SuSE Linux Office Desktop Brings Microsoft Office to Linux

while looking threw the Suse website i saw this and it said it was from today and thought hey, AO should see this. i think its kinda cool:)
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SuSE Linux today annnounced the availability of a desktop Linux product that gives users the full functionality of the Microsoft Office suite of applications.


SuSE Linux Office Desktop, available January 21, is intended for small companies looking for an easy, preconfigured desktop -- as well as for personal users with little or no Linux experience. With SuSE's new desktop, users get the stability and flexibility of Linux while having the full functionality and interoperability of accustomed applications -- users can continue to process Microsoft files in Linux or even install and utilize Office programs on the SuSE desktop.


SuSE Linux Office Desktop combines the technology and user friendliness of SuSE Linux 8.1 with proven tools that facilitate the migration from Windows operating systems and applications. The SuSE system assistant YaST2 (Yet another Setup Tool) automatically detects existing Windows 95/98/ME installations and submits a useful proposal for the reallocation of the existing hard disk space and the Linux software to install. Using the partitioning tool Acronis OS Selector, no technical experience is needed to successfully migrate to Linux without losing any data - even with a preinstalled Windows 2000/XP. Thanks to YaST2, hardware components such as printers, scanners, sound cards, ISDN adapters, and TV cards are detected and configured automatically.


Microsoft Office or StarOffice - Freedom of Choice!


SuSE Linux Office Desktop enables the continued use of existing data: StarOffice 6.0 from Sun Microsystems offers text processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications as well as other office applications for Linux, together with mature filter functions for data exchange from/to various formats.


Codeweavers CrossOver Office 1.3.1 enables the utilization of familiar applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint from MS Office 97/2000 as well as Visio 2000 and other MS applications on the SuSE desktop. For the first time, even IBM Lotus Notes can be utilized on a Linux client.


The user friendly SuSE Linux Office Desktop assistant controls the installation of MS applications, the printer configuration, the management of your own shares, and the integration of network directories.


Users can choose between KDE 3.0.4 and GNOME 2.0 as graphical desktop environment. The comfortable mail clients Evolution and KMail can be utilized with both desktop environments. Thus, SuSE Linux Office Desktop delivers all central tools an office client needs in an office network.


Price and Availability


The new SuSE Linux Office Desktop will be available from January 21 from selected retailers. The recommended retail price of EUR 139.90 for one machine includes detailed documentation and 90 days of installation support.

That is all very true and nice for GUI or office users. But for linux lovers (shell users etc...) suse 8.1 is a nightmare. They have made to many changes to the default linux OS that it sux now. I had 8.1 pro, and went back to 7.3 pro. 7.3 pro, has star office (better than open office) and the filesystems are still the traditional *nix style. SuSE 8.1 does not have Star Office anymore, but only that Open Office. Some people also love yast (yast1), and in suse 8.1 there is only yast2 (which i personally hate).

Now to your topic, the office desktop does sound very tempting, but if its a copy of SuSE 8.1 professional with additional office applications, then like i said above, its nice for secretarys, but not for real linux lovers. Sorry if i came off the subject a bit here.

Cheers gore :)

to me, i think Suse 8.1 professional has both worlds pretty good, they have powerful command line stuff for the UNIX gurus and also a nice GUI for people just starting out, i mean like, Linux is getting closer to being a desktop OS for the masses, i personally think it would be cool if more people used it but alot of people are used to a GUI so they dont go for Linux, iv heard of people actually saying they hate *NIX because its "out of date and hard to use" and i have no idea where they could get that from seeing as how theres more Linux releases in a year than like any other OS, for people that have never tried Linux before a nice GUI is good because they can get familiar with it and then learn more CLI stuff, so for beginners Suse and mandrakeand red hat are usually recommended, you have a good point about real Linux people but also, how are we gunna get more people interested in Linux if they have to sit down and learn a buncha commands? i think more driver support and GUI stuff would help Linux in the market of desktop OSs because in my opinion if Linux had more driver support and GUI than people would actually prolly use it, finding a completly compatible system isnt easy and then having to learn commands when all you had to do on a MAC or in Windows was point and click isnt to appealing to the average user, and to them, reliability and security arent at the top of there worries, so i think it may be to shiny for some people but its helping bring more people into the Linux world so it cant be that aweful :)

Im sorry gore, but i think you missed my point. Im not against any GUI or Office for linux. My earlier post reffered specifically to SuSE 8.0, and 8.1. On Suse 7.3 i also use the gui when browsing or using star office. And the options on the command line on 8.1 are all there, just the files names have changed, and their functions. eg. The /etc/rc.config has been divided into more folders and files. So installing an outside application might need manual guidance to paths. Ahh, yip, thats the word i could not think of before, "PATHS". They are not all traditional *nix anymore. As for the desktop capabilities i agree, its a great thing, and will get more users to use linux systems in the future. Right now i am still on 7.3, since it love it, but for future versions, i might not choose SuSE anymore, since they are becoming Greedy and stingy (the 8.1 dont have those nice stickers in em ;) ), lol, back to the subject. I agree with your point, and i support it. I just wish that SuSE would bring back the old traditional paths. But plain for office users, im sure that SuSE 8.1 is just fine.