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

[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.