Microsoft still isn't talking specifics regarding its Windows Vista pricing plans. But company watchers are predicting that Microsoft could reap big rewards from its planned premium edition push.
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Member since:2006-02-27
And there are any number of GNU/Linux distros that are newbie-friendly to someone accustomed to Microsoft products. So there's no reason to be messing around with Microsoft's overpriced OS's anymore.
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Every now and then I'll install a dual boot to see if things have gotten better for me with Linux. Every time, its the same conclusion: Its ok, but I still can get work done easier, quicker, and with less hassles in Windows than I can with Linux. For many people there is pleanty of reason to run Windows.
Member since:2005-11-11
I am just the opposite.
I have been using Linux for so long now that when I go into Windows to do anything besides play a game, I am lost. Nothing is where it is supposed to be. It takes me so long to get anything done its not even funny.
I have been using Windows since 3.0 and Dos before that. But I got fed up with security issues and stability issues that I moved over to Linux about 8 years ago; never looked back.
So, its possible for ANYONE to switch with a little training (Much like what you hat with Windows in the beginning).
Vista? Naw, I don't need that any more than I need a hole in the head.
They can keep their OS and their computer Tax; I pay enough taxes to my state and government, no need to give a software vendor a tax to use a computer.
I'm free and will always be free...
Member since:2005-12-23
!!!
" Every time, its the same conclusion: Its ok, but I still can get work done easier, quicker, and with less hassles in Windows than I can with Linux. For many people there is pleanty of reason to run Windows."
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What you say is an absolutly biased assertion.
You could say that playing poker is dull (if you do not know the rules...), that classical music is unbereable and always the same (if you are not educated in it..), that you prefer to play football in the beach than playing tennis in a 'true' tennis court (if you do not have the skills), that watching and historic Hollywood Film is better than reading an actual history book (if you believe that the Historic Hollywood Films have anything to do with true historic facts and you are not mentally prepared to read a thick book and find pleasure in it..) etc
That's to say: It all depends on the personal capacities and the environmnet in which you develop and move yourself! Only, that for most of the people the existant environmnet is the one of "Windows". Therefore, they are so used to windows that many of them do not find sense in changing or find problmes to adapt to other Destop environments...
I have tryied several OS with children, and what they like and learn quicker is what is nicer (eye candy), and has more games and entertaiment programs...
They learn and use Linux perfectly in the absence of Windows and viceversa. And in many things they learn Linux quicker and better...
I am tired of repeating that the hassles are in all OSs, but if there is an OS that has more hassles than the others, this one is Windows.
Windows is not "Out of the Box", and Windows is not "Desktop ready". Only, that it happens to be the OS that the overwhelming majority uses and are used to, and because of that they find 'plenty of reasons to use it...'
If MacOS X or many Linux Distros would be used by 90% of the computers users, they would find many reasons too not to change or use Windows and to stick with Linux or MacOS X (even to some other OSs like PC-BSD, DesktopBSD, OS2, BeOS ...). But they do not know it yet...
!!!
Edited 2006-04-19 08:54
Member since:2005-07-30
Here we go again. Linux is not ready for mainstream adoption, let me tell you why.
There are no distro that provide newbies with the same level of ease of use as windows. Some parts of the distro ecosystem, such as the DE's have imho surpassed windows, however this does not mean that any Linux distro can provide an overall package as good windows. Consider hardware management in Linux. Give me a distro that can handle new hardware additions using a GUI as well windows. Let me give you an example, I use dialup ADSL (like regular DSL, but its not always on, you have to start a connection to get internet working) to connect to the internet. In windows the GUI wizard works perfect, no issues. In Mandriva, in theory the GUI should have worked even better as Mandriva actually had a connection profile for my ISP, but no luck. Internet did not work. Sure this problem could have been fixed by messing with CLI and config files. I am sorry I am not willing to waste my time like that, and I am sure the vast majority of windows users would support me. To succeed, a Linux distro will have to make sure that the GUI is as powerful as the CLI. Every function required for desktop operation should be accessible via GUI.
Secondly, Linux still does not have a package management system that is suitable for most windows users. We all know why installers suck (windows users should know this much better than linux users), but one click .exe installation is the reality of the OS market. If you don't like this approach why not combine it with repository approach via metadata in the package file. Something like autopackage but with more scope and much more features (lib and codec management via metadata - you know dynamic libs as default with static libs for compatibility issues).
Linux distros also fail to help converts get used to the way it functions. I am sorry but, the file system structure on the vast majority of Linux distro's is a mess. To succeed Linux distro should take the Gobolinux approach (also combined with ease of usa, GUI, a good package management system).
An important issue ignored by is interoperability with windows. Why no provide a Wintools .exe package with file system drivers and a profile data collection utility. If the user uses firefox, this utility would copy some parts of the profile (cookies, bookmarks) and provide the user with an option to use this info when Firefox is first used. The same could be done with many other open source application.
There is also a large segment of windows users that don’t care about OS politics and simply want to use windows for its convenience, you are not going to make them switch, they are willing to pay money to maintain this convenience. They like their overpriced windows and they are going to use it.
Finally, there is the issue of IP. Due to IP law, Linux lacks a lot of goodies. Support for the newest hardware, drivers, multimedia playback (legal) and even browser plugins. While there is nothing that distro devs can do about this issue, these things aren't going to make people convert to linux.
IMHO, with the release of Vista, there won't be any large scale migration to Linux. If anything the crucial point will come when KDE4 runs on windows. Then people will have an easy migration path - but would they bother migrating to another kernel if KDE on windows works just fine?
Member since:
2005-11-30
....is the monetary cost of most GNU/Linux distros is zero. Oh, you may pay for the CD/DVD it's burned to, or the bandwidth to download an ISO, but the distro itself is usually free. And there are any number of GNU/Linux distros that are newbie-friendly to someone accustomed to Microsoft products. So there's no reason to be messing around with Microsoft's overpriced OS's anymore.