[Novalug] Is Google Chrome going to threaten Linux?

Opus opus@slowlanecafe.com
Wed Jul 8 21:14:33 EDT 2009


Dan Arico wrote:
> On Wednesday 08 July 2009 3:02:36 pm Kevin Cole wrote:
>   
>> On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 13:53, <ethan@757.org> wrote:
>>     
>>> Linux is bad with business apps. Apple is bad with business apps.
>>> Microsoft gives business people what they want (as horrible as we think
>>> they are).
>>>       
>> Wait. You mean business people WANT viruses? ;-)
>>     
>
> It all depends on the business apps you need. If you're talking Quickbooks, 
> you're pretty much stuck with Windoze, but there's no reason you can't run a 
> dedicated machine that never connects to a network or you can run it on a 
> virtual machine running on Linux.
>
> If you're talking about e-mail, web browsing or apps developed in house, why 
> on earth would you not use Linux?
>   
Actually, there are quite a few industry-specific apps that run only on 
Windows. One of my clients is a psychotherapy practice, and they use a 
database application that tracks clients, therapists, cases, insurance, 
and billing, and it interfaces with their accounting software - and it 
only runs on Windows. I've talked to the developer but he's not 
interested in porting it to Linux (or anything else); I don't know if 
his reticence has to do with the fact that it uses Borland's Delphi as 
the database engine (I guess it's still Borland...) Another of my 
clients is a financial institution that, again, uses an 
industry-specific application that runs only on Windows Server using MS 
SQL. Yet another is a tree service that - you guessed it - uses an 
industry-specific application to handle their client database, crew 
scheduling, etc., and interfaces with Quickbooks Pro, which they use for 
accounting. The list goes on.

The point is that almost all businesses - at least those that I've 
worked with - use an industry specific application that makes it easier 
for them to provide the services (all of my clients are small businesses 
that provide a service) for which they get paid. And in my limited 
experience those apps run only on Windows - not because Windows is 
necessarily a better platform, but because it has a large enough 
installed base to make it financially feasible to develop a product that 
can sell for a few hundred to a few thousand dollars and sell enough 
copies to make a profit.

To my mind, this is an area where Java combined with Postgresql could be 
leveraged to create software that would run on all of the major 
platforms. Yes, these apps would run on Windows also, but at least 
they'd give the users a choice if they wanted to move away from Windows...

On the consumer front, there are many, many examples of apps like 
greeting card programs, cookbook programs, etc., and also some online 
type apps like Yoville (on Facebook) that run fine in Firefox on Windows 
with Flash, but just won't run in Firefox on Linux with Flash (don't 
know who to blame for that, but it just doesn't work).

Sorry to have been so long-winded and to have wandered off-topic. I'll 
go back to lurkerville now...

-- 
Andy Anderson 
Salisbury, MD, USA
http://www.slowlanecafe.com

"A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour."  
                                                     - Anonymous




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