[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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