FreshUbuntu

You know, I am a little concerned about the "windows compatibility layers" that are out there. For as long as I have been using Linux I am still unable to get Quicken to work on my computer running Ubuntu and WINE. I realize that I may not have used linux all that long, and I am sure that WINE developers are doing the best that they can. But, alas, I am still without my favorite financial package. Which is, by default, why I still have a windows machine laying around. I can do just about everything on could possibly do on linux that one could do on other consumer based operating systems. I can get on the internet and perform real life work on it. I can write documents in .doc, .xls, .ppt formats about as seamlessly as one could on a windows machine for, might I add, LESS than a fraction of the price. I can get on my financial package on my linux machine and check the balance through the internet....no, not yet. This is the kicker for me, I do not fault the open source community for this as I stated earlier they are doing the best that they can. But, this is typical open source thinking. Let's make an open source alternative to consumer products and people will start using open source alternatives by they hundreds. Let's face it, typical new users of linux which are mostly Ubuntu users come from a windows environment. That is no secret. But, I see a good chunk of those users "try out" Ubuntu but leave to go back to windows because of compatibility issues or they need to run specific software that does not run on linux. This saddens me. You see, if software companies had the vision of companies like Dell, who see a market in the open source community. Then they might offer not an alternative to windows applications, but the real deal package that does what you expect it to do as if you never left windows. It is a new way of thinking to be sure versus the "let's make and alternative version" school of thought. Don't get me wrong, there are open source packages that are as good if not better than their consumer software cousins. GIMP for example, Firefox for another. Scattered among those are a smattering of sound and vidieo packages that rivals any $1500 software application you could put on windows. Still, I think there is a market for popular windows applications being ported over to linux. Thanks in part to Ubuntu being such a windows user magnet that it is. My last thoughts on this is if Dell is serious about putting linux on a few of their machines, you can bet other companies are thinking the same thing. And furthermore, my prediction is that CNR from Linspire will have a big impact as well. Sorry to end so abruptly, I just had to let out a little steam.