...is our habits. In order to make some real ground in this area, MS has to come up with something so compelling that it will motivate us to change. Google is already working for me - so what can MS do for me that Google doesn't already do?
I use LaTex for typesetting, especially for material with a lot of mathematical notation. I use Scribus for DTP. I use a bottle opener to open beers. OOo is not a good choice for any of those functions, but that is not a shortcoming of OOo. I use OOo Writer as a word processor.
First, you can't really compare OOo to LaTeX or Scribus - different functions. Abiword is a very nice word processor, but OOo is a full office package, so the comparison there is weak too. If you only need a word processor, then Abiword is a fine choice. I hope that Abiword and OOo Writer get cross-compatibility soon.
I prefer OOo to MS Office. OOo runs on all the computers in my office, MS Office does not. OOo file formats are easier to work with than MS Office formats. Finally, I have found the style properties in OOo writer to be more intuitive than those in MS Word.
As an IT manager, I've done a few things to try to whittle away at MS Office.
1. Whenever a vendor sends me an MS-format file, I always send it back and ask for a portable format. Sure, I could open it with OOo, but these guys are trying to get me to give them money. They can work for it. And I do enjoy the confused reactions from salespeople who don't know that non-MS systems even exist.
2. All desktops at my organization have OOo installed, even if MS Office is too. I can send out documents and know that everybody can work with them. Most people don't even notice that they are not in MS formats.
3. As far as IE-only websites go, I can't believe you even put up that straw man. First of all, you don't boycott IE-only sites. What good would that do? When you bump up against an IE-only site, call somebody and complain. Tell a sales guy that you can't place an order because the his company's website is broken. It gets results.
And by the way, if you're a geek and you want to help the free software cause, think about working your way into management. Sure it's a drag at times, but you can really make things happen. For example, nobody in my organization uses IE any more - it's policy;)
If you want him to stop bashing Republicans, start voting for Democrats. It's much easier to satirize the people and party that's in power, because that's where the material is.
Furthermore, if the quality of election satire is a bit low this year, it's in part because the quality of election politics is very low this year.
You're right, of course, except for one thing. There's more than one Windows platform. For example, a Windows desktop is really a different platform than a Windows file/print server. There could be many different Windows killers versus the various Windows systems.
In my office, Linux/Samba is a successful Windows killer, but we haven't killed Windows on the desktop yet. It's badly wounded and it's prognosis is not good, but it's hanging in there for now.
What these supposed challengers don't get is that the iPod is not just a nifty gadget. It's part of a system that includes an online music store, a desktop client, and the actual iPod device. An "iPod killer" has to take on the iPod on all of these points.
How can opensource apps with their underdog persona get around this?
Who cares about these people? Look, there are always going to be people who make bad decisions. It is not important that everybody use FOSS; it's only important that they have the option to do so.
I lived in Lake Stevens, Washington at the time. On the morning of May 18th my dog started barking for no apparent reason. A moment later, we head a very loud boom that sounded like it could have come from our front yard.
We were not downwind, so we didn't get any significant ash.
In my office, I gave a Linux (Mandrake) loaded laptop to a sales guy. He's a competent computer user, but he's not a geek by a long shot. It took him one afternoon to get the hang of things, and he's had no trouble since then.
Admittedly, it's a small sample size, but it's encouraging. I'll be rolling out more Linux desktops at my office soon.
Take this user and give them some flavor of Linux at work. You can train them on how to use their apps... but when the abnormal happens, the user is in unfamiliar territory, and an environment that frankly just isn't a friendly as XP. This isn't really a training issue either. Even IT guys like myself admit that things on the desktop are just harder with Linux. You can't just plug hardware in and expect it to work. Installing drivers is not easy.
What are you talking about? Office workers do not install software, and they certainly don't install divers. Hell, 95% of the people in my office don't now what a driver is. Around here, anything beyond running the apps is handled by IT. A system that is friendly to an IT staffer, like *nix, is easier to maintain.
Whether they still have any patents or copyrights on the functionality of UNIX remains to be seen,...
Ummm, no it doesn't. We already know that SCO doesn't have any patents, and there's no such thing as a copyright on functionality. We copyright code, not functionality.
I'm not really a counterexample, because we have *nix experience in my shop, but if you gave me a bid that recommended Windows, you would not get the job, and you'd be asked not to submit any more bids to my company. There may be some things Windows is good for, but we don't do any of those things.
First, after the last round of exploits, I simply said that we had to change. I explained that I could not keep the systems secure if IE was used.
Second, everyone I've ever switched to Firefox has been really happy with it. It's got a good interface and better features than IE (no that IE has set the bar especailly high).
Freudian slip, perhaps? Marsh must have been paid in some way for this. Either that, or he's an idiot.
Let's assume he's not an idiot. That means he knows that a SCO license is worthless, and he's not going to pay money for something that is worthless. So somehow, SCO must have done something to make this deal worthwhile to him. Maybe EV1 is going to get a big check from SCO. Maybe they already did. Or maybe they just became eligible for a hefty discount from Microsoft.
I think Stowell said that this deal was worth 1 million dollars. That doesn't mean that EV1 paid anything at all. It's more likely that they were paid, or promised some sort of payment, in return for this.
I'm informing all the vendors with whom I work that my organization is adopting a zero tolerance policy with respect to SCO. We will not purchase items from vendors who sell any SCO/Caldera products.
I use Debian in part because of the deliberate, careful release cycle. I don't want to jepordize the stability of my servers one bit just to get the latest and greatest widgets. On the other hand, I can run testing or unstable packages on systems where some stability can be sacrificed and I want to see the newer stuff. I don't see any reason why Debian should change this policy.
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Actually, they are saying, "We can't compete on price or quality, so we cooked up this idea to make it look like we're better at something.
...is our habits. In order to make some real ground in this area, MS has to come up with something so compelling that it will motivate us to change. Google is already working for me - so what can MS do for me that Google doesn't already do?
First, get somebody in your family with connections to help you get into the Texas Air National Guard.
Then go AWOL.
I'm pretty sure we'll be ok without you.
I use LaTex for typesetting, especially for material with a lot of mathematical notation. I use Scribus for DTP. I use a bottle opener to open beers. OOo is not a good choice for any of those functions, but that is not a shortcoming of OOo. I use OOo Writer as a word processor.
First, you can't really compare OOo to LaTeX or Scribus - different functions. Abiword is a very nice word processor, but OOo is a full office package, so the comparison there is weak too. If you only need a word processor, then Abiword is a fine choice. I hope that Abiword and OOo Writer get cross-compatibility soon.
I prefer OOo to MS Office. OOo runs on all the computers in my office, MS Office does not. OOo file formats are easier to work with than MS Office formats. Finally, I have found the style properties in OOo writer to be more intuitive than those in MS Word.
YMMV
As an IT manager, I've done a few things to try to whittle away at MS Office.
1. Whenever a vendor sends me an MS-format file, I always send it back and ask for a portable format. Sure, I could open it with OOo, but these guys are trying to get me to give them money. They can work for it. And I do enjoy the confused reactions from salespeople who don't know that non-MS systems even exist.
2. All desktops at my organization have OOo installed, even if MS Office is too. I can send out documents and know that everybody can work with them. Most people don't even notice that they are not in MS formats.
3. As far as IE-only websites go, I can't believe you even put up that straw man. First of all, you don't boycott IE-only sites. What good would that do? When you bump up against an IE-only site, call somebody and complain. Tell a sales guy that you can't place an order because the his company's website is broken. It gets results.
And by the way, if you're a geek and you want to help the free software cause, think about working your way into management. Sure it's a drag at times, but you can really make things happen. For example, nobody in my organization uses IE any more - it's policy;)
If you want him to stop bashing Republicans, start voting for Democrats. It's much easier to satirize the people and party that's in power, because that's where the material is.
Furthermore, if the quality of election satire is a bit low this year, it's in part because the quality of election politics is very low this year.
You're right, of course, except for one thing. There's more than one Windows platform. For example, a Windows desktop is really a different platform than a Windows file/print server. There could be many different Windows killers versus the various Windows systems.
In my office, Linux/Samba is a successful Windows killer, but we haven't killed Windows on the desktop yet. It's badly wounded and it's prognosis is not good, but it's hanging in there for now.
What these supposed challengers don't get is that the iPod is not just a nifty gadget. It's part of a system that includes an online music store, a desktop client, and the actual iPod device. An "iPod killer" has to take on the iPod on all of these points.
I use adsense without any trouble. I don't even remember seeing anything that said IE was needed.
Here's a wierd one for you: My wife can't use Firefox to read her work's Exchange-driven webmail system, but it works just fine with Konqueror.
How can opensource apps with their underdog persona get around this?
Who cares about these people? Look, there are always going to be people who make bad decisions. It is not important that everybody use FOSS; it's only important that they have the option to do so.Lake Stevens nowhere near there. It's north of Seattle. That's what was so impressive about the sound.
I lived in Lake Stevens, Washington at the time. On the morning of May 18th my dog started barking for no apparent reason. A moment later, we head a very loud boom that sounded like it could have come from our front yard.
We were not downwind, so we didn't get any significant ash.
In my office, I gave a Linux (Mandrake) loaded laptop to a sales guy. He's a competent computer user, but he's not a geek by a long shot. It took him one afternoon to get the hang of things, and he's had no trouble since then.
Admittedly, it's a small sample size, but it's encouraging. I'll be rolling out more Linux desktops at my office soon.
Take this user and give them some flavor of Linux at work. You can train them on how to use their apps... but when the abnormal happens, the user is in unfamiliar territory, and an environment that frankly just isn't a friendly as XP. This isn't really a training issue either. Even IT guys like myself admit that things on the desktop are just harder with Linux. You can't just plug hardware in and expect it to work. Installing drivers is not easy.
What are you talking about? Office workers do not install software, and they certainly don't install divers. Hell, 95% of the people in my office don't now what a driver is. Around here, anything beyond running the apps is handled by IT. A system that is friendly to an IT staffer, like *nix, is easier to maintain.
Whether they still have any patents or copyrights on the functionality of UNIX remains to be seen,...
Ummm, no it doesn't. We already know that SCO doesn't have any patents, and there's no such thing as a copyright on functionality. We copyright code, not functionality.I've got an XP user in my office, and she still has to reboot at least once a day. The last time I had a linux desktop lockup was somtime in 2000.
I'm not really a counterexample, because we have *nix experience in my shop, but if you gave me a bid that recommended Windows, you would not get the job, and you'd be asked not to submit any more bids to my company. There may be some things Windows is good for, but we don't do any of those things.
First, after the last round of exploits, I simply said that we had to change. I explained that I could not keep the systems secure if IE was used.
Second, everyone I've ever switched to Firefox has been really happy with it. It's got a good interface and better features than IE (no that IE has set the bar especailly high).
My understanding is that MS recently laid off about 60 people from their games division. Maybe they are scaling back their plans.
Freudian slip, perhaps? Marsh must have been paid in some way for this. Either that, or he's an idiot.
Let's assume he's not an idiot. That means he knows that a SCO license is worthless, and he's not going to pay money for something that is worthless. So somehow, SCO must have done something to make this deal worthwhile to him. Maybe EV1 is going to get a big check from SCO. Maybe they already did. Or maybe they just became eligible for a hefty discount from Microsoft.
I think Stowell said that this deal was worth 1 million dollars. That doesn't mean that EV1 paid anything at all. It's more likely that they were paid, or promised some sort of payment, in return for this.
I'm informing all the vendors with whom I work that my organization is adopting a zero tolerance policy with respect to SCO. We will not purchase items from vendors who sell any SCO/Caldera products.
I use Debian in part because of the deliberate, careful release cycle. I don't want to jepordize the stability of my servers one bit just to get the latest and greatest widgets. On the other hand, I can run testing or unstable packages on systems where some stability can be sacrificed and I want to see the newer stuff. I don't see any reason why Debian should change this policy.
We installed it on a workstation here, now it won't boot either.