I would very much enjoy learning from your sophisticated analysis. You have a lot of knowledge to share and discuss. Please don't consider this a rude request, but perhaps you could begin a new thread. I'm just a Linux only bumpkin. And as my original post suggests, I rely on Linux to learn about the far bigger world. Please, open a great new discussion thread. Haudy Kazemi wrote: > There are good open source tools out there...I use several and am > thankful for them. Sometimes they are the best, most flexible tool > available. OTOH, we need to remember that this is not always the case. > > OpenOffice/LibreOffice is a poster child of this situation. It still > does not have a built-in remove duplicates function. Extensions aren't a > reliable solution as they come and go. Remove duplicates is a very easy > to use feature, accessible to users of many skill levels. It is found in > MS Excel and Google Sheets. Yes, there are ways to create similar > functionality via formulas, but nothing as accessible as highlight cells > and click on a 'Remove Duplicates' button. A few web searches show users > were looking for this feature back in 2010, and I am sure it was > requested before that time too. > > From the perspective of advanced spreadsheet users, the lack of > something that works like the Excel Tables functionality is a big gap. > This is a very powerful alternative to traditional Row#-ColumnX > referencing. It allows for easier and more reliable analysis of datasets > by making formulas, references more dynamic than is possible with > traditional RC referencing. It fills a gap between traditional > spreadsheets and databases (spreadsheet formulas and cells provide a > more of a 'visual' way to work with data in contrast to SQL). > > --- > On open-source issues: > > The issue with open-source solutions is not with the underlying > architecture (MacOS, iOS, and Android are all Unix-like under the hood) > or with the philosophy. The issue is with: > > 1.) presentation (UI usability, which includes how performance scales > across various hardware and missing but basic features, and UI > stability, which includes how the system behaves with runaway apps) > > 2.) hardware and accessory compatibility. IMO, this seems to be a > noticeably lesser problem than in the past. Also, many accessory devices > are manageable via browser-based UIs over networks rather than needed > USB connections and matching drivers. > > 3.) Whether discoverable application software is available that can do > *everything* the person regularly did while using the prior solution. > Obscure, nondiscoverable software adds friction. Renaming software > between every distro adds friction. Should users need to relearn the > name of all their common tools for each distro? I have seen browers > renamed, file managers renamed, even calculators renamed. Some things > shouldn't be renamed. > > To get a person to replace an existing solution, the new solution must > be equal or better than the old solution in every way that matters to > that user. Or the person must be willing to accept whatever the > compromises are with changing solutions. > > [I see parallels to how people evaluate moving from a gasoline car to an > all-electric car. Moving to a short-range electric vehicle requires more > compromises than moving to a long range Tesla Model 3 (which has Linux > running its UI), backed by the national Tesla vehicle charging network. > Network effects in real life.] > > --- > On performance: > > My experience with Android is it does a very good job, on par with > Windows, in dealing with processes that become very memory or CPU > hungry. The systems tend to stay responsive (may lag slightly, but > usable), and recoverable (task managers can still be brought up), even > under extreme memory and CPU pressure. I have yet to find a desktop > Linux distro that can do nearly as well. Chrome and Firefox both easily > get into 100% CPU usage and high memory usage situations that I don't > experience on Android or Windows. > > If anyone knows of a distro that does as good as a job at maintaining > resource control and desktop responsiveness under heavy load as Android > or Windows, I would love to hear about it. > > > On Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 16:58 Iznogoud <iznogoud at nobelware.com > <mailto:iznogoud at nobelware.com>> wrote: > > Unfortunately only some bleeding-edge segments of the US government have > embraced Linux (I am thinking 3-4 letter agencies). The mainstrea > rests on > mostly Microsoft products and unfortunately the Windows OS flavours. > I am > guessing that there is a healthy amount of lobbying to keep things > this way. > > The open-source alternatives should be lobbied for in governments, > and the > barrier has to be overcome. It is not just that the responsibility > rests on > the Linux community to make it look and act more like Windows, it is > that > the investment has to be made by people to get out of their comfort zone > and learn new things. So, it is both. Perhaps we can find creative > ways to > reel them in, educate, and make them preach this gospel. Food for > thought. > > Not sure if there is a class in junior-high that is about computers and > includes some aspect of familiarizing kids with non-popular types of > computing. Maybe there should be some command-line work, like when I > grew up. > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org <mailto:tclug-list at mn-linux.org> > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >