23 Nov
2011
23 Nov
'11
4:52 a.m.
First, we are
discussing TDE users. That fact
distinguishes those users from other users because
a TDE
user is using a Linux based system and not Windows. Few
users of Linux based systems are as naive as the majority of
Windows users. :) That is, many Linux based users have a
clue about computers.
Except the new converts. Even today, I as a Linux user am
still somewhat naive, though not nearly as naive as a few
years ago when I used Windows exclusively. I suspect for
simple documents that KOffice will
import MS Office documents. I can test that. Yet
users need
to understand that the more complex the document the more
likely importing will be disappointing. We need to provide a
little tough love, so to speak. I still have floppy disks
from the early 90s of a software package that was nothing
more than many dozen file conversion filters. The challenge
of file compatibility is nothing new. There never has been a
smooth solution and never will. If there was then none of us
would support the idea of open formats. :)
The hard core FOSS-only people at GNU still would ;-) The solution I can think of here is to provide a
warning
box when people open a MS Office document. Tell them that
since we do not work with Microsoft or have access to the
code, support for their format is not and will never be
perfect and may yield unexpected results.
I like that idea. If we provide such a dialog box then be sure to include a check box
"Don't show this message again."
WINE is not an illusion for MS Office, I tested this
myself
with Office 2003 and 2007. While it may not be perfect, it
isn't perfect with running them on Windows either. I can't
comment on FrameMaker since I've never heard of it.
I have tried WINE, although a few years ago. Not worth the stress. Additionally, there is
no official support in WINE for macros. Several of my templates depend heavily on macros
and that was the end of my testing right there.
I was very happy when VirtualBox became available. I bought new hardware and have been
happy with running Windows that way. I accept that not everybody wants to do that or has
the hardware to handle that kind of load.
I am one of the few people who rarely experience MS apps crashing. I've heard the
complaints for years but that has not been my experience. Likewise with BSODs. I never saw
that many. Then again, I've been around computers a long time. Perhaps I was
configuring my systems in a manner that avoided those problems. I also tend to be a single
tasker and don't run two dozens different apps at one time.
FrameMaker is a de facto standard app in the tech writing world. FrameMaker actually
started on Unix systems back in the late 80s. Only after Adobe bought the software in the
90s did Unix support end. There was a brief fling a few years back from the Adobe people
with a beta version for Linux based systems, but never went to market. Too bad. Because of
my professional dependence, I more than likely would have purchased a copy. Expensive
vertical market software too.
Darrell