Ubuntu for Small Business

[HC Brugmans]

John Richard Moser wrote:
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> My aunt just frantically put together a package of PrintMaster,
> Microsoft Money, and Microsoft Windows to create a small management
> computer for her franchise business.  I can't come up with an
> open-source alternative to Money, although OpenOffice.org (for a skilled
> user) can replace PrintMaster with work.
> 
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>  - OpenOffice.org (spread sheets, word documents, etc)

I beg to differ. While I prefer OpenOffice even when I'm using windows, 
and have been using it on Ubuntu for the past year, OpenOffice is not 
ready to be used in an environment where someone needs to be productive 
and efficient.
Especially in any business dealing with MS Office formats, which would 
be any business with outside contacts, essentially. Openoffice would at 
this moment still be woefully inadequate.
As a business student 2 weeks into the trimester, OpenOffice2 alone had 
nearly driven me from ubuntu altogether.
While the basics are there, you just can't have it crashing on random 
.doc, .ppt or most probably in this case .xls.
Apart from that, it is slow, and a memory hog. Enough to bring most 
computers I see in small businesses to their knees.

-Hidde Brugmans.