Hello Non-geeks, Good news - but like the Curate's egg, only - "quite good in parts".................... :-)
Win4lin is to release a new product soon which will release more memory for operations in Windoze. I almost fell off my highchair when I learned it is limited to 64k. BUT apparently is so efficient in the use of it under Linux that it doesn't do too badly at all. As a solution though, it is still very loose for the serious (but non-geek) user. Even Civilme (the resident expert on the Newbie list) THOUGHT he was putting me in my place by telling me that in some Govt Dept they had some typistes *actually* using Linux and olde Star Office. BUT then went on and said they were *using* WorpdPerfect! (Sigh) A separate and quite expensive product (but very good) except that nobody I know outside of Civilme has ever got it to go on and work! You will need to consider some of the Doze options for some time to come, in my *practical applications* opinion. Here is the game state up to now as I have been able to drag it out in the last month since I returned to see if the performance had improved for Mandrake since I gave up on 8.0: 1. There is nothing like even FrontPage98 in the Linux world that I could get to install/see working. One of them trashed one of my semi-successful installs completely. ( I also used the one IBM bought out, in its Doze form and it was full of holes.) 2. If you are a serious business user, you NEED to be moving toward voice recognition as you know. Win4Lin doesn't support anything "fancy" at all . No sound, no fancy computational/graphical demands . BUT They do expect to have a decent amount of memory available in V4 for our bloated MS products. You do have the option of using the IBM ViaVoice product - if you can ever get Linux working on your system, but I've not tried it and it is a lower-level version than the "outside" world version. BTW: Be careful of the "included" Software with anyone's packages, but Mandrakes 8.0 claimed to include Via Voice et al and I've since been told that they were only trial programs!! (Nobody I personally know has been able to get Mandrake any distro to work properly, you see, so this is heresay........... ) 3. I don't think the available products that I used, when I did sometimes get Manrake to *partially* work, are anywhere near commercial acceptability. ( Star Office, KDE etc. incredibly poor presentation and often almost non-existent help structures). 4. Sensible backups to CD? Forget it! I have learned that this is a non-event for Win4Lin for the forseeable future. But, I don't know anyone that got anything simple like Doze's Nero or EZCD to go under Linux and several Geeks (privately) told me to forget it. Borne out by the massive problems reported on the list here with CDR much less CDW). 5. The 8.2 Mandrake had terrific writeups in the press - but in the light of the failures being experienced by the geek contingent on this list already, it is a loooooong way off being real-world ready. It is actually trashing many previously hard-won working installations! 6. It appears to me to be still the most fabulous Server System in the world and great fun for the hobbyist/masochist, but I am still highly motivated by the continual failures of the MS OS and their draconian plans for the future, so will keep coming back in hopes. SUMMARY: I believe you really need a Geek to get you online. BUT Be careful! I've wasted money on would-be experts - but I must say I was sympathetic on 2 grounds: 1. I did own a specialised Networking Company before it was even called that! So I KNOW what can go wrong. 2. Distros are notoriously confounded by the insane desperate attempt to serve 2 masters: the poor Geek who wants/expects everything in life to be free, including full-blown Server Systems(!) and the real world market which simply wants to pay its money and get a working, useful product. SO, get a fixed price for the job. NEVER pay by the hour - even $5 p.h. !!! I now believe that even a Civilme(expert) could take literally days to get an existing Hardware system up and WORKABLY on line. *** (Having said that, there is an interesting piece in the E-News "REALITY" in the next week or so.....) Do be prepared to install Win4Lin to keep access to your proven and trained-in products. I have heard of excellent results from people using Lotus Smartsuite in these conditions. Do have one or more systems Windows bootable with Win4Lin and use Linux as a dedicated Internet Server on another, if possible. DON'T DO ANYTHING NOW. Unless you can dedicate a lot of non-producing time to the project, it is still early days. By all means, get a standby machine and have a go. But, don't attempt serious business integration for some time yet. I believe that someone of (business) maturity will take over in Mandrake, or one of the many others and do the bleedin' obvious ( to any experienced businessman) and get out a productivity-designed package for the 90 million non-Geeks who WANT an alternative and the 300 million who don't even know - ( the ones who keep buying Apples!) *** I do recommend any businessperson ( or even would-be serious business person) to apply for a trial subscription to the Newsletter "REALITY", which does focus on getting the best out of the Internet *for business owners* and which will have a considerable expansion on these very matters in coming weeks. NOTE: Because of the problems caused by Spammers, all email addressses must be real ( no freeby things like Hotmail etc) You can get advance info by going here, which is an autoresponder, and to subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] "If wanting something to be so was enough, we could create Hell, right here on earth" Kilneth (Think about THAT one! :-) ) Cheers, John
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