[CLUE-Talk] would like to try Linux \\ SuSE ???

[Matt Gushee]

On Mon, Sep 23, 2002 at 03:33:32AM -0600, Wayne Schneider wrote:

> As far as the interchangability of files look into www.openoffice.org or Sun's Star Office.

I think we should be honest about this--not that I think anybody's
lying, but I sense a reluctance to reveal what most of us know--that
there is no software that will perfectly import all MS Office documents.
Star/Open Office does a reasonably good job, but there are almost always
formatting bugs with documents of any complexity--e.g. list bullets and
numbers tend to be messed up. I don't know if we can expect any better,
as long as Microsoft feels free to change their already obfuscated
document formats whenever they see fit. The StarOffice team has done a
heroic job as it is.

I hope that doesn't turn anybody away, but I'm thinking back to when I
was considering using Linux. One of the major reasons I decided to go
ahead with it was that--unlike any proprietary software product I know
of--I could get the unvarnished truth about what worked and what didn't.

By the way, if you want to find out whether StarOffice's Word and Excel
filters are good enough for you, you might try installing the Windows
version first.

-- 
Matt Gushee
Englewood, Colorado, USA
mgushee at havenrock.com
http://www.havenrock.com/