Willysnout:
You have many questions, many of them answered in this forum time and again. Search around and you will probably find what you need. However some things to start you off down the road.
First off, and without meaning to piss you off, I don't give a rats for anyone not prepared to open their mind and make an effort. Anyone that tied up in themselves is a waste of space, no matter what subject they may specialise in. Now hopefully that has not pissed you off, you see that statement for what it is.
I suggest a little surfing. The office suite you are talking about is Staroffice, and it was purchased by Sun and is now being sold as a viable contender to M$ office. Here is the point. There are many viable contenders to M$ office, including Lotus and Corel, their problem is that .Doc is a proprietary format to M$ and as such they have to reverse engineer the document to convert it, as M$ refuse to publish this format. However openoffice have done a good job, and that was what was sold to Sun. So check out
www.openoffice.org Try the package out and see what you think, it's free, it's also NOT staroffice, as Openoffice is still under further development. I like staroffice.
Yes you do pick up detritus surfing, and most of it is from IE. Change your browser, this will make an effect that should please you. There are issues with the different browsers, but you can report your bug to the browser makers, and they will take active steps to cure it, although sometimes it's down to the fact that many websites write to M$ code practice, and not to the world wide web standards.
mozillaoperaI recently converted from Windows, still am slowly, but I am at the stage where my next comp will be 100% Linux compatable, and any software manufacturer that refuses to produce for it will not get my business, and tough on them. I find it far more stable, far more user friendly, it's a different way of thinking, that's all. As for virus and firewall issues, yes there are such products, but they are minor requirements, Linux is more secure by default of it's structure at the basic level. Yes you do need more knowledge, you have to understand what happens in a firewall to configure it properly, otherwise someone else is in control of your system, and you HAVE to trust them, but this is true of windows, it's just that people don't think that way, Linux does not let you off the hook because you're ignorant. You wouldn't walk out on a rainy day without protection, you need to learn to use an umberella, likewise with surfing the net, it seems tricky at first, but you soon realise you were letting your fears get in the way.
My suggestion to you is this. There are alternatives to EVERYTHING M$ make. Try them instead. Send e-mail to Quicken asking for Linux versions. Or get a Mac, Quicken write their software for them. If you really are that scared of Linux use Mac, whilst I have issue with them, they do make a quality product that does successfully compete.
It's down to you, we here hate M$, they have stiffled computer development into a backroad, as we see it, and they have committed attrocities along the way including piracy.
Secondly I believe in open source, I believe no company has the right to release closed source code, I believe that it is against my human rights to freedom, I believe it breaks the American constitution, and I have no way of proving they have never stolen code I may have written.
Maybe this helps.
