skibum1321 wrote:

kcyanks1 wrote: BushMogulMaster wrote: kcyanks1 wrote: How about ignoring IE until Microsoft decides to follow standards? Amen and Glory Be! I think that's all I have to say on the issue. Oh, come on, we can say more .. How about ignoring Microsoft completely? (I'm a Linux-user at home, unfortunately not one at work.) If only it were possible to ignore them completely. They have such a stranglehold on the tech world that it will never happen. Just an example of Microsoft technology that I use regularly: Windows (at work and home) Internet Explorer (to test my websites after developing in Firefox) .NET framework Visual Studio Visio Office I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting too... I hate Microsoft as much as the next guy, but I have to admit that there are certain things that I like. Visual Studio is pretty nice and I really like C# as a language. Then I see their browsers and OSs and it makes me want to gag.

At work I'm fully entrenched in Microsoft. At home the list of Microsoft technology I use?
<empty>
(well, to be honest, I probably use windows media player codecs at times)

As for your list
Windows -> Linux
Internet Explorer -> Use wine if you really need to install IE to test your websites
.NET -> Mono (I believe?)
Visual Studio -> why?
Visio -> There are a few open source flow-chart/diagramming programs. I have not played with them much, but they are available.
Office -> OpenOffice

kcyanks1 wrote:

skibum1321 wrote: kcyanks1 wrote: BushMogulMaster wrote: kcyanks1 wrote: How about ignoring IE until Microsoft decides to follow standards? Amen and Glory Be! I think that's all I have to say on the issue. Oh, come on, we can say more .. How about ignoring Microsoft completely? (I'm a Linux-user at home, unfortunately not one at work.) If only it were possible to ignore them completely. They have such a stranglehold on the tech world that it will never happen. Just an example of Microsoft technology that I use regularly: Windows (at work and home) Internet Explorer (to test my websites after developing in Firefox) .NET framework Visual Studio Visio Office I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting too... I hate Microsoft as much as the next guy, but I have to admit that there are certain things that I like. Visual Studio is pretty nice and I really like C# as a language. Then I see their browsers and OSs and it makes me want to gag. At work I'm fully entrenched in Microsoft. At home the list of Microsoft technology I use? <empty> (well, to be honest, I probably use windows media player codecs at times) As for your list Windows -> Linux Internet Explorer -> Use wine if you really need to install IE to test your websites .NET -> Mono (I believe?) Visual Studio -> why? Visio -> There are a few open source flow-chart/diagramming programs. I have not played with them much, but they are available. Office -> OpenOffice

Linux -> I just haven't had the time to install it, but on making my next computer a dual boot with Ubuntu and Windows. I would just rather have a dual boot than run Wine - that just adds one more layer of complexity where errors can occur.
IE -> Again, I only use this for testing sites and since I have Windows, then there is no reason not to have it
.NET -> This one is for work
Visual Studio -> Again, this is for work. I develop sites in ASP.NET, so Visual Studio is pretty much a given.
Visio -> At work again. I honestly like Visio and am not in the market for an alternative
Office -> I have OpenOffice at home, but at work I have MS

Overall, I prefer Open source software, but there sometimes the apps from the big players are just plain better. I'm usually not one to defend Microsoft, but not everything they make is complete crap. Most of it is, but not all of it.

Does Open Office seamlessly read/write Windows Office files?

In the future, I might switch to Linux, as the later Windows systems want more than my poor little computer can give.

Also add to that list, PaintShop?

Lostone wrote:

Does Open Office seamlessly read/write Windows Office files? In the future, I might switch to Linux, as the later Windows systems want more than my poor little computer can give. Also add to that list, PaintShop?

Open Office does seamlessly read and write MS Office files in my experience. It also gives you way more options for saving, such as saving to PDF (also available in Google Docs).

What is PaintShop? There is MS Paint, which is a dinky little program. I regularly use Adobe Photoshop, which is a great program and I haven't found anything Open Source that can come close to it (I've used the GIMP and GIMPShop and they are both pretty bad).

skibum1321 wrote:

Lostone wrote: Does Open Office seamlessly read/write Windows Office files? In the future, I might switch to Linux, as the later Windows systems want more than my poor little computer can give. Also add to that list, PaintShop? Open Office does seamlessly read and write MS Office files in my experience. It also gives you way more options for saving, such as saving to PDF (also available in Google Docs). What is PaintShop? There is MS Paint, which is a dinky little program. I regularly use Adobe Photoshop, which is a great program and I haven't found anything Open Source that can come close to it (I've used the GIMP and GIMPShop and they are both pretty bad).

As skibum1321 said, OpenOffice is good with MS office files generally. Complex files might be tougher. Also there are more difficulties with the new OOXML files. People have created converters. Thankfully I've never had to deal with an OOXML file yet.

As for the GIMP, while I would guess I probably have less experience editing graphics than skibum1321, I will disagree that it is pretty bad. From everything I've gathered, the consensus is that it is fairly good, even if not quite what Photoshop is. It is pretty powerful software and does have much of the features that Photoshop does, to my knowledge. The big knock on it for people who have used Photoshop is that the interface in the GIMP is drastically different. OpenOffice, on the other hand, has an interface quite similar to MS Office. I believe there are plugins for the GIMP to make it look more like Photoshop. But it's the interface that bugs people, IMO, not the features.

skibum1321 wrote:

Overall, I prefer Open source software, but there sometimes the apps from the big players are just plain better. I'm usually not one to defend Microsoft, but not everything they make is complete crap. Most of it is, but not all of it.

It's philosophical as well as practical for me.

Quote:

What is PaintShop?

PaintShop Pro is similar to PhotoShop. May be missing a few features, but I haven't found any, yet. What is lost is all the filters that others write for PhotoShop.

As for the moment, I already have the programs for Windows, so it wouldn't hurt them for me to replace them with open source stuff.

But I am keeping it in mind. Next reformat, Win98 may be unusable.

Anyone know if you can still get the original updates from M$oft? You know, the ones that Windows tries to get, after you do the first install? It would seem they have to have them available, as Windows 98 is really incomplete, as it is on the disk.

Lostone wrote:

Quote: What is PaintShop? PaintShop Pro is similar to PhotoShop. May be missing a few features, but I haven't found any, yet. What is lost is all the filters that others write for PhotoShop. As for the moment, I already have the programs for Windows, so it wouldn't hurt them for me to replace them with open source stuff.

Many of these programs are available for Windows. If you have the disk space, you can try them now and make sure you are comfortable before switching operating systems. Open Office and the GIMP are both available.

You could always dual boot for a while instead of switching straight up.

kcyanks, GIMPShop is one of the programs that gives the GIMP a more PhotoShop-like feel. I haven't used it a ton, but it just seems as if the quality of the images isn't as good. This could just be my inexperience with the program - maybe I need to tweak some settings.

skibum1321 wrote:

You could always dual boot for a while instead of switching straight up. kcyanks, GIMPShop is one of the programs that gives the GIMP a more PhotoShop-like feel. I haven't used it a ton, but it just seems as if the quality of the images isn't as good. This could just be my inexperience with the program - maybe I need to tweak some settings.

I have had others have preferences for Photoshop, but just haven't heard people as turned off from the GIMP as you are. Of course everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. I started off dual booting, and now run solely Linux, and even wiped Windows on my old computer when I got a new one. So I currently own no machines with Windows. Dual booting is easy though with modern distros like Ubuntu, as long as you install Windows first.

Like I keep saying, this is an old system.

I'm running 34G of drive space. (Actually, there is a 15G drive, also, but it is basically storage.)

Dual boot is not really an option, at this point. I'm more gathering information in case I'm not able to redo Windows at the next format.

I'm actually, overdue. I used to do a format and re-install, every 2 years. This system is working fine for 4 years, now. (Knock on my head. )

At the moment, I'd like to limit the time I spend on my computer, where I'm just messing with the computer, itself. I'd rather spend my time working with the picture editors, spreadsheets, and such.

(I'm not known for spending too little time on the computer. )