Very Computer

Check this one out:
http://biz.yahoo.com/finance/971211/internet_microsoft_1_3.html .The
Judge ruled against Microsoft on this one!

So, to conclude all of the arguments we had in this newsgroup regarding
what system is better or worse:

1) Linux is easy enough for a novice and unlimitedly powerful enough for
a power user or a sysadmin
2) Linux can access the same information on the Internet that Windows
can
3) Linux has equivalent office applications
4) Linux is cheap
5) The only reason to continue to use Microsoft products is ignorance

This reminds me of Warp vs. Win95 argument I've been following on
CompuServe a couple of years ago. Someone said, "Windows 95 is easy
enough for a novice and customizable enough for a power user." Now I can
say the same of Linux. Period. There is no longer a need to use
Microsoft products!!!

--
============================================================
        Oleg Dulin, http://www.clarkson.edu/~dulino/
        ---===       Ad Astra Per Aspera       ===---
Clarkson University LUG http://acmpc.sos.clarkson.edu/~linux
============================================================

        (Applix & StarOffice are both available for NT, btw)

Quote:>    Believe me, I would ditch it, but I think we would soon be in
>trouble if we didn't meet the clients needs. Who's ignorant then?

: >> 5) The only reason to continue to use Microsoft products is ignorance
: >  Or because your clients- the people that let your company stay in
: >business, let you feed your families, etc. - want stuff in MS format. I
: >don't think its ignorant at all. If one of our clients says "Send it to us
: >as a Word document" and we can't, where does that leave us?

:       To use a document conversion system or a suitably equipped
:       competitor's product. WordPerfect, Applix & StarOffice all
:       suit this definition on or off of Windows...

:       (Applix & StarOffice are both available for NT, btw)

And these converters don't work worth crap.  (Not their own fault,
mind you, since reverse-engineering the Word format is a *, but
that's irrelevant to this discussion.)

When converting the document wetween Wordperfect and Word, and visa
versa, it screws up tons of stuff all the time.  Even really simple
stuff like boldface text in helvettica font can get lost in the
transfer.  Using one of these converters really sucks.

The real evil of the MS Orafice juggernaut is that if your clients
are MS bigots who can only accept Word, then you have to become an
MS bigot too, and only send Word.  If your supplier companies only
use Word, then you have to use it too.  This cross-dependacy between
companies balloons outward until the whole friggin planet has to be
using Word in order to work with each other.
--

Quote:>5) The only reason to continue to use Microsoft products is ignorance

Quote:>When converting the document wetween Wordperfect and Word, and visa
>versa, it screws up tons of stuff all the time.  Even really simple
>stuff like boldface text in helvettica font can get lost in the
>transfer.  Using one of these converters really sucks.

>The real evil of the MS Orafice juggernaut is that if your clients
>are MS bigots who can only accept Word, then you have to become an
>MS bigot too, and only send Word.  If your supplier companies only
>use Word, then you have to use it too.  This cross-dependacy between
>companies balloons outward until the whole friggin planet has to be
>using Word in order to work with each other.

A comment on the MS Word bigot statement. A big part of the problem is
that the makers of alternatives, even pretty good ones like
WordPerfect and FrameMaker, don't do a very good job of making their
products well known, or even of making them as competitive against
Word as they could be with a little more effort.
--
John De Hoog
---
John De Hoog, TNI

S> When converting the document wetween Wordperfect and Word, and visa
S> versa, it screws up tons of stuff all the time.  Even really simple
S> stuff like boldface text in helvettica font can get lost in the
S> transfer.  Using one of these converters really sucks.

Or converting between Word 95 and Word 97... geee....

--

Be open to other people -- they may enrich your dream.

J> It looks like, just maybe, XML is going to change this in the next
J> couple of years. It will provide one very precise format that

XML is not one precise format.  It's a way to define formats, just as
SGML is.

--

A soft drink turneth away company.

Quote:>J> It looks like, just maybe, XML is going to change this in the next
>J> couple of years. It will provide one very precise format that

>XML is not one precise format.  It's a way to define formats, just as
>SGML is.

--Jim

So I've still got NT on my system, because I know that if my boss want's
a document,
I can produce it in Word, if he desires, and I know it'll look right.
Without
spending money for Applixware or one of the others, I can't do that
right now.
Or if I can, I haven't yet found the program to do so...

Sean.

: > 5) The only reason to continue to use Microsoft products is ignorance

:       Or because your clients- the people that let your company stay in
: business, let you feed your families, etc. - want stuff in MS format. I
: don't think its ignorant at all. If one of our clients says "Send it to us
: as a Word document" and we can't, where does that leave us?

There's a huge difference between needing the ability to deal with legacy
microsoft file formats, on the one hand, or thinking that one is forced to
run the whole business on windows pee cees - the connection, if any, is
very tenuous....

:       Believe me, I would ditch it, but I think we would soon be in
: trouble if we didn't meet the clients needs. Who's ignorant then?

Word Perfect, Applix Words, and Star Office can all import from and
export to ms word format - and just to be safe, you could keep *one*
junk pc running win95 or something for the odd case where you have
trouble importing a word document from a client.

Running your business on Linux and xterms would save a ton of money
in maintenance and downtime costs, in addition to the savings one
realizes from not having to buy, and then constantly upgrade and patch,
many copies of pc software.

I originally set up a business for a client who was thinking windows "nt"
in the server room, and of course, windows on the desktop.

I accomodated "common sense" in having windows desktops, but I did
convince him of the benefits of free Unix in the server room. The
server room has been the one bright spot there.

Since then, beleive it or not, several users have installed Linux on
their desktops, because they like the performance and stability,
and they like the apps - Netscape, ICQ, The Gimp, Applix, etc.

Your Mileage may vary, but the promise of microsoft free computing
is a heady and liberating thing! It's worth pursuing!

jjs

--

: >5) The only reason to continue to use Microsoft products is ignorance

: And games.  Linux has a pretty poor console graphics lib.  X11 doesn't fit the
: bill (too much overhead) and SVGAlib is just, well, broken for many of us.
: Maybe GGI will help, but it's new.

Who told you these things?

I've been very happy with Linux Quake - (Thanks Zoid!) It works pretty
well on the net, especially against windows quakers, and I've got the
frags and the kill ratio to prove it. he he...

jjs

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