[ale] I love linux but ...Windows provides my living

[Jeff Hubbs]

I guess there is a lesson to be learned here - that absolutism in IT tends
to be harmful no matter how you direct it.  It's bad when Microsoft demands
total MS solutions from consultant shops in exchange for some plaque in the
lobby saying "Microsoft Preferred Solutions Provider" or whatever it was
called (I actually pinned down a prospective employer on this issue during
an interview, so I'm not making it up although I don't remember the exact
details) and it's bad to say, that's it, I'm pursuing Linux solutions to the
exclusion of everything else (I've heard THAT story too).  I think you have
to admit that your frustration in part comes from having "said that [you]
would never return to Windows for the last two years" and here you are,
forced to backpedal.  

Here's what I recommend you do:

1.  Keep a foot in both MS and Linux platforms.  Dual-boot isn't enough -
use VMware to run one under the other or keep two machines at hand.

2.  As professionally and as rationally as you can, inform the manufacturers
of the Windows software you use the most that you would like to see a Linux
port of those products.

3.  Keep your eye out for new Linux-platform products that might approach
meeting your needs, give them a fair and thorough evaluation, and let the
manufacturers know your findings.  

4.  Inform software manufacturers who you think might reasonably develop the
kind of sw you're after (Corel comes to mind) that you would be interested
in buying software that carried out such-and-such a function.

Some handwaving/rhetorical questions in response to some of your specific
points:

If Oracle, Informix, or Sybase (all DBMS sw plats with Linux ports) already
have a restaurant POS  app, how hard would it be to adapt to all-Linux?  Are
there perfectly good DOS or Windows RPOS apps that could be utilized under
Linux with dosemu/wine?

Don't diss kernel-compiling.  It isn't that hard to do (once you've gotten
the hang of it) and doesn't take a whole lot of time on fast systems.  I too
am a little put off by what all you have to do when adding hardware to a
pre-existing Linux system, but I really feel like that aspect of life with
Linux is going to get better over time, and pretty quickly.

- Jeff


-----Original Message-----
 From: jiin [mailto:jiin at linuxfreak.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 25, 1999 7:54 AM
To: ale at ale.org
Subject: [ale] I love linux but ...Windows provides my living



	Hi,
I am writing this in simple frustration. Linux rox and I have said that I
would
never return to Windows for the last two years. But in the final
consideration
I need to make a living. At the very least desktop publishing is 1/2 of my
living. Linux simply is not the OS to use for desktop publishing. I dont
want
to re-compile my kernel everytime I get a new peice of hardware or search
endlessly for apps that simply are not there.

I appreciate everyones help in the last few months but for my "production"
oriented tasks I am forced to use windows. a disgusting state of affairs. 

Thanks to all the ale folk for the help and the encouragement but after two
years I am moving back to a M$ platform for the things I need to make money
with. Linux simply doesnt support these things.

I have asked in the past for a linux version of a POS for a restaurant ( one
was featured in linux journal but good luck actually finding it), a desktop
publishing app that supported more than one page wysiwyg app or even  a
simple
way to add new printers to my system without having to recompile gs with a
funky patch/addon.

Hopefully I will see the ALE in action soon .. its simply been to difficult
timewise to get to the meetings. In the mean time ... go tux go tux go tux !


jiin