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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!lucy.swin.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!cs.mu.OZ.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!news.wildstar.net!news.ececs.uc.edu!cloudbreak.rs.itd.umich.edu!newsxfer3.itd.umich.edu!howland.erols.net!news.sprintlink.net!news-peer.sprintlink.net!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.bc.net!unixg.ubc.ca!not-for-mail From: Roberto Pavan <rpavan@triumf.ca> Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,comp.os.os2.advocacy Subject: Re: A suggestion to Linux/Bsd Developers Date: Sat, 08 Feb 1997 04:35:26 -0800 Organization: The University of British Columbia Lines: 63 Message-ID: <32FC730E.5361A401@triumf.ca> References: <5d3sr2$44n@nntp1.best.com> <5dh0o6$ji9$1@nntp2.ba.best.com> <32fc51c1.5502622@news.uq.edu.au> NNTP-Posting-Host: ppp08.triumf.ca Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (X11; I; Linux 2.0.18 i586) Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.misc:156940 comp.os.linux.networking:67672 comp.os.linux.setup:96085 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:5931 comp.unix.bsd.misc:2381 comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy:52197 comp.os.os2.advocacy:266447 John Wiltshire wrote: > > vss@shell2.ba.best.com (V.S. Senthilkumar) wrote: > > > > > > >From the previous thread in this newsgroup it is getting clear that, > >unix is lacking a "cheap real word processor". (like MS Word) > > > > > >I know that you guys are busy enhancing kernel and driver code. > > > > > >But i think that, the time spent writing a Motif free word > >processor is time really worth spent. > > > >(please don't give emacs+groff as a solution) > > > > > >Put an end to this bullshit called NT. > > If you think word processing is all that is keeping NT going then you > are a seriously deluded person. After all, word processing on NT has > only become viable in the last 6 to 12 months (since Word95). > > Maybe you should look at the product before inventing ways to destroy > it? I don't think what the guy wrote is all that off base. The line is blurring between Win95 and NT, and is only going to get more fuzzy in the future. Since the vast majority of users out there will be using Win95, one should look at what is the largest single app run on these machines. Word processors outpace all other apps in use on home/small office computers by a country mile. I'll bet it's two or three to one. I'll also bet that Web software and spreadsheets are the next most common. These programs are usually packaged with the sale of the comuter, so the user usually gets a huge break on the cost of the apps. I've got Win95 on my Pentium box for two reasons - so I can run WordPerfect and Quattro Pro - two excellent programs. Since I'm a grad student, I got the Corel Academic suite. I paid about $40 CDN for it the whole shebang. A lot of stuff is on there that I'll never use, but I got a top-notch word processor and spreadsheet for 1/10 the price of Word Perfect for Linux - and no need to get Motif either. If I paid full price for the suite, it still wouldn't equal the cost of the word processor for Linux and the necessary libraries. Don't get me wrong - I love Linux, and use it most of the time, but when I need a quick letter or calc sheet (I even do some heat transfer computing on Quattro), I use Win95 - not because it's 'easier', but because it has the right apps. If Unix (and if it's Unix, let's face it - it'll be Linux) is going to become a serious competitor to Windows, the quality and price of the available basic apps is going to have to come down. Just my 0.02 (CDN) Roberto Pavan rpavan@triumf.ca