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Linux Browsers... Coming Along Nicely
Author: HumanX | Thursday February 06, 2003
Linux has been coming along in huge strides. We are going to talk browsers, email and word processors, because these are the fundamentals that will get Linux into homes around the world. And both are ready for prime time.
Ever since I installed RedHat 8, I have become excited once again with Linux. I am quite frankly a Linux only server user. No question. But since RedHat's latest release I found myself using Linux for just about everything now.
O.K., I admit. I use Microsoft Office. But I am justified through my many years of being forced to use office in the workplace. Like you don't use it. But since the release of Windows XP and Office XP I am finding myself more and more disatissified with Microsoft.
I rely heavily on Photoshop, Dreamweaver and a few other Windows based applications, so it is hard for me to break away from MS. Every operating system has something to offer, everyone has carved a nitch for themselves. Linux, is filling all the voids and stealing all the nitches. Best of all, it is free.
Browser's
Mozilla and Konqueror have been coming along, and to be honest I am amazed with both products. I find them equally good with each having one benefit over the other.
Mozilla www.mozilla.org
One of the features I have liked about the Mozilla browser is the ability to scale the text on the screen from a quick point and click. For those of you who are familiar with Netscape, you would understand why.
As Mozilla has grown, it has become more leniant in its display of websites, so the reliance on the Zoom feature is not as important. But when I am working on my laptop, small screen or am just too tired to look at small text, the Zoom feature is awesome. I have come to love it.
The displays renders fast and the application is pretty quick to load in Linux. Mozilla also sports a full featured email/news reader which supports IMAP,POP and multiple email accounts.
One of the better aspects is that it is cross-platform. Running on everything, and that is just dandy if you ask me.
Konqueror
Konqueror has a beautiful display and it handles fonts really well. It also has the pop-box killer in which you can instruct the application to hault pop-ups or ask before they engage. Nice!
In Redhat, Konqueror takes some time to get going for reason I am not going to get into right now, but once it is loaded, it is fast. Some drawbacks are that it is Limited to Unix/Linux (which is for good reason by the way), and its lack of easy email support.
But if you just want to browse the web, Konqueror is a good choice. By the way, it supports plug-ins.
Openoffice
Openoffice is a terrific free office application which can be download from www.openoffice.org. Openoffice has everything you would expect from a great office application plus it has an awesome Vector drawing program for doing everything from schematics to illustration.
I am documenting one of my products that I am working on and it is going to be a 100 page book when I am complete. I started in Office and was not happy with the way I had to deal with page breaks and chapters. I switched to Writer in openoffice, and that was it, sold. I have basically written off 'Microsoft Office' alltogether for 'Open Office'.
What is the point of this article?
My point is that most people who are using computers at home or at the office (except gamers) using literaly three things. Email - Web - Office Product. You want that in Microsoft Windows these days with the release of XP and it will cost you $500 in software alone, not mentioning the computer.
There has been plenty of arguments as to whether or not Linux is ready for the primetime. I am here to tell you, with RH8 and the applications mentioned in this article, it most certainly is. These are not limitations of what is available, these are commonly used items that people would need to have a comfortable computing experience. My biggest gripe before was cuttting and pasting was a joke, now, it is which browser to use.
Do yourself a favor, go to Sams Club or Walmart and pickup a $300 Linux Box and make your life easy. The systems they are using are fast and problem free. I have used them. I know.
Other Great Linux Apps
Evolution : Email Client / PIM
CDRoast : CDBurning Software.
Ehterreal : If your an admin, this is a killer packet analyzer.
GIMP : The Gimp is as good as Photoshop. But it is honed more for the web then for print. Only Drawback. But the Gimp offers everything that Photoshop does. I would like it if I had the option to run Gimp in full screen instead of multi-window.
Mozilla : Mozilla is great for traditional web design. I do not use it personally, but some people do! :) It does have a fairly good interface for developing small websites.
South Florida
For those of you in South Florida, there is a Linux Users group names FLUX which I attend from time to time. They have guest speakers from different companies as well as tutorial sessions. Linux Users Groups (LUGS) are located around the world. More then likely a lug is near you. Join up and meet new people and learn the power of Linux.
If you have any questions about Linux please feel free to write. Do not ask me how to fix your programs though. If you have general questions regarding your business or home, feel free to write. If you have a company in South Florida, please stress that in the email. My fellow South Floridians get extra special care.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding this article you can contact me a linuxdig@linuxdig.com or from the 'Contact Linuxdig' navigation bar on linuxdig.com. By the way I know there a probably mispellings and grammatical errors, it is 2AM EST and also read my 'About Page'.
HumanX
LinuxDig.Com
Copyright 2003
| DISCUSSION: Linux Browser | | | The Posting Date has expired for this discussion |
Nickname:
HumanX
Email Address:
linuxdig@linuxdig.com
Date:
02.06.2003 02:47:05
| Konqueror Again | | Konqueror Again, I am Konqueror'd out. If you did not know, Apples new browser Safari is based on the same technology as Konqueror. That means the two will be working together to further the browsers development. | | Nickname:
HumanX
Email Address:
linuxdig@linuxdig.com
Date:
02.06.2003 02:18:02
| Forgot To Say | If information about Konqueror was misinterpreted as a bad review, well think again. Konqueror is fanatastic, it is my primary browser when general web serfing.
As far as I know Konqueror will not become a windows based product for the reason that the developers said that basically what would we do that for? We are trying to get people on the Linux Platform, not keep them comfortable on there old platform. Again I am not sure if that is totally accurate but I do seem to recall catching an newsgroup posting regarding this issue. | |
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