When the pedal hits the metal...

[John Nelson <jnelson lexonia com>]

All,

The current state of Microsoft Windows 98 makes me want to puke.  This
lame excuse for an operating system wedges on me at least twice a day and
no amount of "repair" seems to be able to correct these problems.

So I'm planning to convert all of my office support needs over to Linux
(email, word processing, network access, etc). Any recommendations for
open source packages that accomplish the following?

	o News reading client - I recently picked up Pan.  Are there
	any other packages I should consider?

	o Web Browsers - Well, there's always Navigator, but I also
	noticed a browser called "Galeon" which is based on the
	Gekko engine (pronounced "Mozilla").  I need a means to
	convert my "Favorites" over to something that Linux browsers
	can understand.

	o Mail - Ok this is the big one.  I need not only a great
	mail client but a migration path out of Microsoft Outlook.
	Should be able to handle hyperlinks, attachments, MIME,
	HTML, yadda yadda.  There are a LOT of mail clients to
	choose from though (Balsa, KDE Mail, Postilion, etc) and I don't
	want to screw around with the lame ones before getting to
	the good stuff.

	o Address Book - Sounds simple but this app should be integrated
	with the Mail Client, thus I will be able to maintain names,
	addresses, etc and seamlessly plop the email addresses into mail
	messages.  Again... I need a migration path from Outlook Contacts
	to whatever Linux likes.

My word processing and spreadsheet needs will be fulfilled by Star Office.
Any other "top picks" that will get me out from under Microsoft's reign of
terror for good?

A tall order?  You betcha!  I'm hoping this exercise will be useful to
everyone though.

-- John

______________________________________________________________
John T. Nelson                   Lexonia Internet Services LLC
email: jnelson lexonia com       PO Box 9007
web:   http://www.lexonia.net/   McLean VA, 22102
______________________________________________________________
  
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