Jeph Herrin wrote:
>
> 3. Depends on what other applications you want to run.
> Linux is rock solid and very fast, but it's a nusiance
> if you want to use Excel very often. Of the Win OSes,
> 64bit XP seems to be recommended over Vista, but since
> I have stuck with the former, I can't say for sure.
OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org/) is exceptionally useful if you
still have to work with Excel files (there are also other options such
as GNUmeric (http://www.gnome.org/projects/gnumeric/ and others).
In fact for almost any application under Windows there is an equivalent
for GNU/Linux, many are still in development and might not have every
single feature of the Windows type (e.g. GIMP is a good alternative to
Photoshop, but doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the later),
but you shouldn't struggle for functionality under GNU/Linux. As the
Excel example deomnstrates there are often several projects that seek to
develop the same app independantly giving you as the end user the choice.
If you really need a windows app then you have two choices to run it
under GNU/Linux...
a) Use an emulator such as WINE (http://www.winehq.org/)
b) Use a virtual machine such as VMware to run windows within GNU/Linux
(you can of course do the reverse and run GNU/Linux under VMware on
Windows).
Neil
--
"We should make things as simple as possible, but not simpler" - Anon (not Albert Einstein)
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