A Last Look at ApplixWare

Linux.com (Also owned by VA) is taking a look at the once widely popular office suite, ApplixWare. From the article: "Passed to a subsidiary of Applix called VistaSource that later became independent, ApplixWare was repositioned as a combination of a basic office package and a developer's toolkit running from a common main menu. For a while, it was even renamed AnyWare. Now at version 6, ApplixWare is back to its original name, with versions available for AIX, GNU/Linux, and SPARC Solaris, with earlier versions still supported for Windows and FreeBSD. The trial download for GNU/Linux shows ApplixWare's age, but it also shows a trick or two that its newer rivals might learn from."

Comments

Just imagine

[AirLace]

Just imagine if all the work that has been going into cleaning up the behemoth OpenOffice codebase had instead been directed at an open source version of ApplixWare. Maybe the world would be a slightly better place today, but obviously the Applix guys have decided to take their office suite to the grave with them.

Re:Just imagine

[j-pimp]

Just imagine if all the work that has been going into cleaning up the behemoth OpenOffice codebase had instead been directed at an open source version of ApplixWare.

Just imagine if they opened up the source for Word Perfect 5.1 for DOS. There were third part font managers for it os in about a year you would have something that would talk to your X font server or read your True Type font directory. Some people want the WISIGY, and I don't know how the graphical preview mode could be ported over to the console mode, but these problems could be solved if we could get the code for the SCO port as well.

Re:Wildly Popular?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

The Summary said "widely popular office suite" not "wildly popular office suite"

I can understand your confusion however - that is what I read at first too.

Applix file dialog

[morgan_greywolf]

FTFA:
The applications also share a Save dialog -- or "Directory Displayer," as ApplixWare calls it -- with several features that I'd like to see on modern programs, including a complete directory tree, a history, and the ability to set permissions as a file is saved.

While I think a complete directory tree is unnecessary (personally, I think the way GTK 2.6 and KDE/QT handl directories are both fine, with the "bookmarks" along the left side like in Windows XP file dialgs, though I am partial to the GTK 2.6 dialog), I do think that adding the ability to set permissions on a file would be a welcome addition to the GTK 2.6+ dialog box.

A bit of GNOME abuse :)

[jmorris42]

> I do think that adding the ability to set permissions on a file would be a welcome
> addition to the GTK 2.6+ dialog box.

I'm afraid the first questions a GNOME developer would ask is "Does Windows have that? Does Apple do that? Would idiots know what it is useful for?" Then you would be laughed at and the proposal ignored. File permissions are a 'legacy UNIX' thing and have no place in a 'modern graphical environment'. Which is why I'd dearly love to see some UNIX folk get together and rethink a desktop for UNIX instead of our current fashion of imitation Mac/Windows.

It was clear Applix was designed as a UNIX app. It encouraged a 'toolkit' approach, even allowing bash scripts to populate spreadsheet cells. It has its odd bits but I have to give it props for being the closest thing to a true UNIX graphical 'office suite' written to date. My previous laptop had a copy installed but this one doesn't, too much trouble installing ancient compat libs. But my boss still has a copy on hers to access the documents created with it.

(And no, STFU you KDE fanboi waiting to pounce into the conversation because KDE is just as bad only different. GNOME wants to clone the guts of Windows with a braindamaged Mac like face while KDE wants the Windows look and whatever plumbing TrollTech delivers.)