On Wednesday 01 August 2007 18:31, Ken Burnside wrote: > I run Windows at home/work, and take due precautions - firewall, > anti-virus, anti-spyware, strip attachments into a different > partition. I run in user mode, not admin mode. > > I run Windows because it runs the software that I need to be > productive. I have used Ubuntu, Red Hat and SuSE, BeOS and Zeta...and > it all comes down to this: > > Can I get my work done on these systems? > > And for most of the things I need to do, in the formats that my > industry demands, the answer is a resounding "No, not yet." Even when > alternatives exist, with the NOTABLE exception of OO, the vast > majority of the alternatives in Linux are harder to use, > feature-incomplete, or documented in Rot-13 Urdu panagyrics.
> One of these days. But that day isn't today, it isn't going to be > tomorrow, either. I don't disagree with you entirely, since I don't have to deal with the software you need to use. Some of the more specialized software I need to use, like my diabetes glucometer software is not available in Linux, at all. I have, however started the conversion by moving all my boxes to dual boot Opensuse Linux and Windows XP, moving as much of the functionality over to Linux as possible. I can probably do 80-90 % of my work without ever booting Windows at this point, and I keep finding new stuff to extend my Linux functionality. CrossOver Linux is very good at getting common software to run under Linux, and I use it for some legacy apps I don't want to convert data for, like my old Quicken files. (Wine is more cutting edge, but you're more on your own.) I think probably the most pressing need is for better Linux program documentation - especially documentation that doesn't expect you to begin by untarring files. I largely exempt Open Office from this observation, but even OO could use improvement dealing with mail merge and labels, etc. Guess that means each Linux user needs to help, too. -- Bob Smits [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
