OEM Windows Copies ?

Sorry Terry, I didn't see your post that referred to that.

 

I have never minded giving Microsoft money for their operating systems. The investment is cheap in the long run. I spend more money updating hardware that becomes obsolete within a few months, where as I get to use the software for many years. I can find many places on the Internet to help me with any issues dealing with Windows, but trying to find help for Linux is like pulling teeth. Many of the Linux users I have seeked help from were a bunch of snobs who usually reply with "Read the FAQ ". Windows actually has better online support than any other OS.

 

Zander, Its cool , no problem

Whiskeyman , that may be true , but all I am saying for novices user's retail versions are a rip off compare to oem , Also who knows what the future holds , End of story

 

I can attest to that. I've posted previously about this in another thread. It's been a while ago though. I think one of the most frequent responses I saw when searching for info or a problem related to Linux was "read the faq" but more often it was "RTFM ". A bunch of snobs is putting it kindly in my opinion. I rarely see that type of thing from people who are helping with windows.

 

Well if you might want some linux support ? I got this from my cousin who getting into Ubuntu



http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=73

http://www.control-escape.com/

http://forums.debian.net/

http://distrowatch.com/

http://www.ubuntux.org/forum

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO...ooks/handbook/

http://freshmeat.net/

http://www.linuxexposed.com/

http://www.linuxforums.org/

http://www.yolinux.com/

http://www.linuxbasis.com/

http://www.linuxlinks.com/

http://linux-newbie.sunsite.dk/index.html

http://www.linux.org/lessons/

http://www.linux.com/

http://www.linuxiso.org/

http://forums.linuxiso.org/index.php

http://www.linuxpackages.net/

http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Main_Page

http://www.penguinppc.org/

http://www.ramsinks.com/linux.asp

http://www.tldp.org/

http://www.tuxforums.org/forum/

http://easylinux.info/wiki/Ubuntu#Un... Starter_Guide

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/f63

http://help.ubuntu.com/starterguide/C/faqguide-all.html

https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu

http://easyubuntu.freecontrib.org/

http://www.securitydistro.com/

http://www.freebsdforums.org./

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CategoryDocumentation

http://www.debianhelp.org/

http://www.desktoplinux.com/index.html

http://www.frankscorner.org/

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GraphicalPartitioningTool

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/installingsoftware.php

http://www.gnome.org/learn/

http://www.northernjourney.com/opensource/newbies/

http://www.linuxhelp.net/

http://www.linuxjunior.org/

http://sxs.sourceforge.net/sxs/index2.html

If this is not allow ? Then please remove it and sorry it has nothing to do with Microsoft Windows

 

Well the problem with Linux is that there is so much info available about it that you get lost while searching for it, but you do get answers & not all of them are RTFM .

 

I can't argue with that. However, when I was searching for answers I was hard pressed to not see it somewhere.

 

Since Linux was written by & for nerds, its cryptic and on top of that the manuals (man pages) are very terse and technical.

You need a lot of patience & attention to get a task done, but once its done you can just forget about it and get along with your life without worrying about anything bad happening to Linux installation (unless the hardware goes under).

 

Totally agree , My cousin who is telling me that Linux Ubuntu is very confusing but, Now that he is getting a better idea what its all about , He saying that he love it . Again who knows what the future will hold?

 

I quite agree with your cousin.

Linux is a beast to setup properly and if new you are completely at sea. The things never seem to work the way they are supposed to work. But once you get the hang of the things, you become aware of the power & simplicity beneath the surface. Then you begin loving it.

I am myself experimenting with Linux (at least for the servers) & had setup quite a few Samba servers for my clients. Rock solid & the performace rocks.

 

I watch Linux and play with it quite a lot. Those who say it is difficult to set up haven't played with the latest versions. Fedora 5 and Suse 10 are a piece of cake, as are all of the distributions I've played with in the last year. Linux has come on in leaps and bounds in the last few years. It has been a fine server OS for some time, but is coming close to being the same as a desktop OS. It isn't the OS that keeps me with Windows, but the applications and the familiarity - it's difficult to walk away from an OS environment I have so much experience with.

However, even with applications Linux is less of a leap than it used to be. It is getting harder to find the killer app that ties me to Windows. It used to be Office for me, especially Excel. But now OpenOffice means there is an alternative. No it isn't as good as MS Office, but it is good enough for most of what I want to do. If it weren't for VBA, I wouldn't mind only having the OpenOffice option.

I think Linux is a viable desktop OS alternative to Windows. At the moment, I prefer Windows. Most of the applications and programming environments that might tie me to Linux (Ruby on Rails, OpenOffice, Firefox for example) run happily on my Windows systems. Perhaps it is ironic that the cross platform apps that may be thought to help one migrate to Linux actually make it easier for me to stay with Windows.

I guess the worry for Microsoft is that I haven't found the killer app that stops me using Window 2000 pro. But I wish they'd stop trying. I wish they'd concentrate of making the OS secure, straight forward, easy to search and bug free.

I want the OS to be a solid platform to run the applications I want to run on it. That's it. Full stop. If I want multimedia, I install an application to handle that. If I want to write programs in a certain language, I install the framework for that language. If I want to browse the internet, I install my favourite browser to do it.

Perhaps most tellingly it is in this role that in some ways Windows wins over Linux. Yes, Linux gives me the freedom to control exactly what application I want to run on my system, but installing them can be a real pain.

The truth is at the moment Windows is the best platform for me to run all the applications I want to run. In the final analysis, that's why I run Windows.

Oh and before I forget, any conversation about operating systems needs to also consider Mac OS X. It could well be bringing the best out of Linux!

 

Not difficult to install, but difficult to setup/install/uninstall programs & getting it to do what you want it to do.

 

Christer, its too hot to go out here. Why don't you just try it - you may be surprised

 

Honestly - get one of the latest Linux distro from a magazine cover and try it. You won't find it a chore.

A lot of them will even run from the CD (so you can play with Linux without installing anything on your PC), but even if you install Linux to your PC, it is no more difficult to install Linux as it is to install Windows. 40 minutes to an hour, that vast majority of which is copying files. The configuration bit is a few minutes.

 

I have used the Live CD versions of Knoppix, Ubuntu and FreeBSD. I still use the Knoppix 4.02 CD quite a bit for recovery purposes from corrupted Windows installations. It also works well to test if hardware is the issue when Windows won't boot. In fact I use it more than UBCD4Win. At the moment I am undecided if I will keep Win98SE with XP as my dual boot setup or switch to some 'nix OS with XP. Another forum that I am a member of has a decent Linux section with a good crew that is willing to help step by step. I prefer Microsoft Office over OpenOffice due to MO being faster. As for a Linux browser I prefer KDE or Opera over Firefox. With Windows I use Opera.

 

Wow & I thought that this forum was strictly for Windows users. Now I know that there are more people like me out there. Comforting thought.

 

I prefer Windows, but still enjoy trying other OSes. It also comes in handy knowing the other operating systems when repairing customer's computers. I have some who prefer Linux or Mac. Due to previous transplant surgery and future surgeries I can no longer do construction work. Now I am concentrating on taking my hobby of computers to a higher level to obtain employment in one of the fields. I figure I have a lot of learning before I can catch up with the younger people who have been involved with computers since they were born. My use of computers only started 7 years ago. I believe it's going to be hard for me to start school at 52 and compete with the kids today. Everything I learn of the different systems can only help.

 

As a mature IT professional who started relatively late in the industry, I'd encourage you to keep with it. The most difficult part of computers is getting over the initial mistrust and fear that you might break something. Once past that what you need is a willingness to learn, a thirst for new knowledge, and the ability to learn from your mistakes. If age hasn't deminished those skills you'll be fine.

Adding to that there is one thing that the youngsters lack: the business knowledge as to how to best use their IT skills to make businesses work better. You only get that from working in business for some time.

Getting the IT skills is the easy bit. Learning how to use those skills to achieve business benefits and reap the rewards from doing that - that's the difficult bit.

Looks to me Whiskeyman, like you've got just the sort of enquiring mind that does well in the IT environment. It won't be skills that will hold you back. Misguided age prejudice is more likely to be a problem.