As posted to C.O.L.A.
As we promised a few months ago, we're releasing details of the Linux coverage in the next issue of PC Plus magazine a few days before it goes on sale in the UK. The March issue sees the continuation of a strong line up which is set to continue over the months ahead. This month one of the cover CDs which comes with the magazine includes over 400Mb of Linux software. We have the UK exclusive inclusion of Corel's WordPerfect 8 for Linux Personal Edition, which readers have been crying out for. For those who don't know about this package, it is the port by Corel of their powerful word processor which is available for unrestricted personal use for free. The CD includes the executable and all the dictionaries in different languages. On the second CD, you'll also find an MPEG video interview with Michael Cowpland, the CEO of Corel, where he talks exclusively to PC Plus about Corel^Òs involvement with Linux as well as other issues. The other software on the CD addresses the next area on which we have received the most mail, namely window managers. This month we've rounded up a collection for people to install and try. They include AfterStep and KDE, which are release versions. The developers section, which is included each month and contains software which hasn't yet reached v1.0 for those who are happy to run alpha and beta software, contains more managers too. These include Enlightenment and Gnome. After the previous inclusion of the glibc2 version of Netscape Communicator 4.5, this month we have both it and the non-glibc2 version, as well as the glibc2.0.7 library itself for those that have requested it. The magazine itself continues its coverage with a 2 page tutorial on getting started with WordPerfect 8 in the disc pages and a 3 page tutorial in Linux Workshop on setting up a file server so that you can network Linux with other PCs. To complement this Samba 2 is on the CD. OS World has a special feature this month with a 6 page head-to-head review of StarOffice 5 vs S.u.S.E. Office 99 (Applixware 4.4.1). This is the first time that a magazine has taken a serious consideration of the Linux office suites and the results are bound to be controversial! (You may also be interested in reading the group test of Office Suites for Windows in the same issue, as it includes the Windows version of StarOffice 5 and the results are interesting.) Lastly, we've added a new page to OS World this month OS news! It was an obvious omission that we've rectified and will become a monthly regular. It covers news in non-Windows operating systems and this month features Linux almost exclusively. For more details on the magazine in general, check out the PC Plus website: http://www.pcplus.co.uk You can also buy the issue on-line or subscribe to ensure that you get every issue. The magazine is on sale in all good newsagents in the UK on 28th January 1999. Dave Taylor, Deputy Editor PC Plus