Ubuntu: Try II

A few months ago I tried to switch my laptop from Windows XP to Linux. In the end, it didn't work out and I had to repartition the drive. There were a couple of problems with my initial attempt to use Linux @ work.

1) OpenOffice.org is NOT 100% compatible with Miscosoft Word.
2) Microsoft Access
3) SPSS

Regarding #3, I know that SPSS now has versions that work on Linux but it's rather difficult to convince your boss to pay for a new license (over $1000) when they have a Windows license that works just fine. PSPP isn't mature enough yet to really replace SPSS in a heavy use environment and R-CRAN isn't an option since I'm the only one who knows how to use it.

Try II should yield better results. My old laptop still has Windows installed so I can use applications like SPSS and Access via VNC/RDP. As an added benefit I can make one laptop crunch the numbers while I continue to work on my main system. There are days where this results in a real productivity improvement for me.

As I become more familiar with the formatting disagreements between OOo and MS Office, my other problems should resolve on their own.