[thelist] would-be linux desktop user

[Aredridel]

> Have you tried Firebird yet? It's an IE killer for certain - I've
> converted a number of experienced internet users to it in the past and
> few have not been instantly hooked. I won't bore the list with the
> usual list of reasons for switching as they are well covered by this
> page:

Firebird is well and good, but you have to test your designs in it. Damn
Microsoft bugs...

> > There are lots of programs that can connect to an MS-SQL database and do
> > basic things like adding tables, but I have yet to see anything that
> > allows access to scheduling, backups, transaction packages, and
> > replication.
> 
> That's the tricky one. Are these things that you need to do with a
> GUI? If so, you're probably out of luck. If you can do them using
> standard SQL statements though there are certainly plenty of packages
> that will let you talk to MS SQL. You could always use something like
> WINE which lets you run many Windows packages on Linux, but I've heard
> it's quite tricky to set up.

It's getting better, especially under distros like PLD that actually put
out a new package for it when there's a new release.

Ari