Ask Slashdot: What OS For a Donated Computer?

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday August 9, 2011 @09:09PM from the free-and-tax-deductible-software dept.

chefwear writes "I am thinking of donating retired computers to a local charity for kids. What OS do you think would be best for this? From reading tips regarding the donation of computers, it's widely recommended to keep with the currently installed OS (which is Windows XP in this case). Since XP will be unsupported in about two years, I'm not sure I would be setting the little ones up for success. Would anyone suggest donating a computer with a Linux distro like Ubuntu to a local charity for kids?"

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Re:Also in the case of Linux by realityimpaired · 2011-08-09 23:54 · Score: 4, Interesting

Most charities that accept computers (at least in this city) will wipe the hard drive and install their own anyway... they need to make sure they aren't being presented with pirated software or viruses, and that's the easiest way to do it. The licenses that MS offers to charities are dirt cheap (in some cases free), so it just makes sense for them to install their own.