You're all familiar with Microsoft's plan for total world domination, right? Every computer, from server to desktop to notebook to PDA to TV set top box, will run some flavor of Windows. Every application they run will have the same first name: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Access, Microsoft bloody Barney Under the bloody Sea, darling. Getting on the Web? You'll point your Microsoft browser to a Microsoft Web server owned by a Microsoft Partner, managed by Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers, and, Mammon willing, Microsoft will get a share of the payment for every darn banner ad you ignore. Call it Microsoft Everywhere.
Sound depressing? Then try this on for size: Microsoft Nowhere. No Windows crashes, no periodic reboots to recover mysteriously missing memory, no Word macro viruses, no *&#@! paper clip leering and winking when you're trying to get some work done. Instead of Microsoft Office, the un-Microsoft office.
So much for fantasy. To get Microsoft completely out of your life, you'd have to replace all your PCs with Macs, and even then you'd have to deny yourself several of the most popular (and best) Mac applications: Word, Excel, and Internet Explorer. And anyway, there's no rational business argument for creating a Microsoft-free environment, unless you own as much Oracle stock as Larry Ellison.
But this no-Microsoft office fantasy still raises some practical questions: Are Microsoft's products the best for your business? Would its competitors save you money or help you make more? In this article, I'll take a look at alternatives to Microsoft in eight major categories: desktop operating systems, application suites, e-mail clients/PIMs, databases, Web browsers, HTML editors, handheld computers, and intranet/Web server software. I'm sad to say that in most cases, it's pretty obvious that Microsoft is either the only choice or not a very good one. I'd hoped to find more serious competition from other vendors.
Desktop Operating Systems
If for some reason you were determined to have a Microsoft-free office, the toughest task would be replacing Windows. While there are excellent alternative operating systems for servers, for desktop users the only way to avoid Windows is to buy a Mac instead of a PC--arguably a good idea, but a detailed discussion of the pros and cons is beyond the scope of this article. If you're looking for something other than Windows to run on your PC, the pickings are slim.
Linux. While it's a dandy for network duties, Linux comes up very short on desktop applications. The only popular desktop apps currently available are WordPerfect (just the word processor, not the whole suite) and Netscape Communicator. Smaller fry SuSE sells the Linux Office Suite 99 with Applixware, a Microsoft Works–like package that includes spreadsheet, word processor, presentation graphics, database, and fax programs, and the ability to exchange some documents with Office 97. Ditto Caldera, which markets the similar Star Office suite. You can find other Linux applications listed at www.linux.org/apps/applications.html.
Compared with Windows, Linux's interface is confusing and inconsistent, and many tasks require arcane command-line operations à la DOS. Linux applications can be much harder to install and configure: It took me over an hour to figure out how to install WordPerfect from its CD-ROM. People are working on fixing all these things--Corel, for example, is developing easier installation routines for both the OS and apps--but I estimate that it will be at least two more years before Linux is a practical alternative to Windows for the average user.
BeOS. Be's operating system is in many ways the slickest I've seen. Except for a few rough edges, it's as user-friendly as the Mac OS and as elegantly designed--not surprising given that the company was started by Apple refugee Jean-Louis Gassée. Performance is better than Windows on the same hardware, particularly for real-time audio and video production. Unfortunately, when it comes to applications, it's in even worse shape than Linux (you can find a list at www.be.com/beware). If you're in a media production business, you should definitely check it out, but at this time it's not a practical primary OS for anybody. (You can find more of my thoughts on BeOS at www.lauriston.com/comp-clips/beos3.html).
OS/2 and NextStep. Previously the main would-be competitors against Windows, these OSs have faded from view. The fatal blow to OS/2 on the desktop was the market's embrace of 32-bit Windows apps, which it can't run. NextStep has been reborn as Apple's OS X Advanced Server and may eventually be the foundation for a version of the Mac OS that could run on PCs, but don't hold your breath.
Application Suites
If you forget, for a minute, what everyone else uses, Microsoft Office doesn't seem like a good value when compared to Corel WordPerfect Suite and Lotus SmartSuite. The three companies constantly copy each other's features, so in most respects their suites' capabilities are roughly equal--yet Microsoft Office costs substantially more. On the street, Office sells for around $450, $525 with Access; the Corel and Lotus suites go for around $300, including a database and speech-recognition software with matching headphone-mic rig. Corel and Lotus also offer more competitive site licensing.
So how can Microsoft still charge a steep premium? Well, in the software business, popularity breeds contentment. Office is the most popular suite, so more people know how to use it, so it's easier to find employees or temps with the necessary experience. Since Office is so popular, buying it is a safe decision. If you choose Corel or Lotus and have problems, your boss or employees might blame you rather than the software--especially since Microsoft has consistently beaten Corel and Lotus in computer-magazine suite comparisons. None of these are very substantial arguments, though, since millions of people and tens of thousands of businesses use the Corel and Lotus suites.
The incompatible file formats used by the three suites also work to Microsoft's favor. You can import Word 97 files into WordPerfect or Word Pro (and save in Word 95), or Excel files into 1-2-3 or Quattro Pro, but the conversion isn't always exact, which can lead to problems. Many of the editors I work with use Word's revision marks when revising my drafts, then return the marked-up Word file to me. Word Perfect and Word Pro both have excellent revision tracking features, but neither displays Word's revision marks correctly, so I have no choice but to use Word.
Whether you encounter such problems will depend on exactly what mix of features you use, how complex your documents are, and with whom you swap them--say, clients. Many businesses choose Office in hopes of avoiding such problems, although ironically, exchanging files between different releases of Office is sometimes just as problematic.
The bottom line is that if you don't need to worry about importing files from Office apps, SmartSuite and WordPerfect Suite will save you money. Don't just take my word for it. You can check out SmartSuite without spending a dime: Fill out a form on Lotus' Web site (www.lotus.com/rw/direct.nsf/ss97cd), and the company will send you a CD with a 30-day trial version. Corel will send you a similar CD of WordPerfect Suite for $6 shipping (www.corel.com/freebies/trialoffers.htm).
If your computing needs are modest, AppleWorks 5.0 (formerly ClarisWorks) provides an even cheaper alternative to Office. This integrated package includes a word processor, spreadsheet, data manager, equation editor, painting and drawing tools, and even a page layout tool for desktop publishing jobs, all for $99. A free trial version is a 4MB download from www.apple.com/appleworks/free.html.
It seems like the application suites have almost killed off the separate word processing and spreadsheet markets. Excluding the programs in the suites (which you can buy separately if you wish), I found only one Windows word processing program for sale anywhere and no other Windows spreadsheets.
That word processor is Yeah Write, an extremely cool program that's about as alternative as it gets. The program is nothing like a conventional word processor--it works more like a database program. You pick one of several forms (letters, memos, faxes, and so on), fill in fields in a data-entry form, and the program generates the document automatically. Documents are stored in a built-in filing system, which is set up to make it easy for several users to share the program. The only bummer is that Yeah Write cannot import Word or Rich Text (RTF) files--only ASCII text and WordPerfect 5.1 documents. You can download a 1MB freeware version from www.wordplace.com; a $19 full version adds some additional forms, envelope printing, and the ability to send e-mail directly from the program. Check it out.
Suites haven't quite killed off the market for presentation–cum–slide show programs, but things are heading that way. Adobe (née Aldus) Presentations is gone. The venerable Harvard Graphics, once the king of the category, is still around, but has fallen behind PowerPoint and its counterparts in the Lotus and Corel suites (Freelance Graphics and Corel Presentations). The only stand-alone presentation program that retains much of a following is Astound, which reportedly has superior special effects and animation capabilities and can import PowerPoint files. It should be superior, to justify the $209 price tag. There's no free trial version, but you can download various self- running demos at astoundinc.com.
E-Mail Clients and PIMs
Microsoft makes two e-mail programs, which are easy to confuse since they have nearly identical names. Outlook is a full-featured e-mail and schedule program that comes with Microsoft Office; Outlook Express is a simple, e-mail–only program that comes with Windows 98 and is also available as a free download from Microsoft's Web site.
Outlook Express is the most limited of currently popular e-mail programs, so if you're using it, I strongly recommend that you consider switching to something else. Eudora Light, Pegasus Mail, and the Messenger module of Netscape Navigator are all free and provide better message management and filtering tools than Outlook Express. Eudora Pro ($39 and up) is another good choice, though I'm not sure it has enough advantages over Pegasus Mail to justify the cost.
Outlook's e-mail capabilities are good, but I find its tight integration with other Office apps, particularly Word, too much of a security risk. I've read reliable reports of several Word macro viruses (such as ANTIMARC.A) using the e-mail link to propagate themselves by mailing infected Word documents to random address book entries. If you choose to use Word as your e-mail editor, simply reading a message with an infected Word document attached can infect your system (a real-world implementation of the "Good Times" hoax). Given the choice, I'd stick with an e-mail program that doesn't provide macro hackers with such temptations. If you do use Outlook, install a good antivirus utility, turn on all of its active scanning options, and update it regularly.
Outlook also serves as a personal information manager to store names, addresses, phone numbers, a to-do list, and the like. For such tasks it's more than adequate for most people, though it's more confusing than competing products, such as Sidekick or Lotus Organizer. (Organizer is part of Smart Suite, but also sold separately. You can get a free, 45-day trial version at www.lotus.com/home.nsf/tabs/organizer or by calling 800/872-3387 ext. E441). If you need to manage lots of sales leads or track expenses, you should consider a full-fledged contact manager such as ACT or GoldMine (30-day trial versions from shop.symantec.com/trialware and www.goldminesw.com/html/download.htm).
Databases
Microsoft Access has something of a split personality. Whether you see it as Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde depends largely on who you are.
If you're a professional developer, Access is a powerful tool that, while not perfect, is clearly the best of the Windows database programs out there. I can't remember the last time I heard a developer mention working in Paradox or any of the other programs that were popular before Access, or the last time I read a comparative review in which Access didn't come out on top. There are lots of niche database programs for special purposes, such as Web servers and "data mining," but for general business use, Access seems to be the tool of choice these days. It's reasonably priced, too: The basic version costs only $109 if you already own Office, and the Access Developer's toolkit, which includes an unlimited runtime license, costs only $500. (The runtime license lets you create applications that can run on PCs without Access installed.)
On the other hand, if you're just an average user trying to organize some information, Access' initially friendly face can turn demonic as the program leads you ever deeper into a labyrinth of cryptic dialog boxes and incomprehensible property settings. Every time I've tried to use the program, I reach a point where something that seems like it should work doesn't, and neither the manual nor the online help provide the necessary information. While Access tech support has always been able to solve these problems, the fixes invariably involve entering a seemingly arbitrary number into an obscure field of one of Access's innumerable property dialogs, which means I don't learn anything from the experience to help me out of similar jams in the future.
Access also has two big problems as an enterprise database. First, it only runs on NT, so it can scale up only as far as NT, which is not nearly as far as Unix, AS/400, and VMS. Second, it's not distributed, so you can't cluster multiple database servers for big projects or link multiple databases into a single system. In this scenario, an SQL database probably makes more sense.
If you're not worried about global database access or programmer issues, FileMaker Pro makes a lot more sense. It's genuinely easy to use, and everything you need to know, from basic concepts to advanced programming tasks, is clearly explained in the manual. (Access' documentation jumps from basic concepts to advanced features without actually explaining what you need to know to master the program.) FileMaker makes it easy to throw together a database on the fly when you need to organize some data, then modify, expand, and polish it as you go along, without having to worry about painting yourself into a corner.
We're not just talking about prefab templates. For a simple database, you just name the fields you want, using dialog boxes to indicate what kind of data each contains and setting any validation options (like "must be unique") or calculations. FileMaker handles most of the rest of the work, hiding the more complicated details. It will create various useful forms automatically--single-page data entry, columnar reports, labels, form letters, and more. You can run queries, enter data, and generate reports, all from the same form.
FileMaker's built-in networking allows multiple users on your network to access the same database at once. It also has security features so that, for example, everybody might be able to browse a database while only selected people could add, delete, or edit records; or fields containing sensitive data, such as salary information, might be blanked out except for authorized users. It even has a built-in Web server, so you can put a database on your intranet or the Inter net, with little or no additional work.
FileMaker does have some major technical limitations. While it supports relational links, it's not up to jobs requiring multiple tables, such as an inventory system. To generate an invoice, you need separate tables for customers, parts, inventory, price lists, ZIP codes, shipping rates, and so on. You could build that in FileMaker, but you'd be working in the dark. Access' ability to display and, to some extent, modify the database structure (fields, tables, keys, links) graphically makes it a lot easier to troubleshoot and fix problems. FileMaker lacks this graphical overview, but I don't find that a practical limitation, since I've never designed a database that complicated without screwing it up. If you're in the same boat, why not give FileMaker a try? You can download a free, 60-day trial version from www.filemaker.com/products/trialsoftware.html.
Web Browsers
I have big problems with the way Microsoft designed Internet Explorer 4.0. I don't want an operating system upgrade disguised as a Web browser. I don't want my Web browser integrated with my desktop or file manager. I don't want the performance hit IE imposes even when the browser's not loaded. For security reasons, I don't want Java or ActiveX enabled, and when I switch them on temporarily by selecting IE's "low" security level, I don't want them to be left on even after I switch back to "custom."
My other argument against IE is essentially political. Microsoft seems to be engaging in a bait-and-switch policy vis-à-vis Internet standards. It adds Java support to IE, but departs from the standard, so some applets created with Microsoft Java development tools may run only in IE. It promotes Front Page as an HTML editor but adds features that depend on proprietary code supported only by IE. Call me paranoid, but it seems obvious to me that Microsoft's trying to gain control of Internet standards and use them to shut out the competition, just as "integrating" IE with Windows shut out Netscape. The best way to resist this is to use somebody else's browser.
Unfortunately, Netscape Communicator is not much better. The company's not trying to take over the Internet the way Microsoft is, but Communicator is still a buggy, bloated memory hog with multimedia baggage that I don't want or need. One solution is to forgo Communicator and just download the latest stand-alone Navigator program.
Better yet, switch to Opera. It's small (only 2MB to 4MB when installed), fast, efficient, and supports only approved, official HTML code, along with JavaScript, SSL, cascading style sheets, major Navigator plug-ins, and other contemporary Web features. I had several odd problems when I first started using Opera, and the company's e-mail tech support solved all of them. In contrast, I've never gotten a response to the e-mail I've sent to Netscape about problems with its browsers. Unlike the Big Two, Opera isn't free: After a 30-day evaluation period, the program disables itself until you pay the $35 registration fee.
HTML Editors
May I be blunt? FrontPage is evil. Although Microsoft markets it as a graphical HTML editor (that is, a program that lets you create Web sites without programming), some of the program's features don't use HTML at all. Instead, they use proprietary code that works only in Microsoft's Web browser. That wouldn't be so bad if Microsoft clearly identified those features and let you disable them en masse. But it doesn't. If you want to create Web pages with FrontPage that you know for sure are readable by Netscape, Opera, and other non-Microsoft browsers, you must remember which features don't work and avoid them.
Who needs that? There are at least three sub-$100 graphical editors that are generally comparable to FrontPage and produce clean HTML: Adobe PageMill, SoftQuad HotMetal Pro, and Symantec Visual Page. If you ask me, PageMill is by far the easiest of the bunch.
But that's just my opinion--there are free, 30-day evaluation versions of PageMill, HotMetal Pro, and Visual Page at www.adobe.com/prodindex/pagemill, www.softquad.com/enter.html, and symantec.com/vpage. You might also consider Macromedia Dream weaver and NetObjects Fusion, which cost about $200 more but are well worth the price. Dreamweaver is widely regarded as generating the purest HTML code, and Fusion claims to handle more complex tasks, such as database access and e-commerce, without programming. You can download demos at www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver and netobjects.com/products/html/nf4.html, respectively.
Handheld Computers
Despite heavy promotion of its Windows CE operating system, Microsoft is still an also-ran in the handheld market. The 800-pound gorilla is the PalmPilot line of handhelds from Palm Computing, a.k.a. 3Com. (Due to a trademark lawsuit brought about by a certain pen company, 3Com has dropped the "Pilot" from newer models' names. Note that several models are sold by IBM under the WorkPad name.)
The PalmPilot's success isn't hard to understand. Unlike most Windows CE devices or Apple's late Newton, it's small enough (4.7 by 3.2 by 0.7 inches, 6 ounces) to fit comfortably in a shirt pocket, and it can run for weeks on a pair of AAA batteries. Instead of the tiny, hard-to-navigate keypads used by Casio and Sharp electronic organizers, the Palm relies on a pen interface--and, after a little practice, it can reliably recognize what you write.
The Palm line comes with all the software most people need when away from their PCs--address book, calendar, to-do list, expense tracker, calculator, and memo scratchpad. There's also a growing number of third-party applications, including games, travel guides, currency converters, expense trackers, special calculators, e-mail, browsers, and astrological charts. To synchronize data between your Palm and a desktop-bound PC application, you just drop the unit in its recharging cradle and push a button. You can use a Palm with most popular PIMs, contact managers, or group schedulers. Windows CE is playing catch-up with the Palm, offering maybe half the applications Palm users can choose from.
Of course, the Palm can't run PC applications, but that's true for all computers of comparable size. Although Microsoft calls Windows CE devices "palm-sized PCs," they only run those applications specifically written for CE. The smallest genuine PC on the market is the HP 200LX (6.3 by 3.4 by 1 inches, 11 ounces), but it runs only DOS. The smallest real Windows PC to date is the Toshiba Libretto 110T (5.3 by 8.0 by 1.6 inches, 2.3 pounds).
Given the Palm's current advantages, buying a Windows CE handheld seems a mistake. Microsoft has been promoting CE for niche markets where Palm isn't established, like "dashboard PCs" for your car. Identifying previously unimagined niches, though, is the traditional face-saving strategy when your OS bombs in its target market. For now, the Palm line is the choice for handheld computing.
Intranet, Web, and Mail Servers
Network server software is another market where Microsoft faces stiff competition. In fact, the company got serious about LANs and intranets only in the last few years, and despite its ample market share, it's still very much a technological follower.
Until about 1995, the typical business LAN was a hodgepodge of proprietary software. The server ran a proprietary network operating system (usually Novell's NetWare) and communicated with client PCs using the network OS's proprietary protocols. In-house e-mail was provided by various vendors (usually Lotus or WordPerfect). If you wanted to exchange e-mail with other LANs or online services, that typically meant setting up a dedicated "gateway" server, which usually involved bringing in an outside company. Providing dial-in access for remote employees, access to a minicomputer or mainframe, or linking two servers running different OSs meant more gateway servers and more vendors.
Meanwhile, in academic computer science circles, people mostly used Unix. Since these folks typically worked collaboratively, shared the results of their work, and were linked by the Internet, over time they evolved a set of free, open network standards, which in recent years have largely supplanted the proprietary hodgepodge of PC LAN software. The proprietary LAN became the open intranet, built on standard universal Internet protocols. Universal support for TCP/IP practically eliminates the need for gateways between LANs, or between LANs and mini/mainframe computers. SMTP, together with POP or IMAP, does the same for e-mail, PPP for dial-in, FTP for file transfer, Telnet and HTML for data, and so on.
With Internet technology as the underlying foundation for office networks, network software vendors can no longer just compete on features. Now the name of the game is cost--which not only includes what you pay up front, but how much you have to spend over the long haul to install, maintain, and support it.
The Intranet Alternative. When it comes to up-front costs, you can't beat Linux: It's free. The $50 to $60 you'll pay for a CD-ROM is just for convenience (you can download Linux for free from the Net) and perhaps some limited installation support. That purchase doesn't put you under license to Red Hat, Caldera, or whoever produced the disc. Install as many copies as you want or hang as many users off a server as you like--you don't owe anybody a dime. In comparison, NT Server 4.0 costs about $600 for the first five users, plus another $30 to $35 per additional user. Ouch. On the plus side, NT drivers are available for a wider range of PC hardware.
Support costs are harder to figure, but Linux may have the edge over NT here as well. Virtually all Linux information is available online for free. In contrast, while Microsoft makes a lot of info available on its Web site, some is distributed only to people who purchase subscriptions to its Developer Network service. Other vital data--such as bug lists and undocumented APIs--is available only to the company's employees. You can get plenty of free advice and hand-holding from other users of either OS online: I think the Linux crowd is friendlier and more helpful, but compare the posts in comp. os.linux.networking with those in comp.os. ms-windows. nt.admin. networking and judge for yourself.
Phone support is where the real money comes in--or, rather, goes out. Microsoft's toll-free phone support for NT Server costs $195 per incident (or $1,695 for a block of 10), and the lines are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Linux support is all over the map: Caldera charges $60 per incident, Red Hat $2,995 for a block of 10, and SuSE's support for its SuSE Linux 6 is currently free for registered users--if you can get through between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday or Thursday. You can also get support for these and other Linux flavors from LinuxCare, which charges about $85 per incident or more, depending on the level of service provided. (There's 24-hour access, seven days a week, callback within one hour, direct access to higher-tier support staff, and so on.)
If I were spending my own money on a server, I'd go with Linux, because of the cost savings, the OS's stability, and because I know the OS will adhere strictly to Internet standards.
Web Servers for Less. But what good is an intranet without an internal Web site? And who do you turn to when that intranet becomes an extranet? Some might turn to Microsoft's IIS Web server, but the free open source Apache Web server--bundled with most Linux distributions--is far more popular and for good reason. It's free, it's extremely reliable, and it performs well. (In fact, Microsoft trusts Hotmail to Apache, not IIS.) There is a Win32 version, but according to the Apache Server Project, "the Win32 port of Apache is not as stable as the Unix version."
If you're running NT Server, you've already paid for IIS. It's capable and performs well, so there's no reason to consider an alternative. You can run competing NT Web servers, such as Netscape's, on NT Workstation, but depending on how many users you have and which version of NT you're running, that may violate Microsoft's software license.
The E-Mail Shuffle. Although Microsoft would like to own the e-mail server market, a little Unix e-mail transport for SMTP mail servers called Sendmail beat the kids from Redmond to the punch by years. This freeware dominates the market, but it can be a pain to configure. Eric Allman, Send mail's original author, started Sendmail, Inc. in 1997 to market and support commercial versions of the product--Sendmail Pro (for Unix/Linux/Solaris) and Sendmail for NT--but they're not cheap. If you're not running Unix already, you'll find NT's native transport facility is plenty.
The Some-Microsoft Office
I guess we'll have to leave the dream of the totally un-Microsoft office to hard-core Mac fanatics. You've gotta have Windows on your desktops. Depending on your business, you may be stuck with Office for your primary business applications. If you've got substantial database needs, your programmers are probably going to be using Access. On the other hand, it looks like there's a good chance that keeping Microsoft off your servers and Web site and using somebody else's e-mail and Web browser might save you money and improve your productivity.
There's one strong argument left to make in favor of an all-Microsoft office: When you buy all your software from one company, you don't have to worry about vendors pointing the finger at each other when something goes wrong. At the moment, Microsoft's the only company that can offer you that kind of deal, but that could change. The most likely candidate at the moment looks like Corel, which, if it ports the rest of its suite to Linux, would be in a position to provide similar one-stop shopping.
© 1999 Robert Lauriston. All rights reserved.
Berkeley-based freelance writer Robert Lauriston (www.lauriston.com) is the editor of The PC Bible, 3rd Edition (Peachpit Press, 1999).
Whatever Happened to NetWare?
NetWare didn't go anywhere--lots of companies still use it, and Novell's still racking up about a billion dollars in sales annually. NetWare's global directory services are a major selling point for large organizations. Microsoft has been promising similar capabilities for years and still hasn't delivered. NetWare's Directory Services let network administrators manage all the passwords, servers, user profiles, and other resources on a worldwide network from any workstation; give users a single log-in name good anywhere on the system; and, optionally, give users the same personal desktops and network settings at any work station on the network. NetWare also has the edge in managing large numbers of printers and print jobs.
For smaller businesses, however, it doesn't make much sense to buy Net Ware, at least if you're not already running it. It's priced in the range of NT Server, but it doesn't include e-mail. It does come with the FastTrack Web server and offers support for LDAP version 3. Novell's also been slow in keeping up with changes in networking. Most notably, it didn't directly support TCP/IP clients until last year.
--RJL
