[K12OSN] Linux cut off

["Terrell Prudé, Jr."]

R. Scott Belford wrote:

> Terrell Prudé, Jr. wrote:
>
>>
>> There is the possibility that I might, in the near future, have to 
>> run Internet Exploder, because one of the help desk apps (Remedy's 
>> "Magic") works only with IE.  To fix that, I'll simply run CrossOver 
>> Office, albeit grudgingly, if this does indeed come to pass (I hope 
>> not!).  I
>
>
> Have you thought about contacting the manufacturer and asking if they 
> have plans to support Mozilla?  We had this situation when a school we 
> donated a lab to went out and bought Benchmark Tracker.  It only 
> supported IE, and this was a problem for our brand new lab.  One of 
> our members and a teacher called Benchmark Tracker and let them know 
> that they were considering buying BT for their district but that they 
> needed Mozilla support.  It was done.
>
> Never underestimate how effective the idea of more market share can be 
> at getting a company to change policies.
>

Oh, I agree, and I have indeed called them.  After three times not 
getting a callback (can we say, "rude"?), I finally got a person.  He 
very nicely told me to go jump in the Potomac River.  Justification?  
"Well, everyone has Explorer, so we write to the biggest market share.  
We don't write to _Linux_."  Apparently Remedy, Inc. associates Mozilla, 
Firefox, and even Netscape Navigator with "Linux" and refuses to support 
said browsers, regardless of the fact that they run on Win32 as well.  
Cisco, Check Point, NAI (now Network General), and Packeteer have the 
same attitude.  The only way that's going to change is if *bosses*, i. 
e. those who actually write the checks and sign the contracts, demand 
full compatibility with Free Software.

>>
>> If you've got one or more tasks in mind that haven't been covered 
>> above, let me know, and I'll be glad to give you whatever input that 
>> I can.
>
>
> What do the rest of you do at tax time?  While I have stayed 
> windows-free for an undergraduate and two graduate degrees, I still 
> keep windows on a dual-boot box for taxes.  I don't think that an OSS 
> alternative to quickbooks or kiplinger has evolved and, with all the 
> annual changes to the tax code, I have to wonder if one ever will.


I do my taxes with the good ol' 1040 form and a black pen.  I just never 
got into the tax programs, though I know that they're quite popular.

--TP