[K12OSN] Linux cut off

[Henry Hartley]

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: "Terrell Prudé, Jr."
>> Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 1:13 PM
>> 
>> Gladly.  The jobs that I have to accomplish are as follows:
>> 1.)  MS Exchange email.
>> 2.)  Web browsing.
>> 3.)  Office automation.
>> 4.)  Router/firewall management
>> 5.)  Accessing Windows shares:  smbmount

The one thing I go back to Windows (dual boot) on a regular basis for is
Photoshop.  I'm using a relatively old version 5.5 and I still don't find
GIMP as capable.  Don't get me wrong, GIMP is great and it has come a long
way.  I use it when I can.  But when I'm doing serious work with lots of
layers (particularly text layers), it just isn't as good.  I don't find the
UI as easy, either, although I'm sure at least some of that is just a
training/practice issue.  The scanner I use isn't supported by SANE but the
next one I own will be.

I have an old-ish version of AutoCAD (14) that I would have a hard time
leaving, also.  It's been a while since I looked for open source CAD but a
few years ago, anyway, there wasn't much to brag about.  There are
commercial packages that run on Linux/Unix.  So, if I ever decide to pay for
an upgrade, I'll look long and hard at Linux capable alternatives.  But as
far as I know, there's nothing close to AutoCAD in the OS world.

Also, my daughter has Windows-based games and she boots back to Windows for
them.  For all I know they will run under WINE but I've not tried.

But I DO NOT use Microsoft Office or IE.  Even on the Windows boot, I use
OpenOffice, Firefox, and Thunderbird.  My wife complained for a while and
still, when she helps someone out with an MS Access project, the lack of
that has caused some friction.  But for the most part, for web-browsing,
mail-reading, and paper-writing, there is absolutely no need to run Windows.

Oh, and for my taxes, I go to http://www.taxactonline.com/ and do it in
Firefox.  Not free but not very expensive, either.

-- 
Henry