i'd rather not PM or email you, because other people ask this question too, but i wrote a little review of some word processors mainly for linux, which you can see here. there are quite a few which actually do come up to snuff and are more or less compatible with their commercial/windows counterparts.

Word Processors / Office Suites

I don't know if the final release of OpenOffice 1.1 is out yet I haven't checked, but the 1.1rc2 version is brilliant, much better than 1.0 or even 1.1rc1. It loads faster, and it seems almost bombproof. You get the occasional misbehaviour from Text Boxes sometimes but nothing I haven't experienced using MS Office in work.

The best thing about OpenOffice is that it is also available for Windows (and Mac). Why is that good? Once you select "antialiasing" in the Linux version, the two are just about identical in operation. You can therefore get your poor deluded Windows-loving friends to try it. Next time you nag them about Linux, when they say that there is no decent office suite in Linux, for Word Processing, you can tell them that ... er ... there is! And all the files they saved will transfer straight over.

Check out the site at www.openoffice.org

BTW the tar.gz files for OpenOffice have no dependencies, though in Mandrake you need a bit of patience to set up the Menu -- alternatively set up a System Tray link using oooqs on Mandrake Disc 3.

DAVE

Here is the response of Mr. Tom Kyte,

But what about reliability & scalability in relation to the OS, as I came to
know that windows machines are not as reliable and scalable as compared to unix
machines.


Followup:
Here is my opinion on that.

In the proper hands, either of windows, unix, mainframes whatever works.

Windows is its own worst enemy here as it promotes the "hey, this is cake --
don't worry -- be happy -- you don't have to learn anything hard to make this
work". So it lulls people into a false sense of "I know what I'm doing". The
"practices" I see people using on windows are scary. Why are databases
considered "less reliable" on windows? Is it because backup and recovery
doesn't work there? No, it is because the mindset is "easy, take it easy".
That means -- no backups, no archivelog mode, export every now and again -- etc.
Then, when disaster strikes, these people are toast. Not only do they not have
a backup -- they have no idea where to begin, what they can do - there is no gui
button to press.

In my opinion -- it is all about the people running the system and people
running systems on unix/mainframes just seem to take some things more seriously.
Don't get me wrong -- there are top notch windows implementation teams out
there as well, but since it is so "easy", so "toy like" -- so many people plug
it in, turn it on and never look back. UNTIL that disk crash, until that
failure. Then, well, they go out of business.

There are unix/linux teams that'll be in the same boat -- it is just that
windows attracts this sort of behavior like flies to honey -- and amusingly
enough MS pushes this "hey, its easy, set up a datacenter tomorrow" sort of
idea.

Well maintained, professionally managed windows boxes can stay up just as long
as anything. The problem is with those first two adjectives.

http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/ask/f?p...1164718990552,

Microsoft Is Using Linux To Protect Its Own Web Site

Microsoft has made a big deal out of asserting that Linux (news - web sites) is not fit for the enterprise (news - web sites). But Microsoft itself is using Linux to help protect its servers against denial-of-service (news - web sites) attacks.


According to a post on the Netcraft Web site, Microsoft changed its DNS settings on Friday so that requests for www.microsoft.com no longer resolve to machines on Microsoft's own network, but instead are handled by the Akamai caching system, which runs Linux.


Akamai runs a service to help boost Web site performance by caching copies of Web sites on many servers in many locations. Akamai can help defend against denial-of-service attacks by spreading the attack among many servers. Just as a distributed denial-of-service attack enlists large numbers of systems to attack a single server, Akamai presents a distributed defense against denial-of-service attacks.


As of this writing, Netcraft reports that www.microsoft.com is still running on Linux, although microsoft.com is reported as running on Windows Server 2003.


A Microsoft spokeswoman said the company "respects the fact that [its partners and vendors] may have diversified business models and operate in mixed IT environments. Microsoft's main concern is doing whatever it takes to help ensure customers can get to the Blaster worm patch to protect their computers.... Microsoft is using Akamai's extensive worldwide network to distrubte the massive traffic that is illegally being directed at Microsoft by hackers."


The Blaster worm, which struck the Internet last week, was set with a payload designed to trigger this past Saturday and flood the address windowsupdate.com with a massive denial-of-service attack. But windowsupdate.com never was a Microsoft site, it was an incorrect address for picking up Windows updates. Until Saturday, Microsoft had set windowsupdate.com to redirect to windowsupdate.microsoft.com; Microsoft protected itself last week by switching off that redirection.


An Akamai spokeswoman declined to comment, except to confirm that Microsoft is a customer.


Microsoft using a Linux service is ironic, given that Microsoft has identified Linux as its biggest competitor. In a conference call with analysts last month, company CFO John Connors ranked Linux as the #2 risk faced by the company. The #1 risk was the general economic environment, Connors said. Nearly one in five small and mid-sized businesses are using Linux on the desktop.


In tomorrow's news: McDonald's executive found eating at Burger King.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...c_cmp/13100775

Going back to the original question..

I use linux because it's more for the tech savvy person. I would let my grandmother use linux. Then again, it's not that difficult. Once you get used to it, it's as easy as using Linux.

Businesses value stability. If they have more network downtime due to windows updates/maintenance/repair, this leads to less productivity. Linux doesn't need to be updated and repaired as much, which would benefit the business greatly.

There are a few linux viruses compared to the thousands of viruses that windows has.

I like the idea of using a shell to compile and install programs. You get to see exactly what is being installed, and what exactly is going on. You dont see spyware or adware in linux.

Linux is more secure than windows. Windows has open ports right out of the box.

Whoever you talk to, one reason people are going to give you is that it's cheap and free. Windows XP Pro costs $199, then you have to buy office xp which could be another $499. Thats about $700 you're spending on Office and Windows. You can download Linux and get office applications, an excellent OS, and even more all for free.

I use Linux when I don't have any real work to do and I don't feel like playing any games.

I would love to dump Windows on my laptop and devote it to Linux but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Software wise Linux is still far too limited for the applications I need. There are too many Windows apps I use and rely on everyday that simply don't have a Linux counterpart that's worth a damn.

Also, I can't find a media player that works right and I like. Mplayer has this annoying thing it does on the three different laptops I have owned and tried it on. It ONLY plays as long as I'm moving the mouse. Also, I just don't like Mplayer, Xine sucks and lets not even get into Real.

To me, it's the software that really makes the big difference. Why devote everything to a superior OS with subpar software?

Things are getting better though, and someday there will be the software I need.

Funny, I use Linux when I've got real work to do..., well OK I use Linux all the time

What type of software do you use? I've found pretty much everything I need on Linux. I'm a developer so, that may be part of the reason

Have you tried XMMS, http://www.xmms.org/ ? It's very similar to WinAmp.

Stability? Also, just because the apps you need aren't as good as their windows counterparts doesn't make all Linux software sub-par.

What do you want your computer for? Once answered that, then ask yourlself What OS do I want? (I never ask myself what OS do I need )

How can you get something accomplished in Windows? I keep encountering endless crashes and strange error messages and the only alternative is to click "OK"

I think I will stick with the sub-par OS and software that Linux has, simply because it works. Actually, I consider that feature a superiority over Microsoft software.

The table of equivalents, replacements, analogs of Windows software in Linux

Nice link Fancypiper!

I very rarely have Windows crash on me. I screw up Linux fairly often but that's almost always my fault.

For many people on this board Linux does everything they need it to. For others they seem like they're trying to convince themselves Linux is everything because of their irrational hatred for anything Windows... even the software. They choose to settle.

For some of the rest of us, we like Linux but it's just not practical for us to use it for every bit of our computing needs.

For me and my needs, there are very few Linux apps that can do everything I need them to. The software choices in Linux are great but also a headache. I don't need two dozen apps written by bedroom programmers that all do the EXACT same thing and are all missing the exact same features I look for because those are the features I use. Also to be able to do them as quickly or as easily as I can in Windows.

For example, I'm not about to give up Adobe Illustrator for Sketch. I've used Sketch, it's not a bad program, I've also tried a few others but they can't hold a candle to Illustrator. They are like Illustrator v1.x. GIMP is a great app with some really good plugins (if I could ever get them to work) but I can't give up all my Photoshop plugins so I can spend an extra hour doing the same thing in GIMP.

Not much for Binary newsgroup Downloaders. Sure they can view a picture but for assembling parts from multiple simultaneous downloads it's very slim pickings.

3D software. With the exception of Maya which is available for both OSs, the software options just plain out suck in Linux. Just like Sketch and most other Linux apps I have tried. They are like very basic versions of early Windows apps. I don't want to go backwards 5 or 10 years.

I have no doubts that someday Linux will have all the software available to meet my needs. It's getting better all the time, it's just not there yet.

I didn't mean to sound like I'm bashing Linux. It's just that the purposes I primarily use the computer for, the software options in Linux are in fact sub-par.

I think there could be better software available in Linux but a majority of the users wouldn't pay for it. Many seem to believe that OpenGL means they should never charge for it. Many don't even support the distros they use, all they care about is getting things free.

Have you checked out pan for a newsreader? It was much better than anything I ever found in Windows.

I have been using Linux for 6 months. There is virtually nothing I miss from windows and I still get done what I want to get done. I prefer KDE to Gnome though.

Mysql is my substitute for Paradox.
Star Office 6, bought when I had windows, works just fine for text and spreadsheets.

dvdrecord/cdrecord work. scanner works.

I don't need windows. I hate windows. Always did. Thanks to the Linux world I have freedom! That's what counts.

Multiple desktops.
The Gimp.
Gnumeric.
Knoda.
mySQLManager.
Scribus.

What more does one want?! Come on be honest, for most people Linux is perfect for all their computing uses.

I started with SuSE 8.0 that put me off Linux. Not much worked properly or was not recognised. This I proved by buying Knoppix 3.1! Incredibly slick distribution and very useful for recovery and a load of other things.

Then I risked it and bought SuSE 8.2, what a difference! Just about everything is recognised and what isn't I do without and it just works.

No more windows freezes, crashes and licence, no wonder I am happy.

Glad you found SuSE 8.2 to work out for you. But did you know that you can install Knoppix 3.2 to your hard drive, then you have access to an incredible amount of free software, and you can download it as often (or as infrequently) as you like?

I use Linux for everything. When I need Windows for a particular reason, I have vmware and a Win2K installation. I have Wine running to enable me to use some Windows apps that I can't do without. I am presently studying the Wine source and expect to do some OLE coding in order to make that work right in Wine, thus eliminating the last reason why I occasionally have to use Windows.

Personally, I prefer command line compiling to graphical interface compiling; Borland drives me up the wall. Just my preference, mostly because I've been doing this for 30 years and I am used to it I suppose.

Why do I do this? Because Bill Gates is clearly moving to a licensing model where users rent windows and have to pay periodic fees in order to use it. Because Bill Gates talks about security, and continues to produce software that is one giant security breach.

Because Bill Gates, with every release, hides more and more of what Windows is doing - and makes it harder and harder to even figure it out.