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Windows XP Lives, Thanks to Linux
CWmike writes "Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols puts his thumb on what really happened to spur Microsoft's change of mind on sparing Windows XP: The smashing success of Asus and others' Linux-powered UMPCs and mini-notebooks caught Microsoft completely by surprise. It turned out people wanted inexpensive, hard-working Linux laptops rather than overpriced, underpowered Vista PCs. If anyone thought this was a flash in the pan, that Asus just hit it lucky once, they haven't been paying attention. Intel is putting big bucks into its Atom family of processors, which have been designed for UMPCs, or as Intel would have it, MIDs. Intel has encouraged both the computer makers and the Linux companies in its Moblin initiative to run desktop Linux. The Linux companies have picked up on this. Canonical, Ubuntu's dad company, has come up with an UMPC-specific version of Ubuntu 8.04, the latest version of this popular Linux distribution, for Intel Atom UMPCs. At Computex, by my count, more than a dozen new UMPCs were announced both from vendors you've never heard of and from big name companies like Acer and Asus. You can also expect to see Dell releasing its 'mini-Inspiron' with Ubuntu by June's end."
Thing is, Vista sells more in a day than linux in year. Simple numbers. Who BUYS a PC with Linux? No one I know. You have to be a geek and download, compile, install, and hope you are geek enough to get it right before the sun goes down.
Vista sold 50 million its first year. There is no way linux sold on more than 50 thousand PCs. That's 1000:1, not 365:1.
"Us Mac fans just say this is how computers are supposed to work, and it's Windows that has it wrong."
Que that Mac fan zealotry
Let me kick your Mac ideology with a bit of reality. Mac computers work well for a certain segment of users. They are lousy for certain other segments that really need to get work done.
I have Mac friends and they are amazingly ignorant of all the various things people need computers to do. These friends are graphic artists and the Mac seems well suited for their needs, not mine. If you hate spreadsheets and don't like tweeking your hardware then chances increase that your a Mac fan.
I spent time evaluating how Mac's could work for me, since my artsy friends seem to love them so much. I have found them to be abysmal for data analysis work and back end programming. I deal a lot with spreadsheets, SQL, huge databases, and data analysis and reporting software like SAS and Cognos. For these things Mac's are miserable and inefficient at the task. Mac's are also horribly unfriendly to hardware upgrades. I can't tweak the system like I can a PC. It's a locked box that displays pretty pictures.
Which is why my favorite OS is Linux. I can mess with Linux and build a custom system that fit my needs, not what Steve Jobs thinks I need. The OS can also be tweaked for the efficiency of the work I am doing. My second favorite is XP. XP brought me back to the dark side for the last few years. In XP you can still tweak and add custom hardware while still getting mainstream support.
But back to the article, there is a reason there is a strong avoidance of Vista. Vista seems to be trying to emulate the Mac in some ways when the Windows customer base really doesn't want to work on Mac's. I can see why people would switch to a Linux pre loaded systems over taking Vista. Certainly in my line of work there is more compatibility in switching to a Linux system from Windows than to a Mac.
I'd be happy to post as twitter if you microtards did not mod me down all the time. Posting from several accounts runs you out of mod points and community moderation can happen as it should. The results of community moderation is almost always favorable despite your continuous smear job. This game is easier for me than it is for you. The harder you try, the more obvious it is that you are paid to do what you do. Face it, you have failed.