Re: [tlug] How revolutionary is M2?

[Jonathan Byrne <jq@example.com>]

On Sun, Feb 29, 2004 at 11:29:01AM +0900, Shawn wrote:

>Other than that, it is just convenient to have a browser/email client 
>together

OK, then I have to ask the obvious follow-up question: how is this better
than Mozilla (not being a Mozilla booster, since my browser of choice
is Konqueror, just interested).

>Visually, I just like they layout I have now with it especially with the 
>"pink bunny" skin

Please tell me you're making that up :-)


>up-in-arms-over-using-linux-at-home wife.  It's funny to watch her open 
>open-office and try to drag the link into her mail or copy it so she can 
>paste it there.  I know those are Microsoft tricks and the things she 

I think that may work between Koffice and Kmail.  I'll try to remember
to try it out later on my laptop.  vi is my usual word processor, and
I can tell you that it does't work between there and Kmail :-)  KDE
3.1.5 is really pretty fast and achieves a good degree of integration 
among KDE apps.  KDE 3.2 (not in Debian unstable yet, so I'm keeping my
hands off for now; I've heard others' pain in making the upgrade from
3.1.5 and will just wait, thank you very much :-) will be another big
step forward on that front.

>Evolution is the way to go I suppose at least in term of graphical email 
>clients on linux.)

In KDE 3.2, the various KDE productivity apps and Kmail are all getting
integrated together into one app a la Outlook and Evolution.  I don't
think it's going to be terribly solid (and isn't even fully functional)
in 3.2.0, but as the series progresses this is going to be a really
good thing.  Coupled with the Kolab server, it will result in a Free
alternative to Outlook + Exchange.  That is big.  That is huge.  It's 
the on area where MS products still have a significant advantage.  There
has been simply no Free competition in that area.  If your need business
needs the functionality provided by the Outlook + Exchange suite, you
have a few other proprietary options, such as Bloated Goats + Bloated
Pompano [1], but all are proprietary and expensive.

2004 will probably prove to be the biggest year yet for Free and Open
Source in business.

>M2 can not currently send a digital signature
>is a little quirky and my not actually delete deleted mail

I take it they're fairly early in their beta cycle?  Those are both
fairly serious problems.

>financial documents but I somehow think mutt is a little too much to ask 
>her to do - even thought it may be superior.

Superior always requires the question "Superior for what?"  Mutt is
superior for my needs, but it may well not be superior for what she
does.  We like to think of Linux as being superior to any version of
Windows, and for most/all of us for most/all of our needs, it is.  But
there are certainly people in the world for whom Windows remains 
superior.  My wife, for example.  She neither knows nor wants to know
anything about computers, she just wants to use them as a tool.  As long
as it does what she wants, she doesn't really care what the underlying
hardware or software is, or how it works.  People who are at, and who
wish to remain at, that level shouldn't be using Linux without the
supervision of an experienced user to take care of the system for them.
Of course, we can make the same argument about Windows or even OS X, but
it's more true about *nix than it is about those systems. [2]

There are plenty of people out there who are far better off using Windows
(or a Mac, better still) than Linux, so for them, it remains a superior
platform and will for a long time to come.

Jonathan

[1] Lotus Notes/Lotus Domino

[2] Yes, I know OS X is *nix under the hood, but Apple has sufficiently
well hidden that from the end user who doesn't want to know that for the
purposes of this comparison OS X should not be classified as a Unix.

Jonathan
-- 
gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys ACC46EF9
Key fingerprint = E52E 8153 8F37 74AF C04D  0714 364F 540E ACC4 6EF9
"99 pounds of natural-born goodness, 99 pounds of soul!"

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: Digital signature