[AccessD] And this just in...

I'm just throwing this out as an observation, but in my 20+ years of
computing, I've never actually encountered a computer running Unix/Linux
(other than during the one day course I took on it about 15 years ago :) ).

The one (world class) research lab I know about uses Macs.

The multinational company I've done Access dbs for is Microsoft all the way.

The mining/engineering company I worked for went from IBM System 3 to
Windows. The requirements they have for Excel processing and Autocad make
Windows compulsory.  If you have Windows requirements like they do, going
to Linux/Wine just makes one more expensive layer; the cost for support
personnel is probably an order of magnitude higher than the savings on
software.

Your mileage obviously varies!

Doug


On Sat, Mar 1, 2014 at 5:25 PM, Jim Lawrence <accessd at shaw.ca> wrote:

> Hi Arthur:
>
> Very good questions? Sorry but I just don't know.
>
> Putting this all in context asks more questions than it gives answers.
> Considering, that most big businesses, all fortune 500 companies and all
> research labs predominantly use Linux as their main OS, there should be
> limited fear of the product. Linux's speed, security and stability is
> unmatched...
>
> IMHO, Microsoft's hundreds of millions being spent on advertising their
> products versus Linux which spends virtual nothing may have something to do
> with it.
>
> Note: LibraOffice can comfortably fill the needs of any MS Office user
> with the exception of maybe MS Access but as you pointed out Wine to the
> rescue.
>
> Jim
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Arthur Fuller" <fuller.artful at gmail.com>
> To: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving" <
> accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
> Sent: Saturday, March 1, 2014 10:02:37 AM
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] And this just in...
>
> Jim and John,
>
> Why would any large firm such as an international bank invest in any
> version of Windows? This I simply cannot fathom. There are many versions of
> Linux that are available free; couple that with OfficeLibre and you've
> covered about 90% of the user base. If you want custom apps written
> originally for Office (e.g. Acess or Word etc.), then install Wine.
>
> Frankly, I have lost interest in, and no longer can see a business case
> for, any Windows installation, regardless of which version. AFAICS, there
> is no reason for this OS to live, other than gravitational pull.
>
> Personally, I have moved to Ubuntu and Oracle VirtualBox with an instance
> of Office 2007 installed there, in case something crops up that I can't
> handle otherwise. Those instances grow fewer and fewer as each day passes.
>
> Arthur
>
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