[ale] petition

[fgz]

> I've come to the conclusion that we need to get the word out. I've heard 
> that the hold out states on the Microsoft trial want Microsoft to port 
> Office to Linux.  I don't know about you, but I don't want Office taking 
> my Linux box down.  I think the proper solution is for Microsoft to 
> publish their file formats.  What do you folks think?  I want to get a 
> petition going.  I've dead serious about this.

Then... don't put it on your Linux box? :)

My initial thought is that simply, if Office was ported over 
to the Linux, it might become a quick (though not necessarily
the best) way to get more people painlessly onto the Linux 
desktop. The 'popular' but misguided perception being 'there 
aren't any killer apps for the Linux desktop' now becomes 
more and more moot when the other side's favorite office 
package is now available as part of the comfort level 
weening process. 

Get them on Linux, let them see for themselves the other
things available, let them discover that Office files will
port over to SO (or whatever it has morphed to now)...
they're now also hooked on THE alternate free OS, 
they dump Office... and the rest is history.

Seriously, why should Linux remain only in the hands of
the 'elite'? <g> This seems one way to get it more 
mainstream, if that's indeed the ultimate goal.

-fgz



---
This message has been sent through the ALE general discussion list.
See http://www.ale.org/mailing-lists.shtml for more info. Problems should be 
sent to listmaster at ale dot org.