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From: "Frank Brand" <fbrand at uq.net.au>
To: <general at humbug.org.au>
Subject: [H-GEN] Linux on the Desktop
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 13:18:03 +1000
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http://www.osopinion.com/perl/story/14193.html

This is one guy's view of putting Linux on the desktop.

He lists 3 reasons he won't do it yet:-

1. Slow speed of Linux GUI's

I tend to agree with him a bit on this. Linux devotees will find the GUI's
OK but people used to Windows are not so accommodating. I have KDE loaded on
a P133 with 256 Mb SDRAM and an S3 video card (until my AMD 380 arrives) and
it is decidedly sluggish - even the K button takes a second or two to
display menus. I think those people wanting to put Staroffice on 486 with 8
mb RAM were really pushing it. However, with late model hardware (P3/750 and
TNT 32 Mb video card) things seem much more acceptable.

2. Installation problems

I think installing Linux from most distros now is as easy or easier than
loading Windows (at least you dont have to shut down and restart a hundred
times). But, as this guy says ... there is a valid complaint from Windows
users if you need to compile from source or get into shared library hell
(although MS has a similar problem with dll hell).

3. Browser sluggishness.

Have to agree here.



While my comments on StarOffice may have been seen as a negative, I actually
think StarOffice is a great app and could satisfy most MS Office users as
long as their documents were not complex...eg embedded VBA macros or
embedded Excel spreadsheets etc. (and that probably accounts for about 75%
of users). Personally, I don't mind the StarOffice interface either and,
although it has been criticised and was changed for OpenOffice 6, I did not
see it as a majour problem. Ther sluggishness of StarOffice...especially at
start-up seemed more of a bother for people used to getting quicker response
from MS Office... I suppose thats Java for you.

Anyone here have reports on OpenOffice 6?


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