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With XP's End of Life, Munich Will Distribute Ubuntu CDs
SmartAboutThings writes "Windows XP is going to officially die and stop receiving support from Microsoft in April, 2014. After that very moment, it is said to become a gold mine for hackers all over the world who will exploit 'zero-day' vulnerabilities. The municipality of the German city of Munich wants to stop that from happening [and] has decided to distribute free CDs with Ubuntu 12.04 to users of the almost extinct XP. Munich, through its Gasteig Library, will prepare around 2000 CDs with Ubuntu 12.04 to offer to city residents affected by Windows XP's end of support. Previously, it was believed that Munich city's authorities were going to offer Lubuntu 12.04, which would have required lower system requirements with the same support period."
On the upside, Linux is being given away by a government as the successor to Windows xp. On the downside, how many kids/grandkids are there that will know how to fix their parents/grandparents Linux machines? I guess you could say I'm cautiously optimistic
Ubuntu can be kept up to date and the latest with an internet connection - that's easier than buying a new version and re-install every time a new OS comes out. Question is if people know what it is and what to do with it.
Nice idea, but Ubuntu is, by default, about the least XP-like common Linux distro they could have chosen. Mint-MATE or something would be less of a culture shock.
By April 2014, Ubuntu 14.04 should arrive as the next LTS version.
I would certainly want that (or a derived distribution) rather than Ubuntu 12.04, especially in a PC with AMD graphics. The open source drivers for ATI/AMD are still catching up in features and performance, and 14.04 vs. 12.04 should make a significant difference.
C - the footgun of programming languages
Linux has never been a serious threat to Windows in the desktop area. What will happen is people will pick up the CD's because it is free, and never install them. As for things like loosing your existing programs, and possible your documents is a big deal. Chances are they will just see it as an opportunity to get new hardware. And will get Windows 8, they will complain and then get use to it, and not care anymore.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Sounds to me like you're just lazy. XP is missing all of the usability improvement that came in later versions (not necessarily counting 8). How do you snap two windows side by side in XP? Oh wait, you can't. How do you utilize more than 3GB of your memory in XP? You don't, unless you use the bastard child that was XP 64-bit, which almost nobody supports by the way. For me, 8GB is a good starting point for RAM for what I use a PC for.
There are LOTS of usability tweaks in later versions. Please, just let XP die, it's had a good run but it's time to bury it. It's also ugly as hell next to a modern OS.
I won't hesitate to guess that a majority of people are hanging on to XP only because they've got a cracked copy and don't want to buy a legitimate newer version.
Maybe if you tighten the bits your programs will stop being loose?
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
AOL CDs and Floppy Disks. Great for leveling that kitchen table that has one leg shorter than the rest.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
I doubt that. Most of these people are using XP because it was the last consumer Windows with a volume license key. Just because the patches have stopped doesn't mean they are going to throw away their operating system. You will likely find they are running a bunch of Dell P4 machines that others have thrown out
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
I've had people accidentally install Windows 7 over Windows 7 and lose all their documents due to re-partitioning. So yeah, saying random citizens are qualified to make a full switch over to Linux themselves is ridiculous. Plus, then they end up with a printer that has no drivers or an unsupported or glitchy graphics card driver. Windows 8 is hell on Earth in UI form but at least it functions properly.
This is a nice sentiment by Munich, but the many of the folks who are running XP and try and install Ubuntu 12 will be in for a nasty surprise -
32 bit machines without PAE will not load with most newer Linuxes. Most, including Ubuntu, no longer include 32 bit non-PAE kernels in their installers.
I found this out when I tried putting a modern albeit tiny Linux onto my FitPC 1 and an older EPIA motherboard - XP runs fine on these, but finding a linux is probably beyond the skill of most XP users. Jury rigging a different kernel in is definitely out.
A lot of older XP installs are also running on older hardware. Just giving away an OS will not magically fix this. And if these folks upgrade the hardware, it probably comes with a newer windows anyway.
Windows 8 is hell on Earth in UI form but at least it functions properly.
I don't really consider something as "functions properly" when it's "hell on Earth" to use.
After using Win7 for almost two years, I find it a marginal improvement.
Good:
-UAC is a good feature for those who understand the concept of "administrator" vs. "normal user".
-A lot of minor things (like "ejecting" USB sticks) that I found unreliable in XP work well now.
-64 bit support that deserves the name (Windows XP 64 never really took off).
Bad:
-Low level system settings are hidden deeper than in any previous version. You can still find them with a bit of Google help, but for people who are need to manage stuff like IP addresses and subnet masks directly I find Win7 actually harder to use. BTW that trend started with XP if not earlier...
Overall, I see the technology improving but Microsoft trying harder to keep the user from tweaking the system, often to the effect of annoying people who need special configurations. On the bottom line I consider Windows 7 an improvement, but one that could have been greater.
C - the footgun of programming languages
Upgrading a system to install windows 8 instead of windows XP is very difficult for unqualified people and will require almost the same installation time than Ubuntu and will probably have more driver issues than ubuntu (ubuntu works better on old hardware than recent windows).
I must admit that it is difficult to find qualified people on ubuntu.
Windows 8 is hell on Earth in UI form but at least it functions properly.
I'd prefer a glitchy heaven.
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This had Unity on by default, doesn't it? Epic fail.
We can almost hear one of one Redmond’s richest residents rubbing his hands together with glee.
Unity is almost as relevant to Ubuntu 12.04 as ASIMO is to Honda’s latest hatchback.
I had Ubuntu 12.04 installed for a short time and HATED it as well. The overall look and feel of the default Unity desktop manager is like it is trying to be a hybrid desktop/tablet OS and doing a half assed job at both. It managed to combine annoying, confusing and pandering on a level almost up there with Microsoft Bob. One wonders if this is a surreptitious reverse advertisement for Windows 8.
I've had people accidentally install Windows 7 over Windows 7 and lose all their documents due to re-partitioning.
Have you ever installed Ubuntu? It's dead simple, even my grandma can create a dual boot system, which it does by default. There's a slider for how much drive space you want Windows to keep and how much you want to give Ubuntu.
You put in the CD, turn it on, and wait for the desktop to appear. Then you can use GNU/Linux to look at your documents and files, and use Firefox to browse the web (it's a Live CD), see if there will be glitch driver support or not (everyone should have a GNU/Linux or BSD live CD, just in case whatever OS files become corrupt you can still get at your files and use the web). If it's all good, you double click the desktop icon to install it, pick a keyboard and language and timezone, move a slider and soon you've got a dual boot system -- which means you can use Ubuntu and if for some reason you need to run your windows programs you can just reboot into windows (though wine can run a lot of windows programs -- it is a bit retarding for newbs to get programs into, needs a "here's my old windows partition" option, IMO).
It's actually very simple. Win7 installer is a bit more complex, but still easy. Try creating a dual boot Windows setup to try Win8 out. Clicking a few wrong buttons in any software will produce results you didn't want...
So yeah, saying random citizens are qualified to make a full switch over to Linux themselves is ridiculous.
You are a fool. It's too fucking easy. The average person isn't THAT dumb. It's about as difficult as installing any windows software [ next, next, next, install ].
Windows 8 is hell on Earth in UI form but at least it functions properly.
Correction: You are a troll or maybe a shill? Win8 doesn't fucking work for upgrades. It works SOMETIMES, most times it doesn't work. I installed W8 on a Toshiba laptop that came with Win7... USB drivers and Ethernet and WIFI don't work... So, put in a GNU/Linux live CD, booted up, wifi works, USB works, ethernet works, get on the web, go to the hardware vendor's site, download drivers and put them in the windows's user directory. Then reboot. THEN I could get windows 8 to work -- Except the USB drivers. So, I can't use any USB devices. The hardware vendors made the correct driver I'm told (after hours of support phone tag, saying W8 isn't supported, BTW, whatever cop-out they can give), however, the folks uploading the drivers to their support system copied the same Win7 USB driver where the W8 driver is.
I've had similar problem with downgrading from W8 to W7, but with an ethernet driver. Plop in a Linux CD, and it actually works. Point being: For every issue you can point out with Linux not working, there are AT LEAST as many instances of Windows8 shitting the bed. Ethernet?! USB?! WTF, it's a small number of chipsets that are widely supported, why create a different driver for each different vendor if they have the same cards under the plastic? The windows devs are idiots.
Dual booting could be a popular option so that people can keep their old programs and data files. They should simply use Ubuntu for their web surfing and cloud activities. Keeping a separate drive or partition for shared data between the two OS's takes a small amount of time up front and makes the data sharing much easier.
There's just something fundamentally wrong with a company abandoning a product with such a huge install base. It's a huge Internet public health issue. Microsoft has a social responsibility by virtue of their success to act. I see four reasonable possibilities here.
1. Microsoft keeps releasing security patches for XP.
2. Microsoft ships a version of Windows 8 that will run on XP grade hardware.
3. Microsoft spins off XP into a company that will continue to support it.
4. Microsoft releases XP source code so that others can (at least have a chance to) patch it.
Eventually, all XP grade hardware will die, but with the advent of low power/low cost hardware XP could see a second coming if Microsoft would just support it. It's not like there isn't a huge amount of reasonably good software for the platform.
Imagine if a company in India bought XP and started releasing XP SP4 for like $10 or $20. So cheap that the 1st world wouldn't both to pirate it and still affordable to many in the 3d world.
Competition Good, Monopoly Bad.
Yeah! It's downright criminal that M$ won't continue to support an OS that came out before the Iraq war, or SARS, or the first US case of Mad Cow, or Gray Davis getting recalled, or Greenspan retiring from the fed, or Hurricane Katrina, or The release of three more operating systems from Microsoft.... Let's be reasonable. XP is four versions old at this point. It's time to put it out to pasture.
Most people will take it to BestBuy/ FS where they lug their old, dusty box up to the counter. The tech smirks and waits for it.
Cust: "I want to upgrade my PC to 8!"
Tech: "OK!, I will have to charge you $40 to look at it and clean it out, $60 for DDR2/DDR RAM that hasn't been made for 4 years, $50 for a PCIe GPU (you do want the fancy desktop right...?), $150 for the Windows 8 DVD, $100 to backup your old docs and viruses, and $150 to put windows and your viruses back on!"
Cust: "Umm where is your computer dept again?"
A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.