> Christian Einfeldt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Have you seen the cover of the current Business Week magazine? The > cover > story, and several others also, are dedicated to Linux. An > applications > maker ignores Linux at its own peril. > > I am convinced a recent NY Times on line article was correct in > saying that > Linux will be as big a wave as the Internet was from 94 through 2000. > For > that reason, I have decided that I will not purchase any more > products for > Windows unless 1.) I have a specific, time urgent need for that > program, and > 2.) there is no similar open source or Linux capable program that > will come > close. > > There are oodles of open source time management and billing programs > and or > programs that will run on Linux. For example, Time Matters runs on > Linux, or > so I've heard, and so I am going to look first at Time Matters when I > need a > new billing program. > > I currently have Abacus Law for calendaring, but I am seriously > thinking of > switching either to Kcalendar (comes free with KDE) or Evolution > (comes free > with SuSE Linux 8.1 and higher). > > Cost alone is not so much the issue as is control over the source > code. I > want to know that if a particular provider goes out of business or > drops the > product, I can simply port over to another open source alternative. > I have > also found open source products to be faster, more reliable, and they > get > fewer viruses. Plus, as an attorney I am concerned about Microsoft's > GUID > and Palladium and .NET initiatives. Those initiatives concern me > because > they compromise the attorney-client privilege by releasing > information about > my confidential attorney-client communications to third parties not > under my > control. Open source software does not have those problems. > > And, of course, cost is a factor. I firmly believe that both > operating > systems and office productivity suites will soon become commodities > which are > either low cost or free. Currently, I gladly pay SuSE for its Linux > products > because of the value that SuSE Linux delivers relative to the > comparable > Microsoft offerings. I am not a geek, and so SuSE provides me with > an > affordable package that I could not put together myself in a million > years by > surfing the web. The cost of the SuSE package is easier one tenth of > the > cost of comparable Microsoft offerings, and Microsoft offerings come > with the > baggage that I outlined above. I am not anti-Microsoft; I'm just > pro-my > clients and pro-open source. If Microsoft starts producing its own > open > source products, I will give MS a serious look. > > And by the way, let me be the first to tell you that 1.) MS will > eventually > bundle Office for "free" with Windows as it now does with IE, and 2.) > by > 2006, at the latest, MS will start writing programs to run natively > on Linux. > > IBM, Motorola, Sony, Panasonic, Amazon.com, Google, HP, Sun, all of > these big > names are making major advances into providing open source products. > Those > who are still laughing at Linux will be looking at budget cuts and > downsizing > if they don't get to market in time. Don't take my word for it. > Read the > current issue of Business Week. > > On Wednesday 26 February 2003 13:52, you wrote: > > Hi Christian- > > Unfortunately the program has to sit on a windows platform. > > Please let me know if I can answer any other questions or concerns, > > including Westlaw subscriptions. > > Regards- > > > > Gil Somera, J.D. > > West Publishing San Francisco > > 415-732-8523 (Office) > > 415-823-8523 (Mobile) > > 415-449-3428 (Fax) > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > ASK ME ABOUT PROLAW - Calendaring, Time, Billing, Accounting (Front > Office > > connected to the Back Office) > > www.ProLaw.com > > > > AUTOMATED JUDICIAL COUNCIL FORMS - Now integrated with Prolaw > (enter your > > client information ONCE) > > www.LegalSolutions.com > > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Christian Einfeldt [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 9:11 AM > > To: Somera, Gil > > Subject: Re: Prolaw From Gil Somera @ West > > > > > > I'm using Linux. Does your program run natively in Linux? > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > -
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