>>>>> "Brian" == Brian Parish (EPA) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Brian> I've just got started with linux after a long history with
Brian> the products of the evil empire. I'm still rather
Brian> dependant on them as many of the tools I use haven't been
Brian> ported, but I look forward to the day when my computer can
Brian> be gates free.
Hey Brian (and others): how about posting a short list of the tools
you are dependant on? Maybe others on the list know of free solutions
or home-rolled workarounds that they can post, and we can all learn
something new. I know that Michael's upcoming Linux cookbook will do
something like this in a long format, but it would be interesting to
go back and forth on the list to see some other opinions.
My current list of things that force me to reboot to Windows:
- MS Word. Although I can use WP for Linux for a lot of things, my
day job as a technical writer assumes that I have a real version of
Word. There are some arcane features (like revisions/annotations)
that no Linux WP can currently do. Luckily, I seldom work from home
these days, so I don't use Word as much.
- Family Tree Maker Pro. I actually love this program, and it's
extremely comprehensive. I do wish there was some sort of Linux
hack for editing its databases, or displaying them on the web.
- Quicktime. I wish Apple would get their shit straight and release a
Linux version. I just got DSL and I'm downloading video like mad,
so I hate when I need to reboot just to show a friend the Troops
video.
And the things that recently got removed from that list:
- The Palm desktop. I just installed jpilot, and it works just as
good, if not better than the Windows software.
- Excel. This tax time, I'm using gnumeric for all of my spreadsheet
needs, and it works fine for me.
- RealPlayer. There's a new 7.0 beta that actually works!!
Anyway, I'm interested to hear what other people have to say about
this topic.
-Jon
