+== acb-l Message from "Roger D. Petersen" <[log in to unmask]> ==+
Tuesday August 14 07:17 PM EDT

Opinion: Why Get Microsoft Word in the First Place?
By Bert Garcia,
www.osOpinion.com

One of the biggest drawbacks for wide acceptance of Linux, according to 
industry watchers, is that it does not have applications like Microsoft 
Word. While
this surely isn't the case, I'd like to chime in and say that perhaps the 
vast majority of users don't need it.

Table with 2 columns and 3 rows

•
Computer Viruses Easier to Write, Harder to Fight
Microsoft Office's Clippy Gets Bent Out of Shape
The Great Security Debate: Linux vs. Windows
table end
I remember reading a while back that Sun's Scott McNealy said that users 
just needed a good text editor. Since adopting Linux for my daily chores, I 
have
to agree with him. I've tried every editor in the Linux world and have 
settled on NEdit for my text editing needs.

NEdit, like many Linux apps, does not try to re-invent the wheel; it shells 
out to wc for word counting, Ispell for spelling, and the list goes on.

I can use it to write letters or program in C with syntax highlighting. 
NEdit is my preference, but there are others like Emacs or Vim that are just as
capable at handling text.

Help or Hindrance?

When I was in the Windows world, Word was more of a hindrance to me than a 
helping hand. The paper clip assistant surely didn't help matters. A simple 
letter
took twice as long, as my thoughts were on fonts and margins instead of 
what I really wanted to say. It got to a point that most of my 
correspondence was
typed up in a program called Notepad+, a Notepad replacement on steroids.

Adopting plain text has also been well received by all those to whom I send 
e-mail attachments. Sending a .doc file requires the recipient to have Word
or the Word Viewer, not to mention macro virus worries. Receive a .txt 
file, open it up with your favorite text editor or view it in the body of 
the e-mail,
and Netscape Messenger does viewing.

Word or World Compliant?

Linux office suites like StarOffice and Applix are judged by how well they 
import and export Word files. It doesn't help that Microsoft changes the specs
every time it releases newer versions. Why do we force the world to be 
Word-compliant and not force Microsoft to be world compliant?

I've set up many a small business with Microsoft Office only to see its 
users struggle with fonts, margins, pagination and utter confusion from the 
dizzying
amount of options.

They just want to type up a letter, convey their thoughts in writing -- not 
set up a Vogue page layout. The extra features are welcome to maybe 10 percent
of Word's user base, while the other 90 percent start having thoughts of 
dusting off the old Selectric.

A Simple Link

Ask yourself this question: Who uses all the applications in the MS Office 
suite? In a small business of let's say 15 employees, maybe 10 have to type up
a letter, two do occasional spreadsheets, one brave salesperson attempts a 
presentation and none want to tackle a database. Seems like a waste of disk
space, not to mention license fees.

Many businesses are using the power of the Internet or Intranet through 
sharing information with their customers and employees. Many have documents 
stored
as Word files and are struggling to get them on their Web pages. Just 
think, if they were all text files, a simple link to a faq.txt file and the 
browser
would display it with no problem.

Your Type

I guess the Internet does change everything.

Do yourself a favor next time you want to type up a letter. Fire up a text 
editor, and relish in the fact that what you type is what you get. Not what you
see is what you might get.

Author's background: Bert Garcia is an independent computer consultant with 
20 years of experience. He got his start programming in RPG on IBM Minis, and
lately all he seems to do is set up Windows machines for playing solitaire. 
For the last couple of years, he's been running Linux on his home network for
security and educational purposes. 

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