In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Chirag Shukla
<chiragshuklaindia@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote
on 8 Jun 2006 06:43:47 -0700
<1149774227.755657.100820@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> The "easy to use" argument relies on the assumption that
>> everybod has used Windows before. I found Mac OS 9 _far_
>> easier to use (functionally lacking however) and you should
>> take a look at the number of people who successfully
>> switch to Ubuntu Linux, having /never/ used Linux before
>> (and Linux is _not_ Windows, neither does it (GNOME) try
>> to assimilate to it).
>
> Absolutely. It is all to do with familiarity when it comes to Windows
> or Macs. Users unaware of Linux before a few minutes of advocacy start
> off using Linux as if they already knew the OS before. Ubuntu, in my
> personal experience, has caught people's attention. When they
> completely switch to Linux is another question but they get started
> with Linux with a bang.
>
> As suggested by someone in one of the discussions, it would be better
> if a cheat-sheet is available to the users indicating what programs
> they would find equivalent to a Mac or Windows [like, OpenOffice
> Writer<--Word or a popup note displaying such information]. That would
> reduce their search-and-fiddle time, and get productive faster.
>
> Linonut, you use Windows too? Seems like quite a few here use Windows
> as their alternate OS. It certainly helps compare the problems Windows
> gives and Linux solves, or vice versa in some isolated cases.
>
Oh, "use" is one way of putting it. :-) In some cases
it's more like "keep banging on it until it coughs up
something that might be close to what one wants". :-)
Of course the same could be said of Linux on occasion -- just
far less often.
As for cheat sheets....that might be problem-dependent.
For example, all of the following could be termed
substitutes for Microsoft Word, depending on how faithfully
one wants to replicate aspects of its functionality, and
which functionality one really needs.
Microsoft Word under WinE
OpenOffice Writer
KOffice
Wordpad/Write under WinE
WordPerfect
WordPerfect under WinE
Netscape Composer
OpenOffice Web
Lyx
kate
jEdit
gedit
kedit
xedit
emacs
vi
pine, jed, joe, nano, pico
edit under DosEMU
ex
ed
sed
TECO
edlin
To examine these in detail:
- Microsoft Word under WinE -- I've not tried this. IE under WinE
works reasonably well; there are also offerings such as Crossover
Office. Since Word is part of MS Office, this might work for those
who *must* use Microsoft software for some reason on a Linux box.
- OpenOffice Writer -- This is more or less the "standard" substitution.
There are some quirks, many because Microsoft Word's output file
format isn't exactly a documented standard. Can do formulas, though
for some reason OpenOffice didn't go with the more or less
standard TeX solution.
- KOffice -- I've not tried this, but this is KDE's answer to both MS
Office and OpenOffice.
- Wordpad/Write under WinE -- This is a fairly old offering (circa
1995), and can do the simpler stuff, like bolding, italicizing,
different fonts, etc.
- WordPerfect -- Yes, Virginia, there is a Linux variant. Corel started
to offer WP/Linux in version 6.0 in 1996. There's even a Java
version.
- WordPerfect under WinE -- Stands to reason. I've not tried either
WordPerfect/Linux nor WordPerfect under WinE.
- Netscape Composer -- Netscape's HTML editor. It doesn't
do everything (e.g., Word's edit-picture-in-place)
but what it does it does reasonably well.
- OpenOffice Web -- A variant of OpenOffice Writer, tailored to webpage
development.
- Lyx -- This is a front-end to LaTeX, and is primarily intended for
those who want to generate papers. It does tables, mathematical
formulas, and figure inclusions (but not the figures proper).
- kate -- A word processor using QT. I've not used it so can't say
exactly what it can do.
- Notepad under WinE -- Notepad is a wrapper around Windows' text
widget, and is text-only (no formatting except for tabs and newlines).
- jEdit -- A rather capable Java-based text editor, primarily suited for
programming and scripting.
- gedit -- A simple Notepad-like text-only editor, part of Gnome.
- kedit -- A simple Notepad-like text-only editor, part of KE.
- xedit -- A simple Notepad-like text-only editor, part of the original
X Windows System distribution. Modern variants take advantage of
Xaw3d so it doesn't look quite as crude. However, xedit does not have
contemporary pull-down menus.
- emacs -- What *doesn't* it do? :-) But it's definitely got text
editing as part of its many capabilities, and I would be lambasted
heavily by the other side of the VI-EMACS war (or is it the EMACS-VI
war?) if I didn't at least mention this entry.
- vi -- A simple ncurses (text-mode) text editor, nowadays run in a
terminal emulator or console. Can subinvoke programs that process
a part of the text buffer. Several implementations are available:
elvis, vile, and vim are the ones I'm aware of.
- pine, jed, joe, nano, pico -- Various text editors available
on Unix and Unix-like platforms. Ncurses only.
- edit under DosEMU -- Not quite as venerable as EDLIN. Part of DOS.
DosEMU can, of course, emulate DOS, even to the point of EGA or VGA
graphics and reading a CD-ROM.
- ex -- vi's predecessor. Nowadays, it's simply an "alternate face" of
vi, but in earlier incarnations was a line-based editor in its own
right, with some sophistication in regular expression handling.
- ed -- A granddaddy, perhaps, of vi. Extremely simple editor, with
very limited capabilities compared to more modern variants.
- sed -- Not really a text editor, more of a file streaming processor,
but sed finds ample use in scripting, along with its cousin awk.
- TECO -- Another text editor from antiquity. Its commands
tend to look like oldstyle modem line noise, but
had quite a bit of power if one knew how to use it.
I've even seen a screen editor using TECO scripts.
I can't say I can remember what its name is now.
- edlin -- That venerable old DOS offering. I for one would think it's
still there in Windows XP, which makes one wonder.
I could go on and mention batch-based converters such as
nroff and TeX, specialized text processors/programming
environments such as PERL and PHP, and embedded text
editors such as the ones in Visual Studio, kdevelop,
and Eclipse.
I'm also not familiar with the Mac suite of editor tools,
though one of them is definitely provided by Apple along
with the rest of its MacOS offering.
Spreadsheets, pixmap editors, and diagram editors have
similar problems, if far fewer choices on the Unix side --
but there are choices; gnumeric, oocalc, and kcalc are
available for spreadsheets, for example.
So what is "the" substitute for Microsoft Word?
Answer: there isn't just one. There's a lot, depending
on what one wants to do.
--
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Windows Vista. Because it's time to refresh your hardware. Trust us.
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