G.J.Tielemans at dinkel.utwente.nl wrote:

> > I think Squeak support is pretty proficient. But the larger the
> > community (and the Apache and Linux communities are huge, with a much
> > higher developer to user ratio than M$, for obvious reasons)
> > the quicker and more wide ranging support is likely to be.
> >
> Ger: yes you are right... how many Squeakers are there really? (Not only
> platforms but real people

I wonder how we could find out? It would certainly be interesting to
know that.

> > >
> > > Another point is that normal people have habits and want to
> > keep these: If you offer a product like StarOffice, that is so different
> > in look and feel, then you have to invest a lot of extra time before you
> can
> > go back to your normal work...
> >
> > Is Star/Open Office _so_ different? I'd think that after 2 hours group
> > training anyone would be able to make the switch, although
> > it'd probably take around a week to become equally proficient.

> Ger: do you remember your first switch to your second wordprocessor? 

Yes, it was actually a very good not quite WYSIWYG program used mainly
on Atari (but ported to DOS, too). It was blisteringly fast and rather
Vi like in some respects (as I was to discover later) but had no real
font support. Then I blundered about between Word Pro and Word before
coming to a rest with Star Office and Abiword (although I have to adnit
that I don't use word processors anything like as much as I used to).

>(or platform? I believe that lots of people are still on their first)

A friend once summed this up nicely: "until I discovered Unix, I thought
that all computers crashed.."

> > I hear that Ford are looking at switching....
> > Just think: simply by ditching M$ Office you save £150,
> > ditch the OS as well and you save around £200 per user.

> Ger: Yes, isn't that a fascinating calculation? Or are to many people using
> illegal software?

Hopefully that's not true of businesses and universities (well, not
anymore, anyway)! But, of course, one of the major expenses with closed
source stuff is simply keeping up with the licences. Everyone I know,
(including a local charity who I'm trying to show the true path to), who
uses Windows is running pirated stuff, if not the OS itself, then most
of the applications. Time alone will tell if the "security" features of
XP will put warez or Microsoft out of business first!

> (Trying to bring a faculty on the legal software side, a university
> professor flamed me for
> blocking Univwersity research (1995)
> 
> > Chances are that you can leave your 2 yearly upgrades another year or
> > two. Hell, I've seen it argued that it's cheaper to build a
> > Linux based system for 500 users (not 500 terminals) around a new IBM
> > mainframe than it is to do it around Windows 2000.
> >
> Ger: You look at the details, so -- are you a manager?....

Not any more. But the beauty, maybe, lies in the detail ;-)

Cheers

John


-- 
Reputed to be the reason Windows 2000 was nearly a year late, (paid in
shares M$Ds needed the cash and kudos) Netproject's Eddie Bleasdale has
renewed his challenge to virus writers. The first person to infect his
Linux box wins 10,000 pounds.

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