539 lines
11 KiB
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539 lines
11 KiB
HTML
<HTML
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>The State of Linux – What to Expect</TITLE
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><H1
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><A
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NAME="AEN514"
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>15. The State of Linux – What to Expect</A
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></H1
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><P
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>Programmers and Enthusiasts – For programmers Linux is already a
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near perfect solution. No other system gives so offers you a wider array of
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tools and platforms for development. The flexibility is simply amazing and
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it doesn't carry a price tag. An added benefit is the sense of community and
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that's priceless.</P
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><P
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>Enthusiasts never had it so good. There is aways something new to
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discover and since the system is totally transparent your chances of
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understanding computing and programming in general – you will be
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interested if you aren't already – are infinitely higher than in
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Windows. Tinkering will never be the same again.</P
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><P
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>For the home user – There are <TT
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CLASS="LITERAL"
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>5</TT
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> separate
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areas here, the internet,
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gaming, basic word processing, administration and multimedia. We aren't
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going to talk about ease of use here because the days of an ugly and
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unwieldy interface are long gone, at the moment as far as usability and
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sheer visual pizazz is concerned <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Gnome</SPAN
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> has
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taken the pants off Windows so
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there is nothing to worry about there. File management, installing and
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uninstalling software and basic administration are more streamlined and
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centralized and as you use Linux more you probably will get over any
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prejudice toward the command line which is nothing like the impotent
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<SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>DOS</SPAN
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> prompt. This is an outrageously powerful shell that
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will accomplish anything
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you can think off faster than it takes you to select a button. You might be
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intimidated at first but its the heart of Linux the control centre, the
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headquarters, your direct line to the kernel. Hardware configuration is not
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as simple as in Windows mostly because plug and play has complicated things
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not eased them but it's not difficult either, the best thing to do is set
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your <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>BIOS</SPAN
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> to <EM
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>non pnp</EM
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> so that it
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can configure things especially the sound
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card, but <EM
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>read read read</EM
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>. There is a lot
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of documentation on your system and with that behind you everything
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becomes simple. There is no excuse for ignorance.</P
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN525"
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>15.1. The Specifics – Wordprocessing</A
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></H2
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><P
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><SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Corel WordPerfect</SPAN
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> is good but for the
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simplest solution try <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Abiword</SPAN
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> –
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<A
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HREF="http://www.abisource.com/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://www.abisource.com/</A
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>. It's good
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and bears an uncanny resemblance to <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>MSWord</SPAN
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>
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– now now. Both are free and
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widely available – I don't know about
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Wordperfect 9</SPAN
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> , <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>8</SPAN
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>
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is free, good and available. Other options are
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Applixware</SPAN
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> and <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Star
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Office</SPAN
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>. I haven't used <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Applix</SPAN
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>
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but <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Star Office</SPAN
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> is really ugly and slow and
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just the sort of software that could put you off Linux and its just as
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bad in Windows. Version 5.1 was tolerable but after Sun took it over its
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deteriorated and version 5.2 is the pits. Plain text and html editors are
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sprouting by the day. Most distribution carry a lot of software so
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look. I'm not much of a spreadsheet person but there is
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GNUmeric</SPAN
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> which is
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not unlike <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Excel</SPAN
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> and a glaring inadequacy in
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printing is now rectified. It looks good. Corel have ported nearly all
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their apps and they are not as expensive as their Windows counterparts
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and with the same functionality.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN540"
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>15.2. Multimedia</A
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></H2
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><P
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>This is one area where Linux will not be found wanting. There are
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as many if not more <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>mp3</SPAN
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> players than Windows. The
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most common is <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>XMMS</SPAN
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>, is somewhat like
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Winamp</SPAN
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> and just as good – has some
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great visualization plugins. Other <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>mp3</SPAN
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> players are
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Gqmpeg</SPAN
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>, <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Freeamp</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Alsaplayer</SPAN
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>. That's enough
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for me. <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>Mpeg1</SPAN
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> <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>vcd</SPAN
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> players are a
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bit scarce, <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>MTV</SPAN
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> is good and available –
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<A
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HREF="hteztp://www.mtvplayer.com/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>hteztp://www.mtvplayer.com/</A
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> free for personal
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use – a totally free solution is available from lokigames –
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<A
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HREF="http://www.lokigames.com/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://www.lokigames.com/</A
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> There are
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more. There are a few <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>mp2</SPAN
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> players
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>movie</SPAN
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> is good. I' don't have a <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>dvd</SPAN
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>
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player so I don't know but <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Xmovie</SPAN
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> should
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tackle <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>mpeg2</SPAN
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> streams. Most of my
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<SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>mpeg1</SPAN
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> players are <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>GL</SPAN
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> accelerated
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and perhaps my vcd playsback as well as
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Windows Media Player</SPAN
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>. Ripping is a reality
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with a lot of options <20> no more <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>ASPI</SPAN
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> headaches
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– most of the Linux apps read digital data directly from
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the discs and all the popular codecs are available;
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Xing</SPAN
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>, <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Fraunhofer</SPAN
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> but I
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use <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Blade</SPAN
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> and <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Lame</SPAN
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>
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– two excellent freeware encoders avalible for all
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platforms. There are also a couple of tools for cdwriting. Check some of
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the Linux archives.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN568"
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>15.3. Internet</A
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></H2
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><P
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>Again things are really happening here though one wishes there
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were a few more browsers other than <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Netscape</SPAN
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>
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but then <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Netcape</SPAN
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> is adequate. There are all
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the other stuff you will find for Windows, chat utils, instant
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messaging, ftp, downLoaders etc.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN573"
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>15.4. Games</A
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></H2
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><P
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>The problem area is games, there is a project on to port
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popular games to Linux by Lokigames and they have a number of titles
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ready –
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<A
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HREF="http://www.lokigames.com/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://www.lokigames.com/</A
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> –
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Quake</SPAN
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>
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2&3 are out, <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>System Shock</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Heavygear</SPAN
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> etc. The thing here is to make
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sure you have at least <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Xfree 4.01</SPAN
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> and support
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for your video card.</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><H2
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CLASS="SECT2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN581"
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>15.5. Desktop Publishing</A
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></H2
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><P
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>That leaves us with <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>DTP</SPAN
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> and this is one area
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where Linux could pound Windows but the thrust has been missing. Linux could
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really be optimized for
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<SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>DTP</SPAN
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>. <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Ghostscript</SPAN
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> - a
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PostScript RIP – already
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offers a professional (if you know how) solution for printing and your
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printer is probably supported. If you already have a postscript
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printer there is no problem to start with. For image editing there is
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Gimp</SPAN
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>. It is nearly as good as
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Photoshop</SPAN
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> – and
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that's some compliment –
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but for lack of <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
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>CMYK</SPAN
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> and colour management support
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ruling it out of
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serious print work but it can be a good semi-professional solution and
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for web work perfect and it's fun to
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use. <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Gimp</SPAN
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> also has a couple of
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good drivers for Epson printers. <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Ghostscript</SPAN
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>
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has a problem with bitmaps – not all bitmaps but photographs, you
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could eventually get some good output but it will take some amount of
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tweaking. As far as text and vector graphics is concerned it's good
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enough to replace my Epson driver in Windows (it has a Windows
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version) <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>GhostScript</SPAN
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> is available at its
|
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homepage <A
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HREF="http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/</A
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>
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</P
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><P
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>Word processing is already covered. The problem areas are
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vector editing and page layout. <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Framemaker</SPAN
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>
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for Linux is a solution and <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>CorelDraw</SPAN
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> is
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available but they are both commercial offerings. There are
|
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vector editors but all are at a nascent stage.
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Sketch</SPAN
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>,
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Killustrator</SPAN
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> and
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Impress</SPAN
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> are coming along but far away from
|
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professional solutions like
|
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Draw</SPAN
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> and
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Adobe Illustrator</SPAN
|
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>. For page layout there is
|
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
|
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>Tex</SPAN
|
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> but those used
|
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to <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
|
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>Pagemaker</SPAN
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>,
|
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<SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>Quark</SPAN
|
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> or <SPAN
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CLASS="APPLICATION"
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>InDesign</SPAN
|
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>
|
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are not going to be amused, its tough to
|
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learn and difficult to control and there are way too many issues with
|
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things like fonts and its not <SPAN
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CLASS="ACRONYM"
|
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>wysiwyg</SPAN
|
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> – we
|
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can't live without that.</P
|
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><P
|
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>On a last note at the moment the only difference in
|
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productivity for me is in vector graphics, page layout and games. They
|
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are perhaps a year away at which point Linux would have over taken
|
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Windows – at least as far as I'm concerned – and I would
|
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have little reason to dual boot but I think having Windows is in a odd
|
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way comforting as is having Linux, perhaps I will always use them
|
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both.</P
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></DIV
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|
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><TD
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>Tips and Suggestions</TD
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><TD
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