[LINK] Re: Windows XP versus Vista

[Kim Holburn]

On 2008/Jan/24, at 12:30 PM, David Goldstein wrote:

> Well, the only reboots of my computer with Vista are when an update or
> new programme says I should reboot. In the 8 months I've been using
> Vista I may have rebooted it because of problems once or twice. But
> then, that may have just been the easier way out of working out what
> the issue was. And from recollection of news reports, Vista's  
> uptake has been comparable to say XP.

Yeah, like I said, the difference between licenses sold and what's on  
the machine.  Many companies scrub the installed distro and install  
their own company version of XP or W2k.

> And while you may be able to run Linux systems for years without  
> reboots, let's face it, the average computer user is simply not  
> going to use Linux - it's just way to difficult. At least with Mac  
> and Windows, it's just out of the box, turn it on, and you're away.

Actually the only reason you can do this with windows is because  
Microsoft puts huge, and largely illegal, pressure on OEMs to  
preinstall windows, to bundle computers with windows and it has been  
doing this for a long time now.  If you have to install windows  
yourself, it is way more difficult and time consuming than Linux.   
Usually takes me a couple of days to get everything on and secure.   
There are many linux distros that fire up in seconds to minutes and  
install in a few minutes and that includes all the applications as well.

> You may beg to differ, and I've not tried to use Linux, but tech  
> advice says this to be the case.

Microsoft trained techies?  People who are used to windows will find  
another OS difficult at first.  I remember having to give up  
Wordstar.  My hands still remember most of the commands...   But  
things change.

> And for the vast majority of people, Windows does the job  
> wonderfully. Doesn't mean it couldn't be better, or even a lot  
> better. But it works fine.

And to run it you have to have additional software, just to be secure  
and more to do anything useful - like applications?  It's just not a  
problem on other platforms.

--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request

Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961