This particular laptop is near five years old, and it's a hand-me-down from my dad's company. It has been reformatted several times, passing through XP and several versions of Linux and back to XP. It's theoretically possible he still has the OEM CD lying around but really it's not worth my time... Yay for MSDNAA!
This has been my experience as well. I, like you, see no reason to not download the WGA updates.
But then, my experience is limited to running a 50-computer Windows domain (only one Vista machine) for a small software company. I probably don't count.
Or, just drag the taskbar to the bottom. Or just spend a minute customizing it so it behaves the way they're used to. It's faster than switching window managers.
Having several friends who use Macs regularly, one of which worked in a Mac store repairing machines, I am sufficiently convinced that Macs don't "just work" any more than Windows or Linux machines, especially now that the hardware is effectively the same.
Will people please stop practically quoting the "Mac vs. PC" commercials as if they were proven fact? They're filled with so many half-truths and outright lies that I get nauseous when I see one while flipping channels.
Where did you get your copy? Dell OEM pre-installed copies ask you to agree to the EULA (which is displayed on-screen) on first boot-up. Retail copies come with the EULA bundled in the box (IIRC). Volume Licenses come bundled with the EULA. Academic copies (MSDNAA, anyone?) make you agree to the EULA in order to download the ISO. Did I forget anything? The only place you could get XP that I can think of that wouldn't have the EULA is a pirated copy. I think you've implied you don't have a pirated copy; if you do, then your point is invalid.
Seconded. Whether "it just works" depends greatly on which distribution you choose, and what hardware you happen to have. You're more likely to get something that works if you choose Ubuntu (because Canonical has been making sure they include drivers for the most common hardware), but I've had Ubuntu CDs refuse to start before on relatively common hardware. If you turn someone on to Linux, you'd better make sure you offer to help them through it until they're up and running smoothly. Otherwise you will definitely be turning them away from it. Just my two cents.
I'm quite tired of people claiming Windows BSODs all the time. I'm as big a Linux fan as the next guy (I run Gentoo myself) but my laptop has bluescreened exactly once since I bought it in April 2007, and that was caused by Netflix's IE-only video player; it has not happened again.
But maybe that's because I'm among the few people that don't drag their Windows installations through the disease-ridden dregs of the internet (by which I mean warez sites, porn sites, etc).
While I agree that Microsoft's business model needs to change, I don't think making Windows free is the solution. It costs a buttload of money to produce an operating system; devs need to get paid somehow. It does, however, need to be cheaper, smaller, faster, and easier to use. If that means a low-cost (or free) base operating system with additional feature modules available for purchase, then so be it - but it should not be so expensive to get a commercially supported operating system.
While I don't disagree with you in any way, I'm always curious why people are upset when their RAM is being used. As I understand it, Vista pre-loads into RAM applications that you use often, thus (ideally) speeding up load time. RAM is there to be used; why do we get upset when we see near-100% usage? Personally, I don't care what XP's RAM usage is when I boot up, as long as it's responsive. If increasing XP's RAM usage to 1.5GB on bootup by loading stuff I use regularly would make my applications load faster, I would beg for it to be done.
Not everyone could even run Linux if they wanted to - e.g. accounting software, Photoshop, many games, etc. Don't throw wine in my face, it's more work than you'd ever let on in this discussion.
Let's face it; Linux is not for everyone yet, and it won't be until major software vendors start making commodity software (Quickbooks, everything Adobe, etc) for Linux.
But even beyond all that, not everyone knows a smart, enterprising geek who can teach them about Linux, and if they do, they probably don't know to ask.
While I often to this myself, most non-technical users set background images. My sister puts goofy home-made (as in Paint) pictures on her background, my brother puts pictures of Lego models, my dad uses a generic Dell-branded blue background, my mom uses a picture from the most recent family vacation, and so forth. I sometimes switch to wallpapers for upcoming games I'm excited about (such as right now, for Diablo III), and for several years I had it set to ZMatrix...
While conceptually this form of nag wouldn't bother me, I can easily understand how it would annoy a normal, non-technical user.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Microsoft doesn't license a machine to run Windows, but it licenses copies of Windows. I'm sure Microsoft's stance would be that pirated XP is still illegal even if the user has an unused (unusable?) OEM license.
That being said, I don't have a problem with people who pirate software they legitimately own anyway.
But doesn't a black desktop increase the power usage of LCDs? [citation needed, I know.] So, with the increasing prevalence of LCD monitors, Microsoft might actually be increasing total power usage...
I would appreciate it if someone would correct me if I'm wrong.
My problem with wine is that while CS:S et al run, I only get half the performance as in Windows, and Windows I only average 30fps... CS:S is kinda hard to play at ~15fps.
I use nvidia's drivers, so I would expect that the graphics performance would be approximately the same as in Windows.
Oh, that, and the Steam Community Overlay doesn't work under wine. I use that a lot.
If that stuff can be improved, I'd definitely boot into Linux a lot more than I do.
I want to be able to use Windows with apps in non-maximized mode, but without window border snapping it's extremely unlikely I'll ever do so. It's far too much work to line up window borders.
Why? Those of us that don't have time to endlessly tweak wine and/or pay for Cedega need Windows to be able to play our games. Or use Visual Studio (which, I submit, has little competition among C++ IDEs) for various projects, including open source ones. Don't worry, though, I dual-boot with Gentoo;)
Windows has its uses; WGA has never done anything bad to me; I use legitimate copies of Windows.
As for the blue and green theme... I hate it with a passion. The only one I can really stand is the Windows Classic theme.
Valve? Once you enter the CD Key into Steam, you never have to look at it again, ever, even if you uninstall the game.
Other games... as far as I'm aware, most game manufacturers are willing to get you a new key as long as you have the original game CDs (not burned copies). Just make a text file in your Documents folder with all your CD keys, and put a backup somewhere. Print out a copy to keep in your CD case. You do have a CD case, right?
What annoys me is that I have a laptop with a Dell OEM XP Pro license. I don't have the Dell OEM XP CD. I still want to be able to use that license. However, because I don't have the OEM CD, I can't. I'm stuck using a second legitimate XP Pro license for that machine because of it.
I've historically used a black background, except for the long period where I used ZMatrix (green text on a black background). Recently though I've been using a Diablo III wallpaper which is mostly dark colors, and in Linux I use the Gentoo Emergence wallpaper now... I guess I got tired of black.
People don't like to pay, period;) But really, I can understand that. The psychological difference between paying for speed and paying for data transfer is that data transfer is a consumable commodity, but speed is not. Noone likes paying for something that can run out instead of something that does not.
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Also true; however if the distro you choose uses KDE by default then your original advice is unnecessary ;)
This particular laptop is near five years old, and it's a hand-me-down from my dad's company. It has been reformatted several times, passing through XP and several versions of Linux and back to XP. It's theoretically possible he still has the OEM CD lying around but really it's not worth my time... Yay for MSDNAA!
This has been my experience as well. I, like you, see no reason to not download the WGA updates.
But then, my experience is limited to running a 50-computer Windows domain (only one Vista machine) for a small software company. I probably don't count.
Or, just drag the taskbar to the bottom. Or just spend a minute customizing it so it behaves the way they're used to. It's faster than switching window managers.
Having several friends who use Macs regularly, one of which worked in a Mac store repairing machines, I am sufficiently convinced that Macs don't "just work" any more than Windows or Linux machines, especially now that the hardware is effectively the same.
Will people please stop practically quoting the "Mac vs. PC" commercials as if they were proven fact? They're filled with so many half-truths and outright lies that I get nauseous when I see one while flipping channels.
Where did you get your copy? Dell OEM pre-installed copies ask you to agree to the EULA (which is displayed on-screen) on first boot-up. Retail copies come with the EULA bundled in the box (IIRC). Volume Licenses come bundled with the EULA. Academic copies (MSDNAA, anyone?) make you agree to the EULA in order to download the ISO. Did I forget anything? The only place you could get XP that I can think of that wouldn't have the EULA is a pirated copy. I think you've implied you don't have a pirated copy; if you do, then your point is invalid.
Linux. It Just Works.
(Your experience may vary.)
Seconded. Whether "it just works" depends greatly on which distribution you choose, and what hardware you happen to have. You're more likely to get something that works if you choose Ubuntu (because Canonical has been making sure they include drivers for the most common hardware), but I've had Ubuntu CDs refuse to start before on relatively common hardware. If you turn someone on to Linux, you'd better make sure you offer to help them through it until they're up and running smoothly. Otherwise you will definitely be turning them away from it. Just my two cents.
I'm quite tired of people claiming Windows BSODs all the time. I'm as big a Linux fan as the next guy (I run Gentoo myself) but my laptop has bluescreened exactly once since I bought it in April 2007, and that was caused by Netflix's IE-only video player; it has not happened again.
But maybe that's because I'm among the few people that don't drag their Windows installations through the disease-ridden dregs of the internet (by which I mean warez sites, porn sites, etc).
I'm pretty sure that means there's something wrong with your installation of Windows.
While I agree that Microsoft's business model needs to change, I don't think making Windows free is the solution. It costs a buttload of money to produce an operating system; devs need to get paid somehow. It does, however, need to be cheaper, smaller, faster, and easier to use. If that means a low-cost (or free) base operating system with additional feature modules available for purchase, then so be it - but it should not be so expensive to get a commercially supported operating system.
While I don't disagree with you in any way, I'm always curious why people are upset when their RAM is being used. As I understand it, Vista pre-loads into RAM applications that you use often, thus (ideally) speeding up load time. RAM is there to be used; why do we get upset when we see near-100% usage? Personally, I don't care what XP's RAM usage is when I boot up, as long as it's responsive. If increasing XP's RAM usage to 1.5GB on bootup by loading stuff I use regularly would make my applications load faster, I would beg for it to be done.
Anyone have any ideas about this?
Not everyone could even run Linux if they wanted to - e.g. accounting software, Photoshop, many games, etc. Don't throw wine in my face, it's more work than you'd ever let on in this discussion.
Let's face it; Linux is not for everyone yet, and it won't be until major software vendors start making commodity software (Quickbooks, everything Adobe, etc) for Linux.
But even beyond all that, not everyone knows a smart, enterprising geek who can teach them about Linux, and if they do, they probably don't know to ask.
I've never had this problem. What firewall are you using?
While I often to this myself, most non-technical users set background images. My sister puts goofy home-made (as in Paint) pictures on her background, my brother puts pictures of Lego models, my dad uses a generic Dell-branded blue background, my mom uses a picture from the most recent family vacation, and so forth. I sometimes switch to wallpapers for upcoming games I'm excited about (such as right now, for Diablo III), and for several years I had it set to ZMatrix...
While conceptually this form of nag wouldn't bother me, I can easily understand how it would annoy a normal, non-technical user.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Microsoft doesn't license a machine to run Windows, but it licenses copies of Windows. I'm sure Microsoft's stance would be that pirated XP is still illegal even if the user has an unused (unusable?) OEM license.
That being said, I don't have a problem with people who pirate software they legitimately own anyway.
But doesn't a black desktop increase the power usage of LCDs? [citation needed, I know.] So, with the increasing prevalence of LCD monitors, Microsoft might actually be increasing total power usage...
I would appreciate it if someone would correct me if I'm wrong.
My problem with wine is that while CS:S et al run, I only get half the performance as in Windows, and Windows I only average 30fps... CS:S is kinda hard to play at ~15fps.
I use nvidia's drivers, so I would expect that the graphics performance would be approximately the same as in Windows.
Oh, that, and the Steam Community Overlay doesn't work under wine. I use that a lot.
If that stuff can be improved, I'd definitely boot into Linux a lot more than I do.
I want to be able to use Windows with apps in non-maximized mode, but without window border snapping it's extremely unlikely I'll ever do so. It's far too much work to line up window borders.
Why? Those of us that don't have time to endlessly tweak wine and/or pay for Cedega need Windows to be able to play our games. Or use Visual Studio (which, I submit, has little competition among C++ IDEs) for various projects, including open source ones. Don't worry, though, I dual-boot with Gentoo ;)
Windows has its uses; WGA has never done anything bad to me; I use legitimate copies of Windows.
As for the blue and green theme... I hate it with a passion. The only one I can really stand is the Windows Classic theme.
Valve? Once you enter the CD Key into Steam, you never have to look at it again, ever, even if you uninstall the game.
Other games... as far as I'm aware, most game manufacturers are willing to get you a new key as long as you have the original game CDs (not burned copies). Just make a text file in your Documents folder with all your CD keys, and put a backup somewhere. Print out a copy to keep in your CD case. You do have a CD case, right?
What annoys me is that I have a laptop with a Dell OEM XP Pro license. I don't have the Dell OEM XP CD. I still want to be able to use that license. However, because I don't have the OEM CD, I can't. I'm stuck using a second legitimate XP Pro license for that machine because of it.
It's the downside to OEM cd keys.
Maybe you should wait to burn that Ubuntu CD until you actually need it. I'm sure it will be updated a time or two before then ;)
Odd. I read it as if you had spelled it right. Are my eyes dying?
I've historically used a black background, except for the long period where I used ZMatrix (green text on a black background). Recently though I've been using a Diablo III wallpaper which is mostly dark colors, and in Linux I use the Gentoo Emergence wallpaper now... I guess I got tired of black.
People don't like to pay, period ;) But really, I can understand that. The psychological difference between paying for speed and paying for data transfer is that data transfer is a consumable commodity, but speed is not. Noone likes paying for something that can run out instead of something that does not.