🚀 go-pugleaf

In <42qjqj$kbc@news-2.csn.net>, dhg@goodco.com (David H. Goodlette) writes:
>Tonio Loewald (tonio@jolt.mpx.com.au) wrote:
>
>: and a fair bit on after sales support, etc. The big money will be in
>: selling Office 95 and replacements for all the other things that won't
>          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>: work quite right until you upgrade.

Sure. Microsoft plans it that way, and uses existing upgrades and new
systems as a lever to force more upgrades, in business at least. So
here I am, let's say I put Windows 95 on my system. Now, strangely
enough, Word for Windows 3.1 is acting flakey (ok, flakier than
normal). Since this is very important to my business working right,
I'm going to pony up the $400 or whatever and get an Office 95
upgrade. Great, it's working good....

In a week or two, I send some docs out to the rest of the
organization. Strangely enough, their Windows 3.1 programs can't seen
to quite deal with the ones I produced in Windows 95. Now maybe 10-20
people in a small office have to upgrade, both OS and apps. 

>Compare to an average full featured Linux system on CD-ROM complete
>with all networking tools, all development tools, X-windows, etc., with
>printed manual, some support, and maybe even a subscription to
>the Linux Journal, and COMPLETE WITH ALL THE SOURCE CODE:

Fine, if you're a hacker and don't need any specific program. But just
how much would it cost me to upgrade to MS-Word for Linux, in my
senario. Ok, it doesn't exist. How about a good wordprocessor that can
edit MS-Word 6.x files? Still no go? Ok, how about an equivalent
wordprocessor, not TeX or troff, something that's a fairly efficient
GUI based wordprocessor -- this is going to be use by dummies, like
management, not rocket scientists. Even if I find this, I have 5
years of documentation to convert from Word, let's say. That's not
going to happen for free.

You can see the kind of problems a business has getting out from under
Microsoft's spell. 

Hell, I would happily give Linux a try, if it could support my
needs. Unlike most Windows users, I use Windows just for music,
pretty much everything else is on AmigaOS, or occasionally
OS/2. There's no question in my mind Linux would do some things very
well, but how about those music applications. Does it have a pro
quality sequencer, like Cakewalk 3? How about some multi-track
recording and editing software, like SAW, Samplitude, or Turtle
Beach's Wave/Quad pair? How about drivers for my sound cards? Sure, I
could probably write this stuff, were I so inclined, but I'm not, I
need a solution, not another problem. 

Dave Haynie          | ex-Commodore Engineering |   for DiskSalv 3 &
Sr. Systems Engineer |  Hardwired Media Company | "The Deathbed Vigil"
Scala Inc., US R&D   |    Ki No Kawa Aikido     |     info@iam.com

	     "I don't owe you anything!" -Foo Fighters