Help With The Plunge

[amethystdragon]

For years I have toiled with the idea of whether or not to switch over to a Linux OS.

The only things stopping me know is a lack on knowledge on how to get certain programs to work with wine (MS Office 2007, Maple Story Global).

The dependency on MS based applications is deplorable yes I know, however the corporate world is all MS (sucks don’t it). I need office for the programs OneNote (haven’t found a suitable note taking program) and access (needs to be compatible to do databases).

The last of which is the game Maple story which I have not found anything on (not for a lack of trying).

Any help would be welcome and I hope to be able to switch to Ubuntu by the summer if not sooner.

[chewearn]

Have you at least play around in dual boot, or with ubuntu in a second PC? You don't have to switch over cold turkey, but gradually, like I did.

[uberlube]

1) Why use MS Office when you can use OpenOffice
2) All those MMORPGS over the net dont work. Although good ones like WoW do

[Mauler5858]

There are definately open source solutions for what you need. But if you have to run your microsoft stuff you do have the option of running .wine. It seems to run many things on linux fairly well.

[MONODA]

for a note taking application you can try basket notepads it works great and for making diagrams you can use dia. as for maple story and microsoft office, you will most likely need either "crossover office" or "cedega" which are emulators for windows.(they are not free :'()

[jken146]

Dual boot or use a VM if you need to use 2 OSs.

[amethystdragon]

yes i have played arund with ubuntu on a seperate pc and have had issues with the aplicatons i have listed not working.

i need a notetaking program that is free, workes with ubuntu, and has a tablet nterface for notes. i need visio to do network diagrams and access to do ms compatable databases. open office is great but t just doesnt have enough ms compatability to handle a pratical application here(if i cant find one i need ms office )

i was also hoping to get away with ut having to dual bot (too much crossing between oses) and VMware (only aplication that suports Direct X)is $189.

ive also been tring to do dual bot with little success n shrinking my hdd so im going to try and whipe the drive and do a clean install (i think ill triboot)

i like ubuntu and the freeware programs that comes with it but there is just not enough compatibility for a ms corperate world yet which is my issue

(maple story is for fun)

[chewearn]

So, let me try to restate your question; you won't get good definite answers otherwise.

You are looking for:
1. ways to run these programs in ubuntu, or
2. any native ubuntu alternative programs

The programs are:
1. MS-Office - OneNote: need tablet interface
2. MS-Office - Access
3. Maple Story Global
4. MS Visio

Did I missed out anything else?

[amethystdragon]

i am looking for a way to run in ubuntu
1. MS-Office - OneNote: need tablet interface (school notes)
2. MS-Office - Access (catalog)
3. Maple Story Global (what little extra time i have)
4. MS Visio (mapping networks)

(open office is not compatible with these files or id just use that)

[chewearn]

A kind soul just posted about an alternative to OneNote:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=710900