Re: [SLUG] Want Linux on your desktop? Nine reasons to forget about it

From: Mike Manchester (mchester@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Jun 13 2001 - 07:28:15 EDT


Linux will never make it on the Desktop because:

It's not the GUI or how much it looks like Windows. The real reason Linux will
never make the Desktop is because of companies using proprietary software i.e MS
apps. case in point:

My company uses Microsoft Word for all there important docs. From time to time
I need to modify these documents and redistribute them. And I have yet to find a
Linux based program that will read edit and save a Microsoft Word file. I've tried
Staroffice (which does a pretty good job of converting the word file but hoses it
when saving, so that Microsoft Word can no longer read it as it was originally).
Applixware loses things in the conversion. WordPerfect 8 I can't to convert the
document. It says it's converting but never completes the conversion. So because my
company won't use a format that can be read and modified with anything but
Microsoft software, I can't get rid of Windows, even though I use Linux daily
I have to keep Microsoft Windows on my machine to do this kind of thing. And now
with Microsoft dropping support for all products except Win 2k and Xp and Office 2k
and Office XP. I will be forced to upgrade to the new products just to do my job.

So until companies go the open source route and get rid of this proprietary
document formats I have no choice in the matter.

I can't wait to see what My company does when it has to supply everyone with new
license of Microsoft software just so we can read all the documents they have
stored in Word format.

So lack of compatibility will keep Linux from the desktop, will at least my desktop
and all the desktops of people that have to rely on Microsoft formatted Documents.

Mike M.

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