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Started with SLS. Then Slackware. Stayed with Slackware for a considerable while, then early RedHat, then Caldera (remember them? - the distribution included licensed OSF/Motif), then Mandrake (again for a good while) then by 1997 I was onto Debian and I've kept my servers on Debian ever since. My desktops run Ubuntu these days after a brief flirtation with Mint, but it's a heavily customised Ubuntu - Unity really does not do it for me. Before Linux I used BSD4.2 on 68000, SPARC, MIPS and Acorn RISC hardware, and System V.4 (and later UnixWare) on PowerPC and Intel hardware.

One of the really nice applications on Linux back in the 1990s was an office productivity suite called Applixware. It was commercial, for pay, and I don't think it sold well, which is a shame because it was really good - particularly for the time. LibreOffice is pretty good these days, but I might just download an evaluation of Applixware tonight to see if it's still as good as I remember.

Back in those days there was a sort of toy operating system called Microsoft Windows, but it was shockingly bad - fragile as hell and full of security holes. I've kept looking it over the years and thinking 'the next release of this might actually be good enough for commercial use'. I still think that, but now it's really too late - the PC is more or less dead, and various flavours of UN*X have, for the time being anyway, won in the server and in the mobile devices space.

I bought Applixware also (versions 4.3 and 5.0 for Linux), and really liked it. In fact, I still use it occasionally. It's very fast and stable. It appeared to be an abandoned product but there is now a new version 6.0 out: http://www.vistasource.com/vs2/en/applixware.php
The Linux version appears to be free for home use. I really hope it's still as good as the earlier versions.

I had Applix 5 years ago and didn't end up using it as my primary office suite. I've often wondered what it had evolved into, but I always figured that I wouldn't be willing to pay enough to find out.

Turns out, though, that it's now apparently downloadable for multiple platforms, though I haven't seen the EULA yet (I'm gonna download it now and we'll see what the license terms are...)

Link to download page is here.

Applixware, still going strong: http://www.vistasource.com/

http://www.vistasource.com/

The Applixware guys...

It sure can't beat Applixware's application builder though, or sor small footprint either...

http://www.vistasource.com/

The underlying language (ELF) is open-source
(SHELF) and supports networking and talks
nice to other languages (using a well-documented
compact nested array data structure).

I use it to open the .csv files from my bank,
cut/paste the records into a PostgreSQL database,
and then open a couple of spreadsheets with running
balanc calculations and category breakdowns.

Check it out Here

-- ac at home

I've been using Applixware (and now Anyware) for a couple years now. It's thin, stable and full-featured and saves its files in plain text I believe. Also, it's never crashed on me. Not even once. I use it for all my docs at work, on AIX and Linux.

HTH - JB

I found this with google:
The comany that is currently publishing it is vistasource. Their home page is here.
It looked like Applixware Office is now called anywhere office. The new product page is here. I hope the links work, I have never written anything in html before. In preview they seemed to work.

Let's face it: at the present time there's nothing under Linux that works as well as Microsoft Office. Period.

You're right that this is the most important statement. You're wrong in alot of the other things you say. You point out that in order for an environment to survive, it has to run MS Office. This begs the question, why?? Two very simple reasons: 1. The file formats. This is the most important, because if you can read and write office files, you're almost there. 2. The learning curve. Almost all the time, if you try to show someone a great program (like blender) they get interested but don't have the time to learn it. My point:

Applixware Office Lets get one fscking thing straight, Applixware is NOT AbiWord. Repeat that. Applixware is commercial software for linux. Its very fast, very easy, complete, cheap, available now, etc.. It works and feels just like MS Office, and it reads and writes Office files better then any other native Linux alternative. My girlfriend switched over to Linux after Windows gave up the ghost for the last time. She runs Debian. She loves it. She is your typical windows user. She uses both Gnome and KDE (with kdm as her display manager, which allows her to easily select either gnome or KDE).

Everyone who is claiming linux is dead on the desktop needs to look around. Plenty of us make it work just fine. And by the way, I don't think the developers of these wonderful desktop tools give two shits what this ass at LinuxPlanet has to say.
--------

I just got Applixware 5 in the mail yesterday. It's on sale pretty much everywhere for $49.95 and I must say, it is a welcome replacment for StarOffice.

Some Additional Linux Distribution Suggestions

• Caldera Systems
• Turbo Linux
• SuSE
• Mandrake

• Sun/Open Office
• Applix/Applixware Office
• Oracle
• HP
• Compaq
• Dell
• GNU

• Osborne/McGraw-Hill
• O'Reilly
• Sybex

Um, no, Vistasource is continueing to support Applixware, they've just decided to integrate it with their line of server-based office apps (anyware).

here's one story on it (see the response at the bottom and a the direct link story. Note that the major change is the the name - from Applixware to Anyware Office Client. I don't know, but this may be because the original company, Applix, still exists, but doesn't do the office suite, they spun that off to VistaSource.

That link up there to Applix is wrong -- applix.com has nothing about Applixware. It should be a link to Applixware.Com, or to the company site that you'll be redirected to: VistaSource.

Jesus people! pay a little more attention! If you read the article, they are not pulling the product. It just won't be "aggressively marketed" anymore. That means the company (VistaSource now, Applix has moved on to other things) will be banking on other things, but the product will still exist.

What's New in Applixware 5.0 Applixware

• GTK interface
• Dockable toolbars
• Combo Boxes
• Tooltips
• GTK Themes
• Applixware Office Theme Selection
• New Applixware Iconbar
• Open, Save, Save As, Import and Export from ONE dialog box
• Graphical Font Installer
• Drag and Drop support from compatible file managers
• Improved import and export filters

• On-The-Fly Spell Checking
• Vertical Rulers
• Ruler Guides
• Updated horizontal rulers

• Autosum
• Autoformat
• Spreadsheet templates
• Autofill
• HTML Export Wizard

• Native gateway for MySQL
• OpenSource gateway
• Bundled drivers for Postgresql and MySQL

See Giant Penguins Naked! The Linux Pimp

If you know LaTeX, you can use that, just use slides as your documenttype. i.e.: \documenttype{slides} at the top. Or, get a copy of Applixware.

It's more that just a web app. It reminds more of metaframe than anything else. (why use that when you can have X/VNC :) It is really quite impressive and is used for instance on freedesk.com running applix (if you have not tried applix out then there is your change) it is tecnically impressive but not as fast as citrix and yes seems to crash. But it is an impressive product non the less. Read the docs at sco's website.

You may have to pay for Applixware 5.0, BUT, I think it was worth it. It's faster than Star Office, (and the printing components work a bit better too.), highly compatible with MS Office (and Corel and others), and it uses GTK!

Applixware Office includes just an e-mail client (sigh, avoid it.) word processor, spreadsheet, presentation package, graphics, an sql thingy (only works with mySQL right now), html editor, macro support (Applixware macros), Applixware builder (uses SHELF), and it uses GTK!

Another good thing is a documented, sgml-like ASCII file format.

It's box says it's fast, native, and compatible. It is. I'd highly recomend it.

You may have to pay for Applixware 5.0, BUT, I think it was worth it. It's faster than Star Office, (and the printing components work a bit better too.), highly compatible with MS Office (and Corel and others), and it uses GTK!

Applixware Office includes just an e-mail client (sigh, avoid it.) word processor, spreadsheet, presentation package, graphics, an sql thingy (only works with mySQL right now), html editor, macro support (Applixware macros), Applixware builder (uses SHELF), and it uses GTK!

Another good thing is a documented, sgml-like ASCII file format.

It's box says it's fast, native, and compatible. It is. I'd highly recomend it.

Thre is one here
and another one here

There are also several IDEs written in java and at least one quicken like program.

Check them out.

There is an office suite for linux called applixware which can read the doc format, and save to html or rtf. it does cost money but not nearly as much as M$ office....unless you copy it :-)

This is a comment from our Product Manager for Filters, Joe Dunbar(joe@vistasource.com):

Applixware imports both MS Word formats, RTF (Rich Text Format) their easy to use ASCII format, and .doc their native binary format (both DOS and Windows, all five versions from 2.0 - 2000). Both formats support all features including embedded MS Office OLE objects which our Applixware filters import. Applixware exports to RTF, but does not export to MS Word native .doc due to the complex proprietary format and our choice to go with Open Standards. Note RTF supports all data, layout and formatting information like the .doc binary format. Since there are no features to be gained by directly exporting to their proprietary .doc format, why do two when one will do?

Applix continues to work with Microsoft who have made past versions of their file formats (or at least portions) available to us, however we are still waiting for their latest 2000 formats which they said would be available soon as of last January. While it would be helpful to have the latest Microsoft file formats, Applix is commited to open standards and shared file formats like HTML and XML which will be useful to all applications and users.

This is a comment from our Product Manager for Filters, Joe Dunbar(joe@vistasource.com):

Applixware imports both MS Word formats, RTF (Rich Text Format) their easy to use ASCII format, and .doc their native binary format (both DOS and Windows, all five versions from 2.0 - 2000). Both formats support all features including embedded MS Office OLE objects which our Applixware filters import. Applixware exports to RTF, but does not export to MS Word native .doc due to the complex proprietary format and our choice to go with Open Standards. Note RTF supports all data, layout and formatting information like the .doc binary format. Since there are no features to be gained by directly exporting to their proprietary .doc format, why do two when one will do?

Applix continues to work with Microsoft who have made past versions of their file formats (or at least portions) available to us, however we are still waiting for their latest 2000 formats which they said would be available soon as of last January. While it would be helpful to have the latest Microsoft file formats, Applix is commited to open standards and shared file formats like HTML and XML which will be useful to all applications and users.

• http://www.wvWare.com/, maybe the best open source Word converter? Formerly "mswordview", it's a library and a front-end app, which is currently AbiWord's converter.
• word2x
• AbiSource, a company producing an open source, cross platform, comercial office suite. Their motto was "SHOW ME THE SOURCE!!!", which we had to scream at the March 1999 Linuxworld Expo in order to get their t-shirt.
• Adobe FrameMaker for Linux -- Not sure if it does Office, but it's a commercial word processor!
• VistaSource / ApplixWare -- Cross platform, partially open source, complete office suite and integrated development environment in the form of either a local app, or as a Java-based thin client plus app server architecture. Compare to StarOffice. My experience has been that you can send an un-convertable Office document to Applix's closely-monitored community support mailing list, and they will attempt to modify Applixware's import filters around it, and send you a patch. How cool is that?
• S un StarOffice. Very good as well. Complete office suite. StarOffice and Applixware are capable of replacing Microsoft Office for literally most people.
• Corel Wordperfect -- See also Corel's Linux distribution.
• KDE's KOffice -- Open source office suite.
• Freshmeat.net's index of office apps

• StarOffice for Dummies http://www.us.buy.com/books/pr oduct.asp?sku=30490259 $14.99 (Save $1.00 over amazon.com) Replaces: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764505769/ ref%3Dsim%5Fbooks/103-4415661-32230 16

• Special Edition Using StarOffice, replaces htt p://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789719932/ref =sim_books/002-2291160-6260020.

• Applixware 5 Bible for Linux w/cd-rom http://www.us.buy.com/books/pr oduct.asp?sku=30546347 $29.99 ($2 less than amazon.com) Replaces: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764534033/ qid%3D959095708/sr%3D1-3/002 -2291160-626002

• http://www.us.buy.com/books/pr oduct.asp?sku=30400392 $14.99 ($1 less than amazon.com) Replaces: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0672314126/ ref=sim_books/002-2291160-6260020

• Mastering Koffice for Linux w/ cd-rom http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/b ooksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=4LAQC2IL93&mscssi d=DLK6S46966S92MG1001PQUW78818A314&srefe r=&isbn=0782126529, replaces http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0782126529/ qid%3D959095770/002-0803865-4820213