Slashdot Mirror
SuSE Linux will run Microsoft Office
PizzaFace writes "SuSE Linux is developing a desktop Linux distribution that will allow Windows users to continue using (some of) their Windows applications, including Microsoft Office. The SuSE Linux Office Desktop will be available for $129 in January, and will include Acronis OS Selector for disk partitioning during installation and Codeweavers CrossOver Office for Windows API emulation."
Half of my engineers just switched to Linux plus StarOffice for their day-to-day communications. So far, so good. If these emulators get good enough to run OrCAD, Modelsim, and the FPGA development packages, then we can lose Windows completely from our R&D operation.
I've been using Open Office for at least a Year with no problems, but then again I don't use.
Visio, Outlook or Access.
Visio is just painfull, so I suppose it's a good thing that there isn't a Free Visio-a-like.
Outlook is fairly intergrated and complete, all Linux equivelents I've tried so far fall short.
Access is handy for small DB needs, it's crap but still quite widley used because it's easy. I have a Free port of Access for Linux underway and expect to have a Open-Office Db driver shortly.
Anything anyone else would 'miss' from the Office Suite?
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
I wonder how Microsoft is going to respond to this one... Earlier today I learned that Microsoft is trying to force users to upgrade their OS with Office 11... This is an option they obviously would not like their users to have.
.: Max Romantschuk
Probably nothing new other than it's a major announcement, and I bet redhat are closely watching this one. Seriously now, isn't this a big kick in the face? What about OpenOffice, AbiWord etc? The only reason I've ever needed WORD is because some moron wrote something and sent it over in a .doc file or .ppt. I think the real answer is for the justice dept to force m$ to open up there document formats.
Analytic & algebraic topology of locally Euclidean meterization of infinitely differentiable Riemmanian manifold
The Linux distros must realize (and seems to have realized) that the average desktop user does not care for open source or extra choices. The average user simply wants a productive desktop that is easy to use and works they way they expect it to.
In others words, easy migration. Nothing wrong with people wanting that especially since they have time and money invested in apps and training.
Once they get used to the idea of not having to pay for a license to use the operating system it won't take too that much more to get them to bulk at constantly shelling out for licenses to use the apps, either.
If you keep building it...they will keep coming.
Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
And of course Xandros is based on Debian, which I hear has a package management system that is the cats ass.
What/where is this beast?
---- Booth was a patriot ----
http://www.heise.de says than MS Office 11 will need Windows Installer 2.0, which only WinXP and Win2k+SP3 have anyone knows if this Installer runs under Wine ?
There are so many companies focussing on the desktop these days. Redhat, Mandrake(it always did :)), Xandros, Lycoris, Lindows and now SUSE.
This makes for a very interesting year coming up to see which one, if any, gains supremacy in the Desktop arena. ;) ?
BTW, Whats next, Slackware and Gentoo based desktop solutions
-- Reality is just an extended dream.
I'm just your average slashdot reader, and I am getting confused myself about which product does what. I don't think your average joe at company X stands a chance of deciding upon which linux/office/ combination to go for, especially since we will see this market expanding even further. Also, am I the first one to see this, but what price advantage is $139 compared to a an XP licence in the business world? (After all you don't get fired for buying M$). There just needs to be something more to make a company go for the KILLER LINUX DESKTOP and this is MARKET DIFFERENTIATION
Unfortunately, Crossover lets you use Microsoft Office in Linux. That just means that fewer people will buy StarOffice or be interested in downloading OpenOffice. As the result, OpenOffice will be killed.
I'd much prefer OpenOffice survive and compete with MS Office. Crossover is evil.
Codeweavers is/has already (and presumably will continue to) live up to this promise. Their enhancements to WINE have been submitted (and accepted) into the main WINE tree.
I have sat down and beaten the freely available WINE into running Office, and IE, and Quicktime. I had the benefit of an installed crossover plugin/office to compare config files, etc and it still took me a couple of hours. What you get for your money is a pretty installer and all of the time you would otherwise spend config'ing to do other things. Well worth it to me. IMNSHO, Codeweavers is a company well deserving of my money and support.
Seems like there is a lot of emphasis on running Windows apps, especially Office, under Linux. This is because there STILL isn't anything to truly replace Office under Linux. Isn't that...well...shameful? Wasn't the "free software movement" supposed to make BETTER software than the corporations could? Why can't we have an Office-killer? Actually, I know why. It's hard to make an Office killer, and costs money to do right. And money is the one thing that the Linux developers don't/won't/can't have.
This is just Microsoft trying to get away from the nightmare that is 9X.
Then why isn't there a "Windows XP School Edition" designed to run on the really old computers owned by public school systems supported by people who only grudgingly pay their taxes?
Will I retire or break 10K?
> Not a problem? Upgrade, you say? Well, I've upgraded RPM-based distributions, and it just plain sucks.
Umm; SuSE is actually the one and only rpm based distro whose update really works. I'm posting this with SuSE 8.1, that has been upgraded from 7.0->7.1->7.2->7.3->8.0 and is now running 8.1. It really works, believe me.
> well, everyone who has ever done a full system upgrade to an RPM-based distro knows the score, so I won't go on.
Not me. Happily using SuSE, and it just works(tm).
> SuSE sends you an email saying they're going to quit issuing security patches for this version in a week-- no warning.
In that case you should install current free version that still has support.
> SuSE in the enterprise?
Oh yes. The only one (almost) ready for it.