From owner-freebsd-newbies Mon Aug 24 14:55:50 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id OAA12864 for freebsd-newbies-outgoing; Mon, 24 Aug 1998 14:55:50 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from phoenix.welearn.com.au (suebla.lnk.telstra.net [139.130.44.81]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA12859 for ; Mon, 24 Aug 1998 14:55:43 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from sue@phoenix.welearn.com.au) Received: (from sue@localhost) by phoenix.welearn.com.au (8.8.5/8.8.5) id HAA12821; Tue, 25 Aug 1998 07:54:45 +1000 (EST) Message-ID: <19980825075441.12853@welearn.com.au> Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1998 07:54:41 +1000 From: Sue Blake To: wwoods@cybcon.com Cc: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: StarOffice & wordperfect References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.88e In-Reply-To: ; from William Woods on Mon, Aug 24, 1998 at 07:02:05AM -0700 Sender: owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On Mon, Aug 24, 1998 at 07:02:05AM -0700, William Woods wrote: > > I installed it only to 'see' it and know if and how it works. > > I don't see it as a 'killer-app', nor would I use/welcome the > > MS-Office-Suite, if there was a port to Linux/FreeBSD. > > Well, I would both use and welcome a MS Office like program, for a couple > reasons. Unlike a lot of people, I use FreeBSD not as a hobby system, but a > work system. I need Word Processing, spread sheets, database and would greeatly > welcome a program like Power Point. I can sort of manage without for my own work. When I need a nice letter or invoice, I can email the basic text to the friendly Macintosh consultants down the road, run down there with my pocket calculator, format them and print them out. It happens rarely enough that the coffee and cake makes it worth the effort :-) Where I have real problems, though, is in accessing information that is shared by groups I'm forced to work with from time to time. Usually I'm the only person not running microsoft, and they share word documents, powerpoint presentations, spreadsheets, etc. I have no easy way to read these, and it's a real bother when I need to alter a couple of words and return the file in a usable format for them. Of course, these people have very few skills, and cannot cope with saving files in other formats, cannot "see" a file if it hasn't got the right extension (even .rtf, .csv are invisible), and believe that I'm the only person on earth (as they know it) whose system is so inferior that it cannot cope with standard office documents. But their pathetic skills and tools are more than adequate to their needs. Who am I to force them to change? As the only non-MS person among a brainwashed and helpless bunch, I must change. So what does that mean? As far as I know, there is still no way to deal with the latest versions of all of these files under FreeBSD. I have to run MS-Office, always the latest version, to read and produce files they can deal with. For that, I need to run a microsoft OS, again the latest version, and for that I need a machine that's hefty enough to handle it, i.e., with much more muscle than I need for FreeBSD. I have to upgrade the software and the OS when new releases come out, to read their new file formats. With these upgrades, I will have to upgrade the hardware to withstand the new demands. The cost of maintianing that machine, solely to read and edit their documents, would come to several thousand dollars per year. I don't spend that much money on my whole network! Unless I can find a reliable way to deal with their files under FreeBSD, now and through future MS changes, I need to weigh up whether it is better to purchase and fit out a machine for the task, or not have the work. The most palatable choice is to refuse the work. So what happens then? Those people learn that yes, everyone (that they know of) does indeed run microsoft and if you send out a microsoft-produced document it's a standard format that everyone can read. I teach them that by withdrawing from their known world. -- Regards, -*Sue*- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message