Re: Linux at work (real world)

[Megan Golding <mgolding -at- secureworks -dot- net>]

On Mon, 2001-11-19 at 14:59, KMcLauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com wrote:
[snip]
> Anyway, I've heard from several sources that Star-Office has 
> topnotch Word filtering (both directions)-- a couple of 
> quickie tests sorta confirmed it for me -- and that the suite 
> is XML-based. 

I use a Linux desktop in a largely Microsoft ocean. On a daily basis, I
use the following:

1. Email: Ximian Evolution, an Outlook clone with calendar, contact
list, and email. Several ppl have looked at my monitor and thought I was
running Outlook -- the program is that similar. www.ximian.com 

2. Chat: Everybuddy, a multi protocol chat program that works with AIM,
Yahoo, and ICQ. This may sound like fluff, but this is how I ask most of
my questions, schedule meetings, etc. www.everybuddy.com 

3. Word Processor: AbiWord (loads faster than Star Office) for quick
stuff, Star Office (but it takes forever to load all that stuff). For my
"real" writing, I use XEmacs to write DocBook documents. I'm as fast at
authoring in this environment as I was in Word 8 months ago when I made
the switch. http://www.abisource.com/, www.sun.com/staroffice 

4. Drawings: Dia (but I really miss Visio) and the Gimp (very much like
Photoshop). http://www.lysator.liu.se/~alla/dia/, http://www.gimp.org/

5. Windows: VMWare with a full Win98 installation on a separate
partition. When I need to, I run VMWare to get into windows-only
programs like Visio and our CRM software. FYI: for screen shots, I
always take images from a Windows box to help my readers feel more at
home (over 99% of our audience uses windows machines). NOTE: VMware runs
a regular Windows installation -- licensed software for the Win stuff is
necessary to be legit. Rumor has it that VMWare can be setup to run apps
from a central server. Maybe this is a way to own only one license of an
app that is ocassionally used by many people. www.vmware.com. 

As for word processing, my biggest complaint with Star Office is that
translation between Word and Writer (SO's wordprocessor) isn't seamless.
For example, my bulleted lists always come out looking ugly in Word. SO
hasn't let me down, though, when working with other SO users. My
suggestion? If you intend on translating between MS and Linux boxes,
work with RTF documents.

Gnumeric is a pretty nifty lightweight spreadsheet program. Star Office
also has an Excel clone. No strong opinions on either.

[snip]
> 
> Have they got usable tools for scheduling and planning 
> by groups? 

Try
http://weborganizer.sourceforge.net/?doc=presentation/index
or
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/techinfo/planning/55/OutlookWebaccess.asp

We use Outlook Web Access in my office. You can share a calendar with an
Outlook user, schecule meetings, etc. The web interface isn't the
fastest, but is the only way I know to integrate with Outlook users
without actually running Outlook.

I'd highly recommend an "all or none" move to Linux for desktop users.
Trying to integrate with Microsoft tools creates headaches. If everyone
is on Linux, things'll be much smoother.

Meg

-- 

Megan Golding (mgolding -at- secureworks -dot- net)
SecureWorks, Inc.

Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.
	-- Timothy Leary


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