[SATLUG] [going OT] Future Of The Internet

[Mike Wallace]

> Just to add some more fodder to this endless thread...
>  While I believe in the stability of Linux I do think that the lack of an
> really really good Office suite is what is truly keeping it from the
> desktop.
> Openoffice is WAY too sluggish because Java is imperfect-- let's not kid
> ourselves about that.

What version of OOo are you using?  I'd agree with the sluggish 
statement if you were talking about version 1.0 or earlier.  However, I 
haven't had any sluggish performance since 1.1 came out.

Java is imperfect?  All languages are "imperfect" in certain respects. 
And Java performance has improved by leaps and bounds over the last 
couple years.  While it may not reach the performance of compiled C you 
wouldn't notice the difference in most programs.

> We need a really good alternative that really, really kicks MS Office in the
> rear- which
> is a hard feat. Office is the one good thing MS has done.

It's only good if you like bloatware and viruses.  All kidding aside, 
Excel is the best of the bunch.  However, almost everything I do in 
Excel I can duplicate in Calc.  Word is very bloated and has very poor 
handling of large documents.  Powerpoint and Impress are about the same. 
  Each has it's own funky behavior in places -- both have potential to 
be greatly improved.  It's been a while since I touched Outlook, but the 
only thing it had going for it was a pretty interface.  I really don't 
believe that OOo needs an email application as a part of the suite since 
there's already a plethora of good email clients (e.g. Thunderbird, 
Evolution).

Where OOo falls behind office is that there isn't any project managament 
app (Project) or any kind of diagramming app (Visio).  Yes, MrProject 
and Dia exist and sort of fill in this gap, but both programs are rather 
bare bones and don't have many of the useful features found in the 
Microsoft versions.  If versions of these two programs existed, I could 
completely separate myself from MS-Office.

Of course, all of us have different requirements for what our software 
needs to do for us.  YMMV, but for me Project and Visio are the only 
things lacking.

-Mike