[ubuntu-za] Evolution Of A Linux User

[Matthew French]

On 16 Sep 2010, at 12:13 PM, Quintin Beukes wrote:
> Definitely a unique feature of Microsoft is Excel/Word.

The idea that Excel is a feature of Windows makes me quite concerned. It is like saying Star Wars is a feature of my DVD player.

> You can't compete on easy-of-use and at the same time being amazingly useful.

If you had just left it at Excel I would have agreed. But Word has no features I want, and as a tool I find it hinders more than it helps. Especially since very few people seem to know how to use it.

I agree OpenOffice isn't much better. But there are many other alternatives out there, from LaTeX for the geek who knows what they want, to Abi Word and iWork Pages which makes Word look like a kiddy toy and yet costs a third of the price.

> OpenOffice lacks very badly behind MsOffice.

Only if you think the ribbon bar is an improvement.

On 16 Sep 2010, at 2:12 PM, Lee Sharp wrote:
> I will, however, go as far as to say that Windows does some things 
> better than Linux.  Centralized user management and roaming profiles are 
> a big one.

User management was one of the points I had on my list of unique Windows features. While *nix supports it to a point, the implementation is badly lacking and difficult to implement.

Not so sure about roaming profiles. Haven't ever seen them implemented nicely, and the same effect can be achieved more elegantly under Unix by using automount on the home directory. [1]

- Matthew

[1] Except it is only an elegant solution so long as the PC's remain on the same network. If you want to take your laptop home for the night, you will find your profile only roams as far as the office door...