UPS Worldship

My workplace is considering switching to linux, the only roadblock is UPS Worldship software. I have contacted UPS about the matter, they do not believe there is enough demand for UPS Worldship Linux version. I would like to see if there are others who have seen this problem, or simular problems.


Thanks,

ahsiii

Worldship

What is the impact of losing the one app compared to the benefits of switching to Linux?
Could you contaminate you new Linux environment with ONE Windows box to handle things like this?

what about crossover or something to run windows on linux. maybe keep one machine a dual boot.

Originally Posted by crAckZ what about crossover or something to run windows on linux. maybe keep one machine a dual boot.

Crossover (wine) does not run Windows. It runs **some** Windows SW. You can check their site (Codeweavers), but I'm betting that the UPS app is not officially supported---still might work.
Dual boot is not a good choice in a business environment--too many tasks that people will want to do all at the same time.

For the OP:
Size of business?
# of computers?
etc.

I have tried Crossover, will not write to UPS Database. 30-40 employ. expect 15-20 computers. I think specialty apps can make the difference in companys swithing to linux or staying with windoze.

ahsiii

Originally Posted by ahsiii I have tried Crossover, will not write to UPS Database. 30-40 employ. expect 15-20 computers. I think specialty apps can make the difference in companys swithing to linux or staying with windoze. ahsiii

Switch to Linux---keep 1 machine on Windows for things that you cant do on Linux. They can both be on the network together, share files, etc.
Eventually, you'll be able to get rid of the one Windows machine.

Our office is in the same situation, most of us are on Linux for our desktop but have to use MS Word for some inter-office documents, and Visio too.
We have a citrix server that all employees can share from their own desk.
A cheaper solution to run Windows apps like yours would be to keep a single Windows computer and use VNC server on it, with VNC client on each employees Linux desktop.

Originally Posted by randyding Our office is in the same situation, most of us are on Linux for our desktop but have to use MS Word for some inter-office documents, and Visio too. We have a citrix server that all employees can share from their own desk. A cheaper solution to run Windows apps like yours would be to keep a single Windows computer and use VNC server on it, with VNC client on each employees Linux desktop.

Naive question:
VNC allows you to have a full graphical login to a Windows box??

Yes, there is more than one way to do it, but in our office the few employees that have windows at their desk will
1. log-in at the start of their day into windows,
2. double click the vncserver icon
3. walk out to the lab where all computers are Linux
4. bring up the Linux VNC client and connect to their desk computer
5. Do 99% of their lab work in Linux, only alt-tabing to VNC to run Word or Exchange programs.
For us at least, Windows is a painful crutch, necessary only because we need to communicate with people outside the office using Word/visio documents. Then the IT department goes and gets an Exchange server. Good grief.

The answer could be simple or very complicated.

The easy answer. You supply your OWN hardware, and you use Campusship or internet shipping which is a web based shipping solution.
That way your OS environment is not an issue.

If your system is supplied by UPS (this is rare), and your systems are integrated with your back end (this is not)with keyed importing and
exporting of your databases.
then this of course would not be an option. and Wine would also not be an option any updates whatsoever could bring down your entire operation.
and before anyone would like to interrupt in some cases this could be a dollar to hundreds of thousands a day so that is nothing to play around with.
If you are determined to get completely away from windows there is a Mac alternative out there. Also full blown Linux alternatives out there.
you should google UPS Shipping on Linux. you can google the Mac alternative nrgsoft
There are many 3rd Party Shipping applications available.


But bottom line the issue would not be an issue for UPS and/or any other shipping company but an issue for you and your company.
Remember their job is to get your package from point A to point B.

I hope that helps.

Originally Posted by col1jgh The answer could be simple or very complicated. The easy answer. You supply your OWN hardware, and you use Campusship or internet shipping which is a web based shipping solution. That way your OS environment is not an issue. If your system is supplied by UPS (this is rare), and your systems are integrated with your back end (this is not)with keyed importing and exporting of your databases. then this of course would not be an option. and Wine would also not be an option any updates whatsoever could bring down your entire operation. and before anyone would like to interrupt in some cases this could be a dollar to hundreds of thousands a day so that is nothing to play around with. If you are determined to get completely away from windows there is a Mac alternative out there. Also full blown Linux alternatives out there. you should google UPS Shipping on Linux. you can google the Mac alternative nrgsoft There are many 3rd Party Shipping applications available. But bottom line the issue would not be an issue for UPS and/or any other shipping company but an issue for you and your company. Remember their job is to get your package from point A to point B. I hope that helps.

Good reply...but this thread had already been closed for eight years.

Fast forward 10 years and our company is in the same boat as “ashiii”, we want to completely ditch Microsoft Windows, but UPS Worldship is an essential part of our business operations, and it's locking our whole company into the “Microsoft Ecosystem”.

The “last straw” for us was: On 6/1/2015 we got that little icon on our Windows 7 task bar “notifying us” (advertising to us really) that we could “reserve an upgrade” and receive a “free” Windows 10 download, and all that implies.

So we researched Windows 10 and found nothing that interests our company with the upgrade to Windows 10, and in fact found a lot of liabilities in the way Windows 10 operates related to privacy, but more in the way of financial liabilities like: the very real possibility that Windows 10 will become a cloud based application with a monthly fee for updates and for just to continue using it after the 1 year “free” trial (/ unpaid beta testing service for the benefit of Microsoft).

So we believe this is the time for the growing Linux business community to make some noise and to start demanding that business software developers start supporting Linux.

Here is an open letter we sent to UPS, Fedex and Stamps website regarding their respective shipping software:

(Feel free to use some or all of the text of this e-mail, substituting the name of the respective software & vendor as appropriate.)

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Regarding UPS Wordship Software:

Last night, we just discovered that Microsoft intends to "Railroad" all its Windows 7 customers / users into their new Windows 10 operating system.

We have pretty much "had it" with Microsoft's greed and the constant, forced operating system upgrades (purchases) with little advantage to the end users, and large costs associated with the resulting required hardware upgrades, application upgrades and employee training.

Among other issues and unavoidable "features" which are not in our company's interest, this new operating system appears that it will require a monthly fee to use, and upgrade in the future, its not just an "up front", one time purchase.

We do not intend to upgrade to the Windows 10 operating system.

Under the circumstances, we believe that Windows 7 will be the last Microsoft Operating system that our company ever uses, when Microsoft stops officially supporting it in January 2020.

We are currently looking into migrating our entire company's computer systems to Linux based operating systems like Ubuntu and Linux Mint

ubuntu website link
linuxmint website link

Will UPS be developing Worldship software for the growing number of Business Linux users, or will our company be forced to stop using UPS Worldship?

If you are not the appropriate contact at UPS for this matter, please forward this e-mail to the person in your organization who is, and who can get me a straight answer on this.

Thanks,

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I hope this post and the idea of a little “social activism” in business helps others in the growing Linux community.