The Cellar - View Single Post

mbpark · 08-28-2010, 12:17 PM

UT,

I don't use PPT at work, thank god. I have to use it for class, where every professor has a PPT deck that might have something to do with the next week's quiz (I had one prof cherry-pick words to use for the quizzes). Work involves a lot of Word, Excel, and Access along with Outlook, Exchange, and Oracle Hyperion. The salespeople who come in use Powerpoint, and every last one I've met runs Windows. No OS X yet.

Powerpoint is a royal POS. However, the Open XML format is as encumbering as BIFF, with GUID references instead of straight memory dumps. It's not a solution, just Microsoft using a more modern file format because their own Office software falls down with the older formats more than I care to mention. I admit I use OpenOffice to fix corrupt Word and Excel documents.

I believe that Office sales are down for two reasons. Number one is the fact that it's some of the most pirated SW out there next to Windows itself, and doesn't (I think by design) have the draconian controls on the corporate versions that Windows 7 does. One of the slickest pieces of torrented SW I ever saw was the all in one Office disk that had Office Professional, Visio, and Project on one CD. It was better than the original, and installs more easily apparently. It also doesn't brick your PC like Windows Genuine Advantage did (that was their biggest gaffe I remember, telling 25% of their paying customers their copies were not genuine). The second reason is Google Docs, because many major universities are pushing Google due to the fact that they are giving it away for free or a very low cost (Temple University is completely on GMail for students), and because they are offering it to corporate and private customers cheaply (or free) too. The big issue with Google is privacy, which they admittedly were not prepared for, which also set them back with corporate adoption of their SW.

The version of Quickbooks Online, from what I remember, still has a ton of ActiveX dependencies for Windows, but it does run on OS X really well. It's almost like desktop software. I was able to use TurboTax online for my taxes under Linux years ago (think Red Hat 5.1 days), and it did work really well. The desktop version, which comes with a lot more features, is still huge, bloated, and restricted to OS X and Windows. Intuit will be able to get everything 100% online eventually.

The last time I walked into my local Target, they had a pretty impressive selection of software, parts, and accessories, plus a huge amount of games. Same goes for Best Buy and Walmart (though I admit the one by me in Willow Grove is unbelievably huge). There's still a lot of software that is still sold as shelfware that quietly sells millions of units a year. We're moving away from that, I agree, but if Target, Staples, or Office Depot is devoting the shelf space they are to software, someone's got to be making money from it. I've seen Antivirus, GPS software, educational software, Office add-ons, Office, specialized business software, Roxio's SW, and Print Shop more times than I care to mention, not to mention the throwaway printers that cost less than the ink which require "winprinter" drivers (like the POS HP Laserjet P1006 sitting in my house, not like the HP 1100 next to it that still works really well).

I have a huge amount of Linux devices at work when you count appliances, especially the Avocent smart PDUs, Mergepoint/DSR KVM over IP solutions, and our security appliances. Avocent calls them "firmware updates", as does Palm (WebOS is Linux), and Android. The other vendors just call them "software updates". The person who I have doing Avocent updates doesn't know the first thing about Linux, but she knows how to follow instructions to TFTP the updates to the devices.

All people want is a browser that doesn't suck and works with their stuff. Like I said before, the iDevices are getting a lot of traction, but they're still not 100%. When they are, Citrix will be selling a lot less licenses since they won't need to be delivering IE6 and IE7 to them (admittedly, many of the issues here are crap application code, I'm looking at you, Oracle).

Windows has one thing Linux does not...a huge support network, lots of For Dummies books next to the software in every major store that carries computer accessories, and lots of businesses who will help you with it. Apple has their Apple stores and Best Buy, and Linux you have to search for (Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Amazon for starters).

It's a difficult switch. It's more painful than going from Windows to OS X (which I've also done), or OS X to Windows. No more, no less. Those pesky applications always get in the way.

08-28-2010, 12:17 PM	#2
mbpark Lecturer Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Carmel, Indiana Posts: 761	UT, I don't use PPT at work, thank god. I have to use it for class, where every professor has a PPT deck that might have something to do with the next week's quiz (I had one prof cherry-pick words to use for the quizzes). Work involves a lot of Word, Excel, and Access along with Outlook, Exchange, and Oracle Hyperion. The salespeople who come in use Powerpoint, and every last one I've met runs Windows. No OS X yet. Powerpoint is a royal POS. However, the Open XML format is as encumbering as BIFF, with GUID references instead of straight memory dumps. It's not a solution, just Microsoft using a more modern file format because their own Office software falls down with the older formats more than I care to mention. I admit I use OpenOffice to fix corrupt Word and Excel documents. I believe that Office sales are down for two reasons. Number one is the fact that it's some of the most pirated SW out there next to Windows itself, and doesn't (I think by design) have the draconian controls on the corporate versions that Windows 7 does. One of the slickest pieces of torrented SW I ever saw was the all in one Office disk that had Office Professional, Visio, and Project on one CD. It was better than the original, and installs more easily apparently. It also doesn't brick your PC like Windows Genuine Advantage did (that was their biggest gaffe I remember, telling 25% of their paying customers their copies were not genuine). The second reason is Google Docs, because many major universities are pushing Google due to the fact that they are giving it away for free or a very low cost (Temple University is completely on GMail for students), and because they are offering it to corporate and private customers cheaply (or free) too. The big issue with Google is privacy, which they admittedly were not prepared for, which also set them back with corporate adoption of their SW. The version of Quickbooks Online, from what I remember, still has a ton of ActiveX dependencies for Windows, but it does run on OS X really well. It's almost like desktop software. I was able to use TurboTax online for my taxes under Linux years ago (think Red Hat 5.1 days), and it did work really well. The desktop version, which comes with a lot more features, is still huge, bloated, and restricted to OS X and Windows. Intuit will be able to get everything 100% online eventually. The last time I walked into my local Target, they had a pretty impressive selection of software, parts, and accessories, plus a huge amount of games. Same goes for Best Buy and Walmart (though I admit the one by me in Willow Grove is unbelievably huge). There's still a lot of software that is still sold as shelfware that quietly sells millions of units a year. We're moving away from that, I agree, but if Target, Staples, or Office Depot is devoting the shelf space they are to software, someone's got to be making money from it. I've seen Antivirus, GPS software, educational software, Office add-ons, Office, specialized business software, Roxio's SW, and Print Shop more times than I care to mention, not to mention the throwaway printers that cost less than the ink which require "winprinter" drivers (like the POS HP Laserjet P1006 sitting in my house, not like the HP 1100 next to it that still works really well). I have a huge amount of Linux devices at work when you count appliances, especially the Avocent smart PDUs, Mergepoint/DSR KVM over IP solutions, and our security appliances. Avocent calls them "firmware updates", as does Palm (WebOS is Linux), and Android. The other vendors just call them "software updates". The person who I have doing Avocent updates doesn't know the first thing about Linux, but she knows how to follow instructions to TFTP the updates to the devices. All people want is a browser that doesn't suck and works with their stuff. Like I said before, the iDevices are getting a lot of traction, but they're still not 100%. When they are, Citrix will be selling a lot less licenses since they won't need to be delivering IE6 and IE7 to them (admittedly, many of the issues here are crap application code, I'm looking at you, Oracle). Windows has one thing Linux does not...a huge support network, lots of For Dummies books next to the software in every major store that carries computer accessories, and lots of businesses who will help you with it. Apple has their Apple stores and Best Buy, and Linux you have to search for (Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Amazon for starters). It's a difficult switch. It's more painful than going from Windows to OS X (which I've also done), or OS X to Windows. No more, no less. Those pesky applications always get in the way.