Bill Campbell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sat, 16 Aug 2003 17:56:23 -0700Like Oracle, SAP, BAAN, SSA, informix, SAS, etc.? Many server applications are close and there are substitutes. But several of the more horizontal apps either don't run on linux or are not quite as good.
On Sat, Aug 16, 2003, Alma J Wetzker wrote:I agree with the sentiment but the reality is much harsher. Most linux apps just aren't up to their windoze counterparts. This is especially true for personal productivity apps. The server stuff is much closer.
Linux is great for the server applications, and I have been using *ix desktop applications for years (but how many people actually prefer vi and groff to word processors :-). We're installing quite a few Apple systems running OS X for desktop applications, and it's hard to beat the eMac for cost-effective workstations. I'm going to find it hard to resist buying one of the new dual processor G5s when panther is released.
The cogent argument for change doesn't address busines use. There is LOTS of custom code running in busines. The life span of that code is 15 - 20 years. Converting to C/Java/Perl/Python/??? is a huge undertaking and has no busines payoff. It also halts improvements for a year or two. No busines on the planet can afford that in todays market. And heaven help the companies that have gone to outsourcing, they have effectively zero say in infrastructure decisions.
Most of the custom applications were originally written for *ix platforms before Microsoft bought several of the major players in Unix accounting software and killed the Unix versions (e.g. RealWorld).
That is not my experience. Most of the custom apps I have worked on were PC based or mainframe based and then migrated to PC's. I am not claiming that is the majority of the installed base, that is just my experience. Are the apps written for *ix being migrated? If so, is the new target linux? Microsoft is spending as much money as it takes to see that doesn't happen. What busines apps do we have for linux that make people want to run linux so that they can use that application? Office? Spice? Photoshop? What do we have that is close?
-- Alma
(I have a dream of writing a SAP-like application for distribution businesses for linux but I just don't have the time with going to school right now.)
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