Upgrading and Repairing Networks

Applications

Unfortunately, if you have a large investment in application software that was written (or compiled) for a Windows platform or NetWare's native servers, you will need to purchase new versions of your existing software or purchase new software. If you have internally developed applications for which you have the source code, you might need to make only minor changes and recompile the source code on a Unix/Linux system. The C language (and its descendants) is the programming language of choice for Unix/Linux, so if your in-house applications were written in C, this task may be somewhat easier.

Many major as well as second-tier server and system manufacturers are now marketing systems that include Linux. As the popularity of Linux continues to grow, many vendors have started to think about producing Linux versions of their products as well as Unix versions. You won't find Microsoft Office there yet, but you will find competing products. If you can use the file conversion capabilities that come with most products of this type, you might find that changing to a new product is not that painful, short of a little user training.

One of the factors helping to fuel the popularity of Linux is Sun's StarOffice, an integrated office suite designed to provide much of the functionality of Microsoft Office at a fraction of the price. With each new release (StarOffice is now at version 8 or above), compatibility with Microsoft Office has improved, and StarOffice now also supports the OASIS OpenDocument format.

StarOffice has an open-source sibling, OpenOffice 2.0. OpenOffice is available as a free download and offers features similar to those in recent versions of StarOffice, including OASIS OpenDocument compatibility.

StarOffice is available for the following platforms:

• Linux (x86)

• Solaris Intel

• Windows 98, 2000 (SP 2 or higher), XP

• Solaris on SPARC

OpenOffice supports the following platforms:

• Linux (x86)

• Solaris Intel

• Windows 98, Me, 2000 (SP 2 or higher), XP, Windows Server 2003

• Solaris on SPARC

• Mac OS X

The applications provided with Sun's StarOffice include the following (* feature is also available in OpenOffice 2.0):

• StarOffice Writer* A professional word processing program

• StarOffice Calc* A spreadsheet

• StarOffice Impress* A graphics presentation program

• StarOffice Draw* A graphics drawing program

• StarOffice Base* A database for the suite

• StarOffice Schedule A scheduling application to keep your appointments in order

• StarOffice Mail An email client

• StarOffice Discussion A news reader program

As you can see, StarOffice offers just about the same applications as Microsoft Office. Because of its price and availability on multiple platforms, you might find integrating Linux into an existing Windows environment to be less costly than you had originally anticipated. Or, if you do have a Linux desktop computer, StarOffice is easier to use than many Unix or Linux utilities that provide similar functionality.

OpenOffice is available in several languages, and you'll even find a version for Windows. So you can run the same office suite for Unix/Linux users as well as for Windows clients on your NetWare network.

If you already have a large investment in Microsoft applications, you can use one of the alternatives to StarOffice or OpenOffice. You can purchase software that emulates Windows and runs some of those applications on a Linux computer.

For example, a company called CodeWeavers (www.codeweavers.com) sells a product called CrossOver Office, available in Standard and Professional editions. A Server edition is available for running office-productivity programs on Linux or Solaris thin clients.

You can download an evaluation copy from its Web site before you decide to make a purchase. If you decide that this product works well on your Linux computers, you'll find that it is very inexpensive: just under $40 for Standard, and just under $70 for Professional. Although CrossOver Office doesn't run every Windows application, CodeWeavers is working to add additional applications. Some of the Windows applications depend on the version of the product you buy. The following applications that were written for Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP using CrossOver Office include:

• Microsoft Word

• Microsoft Excel

• Microsoft Internet Explorer

• Microsoft Visio

• Microsoft PowerPoint (Windows 2000 version only)

• Microsoft Outlook (Windows 2000 version only)

• Microsoft Access (Windows 2000 version only)

In addition, some non-Microsoft products are also supported:

• Adobe Photoshop

• Lotus Notes

• Quicken

At the CodeWeavers Web site you can also find a list of applications that can be run, but may encounter a few bugs. These applications are still under development, however, and support for them will be added in future versions of CrossOver Office.