Open Source Stuff

[J. Childers]

Alejandro:

Thanks for being patient with a new open-source convert. Until recently I was 
one of the
brainwashed masses and have only just had my epiphany within the last six 
months. I have converted
five of fourteen stations in my business to Mandrake Linux (after trying 
several distributions)
and my hardware guy is now setting up a sendmail server at my direction so I 
can pull the plug on
Exchange soon.

I freely admit that I'm not hip yet to the intricacies ofthe various 
copy-<direction> licenses. I
thought the OpenOffice suggestion was a safe one, but I see that things are 
more complex than they
seem, eh? Did I read something about GobeProductive opening their source soon? 
Are they using the
right license? If so, maybe they're a candidate... 

I would scour the offices of Windows entirely if we didn't have a boatload of 
legacy apps in MS
languages to support. Dual-booting on my main is definately an option, one I 
get closer to every
day.

I have to say, working with Python has opened my eyes more than anything. I 
began to see the MS
languages for what they are: eye-candy designed to slow the programmer down and 
trip him up.  The
fact that MS is making languages at all should be the focus of the anti-trust 
suit not the browser
thing. Whatever works I guess.

Anyway, Microsoft put me out of business last year by buying Great 
Plains/Solomon and most
recently, Navision (our three core products). They nerfed dealer margins first 
thing and our
30-person payroll became unsustainable (after 12 years). I have come to believe 
that the
enterprise platform should be an open commodity. Hence finding GNUe. Thanks 
again for being
patient as I learn the ropes!

Regards,

Jeff


PS - I'll give Debian a try (haven't yet).


Jeff,

I am sorry I seem to have misplaced your last mail,
anyway is the one where you mention Windows XP. I
cannot help you there because all of my documentation
standards are in GNU/Linux.

All sgml tools work like a breeze in Debian. In all
other distros it's a little bit trickier to set up but
they run fine also. In Windoze I would bet it is much
harder to get free ``libre'' (GPL) sgml tools up and
running, but I am sure someone out there has tried and
can help you. In any case I am sure it would be easier
to install Debian (all you need is to be able to peck
enter like a chicken) and get it running there.

Regarding your proposition to use OpenOffice, I will
probably be a lot more polite than many here, but a
word of caution: GNUs don't like non-free tools very
much. At the time when GNUe was concieved StarOffice
(lka OpenOffice (after a take over of Star Division by
Sun)) was around with it's strings-attached licensing.
You are of course, free to use whatever you want. But
I am sure such recommendation will not follow through
here.

Besides, if you are working in really large
documentation projects (such as the one you pretend to
embark) WYSIWYG is not a good idea anyway. There are
many debates over ``Text Processing'' and ``Word
Processing'' more accurately defined as WYSIWYG.

If you could dual-boot your machine (or get a cheaper
hardware) and use Debian or any other GNU/Linux distro
I will me more than happy to support your
docummentation efforts. Perhaps you have a friend that
uses GNU/Linux and you could use VNC <g>, which BTW is
not free ``libre'' to my understanding either.


Best Regards,
Alejandro Imass






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