[Techtalk] Using Windows apps in Linux

Carla Schroder carla at bratgrrl.com
Thu Jun 20 11:59:06 EST 2002


On Thursday 20 June 2002 04:22 pm, Marian Routh wrote:
> Hi, all.  Since some of us have been discussing the merits of CrossOver
> Office, there have been a number of posts basically saying, "Why not
> use Linux apps?  Why not use $linuxapp?
>
><snip>
>
> I have used all the MS OS's from DOS through XP, various Linux distros,
> and yes (shudder) OS/2.  I even have a few ancient Apple IIe's, and if
> I could afford a new Apple computer with OSX, I would buy one just for
> fun.  I understand that a lot of people are purists - "use only Linux"
> - and that's fine.  Linux is _about_ personal choice and freedom.  For
> me, I like to use whatever does the job I want to do.  I'd like to go
> on record as saying:  I've tried OpenOffice, StarOffice 5.2, KWord,
> Abiword, Emacs, Evolution, Koffice, etc.  If I'm using Word, it's
> because it does something the others don't - for me, basically font
> handling onscreen and in print.  I use if for my business.  Evolution
> isn't quite ready for prime time _for me_.  It isn't that Outlook is so
> great - it's that Evo isn't _yet_ and if I'm going to run Word, then I
> might as well run Excel and Outlook since all my business stuff over
> the years has been created in those apps.  I don't want to reinvent the
> wheel when it comes to my business; I have other things to do.
>
> <snip>

As always, it's weighing a number of factors. Most businesses have huge 
archives of documents created in MS Office, so when you start talking 
migrating to Linux the first obstacle is what about all those old docs? A 
complex Excel spreadsheet or Word doc with lots of macros is not going to 
translate. 

Of course this is an age-old problem, and it didn't seem to bother the suits 
when their WordStar, Lotus 1-2-3, or WordPerfect archives were instantly 
obsoleted by a forced migration to MS Office. An obvious solution is keep a 
few legacy machines around, and do new work on the new platform. But what the 
hell do I know, I'm just a dumb girl, not a fast-talking Microsoft salesbully.

If there really truly are necessary features in MS Office that can't be found 
elsewhere, I suppose you're stuck. I haven't found such a critter yet. Gotta 
start somewhere- the longer we enable The Beast the longer it will have undue 
say over what choices are available to us. That's the biggest difference 
between the Windows world and the Linux world, and why Microsoft is called 
evil- they exert enormous power over our personal choices, even down to 
trying control what we do with their products. 

I'm not saying what you personally need to do, that's up to you. Heck, you 
can even wear your I Heart Billy button if you want, I don't care. This is my 
personal policy- No Enabling The Beast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carla Schroder, Bratgrrl Computing
Plain English Spoken Here
www.bratgrrl.com
this message brought to you by Kmail,
on Red Hat Linux 7.2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



More information about the Techtalk mailing list