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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.
It's not exactly earth shattering news. Whats next? Slashdot reporting that that distibution Blah is going to come with WINE already pre-installed?
Or am I missing something major entirely?
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
It should be interesting to see how Lindows handles a vetran like SuSE entering this turf. However, should be good for the end user.
IMO, SuSE should do well. They have been much more OS than Lindows, and so they don't have to worry about all the bad press.
Jason Lotito
It is sad, but this is probably the best way to get into the desktop business. The ability to run Office is often a requirement when companies aquire OSs.
It seems that they have realized that the transition has to be smooth "SuSE Linux Office Desktop combines the technology and user-friendliness of SuSE Linux 8.1 with proven tools that facilitate the migration from Windows operating systems and applications".
And the biggest advantage of this solution is also brought up the the press release: "SuSE Linux Office Desktop seamlessly enables the continued use of existing data".
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.
How many geeks are going to buy a desktop OS? None. How many people want to try Linux but can't give up their Office(tm)? Suse apparently is banking on lots.
This is not for geeks. Maybe for geeks-in-training, but not for geeks!
You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
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
That said, no it's not for everybody. But a lot of users (especially corporations) will find it useful if it is preconfigured so that installing and using Win32 apps is easily and fast done.
The 'just download package X' syndrome is one of the main barriers for simple folk using Linux.
Actually, even for experienced users, it's a relief when we get something like Debian's apt.
What SuSE are doing here is to provide a distro that will run MS-Office with no tuning or tweaking or HOWTOs.
This is at once banal, and important. Seamless compatability with Microsoft products is a key tool in the fight to move users off Windows.
And this news is a sign that SuSE have understood this. That's worth saying.
(Just to give another example, we spent several days trying to make Oracle 9i work with Debian, and RedHat, and finally tried SuSE... it came with the necessary (trivial) user accounts preconfigured, and Oracle 9i installed and ran almost at once.
Sig for sale or rent. One previous user. Inquire within.
...now I can finally run NortonAV on my Linux box too. (or was that 'have too')
Ceci n'est pas un sig
I hope this can run .vbs scripts!!!
"How many geeks are going to buy a desktop OS? None."
I have. I started learning POs when I got my first IBM, a PCjr, at age 7. It booted up into rom (or cartridge) basic, and I started programming. Now, at almost 25, I'm a paid programmer. But I never learned linux and of my friends, the only one who knows linux even moderately well lives about an hour and a half away. So I grabbed Lycoris. Since all a GUI is is a front-end for a command interpreter, I'm doing things in the GUI and finding out what they do in the CI. My intent, of course, is to wean myself from the GUI like many people did from Win3x and 9x. Shouldn't take me long. But when I forget something in a pinch, the gui's there. Now I see the things the gui does, and look up how it does it. It's been pretty constructive.
Yeah, but they don't work with office.
I've tried them all, and the formatting doesn't work out.
Interestingly enough, OpenOffice.org will remove the passwords from a locked Excel Spreadsheet , so the incompatibility isn't all that bad.
You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
The office alternatives are good for many uses but not always 100% compatable. Then there is the retraining costs as well. Lastly, when it comes right down to it, Office is not a terrible program at all. It does what it was designed to do (insert your pun about virii here if you must) and it does it well. Nor have I had any stability issues with it in a good long time.
tinfoilmedia
I'd say that it is for most users. Not many users want to have to fiddle with the OS, install extra packages etc. just to get it working properly. I'd say that the vast majority wants computers to be easier and force less choices (thus reducing complexity). I'm not saying that the choice should be removed, simply intelligently set from the start and easy to modify and well documented.
I'm surprised this isn't on the /. main page already!
It's just like xandros that includes the crossover pluging for the xandros 1.0 $99 product.
If you want a debian clone instead of a suse clone.
Probably nothing new other than it's a major announcement, and I bet redhat are closely watching this one. Seriously now, isn't this a big kick in the face? What about OpenOffice, AbiWord etc? The only reason I've ever needed WORD is because some moron wrote something and sent it over in a .doc file or .ppt. I think the real answer is for the justice dept to force m$ to open up there document formats.
Analytic & algebraic topology of locally Euclidean meterization of infinitely differentiable Riemmanian manifold
Being a big fan of SuSE, this is great news. Now all I have to do is convince my boss to fire a co-worker to free up the $129.00 for me to buy a copy and get rid of my 2nd PC!
-- Many men would appreciate a woman's mind more if they could fondle it
Unfortunately, for most people the problem is that they are not named Microsoft Office or Microsoft Word. People like to stick with what's familiar, and the basic office apps (Word, Excel) have remained pretty much the same for a majority of users at least since version 6 (the earliest one I can remember using). Most of what has been added is fluff and feature creep. Also, a lot of people like to use the same program for the same task no matter where they are. My wife, for example, will only write her papers for school in Word because that's what they have at her school, and if she happens to need to make some last minute changes while on campus, she needs to be able to use the camups computer labs. I've tried to get her to switch to OpenOffice, but she won't-because it's not Word.
Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.
Note that they're scheduling an Enterprise Desktop version for Q1 2003, too, for the larger scale companies. (And already have 2 German commercial organisations on board, with 3K and 1K desktops respectively, to smooth out the rough edges in deploying and supporting on that scale.) Sounds as though this might turn out to be a serious injection of business realities into the task of getting Linux et al established at desktop level.
And of course Xandros is based on Debian, which I hear has a package management system that is the cats ass.
This sure sounds interesting (despite my reluctancy towards SuSe stuff). Now the real good thing would be if I could use it for more :
I am a Win/Cubase guy and I would like to know whether this API would allow me to use my souncards drivers, their own utilities, Cubase... etc.
BTW, could I play DVDs using PowerDVD ?
My realpoint is : how deep does it "simulates" windows ?
Trolling using another account since 2005.
I guess I'm glad that something like this is available (rather than it not being available), but I have to wonder what the point of it is. The Open Source development model results in software that is provably superior to proprietary solutions (see Edgar Raymond's excellent essay, The Cathedral and the Bizarre for more info). This is why KOffice and GNOME Office are so great, despite their small development teams and short development cycles. So why would anyone even want to run M$ Office on a Linux workstation? No thanks, I'll stick to what works: AbiWord, Gnumeric, and Tux Racer!!
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
Seems the new Office 11 will only run on XP and W2K SP3.
Get the scoop from ZeeDee Net....
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-963777.html
I mean, it was just a matter of time....
Are codeweavers still going to fold back in their work for getting this to work into the orginal wine code?
Or have they changed their minds and decided to keep all this cool stuff to themselves, much as others have been doing lately..
MSOffice ablity isnt worth that sort of cost to me personally ( startoffice/Koffice does fine for what i need ), but if its folded back into the open code, then its worthwhile.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
With the functionality and appearance of the mail client Evolution, users will not miss Microsoft Outlook.
With all the available office like components for Linux the only in my opinion that Linux is missing is a good email client and it looks like they will just let you use Evolution instead of trying to have Outlook work on Linux. Quite a shame, I could go without any of the others but I need Outlook.
What/where is this beast?
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Just keep piling on that proprietary code into the core of your distro. We all know thats the key to making the linux desktop successful. Just keep adding more and more proprietary code until you've created another windows.
Hell the GPL just exists so that companies can pay lip service anyway. Right? I mean that's the trend now. Make your distro mostly GPL and then tack on some proprietary stuff?
Everyones doing it, so it MUST be the right thing to do.
I can't wait until every linux distro is in some small way proprietary! Won't that be great! After all it IS how linux made its name.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
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
So what is to stop microsoft from slipping something into the EULA prohibiting Office 11 from being used on a "potentially viral" GPLed OS?
My rights don't need management.
If running Microsoft Office on Linux is such a requirement, why is there no effort to run Mac OS X applications on Linux?
Microsoft Office X is far nicer then office 2000/XP and can read all these file formats. Microsoft make good money out of this port so aren't going to stop producing it any time soon. Because Microsoft don't own the underlying OS they are restricted in the number of changes they can make to Office X to break emulator compatability, unlike with WINE.
Yet OS X is based on Free BSD, so a binary compatability layer should be far easier than emulating Microsoft Windows. I realise this wouldn't give us Visio and possibly not Access, but I would take this option up long before running a heavyweight WINE install on my box, plus we would get the nice Mac plugins which ae generally every bit as good as their Windows versions.
"The posting attributed to Microsoft said: "We understand that this decision won't be popular among all of our customers, but it allows us to create a better and more stable product..."
and new and improved EULA's, too.
Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
Speaking from experience, it can take way more fiddling than the average computer user is capable of to get the Windows fonts (or acceptable substitutes) commonly used by Office installed and displaying well under Linux. If Suse has preconfigured this, it could make the difference between only geeks being able to use Crossover Office and anyone being able to use it.
Mike
At that price per desktop, corporate users might as well go for the 'real' thing. No way to justify it.
Personally, I dont like Microsoft's applications/OS, but from a business standpoint, there isn't any real advantage to go an *alternative* route, when its at this cost level. ( not even touching on TCO issues here )
And *many* reasons to stay with MS, in this case.
True there are other reasons to switch, but you wont get it done this way.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
of all the effort that is going into porting Windows programs to run under Linux. The entire idea of the open source/free software movement is to free yourself from proprietary software reliance. I moved to Linux in '98 to avoid using closed-source, stifling software that really gave me no real choices and freedom. It is time that the Linux advocates put their money where their mouth is. If you are an open source developer, you should write for the open source movement, not assist Bill Gates with embrace ans extend. Microsoft talks the talk when it comes to hating Linux and open source in general, but if you pay for Office and other programs, then you are doing nothing to help the open source movement. Face it, people... you DO NOT NEED ANY Microsoft programs anymore. Unless you are a hard core gamer, you don't even need Windows. One of the things that keeps open source from really taking off in the general population is the continued reliance of Windows-based software. Linux could dominate the dekstop in 5 years if people would develop alternative and quit the BS of interop programming. Linux is supposed to be an alternative to M$, not a partner, willing or unwilling. It's time we got off the M$ horse and walked on our own.
If nobody ever paid for the OS how do you think all of these linux distros would still be in business?? My God, it doesn't take a genius to figure out you need income to pay your employees and stay alive. These free-for-all linux times we're living in will come to a screeching halt within the next few years. Why you ask? Because most of the distros are made by companies that are publicly held and their share holders will demand more revenue. If the OS is so much better than OS X or Windows, why is it such a bad thing to pay for it anyway?
OK, so here's the selling proposition:
For $129 I can get an OS that runs Office (but doesn't include it, as far as I can see) and which possibly runs other Windows apps, and which definitely runs Linux apps.
Or, for much less than $129 I can get an OS (Windows XP), that absolutely runs MS Office and which definitely runs vrtually all other Windows apps.
Linux is useful and fun for us nerds, but is a bit of a sell to non-nerds, and I don't see the above selling proposition as favoring SUSE for desktop applications -- Linux has no inherent appeal to non-nerds.
If one really wants or needs to run MS Office, XP makes sense. If one wants Linux on the desktop, I'd go with Redhat 8.0 (with its out-of-the-box non-sucking fonts, except in Mozilla) along with Open Office (excellent free replacement for MS Office) and other software that is designed for Linux use.
Until you do, I have a Win partition capable of running any win32 s/w, and that recent has win32 files saved to it. Try to prove that those files were saved under something other than windows. Oh wait, dont do that until both of our two critical inhouse apps (both VB) run under wine. Running Office 19xx/20xx is all well and good, but INHOUSE apps are where the biggest userbase is at. As soon as I hear that VB6 apps run perfectly under Wine, I start running some sort of linux desktop at work. Until then, I'm shackled to Redmond.
Ahh - My eye!
The doctor said I'm not supposed to get Slashdot in it!
which I hear has a package management system that is the cats ass.
... so, does that mean that you like it?
While it doesn't have some of the features and templates that Visio does, Dia is a free (GPL) alternative.
Who said Freedom was Fair?
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.
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
I went out and spent the money and all the office apps work execpt for project... which is a problem for me... I need project. My boss uses project and its part of my job requirement that all my activities are connected to project. Now if there was some application that could RW project files I'd be very happy and could sever my windows ties...
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
We are thinking of switching entirely from access to mysql for our fairly small projects. Mysql is much faster, less buggy and is easy to interface to (VB, perl, even access ^_^ ). I dont know whats keeping you with MS Access - are clickable buttons really that important to you (well if they are there are still gui clients for mysql).
no sig.
...I have a lot of Word documents with macro viruses. Will these run properly on SuSe?
There's a non-Wndows OS that has been allowing you to run Office for some time now. It's called OS X.
That's a good thing, i know they used to contribute but wasn't sure if they had taken the easy path and stopped, as several others seem to have lately.
While its an admirable task and they do warrant the financial support for those that need the compatibility, its purely a side issue to me, and was purely curious.
I always strive to use native applications to get my work done. Why only go 1/2 way, if you have the choice as i do.
But i commend them for their efforts in general.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Q. How many pc's are used just/mainly for MSOffice?
The industry I'm in relies heavily on 3rd party apps that have been built for Windows. These 3rd party companies have spent millions making their apps work under Windows, because that's what "we" have begged for for the last x years. What are the odds of them jumping up and saying "Hey, you want a Linux version! Okay, we'll get right on that! And it'll be free!" ??
As much as I'd like to ditch MS on my desktop at work, I really can't, and imagine there are millions of users in the same situation.
"Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
Licensing Crossover I can understand, its functionality isn't easily duplicated (even by the main release of Wine). But this Acronis thingy? Aren't there already n+1 different graphical partitioning tools for Linux?
The only new thing as far as I can tell is support for resizing NTFS partitions. But now that Linux supports NTFS surely even that could be done. I'm surprised SuSE didn't write their own application... perhaps they were just in a hurry to get something out.
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
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.
Access is more than just a combo of mysql and php. It pretty much allows the user to click through wizards and make basic entry forms, queries, and reports. While you can certainly accomplish all of that using php and mysql (I do), the ease of use of Access is its main strength.
I can walk a person through making a query over the phone with my eyes closed. Telling them how to make a while loop and proper line termination syntax is simply not going to happen.
In fact, as a database implementation, it isn't that great.
The closest thing to access is StarOffice/OpenOffice's data access and macros. If Access is a 9 in terms of ease of use for simple things, SO/OOo is a 7.
It would be more consistant. Strange to see a Linux company dealing so much with proprietary stuff.
I think it is quite OK for Microsoft to require a more advanced OS with their new Office package. After all, sometimes you need to drop the backwards compatibility in order to move forwards.
However, if they break the backwards compatibility, they should (be forced to) maintain and sell the old office and keep patching those security holes in the previous version. After all, they are declared a monopoly by US judges, and forcing users to upgrade their entire system in order to install Office software would be outrageous.
So - if they continue to support and sell Office 2000, I will not have a big, ethical problem with this. I'll just keep on using openoffice and/or Abiword/Gnumeric no matter.
Stop the brainwash
So, how do you stop Word from sending macro viruses when it's running under Wine?
Should Crossover figure out how to support AV software too? If not, how do you protect the normal.dot file from a macro virus under Word? Would it work with the normal.dot file read-only?
The closer we get to having these applications run WITHOUT adequate virus protection is a pretty serious risk, don't you think?
-- You can't idiot-proof anything, because they're always coming out with better idiots.
Suse is banking on lots, by giving it a $129.00 price tag. If I want an OS to run Windows programs, for that price, I'm better off with sticking to Windows. The price has to be lower, to make it more attractive to make the switch.
When building your own computer or buying a $200 naked PC, you need an operating system. Let's see now... Windows for $300... SuSE for $130... $300... $130...
Will I retire or break 10K?
The UI in Visio is just so painfully crap, I havn't worked out how to add an element using the keyboard yet, I've been told it's not possible you need drag and drop.
Visio is just far to slow, I find it easier to produce documents with diagrams in corel draw or word.
Visio is a good idea, it's just the UI that Sucks, I've never found anyone that uses it by 'choice'
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
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?
I didn't see anyone comment about the typical Microsoft EULA, so pardon me if this is redundant, but it typically [paraphrased] goes something like this:
:)
ANY MICROSOFT APPLICATION CAN ONLY BE RUN ON A MICROSOFT OS.
Do you agree? yes/no/cancel
at least, that's what I've been seeing lately in their EULAs. It's a shame, but at this point, EULAs are completely legally binding.
I don't understand why linux developers are putting so much time into supporting Microsoft APIs, when they COULD be spending their time optimizing software for linux. It's quite ridiculous.
Now, I know the argument about wanting to make it easier to switch to linux for the average joe. However, we all know exactly what Microsoft will do when people start running their software with linux on a grand scale. They won't let it happen.
Let's say Microsoft Office X.XX works on SuSE Linux. The next release, Y.YY will NOT WORK, and it will be intentional. The "average joe" doesn't want to keep upgrading his distro. I consider myself a geek, and *I* don't want to keep fiddling with shit. I just want the GODDAMN thing to work... I've lost my passion for computers.
It all seems so pointless now
I'm so bitter.
Who doesn't have an old Windows 9X disk sitting around.
Who can still find his or her old Windows 98se or ME disc? And who can find one that isn't scratched so bad it's unreadable?
For a home user Windows XP might as well just be $99.
It appears that unlike Microsoft's Windows XP Professional operating system, Microsoft's Windows XP Home Edition operating system will not work well with Intel's newest Pentium brand processor. The new CPU has a "hyperthreading" feature that lets two threads share one set of datapaths, for performance that lies somewhere between one CPU and two. It appears as two processors to the operating system, but XP Home supports only one logical processor, unlike XP Pro which supports two. XP Home also does not support a remote desktop similar to that of XP Pro or any X11 based system.
And if you are buying a PC and plan to use Windows anyway why not buy it with the machine and get the benefit of the OEM price.
With the OEM discount, the price of Windows XP Professional comes down to about $141 per seat (based on this 3-pack). If Walmart.com were to sell the $200 PCs with Windows XP installed, the price would rise to $340, and the Windows license would make up over 40 percent of the price of the computer.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Os/2 windows compatibility was good, but that's because you were required to have windows disks, which is something they didn't advertise for the obvious reasons. I remember installing os/2 warp and then to my amazement, the installer asked me for windows disks 1-* on the 3.5 drive, but I only had 5.25 windows disks. Needless the say, I immediatly returned 0s/2 warp and waited 6 months for windows 95.
How many geeks have jobs that force them to interact in the windows world? I do. This geek also needs a very functional spreadsheet for manipulating data (this geek happens to be a chemist). Unfortunately, Excel beats the hell out of Star or Openoffice spreadsheet, which truly sucks. (Anyone know of a fully-functional open source spreadsheet?)
So, since I refuse to give windows access to my machine, another alternative must be found. As for who BUYS a desktop OS...I guess someone who can't find a friend with a T1? Glad I've got one...
Solution to M$ hell? I tried crossover right after it went 1.0. I found it to be about the buggiest thing I had ever used. Office (which it was supposedly optimized for) crashed all the time. Yeah, I know it does that a lot in windows, but much more in crossover. Worst, crossover itself would get corrupted, requiring a re-install of windows. This was starting to be a weekly thing (at least).
Now, I run vm ware, and it's great. Yes, it's more expensive than crossover, and actually *RUNS* windows, requiring a license (or piracy, if you prefer). But it's stable as hell (considering windows' native limitations), pretty fast (faster than a crossover implementation on the same machine), runs effectively ALL windows programs (no more "We'll get that running next year"). Oh, and since windows runs in a virtual machine, windows doesn't have direct access to my hardware.
It's more expensive, but after a month of running either, vmware rocks and is very worth it. I know a lot of assholes will say that people shouldn't take a job that requires use of M$ products, but that attitude will keep you unemployed and living with your parents for a long time.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
In fact, the most common complaint I hear from users is "Don't give me any damned alternatives, just tell me how to do it!" They want ONE method that works first-time-every-time. They aren't computer-oriented (to them it's just a tool, not far different from a typewriter) and alternatives just confuse them. Hell, I've had people's eyes glaze over just from watching me access Explorer via Win+E instead of via desktop shortcut.
As you say, and as a lot of folk hereabouts don't seem to get, this doesn't mean choices "must" be removed, only that they don't have to be the first thing new users are confronted with. Let them explore alternatives once they're comfortable (but remember, many average users will NEVER reach a comfort level and will always do everything the first way they learned to to it).
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
I wish these people the best of luck, but I doubt this is ever really going to work in any meaningful way. *If* Office under Linux ever gains any traction and Linux becomes any more of a threat as a result of having Office available on Linux, MS will do something to break it in their next version, sending all the people running Office on their Linux boxes back to buy Windows licenses, and making clearer then ever that Windows is where you run Microsoft Office. In the long run this might do more harm than good.
Short of having a native Office on Linux, the only thing that will be really useful to the Linux community IN THE LONG RUN is to have a viable Office suite that reads the same formats, or have a viable Office suite SUPPLANT MS Office on ALL desktops. Sadly, this day is far from here.
the first step is to break the Office reliance, and get people to use OO.org, SO etc. on windows
people don't care what OS they use as long as it does what they want
instead of chasing a wild emulation goose that will never be perfect - leaving the faults of the software to be blamed on the OS, show them a perfect alternative on something their used to and then an OS switch will barely even be noticable
Why are these linux distrobutions doing this? It seems every day we hear about another linux distro including some form of Wine to allow people to keep using license encumbered bad software (mostly MS Office). I am thankful that Redhat has not done this (I run Redhat 8.0) but has instead chosen to include OpenOffice.org a great office suite that I have had no problem importing and exporting (rather complicated stuff even) from Office97-XP formats. Please, all of you that happen to head up some linux distro....DON'T DO THIS!!! Support the better open standard!
Unstable Apps: Our Android Apps Don't Suck
Read any paper written by someone with a clue about interface design - windows and office are nightmares. Just because you've become used to it doesn't mean that it's good. Humans have adapted to tyranny, hunger, disease, religion and a billion other bad things, so windows is by far not alone there.
And no, emacs isn't my idea of a good UI.
There are a lot of resources out there about good interfaces and interface design. Spend ten minutes with google if you actually care.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
From The Codeweavers supported apps list:
...
Known Limitations
* The Office Assistant does not work well yet and usually causes malfunctions. Thus it is disabled by default.
Is this a bug or a feature?
The only proprietary thing in the new SuSE edition is the Arconis NTFS repartitioner. I don't see the point though, because if I am using a reliable wine, why do I still need a Windows partition?
Codeweavers make all their source code availble under LGPL at http://www.winehq.com. The only proprietary bits in Crossover Office are some configurations settings and an installation wizard with icons.
Moritz
It's been a while (about 2 years) since I've had a desktop machine running Linux. I had VMware installed on it because I needed IE and pcAnywhere (Mozilla didn't yet exist, and I'm not sure if VNC was available either). At the time, you couldn't run apps that needed DirectX under VMware...has that been fixed?
(I have Gentoo building on a spare computer right now and I'm inclined to give Wine a shot at running the Win32 apps for which I don't know of any Linux equivalents (stuff such as TMPGEnc), but I'm curious about where VMware has gotten in the past couple of years.)
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
As long as the code that is not freely copyable isn't required for the rest of the system to work, and is on separate CDs, and can be installed without having those guarded CDs, then there isn't any problem. It's just not clear that that's what's being done here. But it could be.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
The Windows Media Player has a EULA which requires you to "have a license to a qualifying microsoft operating system". This issue has come up with the codeweavers crossover product:
Nothing prevents Microsoft from doing the same thing with the Office 11 EULA.
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
Actually, the law stops them. It'd be pretty cool if they did put such a clause in the EULA actually, because then CodeWeavers could sue them, win, and have more funds to develop Wine with.
They've tried very hard to do this kind of thing before, but it would be blatantly illegal product tying - they've put in similar clauses then taken them back out again in the past.
If you just don't get 'easy to use'.. try this mental exercise: whenever you read/hear 'easy to use' make a mental substitution: 'easy to use' = 'hassle free'.
/etc/foo (first learning the byzantine format that it uses) just to perform a task that I can do 'out of the box' on Windows/Mac OS X, then the average user will take the path of least hassle.
:-)
I think the phrase 'hassle free' much more accurately describes the problem. If I have to install Linux distribution X, download package Y, deal with package dependencies A, B, and C, edit config file
This has nothing to do with intelligence, as so many Linux geeks mistakenly assume. Imagine a heart surgeon.. he/she is obviously intelligent enough to get a M.D. and practice medicine. Just because he/she can't edit X11 config files and get Crossover installed does not make him/her an idiot, just lacking in appropriate domain expertise; primarily due to lack of time/interest.
When Linux is as hassle free as more successful desktop OSes then Linux has a chance to make it on the desktop. That is what this SuSE thing is all about IMO, removing one of the hassles a user would have to deal with in order to use Linux as a desktop OS. Now start working on the next one, and then the next one, and then the one after that..
Mounting NTFS and resizing it are distinct problems. Since you mention it, there is a new-ish NTFS filesystem driver for Linux kernels, and it's reportedly more reliable than the old one, but you still have to watch out carefully for corruption problems after using it in read-write mode.
On the resizing front, though, there are more options than most people realise, and I've recently published the results of my research into that subject.
Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com
I am busy implementing an OSS based CMS (PHP/MySQL) for our company and because we had very tight deadlines. I ordered and installed SuSE 8.0 because I was in a hurry and didnt want to have to customise Debian or play to much with config files. MySQL refused to work for some strange reason. I did the whole damn MySQL installation by hand and still it wouldnt work. Called and mailed SuSE support (free installation support is supposedly offered). They mailed back to tell me that MySQL, which is installed by default is not supported and that I should get a service contract. I had by then downloaded and installed Debian and MySQL was of course working. I mailed SuSE back and told them we would now use Debian instead of their useless support contract.
Perhaps I expected too much from them but, really, MySQL is not rocket science and one PAYS for SuSE, damn it.
And your attempt to call me a nut by stating exactly what I am saying does what....?
I can only assume by the spelling and grammatical errors that english is not your primary language, and you completely misunderstood my post.
Someone who really wants to run Linux will choose his own distro and install crossover office himself, not buy a desktop OS that does not have the functionality of a server. Those who want to replace MS as their desktop but love office will consider this as a viable alternative, and that's the market Suse is aiming for.
You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
No doubt. I totally agree with you there.
tinfoilmedia
Have you looked at PGAccess, it does form and report building for Postgress.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.