On Saturday 07 April 2007 11:11, Chris Cioffi wrote: > On 4/6/07, Robert Smits <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Outlook is a bug-ridden Windows product that introduces more viruses to > > its users than any other email client. > > Outlook is a major business application with more people being daily > users that just about any other email/PIM product ever developed. The > last couple of versions aren't too buggy, just showing their > underlying design flaws. I can't argue the security issue. In no > small part that's why I'm evaluating OOo and hoping that it comes out > with a decent replacement for Office. And my point is that it already is. The only thing I'd like to be able to do with Office that I can't already do is run some MS Access based databases. More PIMs are not needed or even wanted by me, at any rate. > > Lack of inclusion of a PIM in OO does not mean businesses don't have > > access to a PIM. If they're using Linux, they already have PIMs. > > Well, OOo runs on far more than just Linux. And I still haven't seen > a huge migration of corporate desktops to Linux. (Note: Now that > Vista is out I suspect there might be, but XP still has a few years > left in it.) Absolutely. And as has already been pointed out, there are already PIMs available both for Linux and Mac, as well as Windows. > > > Seriously, in a business setting users expect a full featured, > > > integrated PIM like Outlook/Exchange. Yeah, Outlook sucks for email > > > and it's not even close to the best for anything else it does, but it's > > > a single tool and when integrated with Exchange it really does set a > > > very high bar for overall functionality. Not everyone in an > > > organization needs it, but guess what? The folks making the decisions > > > do! And they aren't going to settle for a second rate solution. > > > > If they settle for Windows they already have. You haven't described > > anything in Outlook that Kontact doesn't already deliver. Why waste all > > that time reinventing the wheel? > > If all you're offering is another wheel why should I switch? And, of > course, the question needs to be asked: if we don't want to waste > time re-inventing the wheel why are there multiple PIMs for Linux? > Why isn't there just 1 really good one? Why does there have to be only one good choice? What's wrong with having two good PIMs for Linux? > > > > PS: Yes, I know that not all midsize+ organizations use > > > Outlook/Exhange and that there are alternatives if you cobble together > > > enough different tools. The fact remains that Outlook/Exchange is > > > currently king of the hill in that space, and calling it just an email > > > system ignores a significant part of it's value proposition. > > > > I'm not even sure it's "king of the hill" in Windows unless you mean more > > people are deluded enough to use it. Lotus SmartSuite and Lotus Notes > > provided that functionality to Windows and OS/2 users long ago, and did a > > better job sooner. > > I've used both Outlook and Notes. While Notes _may_ have better > functionality, it is just about the worst user experience I can > possibly imagine. In fact, Lotus Notes offers a compelling case for > going back to paper memos sent via interoffice mail. Well, I must confess, that I was never enamoured of Notes, either. Lotus Smartsuite, on the other hand had calendars, email, memos, etc that were every bit as good as anything Office had. > In the real world, software success is easily measured by the number > of people using the product. Calling people deluded for using a > product that meets their needs isn't likely to help your cause. > Especially when by any reasonable measure your alternative is little > more than a curiosity. If it were only a curiosity, we'd never see the amount of movement we've seen to open source software as we have in the last couple of years. And with Microsoft abandoning the interests of its users to foist DRM laden and slower Vista upon them, I suspect two things will happen. XP users will keep using XP far longer than Microsoft expects, and far more people will switch to open source software in general. > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] "I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil. I simply suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the devil, it wouldn't need an interpreter." -InfoWorld Editor Nicholas Petreley --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
