Re: Crossover / Wine cannot install Office

From: Joe (joe_at_jretrading.com)
Date: 05/17/04 

Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 18:47:03 +0100

In message <8765av3f4b.fsf@toncho.dhh.gt.org>, John Hasler
<john@dhh.gt.org> writes
>Luke quotes:
>> SuSE Linux now ships with a graphical database front end, called Rekall.
>
>When these guys write "There will never be a Linux equivalent of X" they
>don't really mean an equivalent. They mean an absolutely identical
>bug for bug compatible replacement. Something which performs the same
>function but differs in the slightest detail is not acceptable to them, no
>matter how superior it is.

I mean a functional equivalent. I could live without the bugs. You can
do a lot in Access without code, but sooner or later you need it. And,
guess what, it's a variant of Microsoft's Visual Basic. OOo will
preserve VB in an Excel-created spread***, so it still works when
opened in Excel, but while it's in OOo it can't possibly function, nor
can you develop it.

Look, can we be a bit grown-up about this? You pick the tools according
to the job. If I want to use a spare PC as a firewall or mail server,
I'll use Linux. A no-brainer, as you people say. If I want to maintain
Access databases and applications in exchange for money, I'll use Access
under Windows. End of story. No equivalents, no workarounds, no
alternatives. Likewise for a more-than-trivial spread*** in Excel. If
I need similar functionality to Access under Linux then I'll use
Delphi/Kylix and accept that there will be much more coding to do.

I'm impressed by what Crossover Office can do, but it's nowhere near
enough and I doubt that it ever will be. I do have some small
appreciation of what needs to be done, and Microsoft will bring out new,
different versions of Office faster than CO can keep up with. OOo is
excellent, but will never contain a functional equivalent of Access or
Excel. Never. There is simply too much work to be done in porting VB to
Linux for it to be worth doing, quite apart from any copyright or patent
issues.

When I can get full functional support for Access databases (and a few
other Windows programs) under Linux I'll go for it and happily bid
farewell to Windows. I think it's more likely that I'll retire first. 

-- 
Joe