Creating Excel files on Linux

[Alex Martelli]

Cliff Wells wrote:

>> Yes, poor little innocent IBM.  The same company that till recently was
>> known for a monnolithic culture stangling in neckties and suits.  The
        ...
> Yep, they have been/are a lot of suits.  Nevertheless, they have _always_

You guys must not have had much truck with IBM _Research_ (in the '80s, at 
least: I dunno what's happening there today).  At that time, I choose to 
dress "upper-class Italian-style" (silk suits, silk shirts, subdued silk 
ties, etc), and as a result was originally _shunned_ by my peers at IBM 
Research -- until I proved myself enough of a high-power geek that they 
ascribed my sartorial preferences to a personal quirk and treated me as an 
equal despite my dislike at that time for T-shirts and jeans:-).  


> Besides, I never suggested anything about "poor little" IBM.  Since you
> missed the point, I will expound: I was referring the fact that they are
> 10 times the size of Microsoft (I'm not referring to the nonsense of the
> stock market, but actual employees/revenue, etc) and are investing 1
> billion this year to Linux development and promotion.

Let's hope it's better spent than the larger amounts they once lavished on 
OS/2 &c:-).  The alphaworks site DOES give a lot of hope in that regard, 
despite what some might see as an excessive Java orientation:-).


Alex