Re: Re. Star Office 6

[Alan Shutko <ats@acm.org>]

sheine <sidneybrooks@mailsite.vtc.net> writes:

> Tommi Komulainen wrote:

>> Just a thought, you weren't planning to do anything productive
>> with, or did you?  If you did, guess you'd better reconsider:

> This message caused me to reconsider the several years that I have
> fooled around with linux. Maybe it is just a computer game, not a
> serious tool.

Linux is not the tool for all needs right now, and Star Office is not
the only tool on Linux.

First, the SO6 beta is a beta.  One should not depend on a beta for
production needs on any platform.  It's always better to have a stable
baseline for production use, even if it may be more buggy in some ways
than the latest beta: at least you know the bugs in the stable release
and can work around them.

Second, there are lots of other tools which are stable under Linux.
I've been getting work done for 7 years using Linux.  In general, I
don't use Office apps much... as a software developer under Unix and
relatives, I don't need to very often.  For my personal documentation
needs, LaTeX is ideal.  For work, where MS Office reigns supreme and I
need to transfer docs back and forth all the time, MS is the only
option, unfortunately.  No other office suite, under any platform,
does round tripping without diminishing my productivity.  Free tools
such as Gnumeric and Abiword, however, do meet my needs for document
display, so I don't need to pump up VMware unless I need to edit.

Your needs are likely to be unique to you, and what works well for one
person may not for you.  But for many people Linux is already ready
for serious work.  It may need more time learning how to fit within
its worldview, but usually rewards with increased reliability and
flexibility.

-- 
Alan Shutko <ats@acm.org> - In a variety of flavors!
Actually, my goal is to have a sandwich named after me.