Slashdot Mirror
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."
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.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. The problem with work-alikes is that people are prone to think that they actually work alike. The fact that something is different and actually looks it is really not such a bad thing.
The whole problem with the GNOME3 interfaces was never so much that those interfaces suck but that they sabotaged the GNOME2 one in the process.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
On the downside, how many kids/grandkids are there that will know how to fix their parents/grandparents Linux machines?
Probably close to the same amount that will know how to fix their Windows 8 machine.
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
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.
In some countries in Europe, I live in the Netherlands, we see the government as a service organisation.
We know we pay taxes because in return we get good quality roads, social security (which keeps crime rate low), police to help us (we and the police are still on friendly terms), schooling (increases profit and reduces crime). And although we might bitch a bit about our taxes, most of us gladly pay it.
If you don't believe corporations have "a lot of agendas" I would suggest that you go look at a list of the sponsors of the American Legislative Exchange Council and then take a look at some of the laws ALEC is pushing in state legislatures around the country.
The notion that Corporations=Good and Government=Bad is pretty naive.
You are welcome on my lawn.
I envy you. I live in the US, and if I want decent roads, a safety net in case of job loss, funding so police can do their jobs, actual functioning schools that teach something other than consume, working fire departments, and emergency medical teams who don't care more about valid health insurance cards than patient signs, I get called "socialist".
European prisons have a better quality of life than most people here in the US.
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.