I can't see why not
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| tracyanne Apr 20, 2009 4:11 PM EDT |
Quoting:However, it would be naive to think that a Windows user is going to wipe their Windows partition, write off their years of Windows computing knowledge and install Linux just to see if it has more to offer. I did. |
| gus3 Apr 20, 2009 4:19 PM EDT |
"More to offer"? How about stability? I'll take a less functional program that works over something that offers everything but crashes ten minutes out. |
| azerthoth Apr 21, 2009 12:41 PM EDT |
Which is why Windows, not Linux is the ultimate geek hackers OS. With linux you get it installed and it will sit there fat dumb and happy, doing whatever you want for ever. WIth Windows, there is always the cleaning of virii/malware. Perpetual reboots to install patches. Hunting down and installing drivers. Spending days on end updating other odd 'non-OS' pieces of software by hand. Seems like Windows, not Linux, is the ultimate tinker and tweak constantly OS for geeks. Even better, you get to do it without much in the way of good documentation. |
| gus3 Apr 21, 2009 1:54 PM EDT |
Absent both good documentation and source code, it's less tweaking and more reverse-engineering. |
| Steven_Rosenber Apr 21, 2009 2:14 PM EDT |
Having a major problem (virus/malware/mass data loss) is a big motivator for people to explore alternatives, be they Linux, Mac OS or other. In my case, it was having a bunch of old computers and nothing else to run on them. I wasn't that attached to Windows anyway, and the pain of installing Windows 2000, starting with an NT 4 disc and then upgrading to 2K, and THEN having to search for drivers to get proper display resolution and other hardware working ... and then having to deal with antivirus software was just too painful. Using Windows in my case really isn't worth it when I can install any number of free OSes that promise up-to-date applications, easy maintenance, an end to malware, no need to use stolen yet pricey applications that aren't that good anyway, and, most importantly, stability that just doesn't happen on the average Windows desktop. I very often have readers of my column and blog, Windows users, who tell me stories about how malware took over their PC and made the machines useless, destroyed data and caused days or weeks of downtime. We all probably know more than a few people whose response to a slowing, buggy Windows PC is to ... buy a new Windows PC, thinking that aging of the system over two or three years is something they should expect and can't fix. If a netbook, for instance, is all about getting online and having a good experience, why run Windows when your average Linux distribution can do everything the machine needs to do, only without the MS BS? And then there's the rampant stealing of software. Never mind the ethics/morality/legality of both the way software is sold and the way it is used/bought/stolen, but why even go to the trouble to STEAL Windows and Office? The whole thing just boggles the mind. I can understand a totally non-technically oriented person with no geek to help them not only barely knowing that Linux exists but also being wary of using it. That's where we as a community need to be focusing considerable energy. Whether you like it or hate it, Ubuntu has gone further than just about any project I know of when it comes to bringing new people into the FOSS world. At this very moment, only preloads will capture people who are not technically oriented, and that is why I think capturing the netbook market is so important for FOSS. But anybody who does any work maintaining their own Windows system or systems, who gets their hands dirty in any way with applications, operating systems and hardware, should be looking at the free, open-source alternatives that are out there. Yeah, it's a pain in the rear: That Flash, a proprietary, closed-source system, is ubiquitous when it comes to online video (and growing as a medium for Web-based applications that include Adobe's online productivity suite and, unfortunately, the Brightcove video service we use at my shop). That the iPod/iTunes model -- a closed-source system that not only doesn't run on all platforms but is controlled by a company that really is only interested in you buying their hardware and paying for their content -- is seen as the savior of the music industry and the only way to manage podcasts (which at the beginning and end of the day are nothing more than simple audio files that don't need a closed-source application with which to be "managed"). That the MS Office "standard" is constantly being tweaked by MS in a futile attempt to keep shops purchasing endless upgrades in the face of numerous free alternatives nipping at the company's heels. But ... along with a half-dozen or so BSD-related projects, a couple hundred Linux distributions (and more than a few with huge numbers of users), tens of thousands of applications (many of which, like Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, Inkscape, the GIMP, Apache, MySQL, etc., run on just about every OS -- free and non-free -- out there), there are more than enough reasons to look at alternatives to Windows. Even on a case-by-case basis, I can't imagine most businesses shifting more and more of their machines, both servers and desktops, to OSes and applications that are easily managed, free and ... not Windows. |
| tracyanne Apr 21, 2009 4:33 PM EDT |
Quoting:Having a major problem (virus/malware/mass data loss) is a big motivator for people to explore alternatives, be they Linux, Mac OS or other. Indeed, I'm currently talking a bloke in New State through getting Linux on his malware infested Vista machine. |
| herzeleid Apr 21, 2009 5:12 PM EDT |
Quoting:I'm currently talking a bloke in New State through getting Linux on his malware infested Vista machine.Good on you! but wait - weren't we told that vista was the most secure OS ever? How could it have gotten malware? Wow, it looks like those microsoft PR flacks were lying again. Shocker! |
| Sander_Marechal Apr 21, 2009 5:31 PM EDT |
Quoting:Yeah, it's a pain in the rear: Tell me about it. My dad is running Ubuntu 8.10. He has it dual-boot with Vista but I forbade him to use it online. Ass Vista is used for is scanning photo negatives because there are no FOSS drivers for the negative scanner. Anyway, he now bought a new TomTom along with 2 years of updates and everything. Problem: The updates only work through an application called TomTom HOME and that only runs on Windows and MacOSX, not on Linux. Problem the application itself works flawless in Wine except that it cannot connect to the device. Frustrating: TomTom built it's business on Linux. Why not support us? Frustrating: TomTom HOME is build with Mozilla's XulRunner and should run on Linux without a hitch. They made it work on MacOSX in no time at all. It should be trivial to port TomTom HOME to Linux. |
| ColonelPanik Apr 21, 2009 5:59 PM EDT |
The best part of Linux is those few minutes when you
peal that Winders sticker off a machine. Of course that was in the past. Now they come with Linux. LOL, you can get computers with Linux from several vendors on line and more and more from mom and pops computer shops in your neighborhood. |
| Steven_Rosenber Apr 21, 2009 6:45 PM EDT |
I haven't peeled off my Windows stickers ... I even have an AOL sticker on this laptop. Maybe I can sticker over them with something else. I hate that sticky residue left after peeling 8-year-old stickers off of plastic. Better sticker residue than the other sticky stuff that Windows collects, right? |
| tracyanne Apr 21, 2009 9:54 PM EDT |
@Steven, if you peel the stickers off when the computer is just out of it's packaging they come off much easier, and don't leave any sticky residue. I also find that a guitar pick gets the Windows registration sticker of quite nicely in one piece and keeps the adhesive on the label not the computer. |
| jdixon Apr 21, 2009 11:52 PM EDT |
> Maybe I can sticker over them with something else. Here you go Steven: http://www.zareason.com/shop/product.php?productid=16197&cat... |
| Steven_Rosenber Apr 22, 2009 12:28 AM EDT |
The last time I removed a computer from its original packaging was ... 2003, an iBook. No stickers anywhere. All my i386 hardware arrived for for free or very cheap ... and all pre-2002. |
| Bob_Robertson Apr 22, 2009 10:26 AM EDT |
> I hate that sticky residue left after peeling 8-year-old stickers off of plastic.
Rubbing alcohol. I have those little "alcohol pads" for quick first-aid use, and they do a wonderful job at getting tape/sticker residue off of laptop plastic without any damaging effect to the plastic. The last time I sent my laptop in for "repair", it return with nasty quantities of tape residue on the lid from where they taped their paperwork. 30 seconds and one alcohol swab and it was as clean as new. My daughter tends to put stickers on the wrong things occasionally, which means this is an ongoing need, not just a one-time post-windows cleanup. |
| caitlyn Apr 23, 2009 12:31 AM EDT |
My netbook has an "Ubuntu Certified" sticker where the Windows sticker would normally go :) |
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