[mdlug] IBM plants Linux on the desktop

[Drew]

    Okay, I've opened up both Microsoft Word (albiet an older version) in
Windoze, and simultaniously Open Office Writer in Linux. Now I admit I
don't know everything about these machines that I ought to, but could
someone explain to me *what is the difference* between the two apps that
makes Open Office so "hard" to people used to Microsoft?

    They both have File, Edit, View, Tools, and other menus with Open,
Save, Save-as, Cut, Paste, Copy, and other stuff. They both have format
options for text, a variety of fonts, intalics, bold, underline, et al.
They both use a mousie to point, select, highlight, and move text around
on a window on a screen with multiple windows. Only differences I can
see are the logos and maybe some subtle rearrangement of the menu items.

    What Is The Difference???

    Also tried Microsoft Excel alongside Open Office Calc. Same thing:
both have a matrix of Columns A,B,C,D,... and Rows 1,2,3,4,5...; in
both you enter a formula in a cell and it calculates and displays a
value; etc. Okay, maybe a few not so subtle differences. But how hard
can it be to get used to, or switch back and forth between preceeding
a formula with an equals sign versus the way Excel has you do it?

    I'm with finding employees who *can* deal with Open Office, versus
the ones who "can't".

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  - Drew.