Hmm,
Interesting how far this thread has wandered off topic. I'm not
complaining at all, just observing. I find it interesting reading,
giving a perspective from the other side of the globe. Australia has no
international borders, so we don't have the sorts of issues mentioned.
As for those conspiracy theorists, I believe that if they were all true,
then every person in the U.S today must be secretly employed by some
secret branch of government. Watch yourself, it'll be cheaper in the
long run.
Anyway,
About free versus commercial software. I've been using Linux since Red
Hat 6.5. I have always found what I need to do what I wanted by
searching, and sometimes in days gone by, going slowly mad with
unresolvable dependencies.
Recently however, I wanted some software that would be able to manage a
small business. I found there was no free (as in cost) package
available. The commercial ones were written for running gigantic
enterprises, or I could have something for doing domestic accounting.
There's nothing in between. After a fair bit of googling and following
links, it seems the upshot is that accounting is seen, for reasons
unknown, to be a bit dull by software writers. Games, or pet projects in
multimedia and other 'more exciting areas' are much to be preferred.
It seems that for some areas, only the incentive of making a profit is
sufficient motive to get software created. As it stands, I couldn't find
anything that comes close top what I wanted, so I'm stuck having to run
a package made to work with Windows under wine, but it doesn't work
properly because of a problem with mapi resolution. Seems wine only does
simple mapi, and the program calls for extended. (Haven't a clue what
I'm talking about here, just doing it parrot fashion.)
So, I think there's room for everyone under the Linux umbrella. (Or
should that be the penguin's wing?)
And, if anyone knows how to resolve the mapi issue, I'd love to hear.
Clay.
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