Hello: I've enjoyed following the forum for years, but I've kept quiet the last couple years because of my former employment with Corel and involvement with the Java fiasco's. However, this Linux stuff is something where I have to side with Rod Macpherson.
I currently use RedHat Linux. I tried Corel first, and Caldera second. Corel because I used to work for them and Caldera because they are local.
At my current company we use Visual Age for Java. There is a version for Linux, but it does not run on Corel. It runs on Caldera and Redhat. When I first installed the different versions of Linux, neither Corel nor Redhat did a very good job of find the correct hardware -- especially video support for my laptop. The Caldera Linux did a great job. However, the Visual Age did not really install correctly on Caldera. Corel missed a lot of hardware, and took quite a while to get running, and Visual Age crashed when I tried to install it. RedHat was about the same as Corel when it came to recognizing hardware, but once I got it running, there were Binaries everywhere, and everything compiled the first time. Corel crashed on Visual Age, and didn't work on other pre-compiled binaries. I had to recompile everything.
Basically, it boiled down to one issue. Each of the three Linux versions had their strong points and weak points, but everyone supports Redhat. Companies like IBM also support Calera. Nobody really cares about Corel when it comes to custom support of their products -- except Corel. I really wanted to find Corel the best. Then I wanted Calera to be best, but I ended up with RedHat. It just works better because everyone supports it.
They may all be Linux, and it is supposed to be the same when they use the same libraries and front-ends line KDE and GNOME, but the reality is that they are not the same and Corel is not supported as well as the others. I'm sure Corel will make WP Office run on Corel, but Corel has to make sure their products run on RedHat too. OTOH, other companies who make their apps run on RedHat don't have to make them run on Corel!
I just don't see Corel gaining enough momentum to pass over the current major players and take the lead. Awards are nice, but the reality is that I get better software support from RedHat than Corel, and that is not likely to change. |
