Closing Windows 001: Whoa.

[athelind]

Through my college years, I ran Windows because all of the applications that I needed for school would run under it, and there were a few vitally important applications that would only run under it. I disliked the Microsoft monopoly, and I disliked the ever-more-intrusive "features" they were including with each subsequent "upgrade". I liked the open-source philosophy, but at the time, Linux, BSD, and other open-source OSs were difficult to install. Applications were few and far between, and their compatability with The Stuff I Had To Use was questionable at best.

After I graduated, my first couple of jobs involved extensions of my college capstone (that's basically a "Bachelor's Thesis", for those who weren't reading this journal back then). I needed MS Office to make sure that my Office-generated documents didn't lose any vital formatting, and I had a legacy copy of the Industry-Standard GIS Software that, again, was a strictly Windows application.

Over the years, OpenOffice became increasingly adept at opening MS Office documents, and more than one open-source GIS package has emerged. The one thing keeping me in Windows was that Industry-Standard GIS Software; map files created in it are notoriously twitchy about migrating even to other copies of the same software.

Well, as I mentioned before, that application has completely given up the ghost.

There is now nothing that I do with this system that I cannot do with Linux.

It's time to seriously look into migrating.

Comments

[araquan.livejournal.com]

Join uuuuuuusss...

[kfops.livejournal.com]

If you can do all that you need, then I say give it a go!

You can always have a dual-boot system for those one or two bothersome applications that you just can't find good replacements for (like Coreldraw in my case).

I'll tell you one thing though; with my new digital SLR camera and digiKam in Linux my workflow and sorting of photos is so much better than it has been in any other OS I've used! I'm quite stoked about it.

[tombfyre.livejournal.com]

I've been looking at the idea of migrating out as well. Its getting near time to get a new PC here. If I can run a Linux box on the thing, and still port over some windows based software that I enjoy, I'll be sitting pretty. :)

[taral.livejournal.com]

There's open-source GIS, too:

http://openlayers.org/
http://www.osgeo.org/

[athelind.livejournal.com]

I've been looking at a LOT of that, yes. It's my main motivation -- if I'm gonna get stuck in a consultant-oriented field, then I want MY choice in software.

[wy.livejournal.com]

GRASS?
http://grass.itc.it/

...

Unfortunately, the de-facto standard is Arc. Not sure how well it runs under Crossoveroffice, though.

Mixed reports, currently from a quick google search.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

GRASS is also on my list to try. I've heard that Quantum GIS is a bit more user-friendly, but I'll go with whatever has Spatial Analyst and 3D Analyst-style functions.

Of course, I'm not limited to just ONE application, am I?

And, yes, Arc is currently the Industry Standard -- but if an employer or client wants me to use Arc, they can damned well PROVIDE it.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

And the Windows machine to run it, too!

[wy.livejournal.com]

You should try it under crossover, at least, though. It's a good thing for migrators. Plus, yes, your employer may want it, but it's also good to maintain proficiency on it on your own.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Well, it's not like it can crash any more often than it does natively under Windows.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Oh, and let's not forget the flaming hoops one has to jump through to BUY ArcGIS, much less the several thousand dollars a license costs.