And Consumer are doing a feature on Linux in the future. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Oct 2, 2007 1:21 PM Subject: Open source software and Consumer testing To: ian.mcdonald(a)jandi.co.nz Hi Ian Thanks for the email. We've considered doing Linux and other operating systems for some time. The last time we looked at it, the powers that be decided that it was not worth doing. The reason for this was that in one of our computer surveys, less than 1 percent used a linux based system. However, as I'm sure you're thinking, perhaps less than 1 percent use it because they're simply not aware of the existence of these other options. This is something I'm interested in doing and I've convinced our research manager to let us do it but the timeframe hasn't been determined yet - it will take a little time to do properly. So while you may not see it in the next month, it's certainly something we're going to do. That line certainly wasn't meant to apply to open source software of the type you describe and we should clarify that. There is no doubt that a groundswell is definitely developing towards alternative software. We're certainly not in any way biased towards Microsoft, PCs versus Mac, etc, so don't feel it's an intentional snub at other possibilities. I've just finished an article on office suites which should be online soon. We recommend OpenOffice as well as MS Office 2007. Hope this helps. Best regards Marc Wendelborn Technical Writer Consumers' Institute 39 Webb St Te Aro, Wellington -- Web1: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4/ Web2: http://www.jandi.co.nz Blog: http://iansblog.jandi.co.nz