On Fri, Oct 08, 2010, Les Mikesell wrote: >On 10/8/10 5:55 PM, Warren Young wrote: ... >> Y'all may recall a different example: Word Perfect was also once offered >> on Linux for about a year, then pulled. OpenOffice wasn't even around >> at the time, so you can't blame competition. Corel had a near open >> field to play in, and still couldn't make a buck. > >Did you ever try that product? Even free it wouldn't have been a win against >Word on Windows - which was getting bundled on most new PCs at the time anyway. Au contraire, In September 1997 when we installed our first Linux system in a mission-critical position, it was in a law office as a file and print server for a bunch of Windows machines. The office manager was bitching mightily that their productivity dropped by about 50% when they were forced to use MS-Word instead of WordPerfect. These were very good legal secretaries who hated having to reach for a mouse to do anything, and loved the ``Reveal Codes'' ability in WordPerfect. I had to laugh one day when I got a phone call where the caller's first words were ``I want Reveal Codes''. I do have one Linux system where I'm the resident Linux Geek where the user is a late '60s psychologist with few computer skills who loves it. When her Windows for Workgroups machine needed to be replaced, I offered to install Linux on a new machine with StarOffice (long before OpenOffice.org was around), etc. I told here that we could install Windows on the machine if she didn't like it. This was in mid-2001, and she's been happily using Linux since. She is very active politically, handling large numbers of Microsoft Office files through several election cycles without problems. The main software she uses now are OpenOffice.org, Thunderbird, and Firefox. On the other hand, when she wanted to do things with digital photos from here camera, she constantly had problems dealing with file transfers using a USB flash card reader, mostly properly unmounting and/or finding the proper data (she has a Psy.D. so is hardly a dummy). I suggested she get a Macbook when she needed a laptop, and I get far fewer calls for assistance on this than on the Linux box, and will probably replace the Linux system with an iMac when the Linux hardware goes south. In this case, she comes to me when there's an issue with the Linux system, and doesn't try to install software, and pretty much leaves things alone on the desktop. I rarely get calls for assistance on this system, far fewer than her Windows-Using friends and associates who are constantly dealing with malware (a fact that she frequently relishes as she tells them how she doesn't have these problems with her Linux system :-). That said, this woman is a friend of my wife's and gets my Geek services for free. I have tried to get my wife to use a Linux desktop to no avail, and had to give her a Mac Mini for her birthday to wean her away from her Windows system. I told her this was a present that was as much for me as for her, and she wouldn't have to listen to me curse every time I had to deal with her old Windows box (now I only curse when Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac hangs :-). Bill -- INTERNET: bill at celestial.com Bill Campbell; Celestial Software LLC URL: http://www.celestial.com/ PO Box 820; 6641 E. Mercer Way Voice: (206) 236-1676 Mercer Island, WA 98040-0820 Fax: (206) 232-9186 Skype: jwccsllc (206) 855-5792 Virtually everything is under federal control nowadays except the federal budget. -- Herman E. Talmadge, 1975