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@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 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
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