Despite what a lot of other posters have mentioned, I'd have to say that Linux would be the best choice. As a distribution maintainer myself, I get a lot of e-mails from users – and a lot of it isn't just the usual support stuff, a good deal of the mail I get is from ordinary people who decided to switch to Linux (and my distro was the first one).
I may be a bit biased on this, but I'd have to say the only real problem is typically the installation. After that, it's a snap. If the machines have enough horsepower – for my own distro, a Pentium-233 with 96MB can handle KDE, Firefox, and OpenOffice.org rather nicely – I'd say stick on KDE, create a default user account and make it auto-login, assign a strong root password – but tell them what it is! – and maybe set up some shortcuts on the desktop to any apps they may use. Problem solved!
I'd have to say that everyone in my family seems to like my distro too. Even my parents. Which may sound sort of stupid and obvious, but not really – I had to fight tooth and nail to get them to try Linux out! They just did not want to give up Windows, at all! But as soon as they saw it, they were hooked too...
But one quick suggestion – if you have to teach them on Windows, please, do yourself (and them) a favor and DON'T USE INTERNET EXPLORER. I'm obviously no expert on psychology, but I've noticed that most people, once they find something they like, generally don't want to switch off to something better unless it's forced upon them. So if you get them used to using an insecure, non-standard browser such as Explorer, it will likely serve you right when you can't convince them to try Firefox because of the unpatched security vulnerability du jour in IE.
Either way, however, qualitative adjectives still do require a frame of reference (or whatever the scientific term is) – for something to be considered "big", for example, there would still be an implied "normal" size, whether you are consciously aware of it or not. Unless it's given in absolute, quantitative units, it's relative to something.
A - Dell was fresh out of quad core computers with three PCI-express slots and the ability to add 8 GIGABYTES of ram. Shucks.”
Still doesn't explain why you'd want to run Windows XP on the thing, though. I don't know about you, but I'd rather a fully modern operating system with up-to-date hardware support, no major memory-support limitations, and not to mention security such as Mac OS X, or even better Linux, or maybe even OpenBSD if I was truly paranoid; if the latest major release of any other system was more than five years ago, would you want to use it?
Besides, XP's whole Fisher-Price look doesn't really match the Mac's elegant (over)design... and neither does classic mode with all the rough pixelized edges, for that matter. Or maybe that's just me.
Until I start seeing a Linux-compatible site anywhere near as comprehensive (and inexpensive!) as mininova, I'd say I have no interest in downloading music! (Well, just kidding with mininova though – most of the stuff I download is Linux software;-) The nice thing about CD's, other than being conveniently portable and not to mention available absolutely everywhere, is that there's no DRM... well, there may be software like Sony puts on the things but the music tracks themselves are unencrypted and easily accessible to CD-ripping programs like cdparanoia.
Kind of a bit off-topic, but I'd say it's also true with software stuff, too – while downloading can be convenient, it's also a real pain in the ass unless you have a really high speed connection, a CD/DVD burner... and it's even worse if you're on the server side. With my Linux distribution, I've actually been mailing out physical CD's to some of the mirror sites, because BitTorrent's just a bit tricky, and my server's located on my home connection, so FTP isn't really an option...
This just in! Microsoft has just convinced Congress to pass legislation prohibiting the discovery or announcement of critical security vulnerabilities! The world's largest software company has been backed by various others – including, just this morning, Linux developer Ubuntu. Linus Torvalds of Linux kernel fame, Richard Stallman of GNU, and Theo de Raadt of OpenBSD were not available for comment...
“With a desktop, you simply could have changed the monitor and keep the rest of the system, instead of suffering a broken display for 10 years. I call that an advantage of the desktop over the laptop.”
Well, the thing is, when we got the thing it was the only one we could afford – and besides, by the time I got it (after we got a new family PC), I already had a couple desktop machines I was using anyway. The point of a laptop is that it's portable, and this one was pretty damn good considering it had a dead battery and weighed almost seven pounds... which, oddly enough, I never really noticed. I guess I'm just used to bigger machines, those ultra-portable Japanese ones are just too flimsy-looking to me.
Besides, the screen actually wasn't too bad - so conveniently it decided to smash in the one section that was never used for anything useful anyway, so it really wasn't a problem at all. And if I really needed the full screen, I'd just hook it up like a desktop machine, which at one point I did quite a lot just because it was so much faster than my other machines, which were mostly overloaded 486's.
Microsoft Techie #1: How are we going to get this to work?? Hmm, maybe we can stick this virtual machine monitor here, and then we can trick the highly technical, security-conscious guys who would use the system into giving us root access so we could put it before kernel secure mode is initiated?
Microsoft Techie #2: Nah, too complicated. Let's just wait until the next default security hole...
“That's what I was thinking initially. However, this is a school we're talking about. Many (most?) schools allow students to plug their desktops into the network ethernet and use their laptops on the school's wireless LAN. We are talking about private machines here. Of course, there is the acceptible use policy (or whatever a given school calls it) dictating what is okay for the student to do. I can't imaging it saying "no running viruses", though. ”
Well, maybe it's true for big universities like OP is talking about, but as far as anything less than that, don't expect to get anywhere...
I happen to be a high school student myself, and apparently my school district really hates me now. The entire network is basically a bunch of Windows XP machines with every possible lockdown technique imaginable – can't clear browsing history, can't even lock the screen any more. And of course they spy on everyone 24/7, even if whoever they're spying on hasn't even done anything.
Why do they hate me? Because I was using PuTTY and VNC to tunnel my Linux box's desktop at home to the school machine so I could work on a LEGITIMATE SCHOOL PROJECT that happened to be stored at home. (Namely, my Linux distribution that I'm doing for an IB personal project this year.)
And now the really good part – they're now working on converting all the high schools to wireless, even though they don't allow personal computers from home to be brought in anyway. The entire place is already wired up for all their machines, so it's not like we really need any more connectivity stuff.
Makes you wonder if they even know what they're doing sometimes.
I just like how trivially easy it is to sit down and start coding. Just a couple weeks ago I dug up the latest version of PyWord from wherever I'd been keeping it – haven't really written that much Python code in a couple years now – and it was almost too easy to get started with it again.
Personally I think my favorite watch would have to be just an ordinary Casio atomic watch, one of the ones with analog/digital/stopwatch/whatever. All that other geek stuff might be fun and amusing, but as far as actual function goes, the only thing I need is a device that keeps time, and doesn't need to be set.
(It's also rather nice-looking, despite the fact that I've drowned it once and superglued it twice... my stuff tends to get abused;-)
My second favorite, for reasons still unknown, is one of those Shark Tale promotional things my friend got from a cereal box. I don't know why, I just like the thing.
Wow, you had enough time and/or disk space to look at the source code...? I tried it once... after it ate up about a gigabyte or so I thought to myself "fuck it, I'll just convert the RPM's..."
I'd personally like to suggest trying out Python. Not only is it more powerful than, and just as easy to code as – in fact, often considerably easier than – Visual Basic, it also has the advantage of running on many other operating systems such as Linux and Mac OS X. It can take a little while to get the hang of, but once you know what you're doing it's effortless (take a lookfor yourself at a couple things I hacked together, for example).
And yes, despite being a Linux hacker now I once did use Visual Basic, and I have to say it took way longer to learn VB than it did Python.
Yeah, the hell with it – I remember back before I switched over to Linux, I was still mostly using DOS (yes, even after 2000), and WordPerfect 5.1 is still my favorite word processor. That's the one real problem with Linux – OpenOffice.org is a bloated, unstable piece of junk; AbiWord is a bit too GNOME-ish and dumbed down for me; and TeX is usually overkill unless I'm writing up a lab report for school or something.
Stop discriminating against those poor American lawyers – just because they're always siding with that Anglin kid and the RIAA/MPAA doesn't mean they're any worse than all the other rip-off artist sharks in the world!
Slashdot Mirror
Despite what a lot of other posters have mentioned, I'd have to say that Linux would be the best choice. As a distribution maintainer myself, I get a lot of e-mails from users – and a lot of it isn't just the usual support stuff, a good deal of the mail I get is from ordinary people who decided to switch to Linux (and my distro was the first one).
I may be a bit biased on this, but I'd have to say the only real problem is typically the installation. After that, it's a snap. If the machines have enough horsepower – for my own distro, a Pentium-233 with 96MB can handle KDE, Firefox, and OpenOffice.org rather nicely – I'd say stick on KDE, create a default user account and make it auto-login, assign a strong root password – but tell them what it is! – and maybe set up some shortcuts on the desktop to any apps they may use. Problem solved!
I'd have to say that everyone in my family seems to like my distro too. Even my parents. Which may sound sort of stupid and obvious, but not really – I had to fight tooth and nail to get them to try Linux out! They just did not want to give up Windows, at all! But as soon as they saw it, they were hooked too...
But one quick suggestion – if you have to teach them on Windows, please, do yourself (and them) a favor and DON'T USE INTERNET EXPLORER. I'm obviously no expert on psychology, but I've noticed that most people, once they find something they like, generally don't want to switch off to something better unless it's forced upon them. So if you get them used to using an insecure, non-standard browser such as Explorer, it will likely serve you right when you can't convince them to try Firefox because of the unpatched security vulnerability du jour in IE.
Actually, today's fully modern distributions have greatly improved – it only takes nine!
See? There those jokes come again – what did I tell you??
Give a man a fish, and he'll spend the rest of his life creating bad "give a man a fish" jokes.
...the whole “no more Next Big Thing” phase is the Next Big Thing!
Either way, however, qualitative adjectives still do require a frame of reference (or whatever the scientific term is) – for something to be considered "big", for example, there would still be an implied "normal" size, whether you are consciously aware of it or not. Unless it's given in absolute, quantitative units, it's relative to something.
Still doesn't explain why you'd want to run Windows XP on the thing, though. I don't know about you, but I'd rather a fully modern operating system with up-to-date hardware support, no major memory-support limitations, and not to mention security such as Mac OS X, or even better Linux, or maybe even OpenBSD if I was truly paranoid; if the latest major release of any other system was more than five years ago, would you want to use it?
Besides, XP's whole Fisher-Price look doesn't really match the Mac's elegant (over)design... and neither does classic mode with all the rough pixelized edges, for that matter. Or maybe that's just me.
Until I start seeing a Linux-compatible site anywhere near as comprehensive (and inexpensive!) as mininova, I'd say I have no interest in downloading music! (Well, just kidding with mininova though – most of the stuff I download is Linux software ;-) The nice thing about CD's, other than being conveniently portable and not to mention available absolutely everywhere, is that there's no DRM... well, there may be software like Sony puts on the things but the music tracks themselves are unencrypted and easily accessible to CD-ripping programs like cdparanoia.
Kind of a bit off-topic, but I'd say it's also true with software stuff, too – while downloading can be convenient, it's also a real pain in the ass unless you have a really high speed connection, a CD/DVD burner... and it's even worse if you're on the server side. With my Linux distribution, I've actually been mailing out physical CD's to some of the mirror sites, because BitTorrent's just a bit tricky, and my server's located on my home connection, so FTP isn't really an option...
Just wait until tomorrow when Microsoft releases their own microkernel-based "FUD:OS" :-)
This just in! Microsoft has just convinced Congress to pass legislation prohibiting the discovery or announcement of critical security vulnerabilities! The world's largest software company has been backed by various others – including, just this morning, Linux developer Ubuntu. Linus Torvalds of Linux kernel fame, Richard Stallman of GNU, and Theo de Raadt of OpenBSD were not available for comment...
Well, the thing is, when we got the thing it was the only one we could afford – and besides, by the time I got it (after we got a new family PC), I already had a couple desktop machines I was using anyway. The point of a laptop is that it's portable, and this one was pretty damn good considering it had a dead battery and weighed almost seven pounds... which, oddly enough, I never really noticed. I guess I'm just used to bigger machines, those ultra-portable Japanese ones are just too flimsy-looking to me.
Besides, the screen actually wasn't too bad - so conveniently it decided to smash in the one section that was never used for anything useful anyway, so it really wasn't a problem at all. And if I really needed the full screen, I'd just hook it up like a desktop machine, which at one point I did quite a lot just because it was so much faster than my other machines, which were mostly overloaded 486's.
Microsoft Techie #1: How are we going to get this to work?? Hmm, maybe we can stick this virtual machine monitor here, and then we can trick the highly technical, security-conscious guys who would use the system into giving us root access so we could put it before kernel secure mode is initiated?
Microsoft Techie #2: Nah, too complicated. Let's just wait until the next default security hole...
Allow Diebold voting machines? [ Yes ] [ Yes ] [ Yes ]
(later) "...well, what do you know, due to a horrible software misconfiguration everyone's voted against the machines!"
Finally, something that can unclog my CPU fan!
Well, maybe it's true for big universities like OP is talking about, but as far as anything less than that, don't expect to get anywhere...
I happen to be a high school student myself, and apparently my school district really hates me now. The entire network is basically a bunch of Windows XP machines with every possible lockdown technique imaginable – can't clear browsing history, can't even lock the screen any more. And of course they spy on everyone 24/7, even if whoever they're spying on hasn't even done anything.
Why do they hate me? Because I was using PuTTY and VNC to tunnel my Linux box's desktop at home to the school machine so I could work on a LEGITIMATE SCHOOL PROJECT that happened to be stored at home. (Namely, my Linux distribution that I'm doing for an IB personal project this year.)
And now the really good part – they're now working on converting all the high schools to wireless, even though they don't allow personal computers from home to be brought in anyway. The entire place is already wired up for all their machines, so it's not like we really need any more connectivity stuff.
Makes you wonder if they even know what they're doing sometimes.
You try telling that to Bram Cohen, the Enigma code-breaking guys, Industrial Light & Magic, or Google...
Personally I think my favorite watch would have to be just an ordinary Casio atomic watch, one of the ones with analog/digital/stopwatch/whatever. All that other geek stuff might be fun and amusing, but as far as actual function goes, the only thing I need is a device that keeps time, and doesn't need to be set.
;-)
(It's also rather nice-looking, despite the fact that I've drowned it once and superglued it twice... my stuff tends to get abused
My second favorite, for reasons still unknown, is one of those Shark Tale promotional things my friend got from a cereal box. I don't know why, I just like the thing.
Wow, you had enough time and/or disk space to look at the source code...? I tried it once... after it ate up about a gigabyte or so I thought to myself "fuck it, I'll just convert the RPM's..."
I was referring to the entire process leading up to his going evil, not just the part where it actually happens.
I'd personally like to suggest trying out Python. Not only is it more powerful than, and just as easy to code as – in fact, often considerably easier than – Visual Basic, it also has the advantage of running on many other operating systems such as Linux and Mac OS X. It can take a little while to get the hang of, but once you know what you're doing it's effortless (take a look for yourself at a couple things I hacked together, for example).
And yes, despite being a Linux hacker now I once did use Visual Basic, and I have to say it took way longer to learn VB than it did Python.
I would kill for that much bandwidth... (and we're talking "-9" and everything here, too!)
Have to stop paying the bills – otherwise they'll think I'm a terrorist!
Why did this get "-1, Off-Topic"? By being repeated here it's clearly a demonstration that it works even if you don't install it!
Yeah, the hell with it – I remember back before I switched over to Linux, I was still mostly using DOS (yes, even after 2000), and WordPerfect 5.1 is still my favorite word processor. That's the one real problem with Linux – OpenOffice.org is a bloated, unstable piece of junk; AbiWord is a bit too GNOME-ish and dumbed down for me; and TeX is usually overkill unless I'm writing up a lab report for school or something.
Memo to me, find CD with backup of 486...
Stop discriminating against those poor American lawyers – just because they're always siding with that Anglin kid and the RIAA/MPAA doesn't mean they're any worse than all the other rip-off artist sharks in the world!