“In this release SuSE has worked hard to create a version of their Linux distro that runs MS Office applications, and that is also generally more geared toward ordinary desktop users. This release is based on SuSE 8.1, but contains key additional desktop applications including StarOffice 6.0, and Codeweaver’s CrossOver Office products that let Linux users run Windows programs, albeit older Office 2000 and Office 97 apps, not Office XP.” Read the review at ExtremeTech.
SuSE Linux Office Desktop 8.1
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Any attempts by any of these distros to get MS Access up and running? IIRC, Crossover 1.3 didn’t support this. Access is probably the only app in the office suite for which a clone doesn’t exist for, or at least I don’t know of one. MySQL seems like it would be a bit much for the casual desktop user who just wants a simple GUI to put small databases together with, but maybe I’m wrong?
Competition!! how much are they charging for this? is is less than Xandros?
I think that the Kompany has or had a product that was a GUI designer for My SQL….don’t know id theKompany makes it any more though.
I think you should give mysql a try with a nice graphical frontend. Go to apps.kde.com and search for mysql.
http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysqlcc.html
The mysql control center is something I have not tried but I have heard it is very helpful. There are both linux and windows and other downloads available.
Good luck.
MySQL is nice, but it’s really not a substitue for MS Access. The beauty of Access is that it’s a portable file. If I develop a simple standalone desktop app, I can distribute the program along with the .mdb file to someone who doesn’t have Access installed and they can still use the app. With a MySQL app, the user has to have MySQL installed, or they have to access a centralized server. Sometimes that’s just not what you want. You could use an XML file for portable data storage, but then you don’t have the scalability that a SQL based solution provides.
As far as this SuSe release is concerned, this may be the next logical step towards weening people off of Windows and dependancy on MS Office, but I wonder if it’s really that hard for folks to just switch to OpenOffice. My guess is that 90% of MS Office users only use 10% of its features, so personally I’d like to see SuSe stick with OpenOffice and address some of the more pressing limitaions to widespread Linux acceptance on the desktop. I wish them well regardless though.
Having had to use Access extensively in the past, I can say with at least a little authority, it is the worst database I have ever used. At first it’s MBCS support was not-existant, and then, starting in 2000, it lost a lot of stability. It also doesn’t scale to my needs (not that it was ever supposed to).
That said, I understand how distributing a MySQL project in the same way you do an Access project isn’t really possible.
If distributing a good cross-platform database application is what you want to do, you may want to learn Kylix. Now, this suggestion is purely speculation since I have never so much as seen a screenshot of Kylix, but I have heard that it allows you to write applications against MySQL. In the Windows world, Borland’s integration with Paradox worked very well. I don’t know if they support Paradox on Linux, or if the MySQL support is as clean and integrated as Paradox support is under Windows with Delphi and C++Builder, but it may be something you want to look in to.
Again, I have no experience with Kylix, but I do have experience with Delphi and C++Builder (which I prefer), and both of those products make creating good database applications very easy.
Here’s to hoping that SuSE can hit it big in the office desktop market. That Crossover Office looks great, and it even uses AA-fonts! Amazing.
I can’t hardly wait until this type of solution gains more ground (And at the same time the OpenOffice.org team are able to improve compatability with Microsoft Office [Works fine enough for me]). It’s exactly what Linux needs to gain ground.
“how much are they charging for this?”
let’s see… a quick trip to http://www.suse.com reveals that the SuSE Linux Office Desktop costs $129.
That would be $30 more than Xandros.
It can’t run Office XP!?!? NooooO!
wait… why would i want to run XP? or anything newer than 95?
That said, I understand how distributing a MySQL project in the same way you do an Access project isn’t really possible.
That’s not really the whole point, though it is part of it. The other part of it is having to run MySQL simply for small databases (such as to keep track of your personal CD collection) seems like a bit much. For these kinds of tasks, Access was perfect
Of course, you could keep info such as this in a spreadsheet, but I like databases better.
MySQL is no better a database than Access. If you need power, use PostreSQL. Or Oracle. Or DB2. It’s open source, so you hear people around technie sites rave about it, and it is great, but it’s not much more than Access and it’s not very advanced.
As for Office XP, it’s easy, attractive, and chock full of really neat features (as well as some lame ones), and compatible. StarOffice still chokes on tables.
For me, any distro that doesn’t support Gnome as well as they support KDE is out. I know it’s actually a better environment, but I just abhor the look of KDE, even under Keramak.
As I was never a big fan of Access, I have done quite well with OpenOffice.org, but if someone needs Access doesn’t Star Office have an Access clone? Has anyone checked to see how comparable the two are? One of my friends whom is in the process of switching to Linux asked me about it, but I don’t know. I would appreciate some feedback.
Thanks
Dairus:
I don’t know if this helps, but I found it to be a pretty cool front to MySQL, http://www.dadabik.org/
It has a demo you can try out as well.
Other GUIs are usually geared for administering MySQL, but dadabik was made to actaully use the db (search, update, insert, delete).
However, it is still not the solution or replacement for Access on GNU/Linux as far as usability and features for the average end user. IMHO the forms and reports features on Access are most useful in a small business/office setting.
well that just makes Xandros look that much better 🙂
“My guess is that 90% of MS Office users only use 10% of its features.”
You know what the actual problem is? Every user uses a different 10% of its features, so you still end up needing all features to be able to satisfy all of them. =P
no matter how feature-rich a product may be, it can satisfy some of the users ALL the time, some of the users SOME of the time, but never ALL of the users ALL the time.
comparing features for features between any products is pointless unless they are on a must-have list.