| Weblog: | Real Desktop Linux, Part II | |
| Subject: | Agree with previous post and more | |
| Date: | 2003-12-02 05:17:39 | |
| From: | anonymous2 | |
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Just because *you* don't know how to easily add five rows to a table or change every second occurance of a word using MS Office does not mean the functionality does not exist. When you first began using vi and other GNU/Linux related programs, was that functionality immediately obvious? No, you had to investigate (read help files) and learn how to do it. Apparently you do not do such with other programs. Additionally, you forget an application type or category that is quite important in some enterprises: MPS/ERP system access. Comparing the programs used to access such systems on MS Windows platforms versus those available for GNU/Linux and the MS Windows programs easily win. Simple to use and teach to non-technical users and supporting far more features than those for GNU/Linux. For example, try accessing a GEAC System 21 running on an IBM iSeries (AS400). For MS Windows there is the very uncomplicated GEAC System 21 Explorer, for GNU/Linux the closest I could find is a terminal emulator (tn5250). While somewhat usable it is by no means a drop in replacement. In my company, such applications are more important than typical Office programs. |
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Showing messages 1 through 2 of 2.
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Re: Agree with previous post and more
2003-12-02 09:43:29 Mark Stone [Reply | View]
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Re: Agree with previous post and more
2003-12-03 08:24:57 anonymous2 [Reply | View]
I wanted to mention a particular app I use on Linux as part of my "corporate" arsenal. Not sure if it fits into this thread or not, but here it is...
I am an SAP developer by trade, so the traditional SAPGUI has been embedded into my Windows desktop suite for many years. When I switched to Linux several years ago, I was heartened to find that SAP had an underground movement to provide a Linux SAPGUI via Java. It has since matured into a GUI for many environments, including Mac and others.
I think you will see support like that expanding in all areas. Whether that support is via a desktop API as was mentioned in other threads, or simply by moving the applications to a web model...who cares, as long as it happens!
My goal is to free myself from the Microsoft dependence...even if I have to do it without the help of my Helpdesk!
| Showing messages 1 through 2 of 2. |
First, I don't deny that MS Office has a lot of power-user capability. Heck, for anything that's not in there you can always fall back on programming macros to add more functionality in. My point was that those capabilities are far from obvious, and seldom discovered or explored even by fairly serious users (like me). Think about it this way: Unix applications like vi provide an incremental learning curve; you start out only being able to do a little, but every bit of learning enables you to do a little bit more. Windows applications have a learning gap, rather than a learning curve; you start out being able to do quite a bit, but then reach a point where being able to do anything more at all requires an enormous investment of effort.
I don't think that one of these approaches is necessarily better than the other. Rather I think that to make Linux on the desktop appealing, you have to play to its strengths: harder to use, but very powerful, and with consistent pay-off for learning invested.
Second point: Your CRM example is an excellent one. I deliberately avoided the whole subject of middleware type applications. That's a complex subject all its own. But I do think that those applications reinforce my main point: purely Open Source software is not ready for the enterprise desktop, and compatibility with the proprietary world is a big reason why not. I will say that the number of enterprise workers who need access to clients talking to middleware apps is limited, and so again a hybrid approach -- mostly Linux desktops with some Windows desktops -- still should be the most efficient and cost-effective way to go.
Finally, it's important to note that web-based applications are making the middleware issue less of a problem for Linux. With previous employers I have comfortably used both SalesForce.com and CorporateTime from a web browser, and thus not had to worry about what the underlying OS was.