[OSGeo-Discuss] Can I do the same GIS tasks with OS (as with ESRI)?

[Jennifer Horsman]

The thread that was started today with the subject "Your open source 
career" got me thinking about asking a question that has been rolling 
around in my head. This is pointed at those people who have experience 
with ESRI products as well as OS GIS products.

I have been a long-time user of ESRI products, but I want to start my 
own contract business and will not be able to afford the license for 
ArcGIS/ArcInfo. So I recently set up a Linux box with GRASS installed, 
but it has been over 10 years since I have used GRASS (it has probably 
changed since then too!)

Does GRASS have the same analysis and display capabilities as ArcGIS? I 
know this is a very general question, so perhaps another question would 
be where does GRASS fall short and where does it excel in comparison to 
the ESRI products?

Thanks,
Jennifer