Should I upgrade to Vista?

[jæd]

Because its a new shiny thing, silly!

Well... Do you want to try the new shiny thing that has problems, or the two shiny things that don't...?

 

[editor]

I just had a play on it. And it is a *very* shiny thing.

 

[mhendo]

So... Pointing out there's an alternative to an o/s that is giving u75 posters problems is *bad*...?

Let's assume there are two types of Windows users: those who know about Linux, and those that don't.

Your "alternative" is useless to those who know about Linux because, well, they already know about Linux. And, presumably, if they already know about it, there are particular reasons they're not using it.

And your alternative is also pretty useless to those who don't know about Linux, because someone who is computer-illiterate enough to have never heard of Linux is also unlikely to be computer-literate enough to install and use Linux.

Yes, yes, i know that Ubuntu is allegedly "Linux for human beings," and i'm contemplating taking the leap into it myself.

But the fact is that even the user-friendly Linux distributions like Ubuntu take a lot more messing around to get working than Windows (or, obviously, a Mac). I still hear of people who have previous Linux experience, and who know about things like using the command line, having trouble with getting everything working properly on Ubuntu.

While i am no computer technician or programmer, i've taught myself a fair bit over the past few years, to the extent that my computer knowledge is probably well above that of the average home user. All of my friends know me as "the guy to ask if you have a computer problem." Sometimes i can help them, sometimes i can't.

If i'm hesitating about installing Linux, worried that things might not work or might take more effort than i'm willing to spend or that i'll still need Windows for a lot of my software, then what chance is there that Linux is a viable alternative for someone who doesn't know anything about computers except how to turn it on and how to start up Internet Explorer and MS Word?

I've run into dozens of people--in real life and on message boards like this--who really want an alternative to Windows, and who have given Linux a go. And quite a high proportion of these people end up going back to Windows because Linux is just too hard for them. And these are people who know a little bit about computers, and who were willing to spend hours playing with Linux in an attempt to get it right. If folks like this get discouraged by Linux, you can't seriously suggest that it's a viable alternative for most of the dunces who use computers on a day-to-day basis.

As for Vista, i won't be upgrading on my current computer. XP has generally been a perfectly decent operating system for my needs, and it still does pretty much everything i need. The new eye candy looks nice, but it's not enticing enough for me to switch, and i'd wait a while anyway to see what bugs emerge. When i can afford a new computer, then Vista will probably come with it. Unless i make the leap to Linux by then.

 

[jæd]

Essay

Instead of writing an essay about something, why not just try it...? Its free to download and you can use a LiveCd to see how easy it is. And there's even a Windows installer now that you can use.

Try it. You might like it. And you don't have anything to lose.

 

[Chairman Meow]

We need a head banging against a wall smiley.

 

[editor]

Instead of writing an essay about something, why not just try it...? Its free to download and you can use a LiveCd to see how easy it is. And there's even a Windows installer now that you can use.

Try it. You might like it. And you don't have anything to lose.

...

 

[Chairman Meow]

Instead of writing an essay about something, why not just try it...? Its free to download and you can use a LiveCd to see how easy it is. And there's even a Windows installer now that you can use.

Try it. You might like it. And you don't have anything to lose.

But, but....... I DON'T WANT TO. Windows XP works fabulously for me, really! And perhaps, who knows, Vista might be even better.

 

[mhendo]

We need a head banging against a wall smiley.

 

[DarthSydodyas]

Mac is the light!



runs away

 

[Chairman Meow]

Mac is the light!



runs away

Fucker!

 

[Jonti]

The suggestion to fire up a liveCD and take things from there is a very good one. It would be a Good Idea to use a machine with scads of RAM, as running off a CD can be *very* slow.

But there is a cultural difference too, between types of operating system. Each embodies a way of going about things. If you don't understand that, you can come badly unstuck. I've seen people here install Linux perfectly well; not understand what they've done; and then trash their new system. Strange, but true.

Different systems have different ways of doing things. The guy was looking for new software to solve his problem. But all he had to do was configure what he already had, and get it to work the way he wanted.

Ubuntu linux does look like a safe bet. But learning to operate effectively in a completely new culture can take time, just time. How long did it take you to become proficient in using a pc in the first place? More than a little while, I'd imagine

 

[editor]

Mac is the light!



runs away

...

 

[editor]

Ubuntu linux does look like a safe bet. But learning to operate effectively in a completely new culture can take time, just time. How long did it take you to become proficient in using a pc in the first place? More than a little while, I'd imagine

Thing is, if XP does what I want it to do, runs the programs what I want and al the peripherals work just fine, what's the point of me fannying about with another system?

I didn't like learning how to use a PC, Mac or Amiga, so all I care about is, "can the OS let me get on with what I want to don in an efficient manner?"

XP does that for me as I'm sure other OS's do just as well for other peeps.

 

[Jonti]

I had mhendo in mind when I made my remarks. Everyone's different. My guess would be that your most practical course is indeed to stick with XP.

Ubuntu can be well cool for the average home or small office user; or for tech-heads. But what one might call "power users" are far better served by XP or OS X, imho. Not to say that linux *cannot* compete in that area -- just that it's a whole lot easier to pay your money and take your choice.

More generally, if a person is happy with the MS way of doing things, of course they have no reason to change. Needn't preclude knowing about other ways, though.

 

[mhendo]

Ubuntu linux does look like a safe bet. But learning to operate effectively in a completely new culture can take time, just time. How long did it take you to become proficient in using a pc in the first place? More than a little while, I'd imagine

Right, and i'm willing to take that sort of time to get to a level of competence that i'm comfortable with.

But that's the difference between me and most computer users.

All of my friends know how to turn on their computer; fire up their web browser; check their email; open a Word document and take notes or write a paper; and listen to some music or watch a DVD.

Most of these folks have a different attitude to their computers than i do. I have VLC player, Media Player Classic, GOM player, WinAmp, TMpegEnc, VirtualDub, Audacity, CDex, FLAC, Xvid, Tag and Rename, DVD Decrypter, DVD Shrink, VOB Blanker and a whole bunch of other stuff. They use Windows Media Player for everything, and have no complaints.

For people like this, Windows is great because they turn it on and the stuff they want to do works straight away. For them, it's not really even a matter of whether Linux may or may not work; it's a matter of not needing to change the OS they already have, because it works fine for what they want to do. And people like this make up the vast majority of Windows users.

The growing market share of browsers like Opera and Firefox, and the small but growing user base for OpenOffice, suggests that we may be moving into a period where more and more people begin to ask whether moving away from Windows is a viable option, but right now most people see no reason to do so, and the reason for this is that their computer do pretty much what they want them to do.

It seems to me that many of the folks who push Linux seem to secretly believe (or wish?) that everyone else was as "into" computers as they are. But the fact is that some people just want to turn it on, check their email, write a term paper, look at the weather report (or whatever) and turn it off.

I've been extremely critical of MS in the past, and i think some of the new EULA and DRM issues with Vista look annoying at best, criminally ridiculous at worst. But the fact is that, for what most people want to do, Windows is a perfectly decent operating system. And, for those who buy their computers from big-box stores on online retailers (i.e., most people) it already comes installed "free."

Or, on preview: what the editor said.

 

[Jonti]

Windows XP works fabulously for me, really! And perhaps, who knows, Vista might be even better.

It'll cost yer

 

[hippogriff]

That couldn't have been easy. Or cheap

Why did you do it? Just curious.

My daughter managed to spill a glass of water on her Thinkpad. Fried the systemboard but everything else was OK. Picked up a cheap board from the USA so it wasn't too bad costwise, apart from the postage!

Thinkpads are much easier to work on than most laptops

 

[Chairman Meow]

It'll cost yer

I'm not reading all that! I skimmed a bit and to be honest I didn't understand half of it. I'm one of those people mhendo mentionned who just switches the laptop on and it does what I want - I'm not interested in the mechanics. So, if you have a shorter, less techy article I'd be happy to glance at it, but otherwise I'll just wait for others to be the real early adopters, and I'll install Vista in a few months if it looks ok.

 

[Iam]

Regardless of what anyone else thinks, you shouldn't feel bullied into doing anything other than you what you want to with your own PC.

 

[axon]

And don't forget to disable the voice recognition functions whenever you leave the room that your Vista computer is in.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6320865.stm

"Microsoft has said that even if the machine was primed to accept voice commands it would be unlikely the user would not be in the room to hear the file with malicious instructions being played. "
No problem, I never leave the room when my computer is on

But it's only a potential problem if ..."the speech recognition feature would need to be activated and configured and both microphone and speakers would have to be switched on." Oh, well that's alright then.

I keep reading dodgy stuff about Vista, the above, and the HD protection stuff. I'm beginning to think it's not really worth having 3D windows if I can't use the computer.

 

[DarthSydodyas]

Regardless of what anyone else thinks, you shouldn't feel bullied into doing anything other than you what you want to with your own PC.

Or Mac.



runs away

 

[Iam]

Yeah, should have said "computer".

 

[Jonti]

I'm not reading all that! I skimmed a bit and to be honest I didn't understand half of it. I'm one of those people mhendo mentionned who just switches the laptop on and it does what I want - I'm not interested in the mechanics. So, if you have a shorter, less techy article I'd be happy to glance at it, but otherwise I'll just wait for others to be the real early adopters, and I'll install Vista in a few months if it looks ok.

Tcha! I gave you the summary.

It'll cost yer!

 

[Addy]

 

[Chairman Meow]

Care to elaborate? So your linux thingy can be made to look like Vista? Why wouldn't I just get Vista?

Ok, if someone cares to come round my house and fix up Linux on my lappy so it can do all that, and work as well as XP, without me having to spend hours learning about techy shit - go ahead!

 

[DG55]

Meh. That all already been done for XP. Theres an application called WindowFX by stardock which has all kinds of effects which utilise your graphics card. Most of the stuff is useless though.

Although of course, the linux fans are going to claim they invented it or something.

 

[Lazy Llama]

and how many people replace their mobo on a laptop, shit for brains?

Well, someone who has their laptop repaired, actually.
Like I did in September, when I had my motherboard repaired.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[dogmatique]

Well, I'm going to be dual booting for the next few months till Vista gets up to scratch, then, inevitably I'll be using Vista exclusively. Just like the majority of you will given time.

 

[editor]

I'll say one thing about Vista. Once you've had a play around with its super glossy, ultra-shiny interface, XP looks as flat as a pancake!

 

[FridgeMagnet]

WindowBlinds on XP livens it up an awful lot - they even had Vista skins before Vista was on public release....