MSOFT versus Open Source movement

Marco Anglesio mpa at the-wire.com
Fri May 4 08:17:02 PDT 2001


On Fri, 4 May 2001, Kelley Walker wrote:
> at them moment, i can't think of a prog that doesn't have an equivalent
> non-MS product.

MS Project. Admittedly there are project management alternatives, but I can't think of one that runs on linux if you don't feel like keeping your timelines on a plain-old spreadsheet.

I have heard rumblings of web-based pm software. Has anyone heard the same rumblings, or even better used such a beast?

What else. Hmm. Quicken, definitely; while it's not produced by MS it is windows/mac only. (And yes, I have tried GNUCash - it's just not as good. It may be as good in a few years, but it isn't quite yet.)

QuickTax, also by Intuit. It'll take ages for a tax package to be produced for linux because of the initial investment required. Yes, I have heard of web-based tax packages. No, I will not use them; I value my privacy somewhat.

Lotus Notes. The R5 client doesn't run under WINE, although the R4 client does all but replication. It's an IBM product and the Notes server does have a Linux port, but the client doesn't.

The list is actually pretty long. That said, I don't *have* to use all of these things - I could balance my chequebook and do my taxes by hand. I could schedule tasks using a spreadsheet. I don't have to use Notes for mail - although, yes, I do, when it comes to work mail. There are alternatives for some of these things, but they often miss valuable and sometimes essential features.

Like Jamie Zawinski said about the ostensibly bloated Netscape: "Convenient though it would be if it were true, Mozilla [Netscape 1.0] is not big because it's full of useless crap. Mozilla is big because your needs are big. Your needs are big because the Internet is big. There are lots of small, lean web browsers out there that, incidentally, do almost nothing useful. But being a shining jewel of perfection was not a goal when we wrote Mozilla."

Marco

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> Marco Anglesio | Alcohol, hashish, prussic acid, <
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