Topic: Windows Vista

[Larkshall]

http://www.computeractive.co.uk/vnunet/news/2185308/french-parliament-switches

Interesting!

[glow777]

and about time .... I think the global take over of open source software has to be led by cross platform software like open office. Once everyone sees that it is (almost) as good as M$ office but free it will start the ball rolling. Especially in business environments. I also think it needs a better public face, if it had a Richard Branson (or Dr Who!) behind it I think it would go places.

but when kids at school throught to pensioners at colleges have M$ word rammend down there throats it needs something big to change the situation.

Annoyingly I am in the final (5th) year of my OU computing degree and of the 10 modules I will of studied I would not of been able to complete any if I had not been running an M$ O/S

[Larkshall]

By 2011 i bet most people will be using it...sadly. As the tools and software apps (not just the OS's) advance PC's will need to be upgraded to run them, and within next 6 months every new PC will come with it as standard...and most people and buisnesses still seem reluctant to go for non MS OS's like Linux.

Linux is making inroads, I see from Computer Active magazine that the French Parliament is about to change from Windows to Linux as their standard O/S for their MP's.

[Larkshall]

Annoyingly I am in the final (5th) year of my OU computing degree and of the 10 modules I will of studied I would not of been able to complete any if I had not been running an M$ O/S

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So the Open University is not so open then.

[glow777]

I think they want to be but there hands are tied by the material they are trying to teach  eg my final course Concurrency in Distributed Systems (is as interesting as it sounds) is all about writing networked software using Java (a multiplatform language) as the object orientated language example - all well and good  then they hit you with all reports etc must be submitted as M$ Word documents coupled with video clips that only play in media player. etc etc etc I suppose you could get round most problems on a Linux distro but when its 15 hours study per week and you have an allotment to dig weed etc its a bit hard.

Anyway small triumph today as I managed to get IE7 to install on my PC without having to validate my license  ;D ;D ;D

[Barnowl]

I find Open Office pretty good, but don't we really need an Outlook competitor? So much is done by e-mail nowadays.

[glow777]

mozilla
thunderbird for email
sunbird for diary/calender
firefox for browser

[Barnowl]

Individually good programs ( I use FireFox), but I thought they didn't yet integrate diary, e-mail and contacts nor work with OpenOffice  the way Outlook does with MS Office.

[Larkshall]

Individually good programs ( I use FireFox), but I thought they didn't yet integrate diary, e-mail and contacts nor work with OpenOffice  the way Outlook does with MS Office.

There are several programs (for free) which do the email and calendar/contacts etc. in the Linux field. Evolution and Kontact to name but two, although I am still using Digita Organiser which runs under Win Emulator (Wine), I have been using this since my Amiga days and through Windows 3.1 to XP.

[Multiveg]

and about time .... I think the global take over of open source software has to be led by cross platform software like open office. Once everyone sees that it is (almost) as good as M$ office but free it will start the ball rolling. Especially in business environments. I also think it needs a better public face, if it had a Richard Branson (or Dr Who!) behind it I think it would go places.

but when kids at school throught to pensioners at colleges have M$ word rammend down there throats it needs something big to change the situation.

Annoyingly I am in the final (5th) year of my OU computing degree and of the 10 modules I will of studied I would not of been able to complete any if I had not been running an M$ O/S

Glow - I always end up finishing tmas on deadline day. SO, there I am, writing 1500 words plus for an eca and Word says **** you and freezes. Bloomin whatsits. Anyway, I installed Open Office and managed to complete ECA in time. This year, started courses, tried Word again - it said again **** you. Back to Open Office.

Anyway, my shiny Vista computer - was reading horror stories with regards to Office versions. I still not installed MS Office on reading a list of Vista-compatible software somewhere on wiki. I did however, install Open Office which Vista seems happy with. Good news is that FirstClass and the Java Netbeans thing works.

[glow777]

Ive been using Open Office since version 2 and Im really happy with it. Except for the graphic quality of pie charts etc

RE: OU tmas love them exams hate them - I have plotted my degree to take me via the exam room only twice

[timiano]

Office 2007 is great though, especially if you can get it for Edu prices. Some don't like the new 'ribbon', but I think it's great; really intuitive.

One Note 2007 is just about my favourite Office application of all time. I couldn't live without it now.