[seul-edu] Moving away from proprietary (was Re: (Offtopic?) Filemaker Pro on Linux server Problem)

[Doug Loss <dloss@suscom.net>]

I'm forwarding this to seul-edu and advotg because I think the question
needs wider discussion than just the docutg group.

Bill Tihen -- TECHNOLOGY wrote:
> 
> Linux is only the file server.  It has nothing else (at
> this point anyway to do with the files).
> 
> I think what I will do is take a nearly retired Mac and
> use it as a Filemaker Pro server, but still keep the
> files on the Fileserver.
> 
> <complaint-suggestion>
> This seems to be happening more and more to me.  I am
> finding it hard to move away from proprietary software,
> because they seem to push a closed solution.  Our
> accounting database, our main academic database has this
> problem, now our admissions database, and our school
> librarian has decided to go with a proprietary system so
> that they will enter all the records for a certain sum
> of money and I am certainly not going to do this.  Even
> moving away from our word processor has big challenges.
> Do we have a general stragegy for dealing with this?  I
> am not finding it practical to replace all the existing
> stuff.  Is it possible to work on allowing the
> proprietary stuff to work with Linux as if it were a Mac
> or Windows Client?
> </complaint-suggestion>
> 
Well, if you're talking about emulators there's Executor and Basilisk
for Macs, and of course WINE for Windows.  VMware will allow you to run
actual Windows over Linux at a performance hit.

> Quoting Doug Loss <dloss@suscom.net>:
> > Is this a version of Filemaker Pro that runs on Linux,
> or is the Linux
> > box being used as a Samba, NFS, or netatalk file
> server only?  I
> > couldn't find any mention of Filemaker Pro for Linux
> on a quick search.
> > If the Linux box is just a file server, then it's
> probably an issue of
> > the Windows or Mac Filemaker program locking the file
> when it opens it.
> > If the actual database code runs on the Linux box,
> that's a different
> > story.

-- 
Doug Loss                 The difference between the right word and
Data Network Coordinator  the almost right word is the difference
Bloomsburg University     between lightning and a lightning bug.
dloss@bloomu.edu                Mark Twain