[CentOS] Re: DocX support in OpenOffice

[Bill Campbell]

On Thu, Oct 18, 2007, Scott Silva wrote:
>on 10/18/2007 12:03 PM Frank Cox spake the following:
...
>>Many people switch to using Linux after they get tired of the crap that 
>>goes
>>along with trying to get things done with Windows.  I don't see that as a 
>>sign
>>that there is anything in need of fixing.

>Microsoft makes proprietary standards because they are the 800 pound 
>gorilla of the PC world. Until the world finally puts Microsoft behind 
>them, you have to deal with inter-operability with your peers. And when you 
>are trying to persuade a business to part with their hard earned dollars to 
>deal with your business, asking them to change to suit you will not fly 
>very far.

Microsoft is having *SERIOUS* problems in the EU now, in no small part due
to the efforts of Andrew Tridgell and other members of the Samba team who
have testified at length regarding Microsoft's practices.

Microsoft also attempted to pack the international committee with their
Partners in their attempt to get their proprietary XML Office formats
accepted as a Standard.  These attempts have failed so far.

>You can have principles, or you can have income.

You can have income and principles (although I have a hard time
explaining to my wife why I would never work for Microsoft :-).

I could make a lot more income if I were willing to work cleaning
up after Windows machines.

I do have a fair number of people who have been using OpenOffice on Linux
machines since the days it was StarOffice, before Sun bought them.  My
poster child for this is a 65+ psychologist who is also very active in
local politics.  She handles hundreds of Microsoft Office files a week
using OpenOffice.org software, and loves to tell her friends how solid her
system is and that she doesn't have to worry about worms and virii.

On the other hand, I have been recommending that most people use OS X for
their desktop applications for the last five years or so as it Just
Works(TM) without hassles, OpenOffice.org works fine, and they can get
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac if they feel compelled to do so.

Before I got a Mac Mini for my own desktop almost four years ago, I would
have to use Windows once a year for TurboTax, but that is available for the
Mac.  Two years ago I gave my wife a Mac Mini to replace her Win98 machine
so she no longer has to listen to me piss, moan, and cuss whenever I have
to deal with Windows.  On her Windows machine, I exported here C drive,
read-only, and mounted it on the Mac so she could get to her old data, but
not write it back to the Windows machine.

We still use Linux for all of our servers, and will for the foreseeable
future, but I find the Macs more suitable for the average desktop user who
doen't care about what's under the hood.

Bill
--
INTERNET:   bill at celestial.com  Bill Campbell; Celestial Software LLC
URL: http://www.celestial.com/  PO Box 820; 6641 E. Mercer Way
FAX:            (206) 232-9186  Mercer Island, WA 98040-0820; (206) 236-1676

...I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil.  I simply
suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the devil, it wouldn't need an
interpreter. -- Nick Petreley