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Post by snoozy on May 20, 2016 15:28:41 GMT
I think open source requires more work than we know. For instance, I tried to use an open source substitute for Word, and while it works fine for certain things, for doing a particular task I need to do for my job (saving foreign scripts side-by-side with the English translation in PDF form), it took so many more steps, that in the end I laid out $50 for a download of Word.
Sometimes, you just need your computer to be the tool you need it to be. Open source requires you to get more into your computer than you may want. Like with a car, you just want to get to the grocery store and back reliably, without having to go all motorhead about it.
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Post by hermitjohn on May 21, 2016 15:38:37 GMT
If you specifically need to use the latest windows software for your job, its probably easier to just have latest windows computer with latest version of windows. After all this is how you make your living, so its economically justifiable.
But as far as a home computer, where you dont want the latest windows built in spyware, for most things there is a linux equivalent of windows software and its not that complicated to use, usually pretty easy. Though I have used linux since win98 era so linux is easier for me than windows anymore. I truly havent used any windows newer than XP and only have that cause it came with cheap used computer I bought when my previous one went to computer heaven.
Saying that, back in April, having procrastinated on taxes, found current TaxAct software (yes you have to buy a new version each year) would no longer work on my XP partition. Needed minimum of Vista for some unknown reason. And tax software which doesnt have a linux version is why I kept an XP partition on my computer.
Took lot extra time and tinkering, but got it working with WINE, the windows translator program (think of it as a windows emulator for linux, though it really isnt). That is rather hit or miss to get right version of linux and right version of WINE, then tweaking WINE. Nobody is making money off doing this for you with open source, so you get to do it yourself. Unless somebody like me has already done it and posts how to do it and what you need to make it work. Oddly I got critisized for doing this everywhere I mentioned it, well except the Puppy Linux forum where this sort of info is appreciated.
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