Corel LINUX OS

Dennis J. Eberl dje at pcom.net
Sun Apr 9 21:48:27 EDT 2000


James Simmons wrote:

> Porting Office 2000 from windows to linux. Aint going to happen. I
> remember the talk about making a DirectX clone on linux. People where
> threaten with lawsuits.

I have no idea of what you speak. What is Direct X? Where is the lawsuit
issue? Microsoft has a much right as Corel and Applix to port their software
to run under an open source version of Linux, and they have equal right to
sell their own distribution provided they conform to the licensing restrictions.



> > But office suites, I think, will remain
> > commercial simply because they work in an economic model
> > that through competition ends up serving the end user better.
> > I just don't see the open source community as having the
> > kind of intelligence and focus needed by commercial project.
>
> Excuse me!!!!!

Ok, you are excused.

> Focus yes.

Damn right.

> It's very hard to devote alot of time to open
> source projects unless you work for a company that pays you to work on
> open source software. As for intelligence.

Sorry. Poor choice of words.

> Well lets give a example.
> Solaris vs linux on sun workstations. Solaris as we know is made by sun
> and runs on sun workstations as well as the intel platform. Well it
> completely sucks on the intel platforms so we are not even going to go
> there.

Go where? Try to speak English. Solaris on Intel sucks. So what? Sun put
their B team on Intel. In any case, I am not arguing that Microsoft should
attempt a Linux clone, only that they cash in like everybody else.

I don't like appearing to support Microsoft. I don't like them or the effect
they have had on the software industry. The same goes for Apple. Endemic
arrogance is the poison that flows through closed source enterprises that
experience success.

> As for on sun workstations. Linux beats solaris hands down on sparc
> workstations for stability and performance.

Let's try to be accurate here. Linux beats Solaris on Sun's lower end
hardware, not on their high end hardware. I believe this is correct.
Others may comment. In any case, what does any of this have to do
with my proposition that Microsoft could survive quite well by becoming
a legitimate open source distributor of Linux and porting their Office
suite to run under Linux, their distribution or any one else's. That would
allow Microsoft to keep most of their customers and head Corel and
Applix off at the past.

I don't have a horse in this race. Emotionally I'm neutral. I am only
offering a scenario that seems quite likely to me, but is never discussed.

> That's just a fact.

Almost a fact.

> Its pretty
> amazing a open source OS can beat a close source OS built for that
> specific platform.

I don't see anything amazing about it. Read Eric Raymond's book: he
explains why open source succeeded so brilliantly. I am merely suggesting
that the open source model might not work as well for other types of
software.

> As for office suites. If the office suite lacks a
> feature they want then someone sooner or later is going to add that
> feature they need.

I don't quite see it that way. First, open source does not have a mechanism
for feedback from common users. What is more likely is that whatever some
programmer thinks is pretty cool will end up in an open source suite.

> Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against
> commerical office suites.

Ok. This is sane.

> I just don't like the wrong attitude that
> only the close source elite

. . . hold on here. What about the "open source elite"? This is nonsense.

> can make really good products.

I never said and do not believe that only closed source enterprises can make
really good products. This is apparently an emotional issue with you. It is
not with me. Let the best product win. If the Justice Department doesn't blow
it in forcing Microsoft to play fair and the open source community finds the
niches it best serves, the playing field will be substantially leveled so the
best
product actually has a chance to win.

> For those of
> you who would like to try a open source office suite take a look at
>
> http://koffice.kde.org/
>
> "Look it's a text editor, no it's a OS, no it's Emacs"
> James Simmons                                           ____/|
> fbdev/gfx developer                                     \ o.O|
> http://www.linux-fbdev.org                               =(_)=
> http://linuxgfx.sourceforge.net                            U

James, one of the biggest problems office suites for Linux have is that none
to date do a decent job in completely translating documents forged under
programs like Excel and Word. This is probably true of koffice as well. (Please
cite any reviews you have found). Until something like Corel Office can
flawlessly import Microsoft documents, the average business user is not
going to want to switch. Period.

What I am pointing out is that Microsoft could wise up and beat out its
competition in the Linux world by porting their office suite to Linux, assuring
the acceptability of Linux in the corporate workplace. No doubt one of the
reasons, Applix, Corel, and KDE have difficulty doing successful imports
of MS documents is that MS chooses -- as it has a right to do -- to not make
it easy by disclosing file format details. (Just a guess.)

Whether or not Microsoft can overcome the suffocation of their own inbred
corporate culture to even see that they have a great opportunity in Linux
remains to be seen.

I don't hate Microsoft, but I do hope they fail to see and seize the opportunity

presented by the Linux phenomenon. Seeing Microsoft get its just deserts
would do every programmer in the world a great deal of good.

Dennis




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