Dinesh Joshi wrote:
Now, I'm aware that he has the following alternatives:
1. Open office
2. Firefox
3. Tally ( Linux version )
Tally does not have a Linux version.
But the problem with Open Office:
1. With average machines, it performs slow
2. The documents it generates are not 100% compatible with Ms.Office
3. Advanced features are not completely compatible
Generally advanced features are not used. I tried out OO for a client
who needs to edit excel files with different colours for different cells
and to his surprise and mine, it showed colours in OO too.
But they need to inter-operate with the rest of the world which means a
good compatibility is important.
Should not be a major problem for general offices. The problem starts
with pro softwares and their file formats like AutoCad, Photoshop, Corel
Draw.
Another problems that one generally faces is that Linux doesn't always
work out of the box. When it does, it works wonderfully well but when it
comes down to tweaking it to get it to work, its like performing a brain
surgery ( for a newbie ).
Bad BIOSes are a pain in the arse.
One more issue that I perceive is that distros don't always have good
hardware compatibility. Let me explain it in more detail. Ubuntu 6.06
worked well on my friend's machine. No issues. But Ubuntu 7.04 refuses
to work on the same machine. Some driver compatibility issues.
I noticed that where Debian clones did not work, RPM based distros
worked quite well and they have full distributions.
The other issue that people in India generally face is of bandwidth.
Ubuntu installs well. It impresses them. But then it runs up HUGE bills
downloading softwares.
Again use full distros.
What are your thoughts on this? How can we work with these people to
effective push Linux into homes and offices? This definitely is one of
the best ways of boosting Linux user base :)
Some time back I had posted a link to TurboCash ( as an alternative to
Tally ) which has now become libre and has VAT too. However It is
currently on the Windows platform and is meant for US and UK. I had put
up a suggestion about modifying it for India but no one is interested in
contributing their time and effort for the same.
We also need some work done on AutoCad alternatives. That will push many
architects towards Linux.
--
Regards,
Rony.
Knock Knock
Who's There?
Linux
Who Linux?
GNU/Linux
--
http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
