[KLUG Advocacy] OpenOffice and Mac

[Rusty Yonkers]

OpenOffice is a great product.  It will not get much acceptance in
the Mac community right now though.  One thing that Mac users are
rabid about is consistancy of interface.  When you run a Mac program
it needs to look like a Mac program.  This is a HUGE failing for
OpenOffice on the Mac.  OO on the Mac is just butt ugly (not that it
wins any design awards on other platforms either though).  For PC
users ugly works as long as it is usable but not on a Mac.  

It is a big shame that OO is using the X11 look for the Mac version. 
Macs NEED a replacement for M$ Office.  They do not currently have
much in the way of choices for a suite right now.  It is probably the
biggest thing that will help Apple to break the ties that bind with
M$.  The other item is a replacement for (formerly) Connetix Virtual
PC but that is a totally different topic.  

This attention to design detail in one product will also be a boon to
other desktop Linux applications.  It has only been recently that
there have been a couple of GUI cd burning programs that have really
nice and well laid out interfaces.  As programmers work harder on
asthetic design they will also speed the adoption of OSS and Linux.  

OSS application software should also be ported (as much as possible)
to as many platforms as workable, including Windows!!!  When people
start using OSS software on Windows and get use to it the transition
to a non-M$ platform is all the easier.  Most often the battle for
software mindshare is won not on technical excellence but in
marketing and most importantly critical mass (spelled lots of users
using it).  Critical mass can be most easily won by cross-platform
ports and usability.  Windows may not be loved but it must be played,
at least for a time, to be conquered!  And Mac support, true Mac
support, is a huge help on the road away from M$ as well.  Then it is
an easy step to put people into SuSE (Novell??) Linux on the desktop
and server!



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Rusty Yonkers
CNE, MCP, A+, CCNA, Linux+, Server+, Network+ certified
-----------------------------------------
An Atomic Supergeek with an attitude!
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Currently using SuSE 8.2, Mac OS X, and WinXP (would love to get rid of last one)

...............looking for penguin domination.....................

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