Re: Migrating to open source
Gus & Maggie said:
> My name is Roy Havens and I own a small business. Currently I run
> Windows XP Home but the browser I like to use is Mozilla. I am
> interested in migrating all of my computer to open source. The only
> thing that is preventing me from doing so is the MANY M$ programs I
> currently use. What Windows emulators do you have for Linux that will
> run MS's programs? For instance, I use Turbo Tax and Quicken. I need
> Linux to work with Intuit's programs. Some of the other essential
> programs I use are Floor Plan 3D and Front Page. I have heard of WINE;
> however, the one who told me of WINE has not have much luck with it.
WINE has given me mixed successes; some things just drop straight in,
others require some fiddling, and still others just refuse to work no
matter what I try. It's unfortunate. There are a couple of commercial
WINE derivatives which have extra functionality over and above what comes
out of WINE CVS, Crossover Office, in particular, is designed to run MS
Office, which means that a lot of applications Just Work with it as well.
But what you might like to try in a lot of cases is to find OSS
alternatives. Then, not only will your operating system be open source,
but so will most of your applications. For instance, there are several
quality alternatives to Front Page, and a couple of quite excellent
accounting systems (GNUCash for the small operation, and SQL Ledger for
pretty much everything else). Haven't played with Turbo Tax, but it's
probably just a report generator for Quicken, which means it'd be easy to
rewrite for either of the two systems above. With some research and
experimentation, you should be able to get alternatives for a lot of yourcurrent software.
> Widows has made it very difficult for a person with a business to
> migrate unless you have an emulator.
And that's exactly how Microsoft likes it.
> Please contact me with any information. Please reply-all your response.
For practical matters, debian-consultants might be a good place to ask
some questions about migration strategies, or a Linux Users Group close to
you. Either one will be able to offer a lot of good advice on the
practicalities of migration.
- Matt
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