Saying "see u later" to Kubuntu... again

[alquimista]

Hi,

I have been an enthusiast of Kubuntu since 2006... Since then I tried to abandon Windows completely... Being happy and after 6 months of not using Windows at all... I had to return to it and say good bye to Kubuntu, mainly because I needed MS Office functionality, that was not available in Open Office, KOffice, AbiWord, etc.

6 months ago I decided to give a try again... and I was happy with Kubuntu 7.10; my old Toshiba Satellite A60 was faster, cleaner, safer than using Win XP. Yet, I just joined a job where the standard is... guess what: MS Office. I'm IT Director there and I could suggest to give a try to Open Office... yet, I have to recognize that even an old MS Office version like the one I have licensed (2002 or XP), has some features that I constantly use, and are not present in current Open Office 2.4.
I tried CorssOver to run windows software under Kubuntu, and yet, there were some glitches using Office XP there, under Kubuntu 7.10. Some people suggested me in this forum, to install virtual boxes where I could run Win XP within Kubuntu... yet they demanded extra memory, and maybe I cannot afford to buy extra memory chipsets for an old laptop computer, where that money can be invested in a whole laptop upgrade.
So... it is MS Office again, that is having me to leave Kubuntu again....

I love Linux, Open Source initiatives... Ubuntu, Kubuntu. But it in terms of practical maters (not philosophical), I have to take this decision because of software compatibility...and the practical acceptance that there are standards around document management, that cannot be defeated or changed very soon... If we could have a MS Office for Linux... it could attract so many mortals like me to the Linux world...
And its not just Office software; there are other software I use from time to time that obligated me to have a dual boot: CA ERWin Data Base Designer ... and in the company I work for... all Adobe software for graphics and web design that is not yet in Linux...

I really hope to come back to Kubuntu sometime in the future… I feel my PC really free on it.. happier

[disturbedite]

Re: Saying "see u later" to Kubuntu... again

i have been using openoffice since 2004 & i have never ever run into a situation in that i had a feature in ms office that openoffice didn't have.

you failed to mention what those features are...

[daihard]

Re: Saying "see u later" to Kubuntu... again

I've read that the next service pack for Office 2007 will add support for ODF, and that the next version of Office (codenamed Office 14) will have ODF as the default file format. If that does happen, it will encourage more people to use ODF as the document format, which will in turn increase the acceptance of OpenOffice.org.

I sure hope that day will come.

[ghillan]

Re: Saying "see u later" to Kubuntu... again

your solution: www.virtualbox.org

Make a Windows virtual machine under linux .

[noelvh]

Re: Saying "see u later" to Kubuntu... again

How about running both in a dual boot setup. I do it and it works great. See I love windows games, and want to play them so I still need windows. But all that other M$ crap can go to the dogs for all I care.

So before you dump Kubuntu for M$ office try dual booting.

Noel Vh

[MyVoice]

Re: Saying "see u later" to Kubuntu... again

Don't worry, be OSS.

Sure, you can use virtualbox, you can use wine (not Crossover! He's dead!), you can use Kubuntu into Windows.

Do you work in Microsoft?

[daihard]

Re: Saying "see u later" to Kubuntu... again

Don't worry, be OSS.

Sure, you can use virtualbox, you can use wine (not Crossover! He's dead!), you can use Kubuntu into Windows.

Do you work in Microsoft?

Yo Mr. Mercury.

I don't, and I refuse to use Windows unless I'd be fired for it.

[noelvh]

Re: Saying "see u later" to Kubuntu... again

Lucky for me I have a Kubuntu box under my desk at work. So when I get tired of using my windows laptop I switch the KVM over to Kubuntu. As I can not put the Linux box on the network I have a Verizon air card in another laptop and set that up as a router. So now I have my Linux fix at work.

Now when I was asked why I have the linux box, my reply was you know all of those dead hard drive that I was able to restore, and retrieve the company data from? Well it was done using linux, as windows was not able to even see the drives.

So my Boss is very happy I have a linux box under my desk.

Noel Vh.

[Fintan]

Re: Saying "see u later" to Kubuntu... again

......o install virtual boxes where I could run Win XP within Kubuntu... yet they demanded extra memory, and maybe I cannot afford to buy extra memory chipsets for an old laptop computer, where that money can be invested in a whole laptop upgrade.

How much memory do you have and what kind is it?
I have 1gig on my 5 year old box and gave my vmware xp guest 256 MB.

I run PS CS3, Flash CS3 and Dreamweaver CS3 at the same time with no problem.

[aahhaa]

Re: Saying "see u later" to Kubuntu... again

Wouldn't an obvious solution be to just use the online version of Office?