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.At that time, Linux supported no robust, full-featured graphicaldesktop suites.Today, Linux supports several desktop suites; several more are under development.Apparently, if rumors are to be believed, even Microsoft is considering adaptingtheir Office desktop suite to run under Linux.Whether or not Linux users canexpect to soon run Microsoft Office for Linux (or whatever name Microsoft mightgive this potential product), Linux users who prefer to avoid other operatingsystems can now do so without compromising their ability to produce first-ratedocuments, spreadsheets, and graphics.This section describes the three most popular desktop applications for Linux: ? Applix Applixware? Corel WordPerfect for Linux? Sun's StarOfficeIn addition, this section briefly describes other desktop options:? Angoss SmartWare? Axene Xclamation? KOffice? Lotus eSuite? Quadratron Cliq? TeXThe final section presents two entirely different approaches to desktop computing:? The VMware virtual platform, which lets you run Windows and Linuxsimultaneously on a single computer? WINE, which lets you run DOS and Windows programs under Linux8.1.1 Applix ApplixwareApplix distributes Applixware, a desktop suite available for a variety of platforms,including Microsoft Windows 9x, Microsoft Windows NT, and several varieties ofUNIX, including Linux.Applixware is commercial software, but much lessexpensive than Microsoft Word.Currently, Applixware for Linux is priced at $99(US); you can purchase it from the Applix web site, http://www.applix.com/.Printdocumentation and support programs are also available, at additional cost.If youprefer to try before buying, you can download a feature-disabled demo version;however, the download is quite large (over 38 MB) and therefore time-consuming(over 3 hours at 28.8 Kbps) unless you have a high-speed connection to theInternet.Applixware includes eight main components:? Words, a WYSIWYG word processor? Spreadsheets, a graphical spreadsheet application? Presents, a presentation graphics application? Graphics, a drawing, charting, and graphics editing application? Mail, an email client? HTML Author, an application for authoring web documents? Data, an application for accessing data held in Oracle, Informix, Sybase, orCA-Ingres databases ? Builder, an application development environment for decision supportsystems8.1.1.1 Running ApplixwareOnce you've installed Applixware, you can run it by starting X and using a terminalwindow to issue the following commands:DISPLAY=localhost:0/opt/applix/applixIf you installed Applixware to a directory other than /opt/applix, you'll need toadapt the second command accordingly.When Applixware starts up, it displays a window containing the Applixware mainmenu, shown in Figure 8.1.From the toolbar of the main menu, you can simplyclick to launch Words, Graphics and Presents, Spreadsheets, Mail, or Data.Alternatively, you can click on the asterisk icon, causing Applixware to display amenu, as shown in Figure 8.2.Figure 8.1: The Applixware main menuFigure 8.2: The Applixware application menuFigure 8.3 shows the Words application.Words includes a spelling checker andsupports document templates, tables, multimedia, and live links to Applixware andthird-party documents.Moreover, it lets you import and export a variety ofdocument formats, including Microsoft Word 2.0, 6.0, 7.0/95, and 97. Figure 8.3: The Words applicationFigure 8.4 shows the Presents application, which lets you create presentations in away that resembles that provided by Microsoft PowerPoint.Presents providesfeatures such as transitions and animation, HTML export, and templates.Itsdrawing tools let you draw lines, curves, and shapes, and perform other operations,such as rotations and fills.Presents can also import and export PowerPointpresentations and a variety of other document types.Although a Linux application, such as Words or Presents, may be able to import aMicrosoft Office document, the application may not be able to handle the full rangeof document and object types that can be embedded in an Office document.Somedocument and object types, for example, require access to a host application thatruns only under Microsoft Windows.Moreover, some Linux applications do not currently support all the styles andoptions of their Office counterparts.For example, if a document uses Microsoft'sVisual Basic for Applications, the document will probably not function correctlyunder Linux.If you plan on moving documents to and from Office, you may want to save yourdocuments in a portable format (such as RTF), rather than a Microsoft proprietaryformat.This will significantly improve the chances that your document will workcorrectly both in Windows and Linux.Figure 8
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