On Monday 15 Dec 2003 6:21 pm, Bryan Phinney wrote: > I can be disagreeable when I think that someone > is suggesting that Linux should conform to the expectation of > Window's users especially because I feel that those expectations > are impossible to meet, having been corrupted under the marketing > lies of MS for too many years.
M$ marketing apart, it is a fact of life that most programmers have put their effort into M$ compatible apps, because that's where the sales and the money is. Simple economics. Let's hope that before long the message will get through that there are good sales levels to be had outside M$ - but OTOH, so many people believe that linux apps should be free as in beer, that it might never happen. > I will try to mollify my postings > in the future but I can't promise to be completely inoffensive, so > perhaps someone else on the list can simply rap me on the knuckles > when I start to channel Joe Hill. ;-} > You can't - he patented it <g> > > I tried linux several times before discovering Mandrake, and, > > most importantly, the support that I could get here. I am, > > though, rather geek-minded, and refuse to let any darned box get > > the better of me. That is not so for many people who, quite > > rightly, prefer to see their box as a tool for getting things > > done. As several people have pointed out, you have to invest a > > huge amount of time to learning, and that's not always possible. > > Again, I view that as part of the price that you pay instead of > money. Point taken - to a degree, but as my daughter would say, if I want to use a hammer I have to learn which end to hold, but I don't have to learn the physics that dictate how hard I hit. That's the user viewpoint. > > Good for you. But there are acknowledged gaps in what is > > available. I would suggest that a graphics app that supports cymk > > separation, a dtp app with properly ordered booklet printing, and > > an easy-to-use front end for small but multitable database usage > > - not on the scale of mysqul - as examples. Many of us > > reluctantly find we cannot entirely ditch windows - yet. > > There are some very good php front-ends for MySql that may serve > the purposes as an interface. I have found few small database app > front-ends that were not available in one form or another, > including software catalogs, movie catalogs, etc. If you have a > specific need, you might want to mention it as I might be able to > suggest a solution. > I may well talk to you later on that one, Bryan. I do miss my Lotus Approach databases. I used them for so many things. For the main part I'm living without them, but just occasionally I have to dip into windows to use one. It may seem stupid, but one of the things I most miss is to be able to select the name and address fields and display them in label formats, 21 or 24 to a sheet. It was simple under Approach, but I think there would be no easy answer under Linux. I don't have a problem with paying, Bryan, if I can find the right app. It's not yet a priority, as Mandrake change things so often that I spend too much time learning and not enough time doing <g> > As for the others, I am not currently doing anything with graphics > so I am not even familiar with those terms, but I would be happy to > look into it if you want to take the trouble to explain your needs > to me. > This is not a personal need, but it is a need of anyone who needs to send artwork to publishers - cmyk is the 4-colour format required, and The Gimp can't do it. > As I mentioned, posting to the list a request for instruction on > how to do something that you need to do will probably go over much > better with a lot of people than a complaint that Linux is > deficient because you can't do something that you want to do. I > still think that is accurate. Agreed > And I am not even close to as nasty > as some of the replies on places like Slashdot, LinuxQuestions.org, > etc. Also agreed - and not only those places. > But I will TRY to improve. Smile, damn you! We all get our chains pulled sometimes <g> Anne -- Registered Linux User No.293302 Have you visited http://twiki.mdklinuxfaq.org yet?
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