On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 1:39 PM, Paul Heinlein <[email protected]> wrote: > When full read/write compatiblity is the key, then "well enough" > starts to approach 100%. Most organizations which which I've been > affiliated don't want to spend staff time testing compatibility break > points. The compatibility problem is magnified by differing release > cycles between MS Office and, say OpenOffice.org. > > Even when alternative apps are acceptable, there's the question of IT > support, both for installation and ongoing maintenance.
Absolutely correct. I doubt very much that we will ever see a patchwork of supported applications/platforms within a single organization be a common phenomenon. Even just tacit acceptance of non-supported applications and platforms is unlikely. The efficiencies to be gained by standardizing are simply to great. Regardless, I was not talking about patterns within an individual organization. I was talking about the scope of the entire IT industry, wherein each individual purchase-making "entity" is a single datapoint. Within that context, I think that the question of "which platform?" as a technical acquisition criteria is in decline, and in the next 5-10 years will likely be completely irrelevant in the vast majority of cases. The only reasons it will be a consideration for purchasers will be aesthetic ones. > Finally, a note about iWork. I use (and like) a Mac at work and at > home. I'm no anti-Apple bigot. I rule out iWork, however, because it's > the most platform-tied office bundle in mainstream release. There's no > iWork for Windows, much less one for Linux. Apple has no native > remote-display protocol (and VNC isn't multi-user in OS X), so IT > can't provide Windows or Linux users a mechanism to edit iWork docs. > At least MS Office is available for OS X, and RDP is a reasonable > remote-access solution. Regardless of its usability or features, iWork > is the embodiment of vendor-lock-in and only has a place in a Mac-only > shop. Yeah, I am not much of an Apple fan. Apple products are cages. They are shiny, comfortable, generally well-appointed cages, but they are still cages. But some people like that, and their needs don't require freedom. -QH- _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
