Free Markets at Work--even in a monopoly!

[freelance]

You gotta love this. MS Vista only has a 5% adoption rate:

http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/5890/

I smell a yearly license fee coming to a computer near you soon!

Linux anyone?

[Richie]

Long live Linux! Vista is a piece of programming afterbirth. Anybody use it?

[Shellshock1918]

Long live Linux! Vista is a piece of programming afterbirth. Anybody use it?

Well vista usage will probably pick up within a year or so. PC games will start being coded in DX10 and so gamers will have to upgrade sooner or later.

Maybe if those assholes would lower the price, people would buy it.

[beermotor]

I've heard it has some good things and some bad things. The iPhone interface looks slick - wonder when we'll get laptops like that.

[jblosser]

You mean people don't rush to buy "upgrades" that assume they are criminals and turn off any hardware that won't let it spy on them?

[freelance]

I'll move to Linux before I'll use Vista. I'm investigating the various options right now, and it's mind-boggling. I have no idea where to start. If anyone uses a user-friendly version of Linux, please advise. I'm too old to have to learn something esoteric all at once. Is there a particular "starter version" that stands out in the usability department, something that I could use as an alternate boot while I learn?

In the meantime, I have XP on MSDN, so at least I have a working copy. I'm actually going to upgrade my desktop and notebook NOW so that I don't have to worry about hardware that won't run on XP.

[MGS]

I'll move to Linux before I'll use Vista. I'm investigating the various options right now, and it's mind-boggling. I have no idea where to start. If anyone uses a user-friendly version of Linux, please advise. I'm too old to have to learn something esoteric all at once. Is there a particular "starter version" that stands out in the usability department, something that I could use as an alternate boot while I learn?

In the meantime, I have XP on MSDN, so at least I have a working copy. I'm actually going to upgrade my desktop and notebook NOW so that I don't have to worry about hardware that won't run on XP.

Try Ubuntu or Kubuntu they are set up very similar to windows.

[ARealConservative]

As an older guy that was able to watch the computer revolution from the get-go - I find the linux crowd rather annoying.

Sorry - just how I feel.

[jblosser]

I use Linux myself quite extensively but I don't pretend it's for everyone. If you want to escape the theft-built Microsoft stuff, Macs are a decent alternative with good usability. They have their problems as well... we don't yet have an open OS market with a lot of options people can choose between as suits them.

The *ubuntus are generally considered the best new user Linux options.

[jblosser]

As an older guy that was able to watch the computer revolution from the get-go - I find the linux crowd rather annoying.

Sorry - just how I feel.

You don't have to apologize, just keep in mind that the "Linux crowd" is quite large and diverse, and has its problem people as well as its reasonable people. Not unlike the "Ron Paul crowd".

[ARealConservative]

You don't have to apologize, just keep in mind that the "Linux crowd" is quite large and diverse, and has its problem people as well as its reasonable people. Not unlike the "Ron Paul crowd".

I understand that. I like linux but the vocal minority annoy me.

[Gee]

Windows 2000/XP was, and still is, a good OS. There just isn't any good reason to "upgrade" to Vista.

[tonyr1988]

I used to like Windows, up until XP. I hated the increased use of WGA and decreased use of actual features. I've been a happy user of Linux for about 2ish years.

It does have it's downsides - the people that argue otherwise are just hurting the community. But it is definitely improving. It's amazing to think about how many bugs would be found in Windows if the source was open (and, consequently, how many of them would be immediately fixed by coders and businesses, just like Linux is).

[nexalacer]

Honestly, I've hated Microsoft since Windows 95, and was finally able to break my Windows addiction in 2004. I bought a Mac Powerbook back then and I love it.... It's going to be even better when I can get myself one of them slick new Intel-powered MacBooks. The usability is great, and it's based on UNIX so you have a lot of the flexibility of UNIX scripts if you choose to use them. I know a lotta people have a bad image of Apple... although I'm not sure why... I used to have the same image and I think it mighta been MS propaganda:eek:

But yeah, great to hear that Vista sucks... I'd love to see MS use their market share to make something that doesn't suck ass.

[constituent]

Naah, blame the independent school districts for the Apple IIG or E or whatever it was that has caused the majority of a generation to associate apple comps w/ chronic headaches and nagging computer literacy teachers.

[tonyr1988]

Honestly, I've hated Microsoft since Windows 95, and was finally able to break my Windows addiction in 2004. I bought a Mac Powerbook back then and I love it.... It's going to be even better when I can get myself one of them slick new Intel-powered MacBooks. The usability is great, and it's based on UNIX so you have a lot of the flexibility of UNIX scripts if you choose to use them. I know a lotta people have a bad image of Apple... although I'm not sure why... I used to have the same image and I think it mighta been MS propaganda:eek:

But yeah, great to hear that Vista sucks... I'd love to see MS use their market share to make something that doesn't suck ass.

I actually don't like Macs. I don't know what it is about it, but our school has a few Mac machines, and I've used them before, and I just can't stand the UI. It may have been something the school did, but it seemed so...unusable and uncustomizable. Granted, Windows is much worse (you can't even move around items on the Start panel, come on!).

Also, Macs use (or at least the used to use) the Mach microkernel, which has always had unimpressive performance results for me. Then again, they may have worked out those design bugs - I haven't looked into it in a long time.

My hatred towards Apple is definitely not as strong as my hatred toward Microsoft, though. :)


Naah, blame the independent school districts for the Apple IIG or E or whatever it was that has caused the majority of a generation to associate apple comps w/ chronic headaches and nagging computer literacy teachers.

That reminded me about playing Oregon Trail on the old Apple ][e machines at school. Time to find me an emulator...:P

[Man from La Mancha]

I bought a Visa laptop 2 months ago and I'm not using it. I hate Vista. Soon as I can I will install win xp. It just has most of all the bugs worked out of it and has the largest base of programs for it.

If gamers start making games only for vista they may be shooting themselves in the foot.

[ChooseLiberty]

That's funny. Yeah - the Linux crowd is probably has the most Paulites of any group.



You don't have to apologize, just keep in mind that the "Linux crowd" is quite large and diverse, and has its problem people as well as its reasonable people. Not unlike the "Ron Paul crowd".

[trispear]

I was on and ultimately moved off of Ubuntu. It's a good Linux distro, it was the first one to keep me off of Windows, but the little things always annoyed me because they wouldn't work. Or an upgrade would break previous stuff, especially if you used automatix to install stuff.

Right now, I'm on PCLinuxOS and really like it (though I prefer Gnome). It is the second highest distro at distrowatch, just slightly behind Ubuntu, but all you hear about is Ubuntu. If you switch to linux, I suggest you try the top distros at distrowatch (in the right hand column, scroll down to Page Hit Ranking for distros ranked by popularity):

http://distrowatch.com/

I don't play many games, I find many Linux apps to be mature and better than the windows equivalent, best off you don't have to pay for them. But if you rely on a propietary solution, you may want to keep of Windows on the hard drive as a secondary boot-up option until a replacement comes. I used to think I needed Dragon Naturally Speaking (Speech-to-Text) as a killer app, but I hardly used it as it was slower than typing and actually hindered my work (by having to go back and correct every other sentence).

With current progress, I think MS will only hold onto its current monopoly for 1 more decade, max. Dell is already selling Ubuntu machines. The revolution is coming! (More than one:D )

[tonyr1988]

With current progress, I think MS will only hold onto its current monopoly for 1 more decade, max. Dell is already selling Ubuntu machines. The revolution is coming! (More than one:D )

Ron Paul getting elected President twice + Microsoft declaring bankruptcy = I can die happy :D

[Chase]

Ron Paul getting elected President twice + Microsoft declaring bankruptcy = I can die happy :D

FUCK YES

pardon my French

I'm an incredibly happy GNU/Linux user. Been using it exclusively for 3 years, and partially for years prior to that. I've even got my name on a small kernel patch. It would take a hell of a lot to move me away from Linux. I don't use it out of dislike of Microsoft products (though I hate most Microsoft products); rather, I use it out of love. It's free, open, and it can do a billion useful things.

Those who do not understand UNIX are doomed to reimplement it poorly. :P