwashing victim.
Hope that helps.
>
> Look - W2K works fargin' perfectly for me and my buddies.
Spot the symptoms of brainwashing
> Everywhere I go I
> see W2K working fine.
And again.
> I just simply do not see any of the problems unix
> advocates claim plague w2k.
Blindness to readily observable phenomena is a symptom of brainwashing.
> they are just not there. I see this as lies and
> a simple campagn of FUD - utterly predictable. The unix/anti-MS types
> continue to spue fear from ages old Win9x blue screen conditions. They
> refuse to acknowledge that W2K is not 10 year old code and doesn't suffer
> from ages old/solved problems.
same pattern.
>
> My bias is all to obvious alright - I prefer to report my first hand
> experiences and deny the lies of those that haven't even seen the product
> they attempt to disparage.
>
> Give me a break... you unix advocate types are the exact same except you
> make shit up or ignore current events prefering to hang desperately onto old
> crap...
--
Aaron R. Kulkis
Unix Systems Engineer
DNRC Minister of all I survey
ICQ # 3056642
L: This seems to have reduced my spam. Maybe if everyone does it we
can defeat the email search bots. [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
K: Truth in advertising:
Left Wing Extremists Charles Schumer and Donna Shalala,
Black Seperatist Anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan,
Special Interest Sierra Club,
Anarchist Members of the ACLU
Left Wing Corporate Extremist Ted Turner
The Drunken Woman Killer Ted Kennedy
Grass Roots Pro-Gun movement,
J: Other knee_jerk reactionaries: billh, david casey, redc1c4,
The retarded sisters: Raunchy (rauni) and Anencephielle (Enielle),
also known as old hags who've hit the wall....
I: Loren Petrich's 2-week stubborn refusal to respond to the
challenge to describe even one philosophical difference
between himself and the communists demonstrates that, in fact,
Loren Petrich is a COMMUNIST ***hole
H: "Having found not one single carbon monoxide leak on the entire
premises, it is my belief, and Willard concurs, that the reason
you folks feel listless and disoriented is simply because
you are lazy, stupid people"
G: Knackos...you're a retard.
F: Unit_4's "Kook hunt" reminds me of "Jimmy Baker's" harangues against
adultery while concurrently committing adultery with Tammy Hahn.
E: Jet is not worthy of the time to compose a response until
her behavior improves.
D: Jet Silverman now follows me from newgroup to newsgroup
...despite (C) above.
C: Jet Silverman claims to have killfiled me.
B: Jet Silverman plays the fool and spews out nonsense as a
method of sidetracking discussions which are headed in a
direction that she doesn't like.
A: The wise man is mocked by fools.
------------------------------
From: "jet" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: soc.men,soc.singles,alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
Subject: Re: Why Linux Is no threat to Windows domination of the desktop
Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 14:56:21 -0700
Aaron R. Kulkis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> jet wrote:
> >
> > Aaron R. Kulkis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> > news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > > >
> > > > >>>>> Aaron R Kulkis writes:
> > > >
> > > > Aaron> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > > > >>
> > > > >> >>>>> Aaron R Kulkis writes:
> > > > >>
> > > > Aaron> Roberto Pavan wrote:
> > > > >> >>
> > > > >> >> "Aaron R. Kulkis" wrote:
> > > > >> >>
> > > > >> >> > You guys STILL have yet to demonstrate that homosexuality
is
> > > > >> >> > anything OTHER than defective behavior.
> > > > >> >>
> > > > >> >> Why? Seriously. Why should they demonstrate anything?
> > > > >> >>
> > > > >> >> Seeing as it affects you not one whit whether someone
chooses
> > to have sex with
> > > > >> >> someone of the same gender, why should they have to prove
> > anything to you at all
> > > > >> >> regarding this behaviour? Why not go on wearing your tutu
and
> > playing with your
> > > > >>
> > > > Aaron> If a car that I don't own, and I'm not riding in, crashes,
> > killing all aboard,
> > > > Aaron> due to brake failure...
> > > > >>
> > > > Aaron> are you trying to imply that I should be prohibited from
> > commenting that
> > > > Aaron> the car was obviously defective in some way...
> > > > >>
> > > > >> >> sock while listening to Barry Manilow records and staring
at
> > pictures of flatulent
> > > > >> >> field mice and leave them the hell alone? Both you and
they
> > will be ever so much
> > > > >> >> happier...
> > > > >>
> > > > Aaron> Personally, I wish all of these defective people would
quit
> > running around
> > > > Aaron> demanding that I give them special rights, so that they
can
> > indulge in
> > > > Aaron> their defective behavior.
> > > > >>
> > > > >> Can you name a single right being asked for that heterosexuals
> > > > >> do not either already have,
> > > >
> > > > Yes> The PRIVILEGE of not allowing others to judge their
behavior.
> > > >
> > > > Aaron> For example, *I* get judged on my behavior all the time.
Why
> > should
> > > > Aaron> homosexuals get a special exemption?
> > > >
> > > > Who is asking for such a thing?
> > >
> > > The gay privileges lobby.
> >
> > LOL! Do they fly around in black helicopters?
> >
> > >
> > > >
> > > > >> or would have along with gays should
> > > > >> the proposed item be passed into law?
> > > >
> > > > Aaron> They tried that in my home town just this week.
> > > >
> > > > Aaron> Although public opinion polls showed the
> > special-rights-for-gays proposal
> > > > Aaron> to have a slight majority....the ACTUAL VOTING TURNOUT was
a
> > landslide
> > > > Aaron> defeat for the homsexuals.
> > > >
> > > > Name one of the so-called special rights.
> > > >
> > >
> > > The privilege to NOT bear the consequences of one's behavior.
> >
> > What on earth are you talking about?
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > > Aaron> Imagine that.
> > > >
> > > > >> I will not hold my breath.
> > > > >>
> > > > >> There is nothing "special" about equal rights.
> > > >
> > > > Aaron> Homosexual already HAVE equal rights.
> > > >
> > > > No, they are not allowed to marry the willing adult of their
> > > > choice, and are thus shut out of a large set of rights, privileges
> > > > and responsibilities.
> > >
> > > Any man is allowed to marry any woman whom he so chooses.
> > > Any woman is allowed to marry any man whom she so chooses.
> > >
> > > All gays have these rights, just like anybody else.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > >
> > > > Aaron> Any additional laws are Special Privileges.
> > > >
> > > > I have yet to see a single special right or privilege being
> > > > asked for.
> > >
> > > You wish to escape the consequences of your deviancy.
> >
> > Huh?
> >
> > I've noticed the bitter boys tend to be homophobic.
>
> phobic???
>
> Phobic = fear
>
> I don't fear anything from them...but I do find it goddamend REVOLTING.
>
Are you disengenous or stupid? Or both. A homophobe is a person who hates
gays. That's what the word means.
J
------------------------------
From: "Mart van de Wege" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Linux on the desktop potential, suggestions needed
Date: Tue, 22 May 2001 00:02:39 +0200
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Unknown"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I'm back to reviewing Linux for our desktops again, it's been a year or
> so since we determined it was not an option in our case but things may
> have changed. Here are my major sticking points that I need suggestions
> on:
>
> I need a satisfactory substitute for MS Office 2000, with Word, Excel,
> Access and PowerPoint, full file compatibility and that inexperienced
> users can easily adapt to. In other words, it has to be really close to
> the MS Office in both functionality and actual use.
>
Ok, you put the hard one on top. This is the sticking point. If the users
don't have too complex documents, StarOffice 5.2 does a good job. I can
exchange Word and Excel documents with my work just fine. Unfortunately
for that last 10% of docs that use the more esoteric features of Office
(estimate mine), there is no compatible solution. Macro support is out as
well. In terms of User Interface, retraining should be minimal, but still
some effort should be expected.
> I need a substitute for Outlook/Exchange. It has to have calendering
> and contacts as well as e-mail functionality, and has to have shared
> calendars. It would be okay if this were a web-based solution, a Linux
> server for this is a no brainer. Some of the forms routing an
> collaboration in Outlook/Exchange would be great, but I think we can
> work around not having those functions.
>
On the client side is Evolution. It is a fairly close clone of Outlook,
but still in beta. It is expected to be finished this quarter. The problem
of course is in the server side, I am no expert on this. Someone else has
any suggestions?
> I need a GUI that is reminiscent of 95/98/NT/2K that won't confuse
> users. There seem to be a number of them out there and I'll probably
> have to wade through a bunch. A substitute for Windows Explorer should
> be easy, but I can't be retraining users for what are natural tasks to
> them now.
KDE. Hands down. Pick the right theme, and it becomes virtually a complete
copy. It is however more fully featured, among the features a file manager
that makes Explorer pale by comparison, and that makes a fair browser as
well. Retraining should be minimal, unless your users would get confused
by a big K icon instead of a Start button.
> We have a million other little programs we deal with, and I think
> Windows emulation will solve some of them, others we'll migrate to Linux
> solutions. The biggies are the Office/Outlook/Exchange issues.
It appears that Linux is not quite there yet for you. I know that it could
do on the desktop at my workplace what we now use NT4 for, but it appears
that you use a bunch of real features in MS software that do not have
fully functional equivalents on Linux *yet*
> I still can't migrate most of my servers that rely on MS-SQL, but this
> would allow me to move the Exchange server, as well as a few of the
> file/print servers to Linux as well. We already use Linux for
> web/internet functions, but that's been about the only area we could
> justify it. I already will need to retrain admins, some of whom were
> tough to train in NT/2000 in the first place. :)
>
> Thanks for the suggestions.
>
> Jeff
Well, It appears that I couldn't help you much. However, I am neither a
sysadmin nor a developer (coming ever closer to the latter though), so
maybe some other people on this group could elaborate a little more.
Mart
--
Gimme back my steel, gimme back my nerve
Gimme back my youth for the dead man's curve
For that icy feel when you start to swerve
John Hiatt - What Do We Do Now
------------------------------
From: mlw <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: RIP the Linux desktop
Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 18:06:37 -0400
Pete Goodwin wrote:
> http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/opinions/3387/1/
>
> What's this! What's this!
>
> "OK, it's official: Linux on the desktop is dead."
>
> But it never even started! Giving up before even trying!
>
I hardly think the spewings of one magazine writer amount to much.
------------------------------
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