On Wed, 7 Jun 2000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> >I'm curious about how Linux users feel --- if the Microsoft software
> >writers start making Word for Linux, would people use that? Is it the OS
> >people hate, or the software, or both?
>
> If Microsoft or its programmers were to release Word for GNU/Linux
> under the GNU General Public Licence, chances are good that the GNU/Linux
> community would examine it, debug it and probably use it in some form(s).
This is a rather extreme view. The release of Microsoft Office for linux,
open source or otherwise, would almost certainly bring about the end of
Microsoft's dominance on the desktop. Most users couldn't care less what
operating system they are using, but they are intimately involved with
their applications software. System's administrators, on the other hand,
care very much as they get stuck dealing with any problems the OS causes.
In my own environment, in addition to 300 linux machines we continue to
(very reluctantly) support a large number of Mac's simply because the
users must have access to some version of MS Office. If we didn't have
the Macs it would be Windows boxes, which of course are an even bigger
pain in the ass to deal with. If we had MS Office for linux, Steve Jobs
could cry me a river, but it still wouldn't prevent me from lobbing every
single Macintosh into the nearest dumpster in a New York minute.
>From this perspective, I suspect that many linux users (and ALL wannabe
linux system's administrators) would be overjoyed to see MS Office for
linux, even if it continues to be fully commercial and closed source as it
is now.
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