So... which part of this release actually provides a compelling reason to use Linux over any other OS?
You've been itching for something to run on that TI C6X system you built?
The fanboisim here makes me gag. Apple has nothing on you guys.
My post had nothing to do with fanboisim. I currently use Win, Mac, and 5 different flavors of Linux not counting my tv, car stereo, smart phone, and at least 3 other devices that run modified Linux code.
I have been using Linux off and on for years. But it has only been recently that I have really been modifying it and making it do what I want and how I want. Currently I have my MBP that I use that I need to have Windows installed on due to either software differences in Win and Mac versions (ie. Quickbooks) or because I need access to some windows items while on my Mac.
I use a Windows machine for some games only because the gaming industry seems to feel that there is only 1 OS that is worth the time. Even Mac is lacking on a lot of the games I play. And I am not a big fan of running some games in a X over for Linux.
When I use Linux it is for everything else from my firewall to Development. But I am dependent on my Phone and Tablet which run Android. Now with android kernel merge I may have a greater use for using linux than before.
And as I stated, I just hope I dont have to start at the basics. I am no guru by far but I really dont want to have to thrash what I have learned in the last year or so and start again. Will have to wait and see what the distros look like.
Finally 1 less reason to use anything windows based. I have been looking forward to the code getting out there. I just hope I can continue to learn without returning to basics.
You really need to do more investigating before you make assumptions. From what I have experienced in the Beta, this is every bit an MMO. Even more so than many of the ones available today.
Just wanted to sat good luck and thank you for the/. Hope you find something else to do with your time.
From ages 11 to 40 Well wishes from the Arthur Family
Just wanted to sat good luck and thank you for the/. Hope you find something else to do with your time.
.
From ages 11 to 40 Well wishes from the Arthur Family
Apparently you are not comprehending the 'expensive' part. I too have a Masters in CS as well as PM and I too am currently unemployed (although I do work independently for a few companies as a contract engineer) and every time I have had a face to face interview, I have been told they cannot afford to pay me what I am worth BEFORE they even inquire what I am asking.
When I worked for Siemens as a PM I also was a hiring manager, and one thing that HM's do is look at qualifications and experience. If someone has 10 years experience and 2 other applicants have 3 years experience, a hiring manager is going to consider budget, and know the applicant with 10 years exp. will be able to demand more money ANYWHERE. So even if he was asking the same amount as the applicants with 3 years exp. the odds are greater that sometime in the future, near or far, a considerably better offer is going to come along and with 10 years exp. the applicant would be crazy not to take it. And therefore the HM has to decide whether to take the more experienced and risk having to train someone new in 6 months to a year or give one of the other applicants more experience and maybe keep them for 5 years.
As for the economy, What a joke. In the US, where its all about the rich and Corps, it never works no matter who is running it.
I never said running and supporting Windows was the same thing. On the contrary I said 2 out of 3 have SOME experience using Windows. I also added 'if not supporting Windows' to indicate that some of the people WILL have experience supporting Windows.
But as someone who loves to write in clear correct English and/or clean code when programming or scripting I feel it is redundant to say ' there are more likely 2 out of 3 people who have 'some' experience in using Windows and some will have experience supporting Windows'. So I just made my statement 'there are more likely 2 out of 3 people who have 'some' experience in using...' and at the end added '..........if not supporting Windows'
Now if you had a hard time understanding the meaning of my statement I apologize and feel maybe you need to find a grammar site to join and stay away from/. Or even better maybe I should stay away since in the past few years/. has become more of a place for users who know nothing about anything yet allows to voice their uninformed opinions and to act like they understand the world around them. I remember when the only users were geeks and nerds not wannabe's.
Our company has specialized equipment and as a Systems Admin I work with alot of different *NIX versions. From AIX to Solaris to Ubuntu. And I am the ONLY person in our 9 man IT department who can handle *NIX. Even the operators and users of the machines and terminals dont know anything about *NIX and they use these OS's everyday.
So I believe that he wasnt trying to
make it sound like Windows just magically works.
He was just emphasizing the spread of common place OS users and and software compatibility, yes he was correct,
There isn't a right way to do this, depends on the situation. So decide if you are willing to support it (or if they have a support guy that handles Linux, which is unlikely),
I'll re-institute my boycott of Ubisoft, and nothing of value was lost.
And I will join in. When AC2 was released I planned on purchasing it until I found out it had the 'ALWAYS CONNECTED' DRM. I still played the game I just found another way to play with out having the DRM and Ubisoft didn't get my money.
I was a big fan of the original Driver title and was looking forward to this. I guess I will stop buying Ubisoft until they stop the always connected crap.
If I want to play a game that is always connected, I will play World of Warcraft.
'We've prevented some pretty serious incidents simply because people reached out to the few police officers that were using social media,' says Constable Scott Mills, the force's social media officer. 'This is going to lead to a lot more trust and a lot more transparency.'
I lived on the north side of Houston until April of this year. Conroe was 18 minutes from my house. I even lived in Conroe for 3 years. In Conroe or all of Montgomery County there is no such thing as Transparency. They are, have always been, and always will be a closed force who has been investigated by the DoJ several times for their unprofessional ways. Facebook is just a way to make the citizens believe they have changed. Those that will buy into getting pulled over in a school zone and told the speed limit is 20 even though it is midnight.
As for the point of police departments being on facebook, I think its a good idea. Although in smaller towns it may be plausible but in larger places like Houston, Chicago, etc. not so good. Too many people.
Unfortunately, they wouldn't dare cut defense. Well, they might dare if they hate the president enough.
You had it right the first time. They wouldn't dare cut defense, Too many companies involved in the production of equipment, ammunition, fuel, etc. belong to or are benefactors of a lot of GOP in the House and Senate.
East Texas isn't my first choice for a retirement home, but it comes in a LONG way ahead of Florida, Massachussets, California, Arizona, Virginia, or several other states.
While you're busy hating on Texans, maybe you should look in your own backyard,
Wow. I dont see anyone hating on texas. (Yes I spelled it with a LOWER CASE T). Just like you misspelled Massachusetts I am from Texas and what I see in this comment
We need to get a bunch of nerds to move to East Texas and try to get on as many patent infringement juries as possible.
Why the hate? What have nerds done to you that makes you want to punish them in that way?
is a reference to the "Ill award a verdict to whoever pays the most, AKA Big Corps." mentality of the juries of the court in which this has been filed. There was no hate toward Texans at all. Unless you cant read English. Just the area which is sorely lacking in any resemblance of the 21st Century He was saying we need to get people who know what the Digital Millennium is instead of those who get on the federal jury that has to spend 4 days prior to trial just getting an education in the technical terms so they don't look lost during the trial.
Most of the cases that go through this court awards stupid damages to weak cases brought by Big Corps.
We're not hating, we're just asking them to make this sacrifice for the greater good. They will be remembered as heroes.
Well you didn't get the first comment so I wouldn't expect you to realize he was talking about the nerds relocating to an area that the closest thing to a real computer shop is next door to a repair bay in a shut down service station. And the most people in the area understand IT is when you add the SH in front. And I can say it comfortably because I have spent the past 6 years as head of the programming dept for a formerly large (now kinda small) company in Tyler.
As a self proclaimed nerd, I like having access to technology. I live 3 hrs from Dallas yet it is the closest Fry's and Micro center. Or 4 hrs to Houston. I frequently drive my hybrid those 4 hrs just to get to either as any nerd living in the East Texas area in question would have to do to find the 21st century.
So unless you can understand the references of all comments of a conversation, don't accuse people of hating or in your own words
But back in the Athlon 64 days, the numbers used to have actual meaning and were related to Intel's processor performance.
An Athlon 64 3800+ performed on par with a 3800 MHz Pentium 4
Actually this is not correct. The comparison between the AMD chips and Intel's Stopped with the Althon XP. Those were the chips that could perform at or near the same level as Intel with a lower clock.
Performance Rating also called Pentium Rating or P4 Rating
Anything beyond the XP cpu's is nothing more than marketing ploys used by AMD. Although the XP numbers were also a marketing ploy but they could live up to it. Even today AMD uses PR capaigns to try and make up for the lack of performance.
When AMD releases a CPU that is truely benched at what they claim it can do, and I dont mean playing WOW on medium settings, I will consider the argument they are the better value. But when a 6 core high end CPU by AMD get stomped on by a mid range 4 core from Intel, I think I will stick with my Xeon Workstation for my Solidworks and AutoCAD.
Thinking the death of Bin Laden will change anything is like thinking the death of Roosevelt in 1945 meant the end of WW2. (For those lacking in history, it didn't).
While I agree with everything you point out I feel I must mention 1 thing. Roosevelt Died in April 12 of 1945. V-E day was May 8 of 1945, less than 1 month after his death and that was the beginning of the end of WWII. Within 4 months of his death WWII was over and Hitler was dead.
Your quoted statement alone compares the death of Bin Laden to Roosevelt, and that implies Roosevelt AKA USA started WWII. And last I checked it was the Japanese that bombed Perl Harbor long before we Bombed Hiroshima.
And BTW I am not lacking in history:P
I have the Uverse service, but don't really see a problem (yet, we'll see). DSL alone is $20 per month, Uverse is twice the speed and is only $25. Both are cheaper than Comcast -- but if they start charging me extra, it would be easy to go to Comcast, who are even worse than AT&T.
Yes uVerse is cheaper than Comcast. Yes it is twice as fast as DSL. But lets face it, 25 per month for 1/4 of the speed my 60Mb connection. I pay 50 per month and get 300% faster than uVerse. Even the top speed uVerse Max Turbo is up to 24Mb down and 3Mb up. I get up to 75Mb down and 6.5Mb up and if I have a problem or outage, I get those days credited to my account and the service doesnt depend on Where I Live in proximity to AT&T lines.
But what do you use for Internet? Unless you are one of the lucky FIOS ones (lucky bastards) most places DSL sucks compared to cable, and I don't know about everywhere else but I know Cox will NOT sell you net without at LEAST basic included. I ended up just picking up a cheapo USB TV tuner just so I could watch the occasional documentary (I haven't watched TV since Firefly left the air) and to not feel so ripped about having to pay for basic cable that I otherwise would never ever use.
I have COX here in Arkansas and I have and only pay for cable internet. They even came out and placed a trap on my line to prevent tv signal. and I only pay $49 + tax for this speed. "http://www.speedtest.net/result/1263294364.png"
I do believe if you were told you HAVE to include basic cable it was a flat lie. I was a technician for COX for 9 yrs and even when they rolled out cable internet in AR and KS they couldnt force you to get tv service (although most people didnt know this at the time).
"I can tell that everyone suggesting you just put Windows on the Mac has never been married, or probably had a LT girlfriend but..."
Don't know what kind of women you are dating, but your impression of women as irrational things that should be manipulated so as not to blame you in the future sounds awful.
Very Well Said.
As a guy I can say I am a total geek and OCD about computers, software, programming and the likes. However my wife of 13 yrs is also one of the most rational people I know. Most of the women I work with, 2 of which I dated before I married, are more rational than I am in a lot of instances.
Back to the OP
"I'm a Mac guy. When our 2004-era Windows XP laptop, which was used primarily by my wife, died last summer, I got myself a new MacBook Pro and she inherited my still serviceable 2008 MacBook. But after about six months, she hasn't gotten used to it, and wants a Windows machine. I don't have an ideological problem with this — it'd be her computer, and we've got a bit of money stashed away to pay for it. But trying to pick one out is my job, and I find the the whole process bewildering. Apple's product differentiation is great at defeating the paradox of choice — you have a few base models, the difference between which is quite obvious, and you can customize each. The Windows world seems totally different. Even once I've settled on a vendor for a Windows laptop (something I haven't done yet), each seems to have a bewildering array of product lines with similar specs. Often models that you find in electronics or office supply stores that seem promising in terms of form factor are exclusive to those stores and can't be found online. Obviously people do navigate this process, but I'm just feeling out of my depth. How would Slashdotters go about picking a solid, basic laptop for Web surfing and document editing that won't be obsolete in two years?"
If your wife wants you to choose one for her then do it. Research your options, find one that is powerful enough to handle her most taxing task easily, figure out which version of Windows she will need (W7 Home Premium, W7 Pro since these are the 2 most laptops come with), Then do as some others have said, Choose a few with the same or similar specs, and let her choose based on which one she like in appearance, weight, style, etc.
And I am not stuck on PC as I am on a MBP with W7 in BC.
Slashdot Mirror
So... which part of this release actually provides a compelling reason to use Linux over any other OS? You've been itching for something to run on that TI C6X system you built?
The fanboisim here makes me gag. Apple has nothing on you guys.
My post had nothing to do with fanboisim. I currently use Win, Mac, and 5 different flavors of Linux not counting my tv, car stereo, smart phone, and at least 3 other devices that run modified Linux code.
I have been using Linux off and on for years. But it has only been recently that I have really been modifying it and making it do what I want and how I want. Currently I have my MBP that I use that I need to have Windows installed on due to either software differences in Win and Mac versions (ie. Quickbooks) or because I need access to some windows items while on my Mac.
I use a Windows machine for some games only because the gaming industry seems to feel that there is only 1 OS that is worth the time. Even Mac is lacking on a lot of the games I play. And I am not a big fan of running some games in a X over for Linux.
When I use Linux it is for everything else from my firewall to Development. But I am dependent on my Phone and Tablet which run Android. Now with android kernel merge I may have a greater use for using linux than before.
And as I stated, I just hope I dont have to start at the basics. I am no guru by far but I really dont want to have to thrash what I have learned in the last year or so and start again. Will have to wait and see what the distros look like.
Finally 1 less reason to use anything windows based. I have been looking forward to the code getting out there. I just hope I can continue to learn without returning to basics.
Totally. Steve was a bit of a hippy so I don't know if he believed in an afterlife. If he is up in iHeaven........
You mean iCloud.
R.i.P Steve
You really need to do more investigating before you make assumptions. From what I have experienced in the Beta, this is every bit an MMO. Even more so than many of the ones available today.
Just wanted to sat good luck and thank you for the /. Hope you find something else to do with your time.
From ages 11 to 40 Well wishes from the Arthur Family
Wow I cant spell this morning Just wanted to SAY*
Just wanted to sat good luck and thank you for the /. Hope you find something else to do with your time.
.
From ages 11 to 40 Well wishes from the Arthur Family
Apparently you are not comprehending the 'expensive' part. I too have a Masters in CS as well as PM and I too am currently unemployed (although I do work independently for a few companies as a contract engineer) and every time I have had a face to face interview, I have been told they cannot afford to pay me what I am worth BEFORE they even inquire what I am asking.
When I worked for Siemens as a PM I also was a hiring manager, and one thing that HM's do is look at qualifications and experience. If someone has 10 years experience and 2 other applicants have 3 years experience, a hiring manager is going to consider budget, and know the applicant with 10 years exp. will be able to demand more money ANYWHERE. So even if he was asking the same amount as the applicants with 3 years exp. the odds are greater that sometime in the future, near or far, a considerably better offer is going to come along and with 10 years exp. the applicant would be crazy not to take it. And therefore the HM has to decide whether to take the more experienced and risk having to train someone new in 6 months to a year or give one of the other applicants more experience and maybe keep them for 5 years.
As for the economy, What a joke. In the US, where its all about the rich and Corps, it never works no matter who is running it.
I never said running and supporting Windows was the same thing. On the contrary I said 2 out of 3 have SOME experience using Windows. I also added 'if not supporting Windows' to indicate that some of the people WILL have experience supporting Windows.
But as someone who loves to write in clear correct English and/or clean code when programming or scripting I feel it is redundant to say ' there are more likely 2 out of 3 people who have 'some' experience in using Windows and some will have experience supporting Windows'. So I just made my statement 'there are more likely 2 out of 3 people who have 'some' experience in using...' and at the end added '..........if not supporting Windows'
Now if you had a hard time understanding the meaning of my statement I apologize and feel maybe you need to find a grammar site to join and stay away from /. Or even better maybe I should stay away since in the past few years /. has become more of a place for users who know nothing about anything yet allows to voice their uninformed opinions and to act like they understand the world around them. I remember when the only users were geeks and nerds not wannabe's.
Graciously
I think what is implied is that in an average area, there are more likely 2 out of 3 people who have 'some' experience in using if not supporting Windows. If you look at the numbers, In 2009, 80 % of the homes in the US have a Computer. where looking at OS distribution, Approx 80% of Users are running some form of Windows.
Our company has specialized equipment and as a Systems Admin I work with alot of different *NIX versions. From AIX to Solaris to Ubuntu. And I am the ONLY person in our 9 man IT department who can handle *NIX. Even the operators and users of the machines and terminals dont know anything about *NIX and they use these OS's everyday. So I believe that he wasnt trying to
make it sound like Windows just magically works.
He was just emphasizing the spread of common place OS users and and software compatibility, yes he was correct,
There isn't a right way to do this, depends on the situation. So decide if you are willing to support it (or if they have a support guy that handles Linux, which is unlikely),
If not Windows is the best way to go.
I'll re-institute my boycott of Ubisoft, and nothing of value was lost.
And I will join in. When AC2 was released I planned on purchasing it until I found out it had the 'ALWAYS CONNECTED' DRM. I still played the game I just found another way to play with out having the DRM and Ubisoft didn't get my money. I was a big fan of the original Driver title and was looking forward to this. I guess I will stop buying Ubisoft until they stop the always connected crap. If I want to play a game that is always connected, I will play World of Warcraft.
'We've prevented some pretty serious incidents simply because people reached out to the few police officers that were using social media,' says Constable Scott Mills, the force's social media officer. 'This is going to lead to a lot more trust and a lot more transparency.'
I lived on the north side of Houston until April of this year. Conroe was 18 minutes from my house. I even lived in Conroe for 3 years. In Conroe or all of Montgomery County there is no such thing as Transparency. They are, have always been, and always will be a closed force who has been investigated by the DoJ several times for their unprofessional ways. Facebook is just a way to make the citizens believe they have changed. Those that will buy into getting pulled over in a school zone and told the speed limit is 20 even though it is midnight. As for the point of police departments being on facebook, I think its a good idea. Although in smaller towns it may be plausible but in larger places like Houston, Chicago, etc. not so good. Too many people.
Unfortunately, they wouldn't dare cut defense. Well, they might dare if they hate the president enough.
You had it right the first time. They wouldn't dare cut defense, Too many companies involved in the production of equipment, ammunition, fuel, etc. belong to or are benefactors of a lot of GOP in the House and Senate.
East Texas is a nice place.........
East Texas isn't my first choice for a retirement home, but it comes in a LONG way ahead of Florida, Massachussets, California, Arizona, Virginia, or several other states.
While you're busy hating on Texans, maybe you should look in your own backyard,
Wow. I dont see anyone hating on texas. (Yes I spelled it with a LOWER CASE T). Just like you misspelled Massachusetts I am from Texas and what I see in this comment
We need to get a bunch of nerds to move to East Texas and try to get on as many patent infringement juries as possible.
Why the hate? What have nerds done to you that makes you want to punish them in that way?
is a reference to the "Ill award a verdict to whoever pays the most, AKA Big Corps." mentality of the juries of the court in which this has been filed. There was no hate toward Texans at all. Unless you cant read English. Just the area which is sorely lacking in any resemblance of the 21st Century He was saying we need to get people who know what the Digital Millennium is instead of those who get on the federal jury that has to spend 4 days prior to trial just getting an education in the technical terms so they don't look lost during the trial.
Most of the cases that go through this court awards stupid damages to weak cases brought by Big Corps.
Report on the logic of using East Texas juries
And if your comment is in reference to
Quote By s73v3r
We're not hating, we're just asking them to make this sacrifice for the greater good. They will be remembered as heroes.
Well you didn't get the first comment so I wouldn't expect you to realize he was talking about the nerds relocating to an area that the closest thing to a real computer shop is next door to a repair bay in a shut down service station. And the most people in the area understand IT is when you add the SH in front. And I can say it comfortably because I have spent the past 6 years as head of the programming dept for a formerly large (now kinda small) company in Tyler.
As a self proclaimed nerd, I like having access to technology. I live 3 hrs from Dallas yet it is the closest Fry's and Micro center. Or 4 hrs to Houston. I frequently drive my hybrid those 4 hrs just to get to either as any nerd living in the East Texas area in question would have to do to find the 21st century.
So unless you can understand the references of all comments of a conversation, don't accuse people of hating or in your own words
In short, don't be a douche.
But back in the Athlon 64 days, the numbers used to have actual meaning and were related to Intel's processor performance. An Athlon 64 3800+ performed on par with a 3800 MHz Pentium 4
Actually this is not correct. The comparison between the AMD chips and Intel's Stopped with the Althon XP. Those were the chips that could perform at or near the same level as Intel with a lower clock. Performance Rating also called Pentium Rating or P4 Rating
Anything beyond the XP cpu's is nothing more than marketing ploys used by AMD. Although the XP numbers were also a marketing ploy but they could live up to it. Even today AMD uses PR capaigns to try and make up for the lack of performance.
Using the same site you linked for the Athlon64, AMD's highest CPU the Phenom II X6 1100T 3.3GHz @ $214 on the EGG has 30 Intel CPU's above it in performance benchmarks the 11th one being the mid range Intel core i-5 2500K 3.3GHz @ $224 on the EGG. Even several Intel Mobile CPU's out perform AMD's highest pride and joy.
When AMD releases a CPU that is truely benched at what they claim it can do, and I dont mean playing WOW on medium settings, I will consider the argument they are the better value. But when a 6 core high end CPU by AMD get stomped on by a mid range 4 core from Intel, I think I will stick with my Xeon Workstation for my Solidworks and AutoCAD.
Thinking the death of Bin Laden will change anything is like thinking the death of Roosevelt in 1945 meant the end of WW2. (For those lacking in history, it didn't).
While I agree with everything you point out I feel I must mention 1 thing. Roosevelt Died in April 12 of 1945. V-E day was May 8 of 1945, less than 1 month after his death and that was the beginning of the end of WWII. Within 4 months of his death WWII was over and Hitler was dead.
Your quoted statement alone compares the death of Bin Laden to Roosevelt, and that implies Roosevelt AKA USA started WWII. And last I checked it was the Japanese that bombed Perl Harbor long before we Bombed Hiroshima. And BTW I am not lacking in history :P
I have the Uverse service, but don't really see a problem (yet, we'll see). DSL alone is $20 per month, Uverse is twice the speed and is only $25. Both are cheaper than Comcast -- but if they start charging me extra, it would be easy to go to Comcast, who are even worse than AT&T.
Yes uVerse is cheaper than Comcast. Yes it is twice as fast as DSL. But lets face it, 25 per month for 1/4 of the speed my 60Mb connection. I pay 50 per month and get 300% faster than uVerse. Even the top speed uVerse Max Turbo is up to 24Mb down and 3Mb up. I get up to 75Mb down and 6.5Mb up and if I have a problem or outage, I get those days credited to my account and the service doesnt depend on Where I Live in proximity to AT&T lines.
But what do you use for Internet? Unless you are one of the lucky FIOS ones (lucky bastards) most places DSL sucks compared to cable, and I don't know about everywhere else but I know Cox will NOT sell you net without at LEAST basic included. I ended up just picking up a cheapo USB TV tuner just so I could watch the occasional documentary (I haven't watched TV since Firefly left the air) and to not feel so ripped about having to pay for basic cable that I otherwise would never ever use.
I have COX here in Arkansas and I have and only pay for cable internet. They even came out and placed a trap on my line to prevent tv signal. and I only pay $49 + tax for this speed. "http://www.speedtest.net/result/1263294364.png" I do believe if you were told you HAVE to include basic cable it was a flat lie. I was a technician for COX for 9 yrs and even when they rolled out cable internet in AR and KS they couldnt force you to get tv service (although most people didnt know this at the time).
For a nation made up of 'We The People', Corporations have the one and only voice.
Constitution should read 'We The Patrons Of The Companies'
"I can tell that everyone suggesting you just put Windows on the Mac has never been married, or probably had a LT girlfriend but..."
Don't know what kind of women you are dating, but your impression of women as irrational things that should be manipulated so as not to blame you in the future sounds awful.
Very Well Said.
As a guy I can say I am a total geek and OCD about computers, software, programming and the likes. However my wife of 13 yrs is also one of the most rational people I know. Most of the women I work with, 2 of which I dated before I married, are more rational than I am in a lot of instances.
Back to the OP
"I'm a Mac guy. When our 2004-era Windows XP laptop, which was used primarily by my wife, died last summer, I got myself a new MacBook Pro and she inherited my still serviceable 2008 MacBook. But after about six months, she hasn't gotten used to it, and wants a Windows machine. I don't have an ideological problem with this — it'd be her computer, and we've got a bit of money stashed away to pay for it. But trying to pick one out is my job, and I find the the whole process bewildering. Apple's product differentiation is great at defeating the paradox of choice — you have a few base models, the difference between which is quite obvious, and you can customize each. The Windows world seems totally different. Even once I've settled on a vendor for a Windows laptop (something I haven't done yet), each seems to have a bewildering array of product lines with similar specs. Often models that you find in electronics or office supply stores that seem promising in terms of form factor are exclusive to those stores and can't be found online. Obviously people do navigate this process, but I'm just feeling out of my depth. How would Slashdotters go about picking a solid, basic laptop for Web surfing and document editing that won't be obsolete in two years?"
If your wife wants you to choose one for her then do it. Research your options, find one that is powerful enough to handle her most taxing task easily, figure out which version of Windows she will need (W7 Home Premium, W7 Pro since these are the 2 most laptops come with), Then do as some others have said, Choose a few with the same or similar specs, and let her choose based on which one she like in appearance, weight, style, etc.
And I am not stuck on PC as I am on a MBP with W7 in BC.