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 COLUMN
Stop the desktop insanity I AM TRULY encouraged by the number of letters calling for me to continue to debunk the recent rash of "Linux is not for the desktop" punditry in the mainstream media. It appears more people are considering the move to Linux on the desktop than I had imagined. So here's more ammunition, as requested.
Many pundits contend that office applications for Linux aren't as feature-rich or sophisticated as Microsoft Office for Windows. They're right, but so what? Most likely, your users spend most of their time using an e-mail program, a browser, and a word processor. Others may use spreadsheets and presentation programs. Powerful open-source versions of these applications are available. The lean word-processing, spreadsheet, and presentation programs in KOffice 1.1 include far more features than most users will ever need. If you can't live without bloat, try StarOffice 5.2 (www.sun.com/staroffice) -- the Defense Information Systems Agency at the Department of Defense recently standardized on it -- or try OpenOffice 6.0 (www.openoffice.org). Linux also has stable, powerful browsers coming out the wazoo now. There's Konqueror 2.1.1, Opera 5.0, Netscape 4.77, and Mozilla 0.91, among others. There are several e-mail clients, but few are better than the one you get with Mozilla 0.91. Nevertheless, be concerned more about defining what you need than how Linux applications compare with Microsoft Office. Remember the smash hit PFS:Write for DOS? Its features barely exceeded cut, paste, and print. I taught PFS:Write to a class of Ph.D.s who barely grasped the concept of word wrap, but it didn't matter. When they needed fancy formatting, they gave the work to someone who knew how to create those kinds of documents. KOffice is just as easily learned as Microsoft Office. You want to save real money? Fire the guy who convinced your company to take your employees away from their work to endure torturous training to learn Microsoft Office features they will never use. If, after considering all this, you still can't let go of Microsoft Office, then by all means continue to lock yourself into enterprise software designed solely for Microsoft to milk its cash cows when it can no longer sustain its upgrade model. Natural selection in business is a wonderful thing. Your smarter competitors can move to Linux on the desktop and spend their money expanding their own business instead of Microsoft's. If you ask me, that's the competitive edge I'd care about. Nick is the founding editor of VarLinux.org ( www.varlinux.org ). Reach him at nicholas@petreley.com. Discuss this article in our online forums MORE > SPONSORED WHITE PAPERS 
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