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Re: [school-discuss] The Windows/Linux equivalency table



On Saturday 20 April 2002 07:46, Lincoln Peters wrote:
> Here's the table of Windows/Linux application equivalencies (posted to
> OS:N on December 31, 2001), plus some updates that were suggested later:

> Application         Windows program       OSS/Linux equivalent(s)
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Word processing:    Microsoft Word        AbiWord, KOffice, StarOffice

<Esc><BS>OpenOffice.org Writer, PatheticWriter, KLyx

> Web browsing:       Internet Explorer     Konqueror, Mozilla, Galeon

, SkipStone, Amaya

> Spreadsheets:       Microsoft Excel       Gnumeric, KOffice, StarOffice

<Esc><BS>OpenOffice.org Calc, SIAG

> Graphics:           Adobe Photoshop       The GIMP

, Kontour, Sketch, GPhoto, Vertex, XFig, Xmorph, Dia, Kivio

> Web design:         Allaire HomeSite      Glimmer

, Screem, BlueFish, Quanta+

> Web sharing:        Microsoft IIS         Apache

, Roxen, Zope, Boa, Tux

> Groupware PIM¹:     Microsoft Outlook     Evolution, PHP Groupware

SamsungContact [not OS AFAIK], Bynari groupware, KDEPIM

> Security:           Fortres               (no extra software needed)

, PortSentry, Nessus, NMap, TcpDump, EtheReal, Prelude

> System updates²:    Windows Update        Red Hat Network, apt-get

, MandrakeUpdate, urpmi

> Slide presentation: Microsoft PowerPoint  KPresenter, StarOffice

<Esc><BS>OpenOffice.org Impress, Egon Animator, MagicPoint, 

Publisher/Layout    Microsoft Publisher   Scribus, KWord
IRC/IM              Messenger             Gabber, EveryBuddy, GAIM, GnomeICU,
                                          KIT, Kopte, LICQ, XChat, KVirc
Remote Access       RAS, PCAnywhere, VNC  OpenSSH, VNC, rdesktop

> 1 Nobody at my school actually uses a groupware PIM, but they should.
> 2 For obvious reasons, my school should regularly update their systems,
>   but nobody ever does.

It's probably very helpful to also show applications (e.g. Mozilla, 
OpenOffice.org, VNC, KDE including Konqueror [Yes!]) that run on both Windows 
and other-including-Linux platforms, the point being that an admin/school 
board then has additional options for transitioning *gradually* or by 
units/areas rather than just en-bloc leap-of-faith all-or-nothing style.

For example, Mozilla currently runs on Windows, Linux-etc and MacOS: this 
reassures administrators that if they switch to a web-based paradigm for 
services, it will be uniformly accessible from all platforms. OpenOffice.org 
runs on Windows, Linux and Solaris only but there is a Mac port underway, so 
uniform corss-platform officing is mostly there and will soon be all there.

> It was later brought up that specifically educational software is not
> yet as widely available on Linux as Windows or Macintosh, but it seems
> to me that some progress has been made there.  However, I don't see any
> Linux products yet that are at the level of Windows games (e.g. "Reader
> Rabbit" and "Carmen Sandiego")

Try the following samples:

    TuxRacer (now avail as a commercial product), FlightGear, Maelstrom (runs
    on Mac and Win too), Frozen-Bubble, Chromium, BZFlag, PySol (runs on Win
    too).

All available as Open Source, and so (tah-daah) all available to be adapted to 
specific educational ends. Try _that_ with a Magic Schoolbus CD-ROM! (-:

> BMan also mentioned that Fortres was broken at his school 3 days after
> it was introduced.  I never said it was any good (I had to break it
> myself once because it was denying everyone access to everything), I
> just said that it is used.

If you *must* use Windows, you can't go past Trojan Defense System, made by a 
WestOzzie and subject to rave reviews worldwide. http://tds.diamondcs.com.au/

Cheers; Leon