Window lovers out the closet NOW !

allix · Post by **allix** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:06 pm

oswaldkelso mentioned it so here it is.

LinuxMint-4 · Post by **LinuxMint-4** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 4:59 pm

I use Windows XP and Windows 2000 both are good operating systems even though they have a few issues. XP requires live (internet or by phone) validation, has WGA.

Viewing the MP3 files in XP results in a either Tiles, List, Thumbnails, Icons or Details every time one opens a file folder...its a crap shoot what you will get, seems I can't keep it as list, annoying.

Windows XP Home and XP Pro is stable, but more than once I have found that there is more driver support in Linux Mint 4.0 than Windows XP Home (found this out recently when my sister in law gave me her older XP Home machine with the install disc minus the hard drive). Xp Home could not find the embedded soundcard driver and ethernet. Again Linux Mint 4.0 had no problems finding both, so for a temporary fix I installed a sound card and a ethernet card for the XP Home. I ended up with a dual boot with XP Home and Linux Mint 4.0.

Windows 2000 ? Dated but still functional and still in wide use today, no WGA and I had no major issues with it.

Windows Vista is clearly where I draw the line in the sand, its one thing being bloated and buggy. But to have a OS that spies on its users 30 times a second, has the ability to revoke drivers and hardware at will, has hair trigger WGA (unfortunate users have done something as innocent as replacing a video card or installing RAM found that they needed to contact MSFT for another key), needs high hardware requirements to run, reduced functionality on video if its DRM thinks you are doing something bad (remember this YOUR computer), older equipment like printers won't run on it.... this is where I kiss Windows goodbye.

I use XP for my audio projects including transferring my vinyl collection to MP3's. I subscribe to Coast to Coast's stream link podcasts and it downloads Coast to Coast using its own streamlink podcaster that to the best of my knowledge only runs on Windows.

Winamp with its many free plug-ins including Stereo Tool 2.10 by HansVanZutphen which make the audio output sound great. I use "MP3 Direct Cut" (also free) for trimming or editing my MP3's down, it is Windows only, I use Replay Radio 7 for stream recording (yes I know about audacity...I tried it a few years back, buggy and cumbersome with only a WAV output...did it improve since then?) Nero for CD burning. And Outlook Express. Firefox not IE.

I have used Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Freespire 2.0, Puppy Linux, DSL and others...even React OS (well tried to use React OS...lol) . Linux is ready for prime time, I guess for me to get off of Windows entirely is to find or compile the same type of items that I use for Windows and find the Linux versions.

I will stay with both Linux and XP/2000 for the foreseeable future. I see WINE will release version 1.0 in June, React OS promises to go to Beta one of these decades..lol.

Wally Balljacker · Post by **Wally Balljacker** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 6:23 pm

I have no use for Windows. My main desktop and laptop run Linux/BSD, and my PowerMac is currently running OS X Tiger. (Fink is awesome, BTW. APT for Darwin!)

davijordan · Post by **davijordan** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 6:48 pm

ok, i use win2k for my tax program. At work, i have to be able to use all operating systems. I just downloaded windows server 2008 trial edition to play with. You have to know your competition. I also like to collect old computers, so i have a pentium 1 running licensed windows nt with back office.

CptnObvious999 · Post by **CptnObvious999** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:05 pm

I use Windows XP for work in VirtualBox and I have a dualboot as well for those few times when I play games or need to VPN.

I use my Linux install 90% of the time and I know Microsoft didn't get my money so I feel pretty good about it.

rizzo · Post by **rizzo** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:21 pm

Wally Balljacker wrote:I have no use for Windows. My main desktop and laptop run Linux/BSD, and my PowerMac is currently running OS X Tiger. (Fink is awesome, BTW. APT for Darwin!)

Yeah, Fink is great. I also use Macports (BSD Ports for Darwin). I can usually find most of what I need between the two. Still have to go to source every now and then.

HerbVista · Post by **HerbVista** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:36 pm

Use XP Pro & Vista for hosting VMWare sessions of Lunix/BSD/Solaris.

Use "the Windows" for the ATI 3870 video card for full driver/feature support.

Also use "the Windows" and to make sure I have all sorts of browsers, word processors, spreadsheets, etc for data retrieval/formatting ...

Program using the Red Hat derivative guest O/S sessions on the Windows ...

Also run Folding@Home on the Linux guests ...

Herb

Fergatron · Post by **Fergatron** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:31 pm

I'm not really a Windows lover, I'm a pirate that's getting older and I don't have time to fight the system any more. I've got 2 kids, 1 on the way, a wife, a full-time job, and a boot-strap business. I do like Vista though, it's not the greatest thing out there, but I'm not going to bitch about it like everyone else. I mostly use Windows for the same reason a lot of other folks do:

Video Games (Mostly World of Warcraft)
Quickbooks Pro
Adobe CS3
Internet Explorer -- Ha-ha, that was obviously a joke!

I'm currently dual-booted with Fedora 8 and Windows Vista (which activation is coming up soon). As soon as I get Wine working I'll be totally linux, all the way!

davijordan · Post by **davijordan** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 2:01 am

Microsoft OS is going on a diet.

From Groklaw:
"As is standard with the release of a new product, we will be releasing early builds of Windows 7 prior to its General Availability as a means to gain tester feedback," according to Microsoft's statement.
In October 2007, Microsoft's Distinguished Engineer Eric Traut has demonstrated during a presentation at the University of Illinois, a version of the Windows kernel, called MinWin, which has just 100 files and 25MB. The small kernel will allegedly be a part of Windows 7, which seeks to componentize the Windows kernel and reduce the dependencies, with the purpose of reducing the disk footprint and memory usage.
[PJ: Ah. You mean like Linux?] - Alice Turner, eFluxMe

http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Microsof ... 16026.html

allix · Post by **allix** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:03 am

I wonder if its a BSD kernel

davijordan · Post by **davijordan** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:30 am

That or over bloated dos. Actually you could run a minimal version of win98 in a command line with tcpip services. Any coincidence? There was a demo of mini win on you tube. The web server made me think of the old boa http server for dos. I sure would like to find a copy of boa and make a parody for youtube. With wattcp, dos, and boa you could run it from a floppy. I am going to look for a linux floppy that has a mini-http server also just for the heck of it.

update: I found boa.exe. Dos more powerful than a speeding ms windows os.

os vista parody:
http://media.thechrispirilloshow.com/mp3/BlueVista.mp3

Gomer_X · Post by **Gomer_X** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:03 am

There aren't enough voting options so cover me, so I'll expound here.

I use Windows for work because I have to. I write some stuff in Perl on Windows to automate things, and do a little Visual Basic (for Excel customization and macros, etc).

At home I was nearly done with Windows but someone gave me a parallel port scanner that only works in Windows. They dropped support for this particular scanner around kernel 2.6.15. I could build a custom kernel (on Fedora, which is a pain) and reboot into that to use the scanner, but that's about as bad as booting Windows.

I also sometimes boot Windows at home to view and print PDFs, because Acrobat reader just works better.

I'm still looking forward to the day that I can be Windows free. I already own it, so there's no need to wipe it if it's ocassionally useful.

allix · Post by **allix** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:07 pm

Gomer_X wrote: I also sometimes boot Windows at home to view and print PDFs, because Acrobat reader just works better.

Acrobat reader is on linux too.

KStorm · Post by **KStorm** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:11 pm

Right now I'm dual-booting XP and Mandriva (Dann's distro of choice, I'm sure). But I think my 5-year old Compaq is on it's last legs so I don't know exactly where I'll go from there. Maybe I'll dual-boot Vista with Mandriva.

snarkout · Post by **snarkout** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 11:16 am

Gomer_X wrote:There aren't enough voting options so cover me, so I'll expound here.

I use Windows for work because I have to. I write some stuff in Perl on Windows to automate things, and do a little Visual Basic (for Excel customization and macros, etc).

At home I was nearly done with Windows but someone gave me a parallel port scanner that only works in Windows. They dropped support for this particular scanner around kernel 2.6.15. I could build a custom kernel (on Fedora, which is a pain) and reboot into that to use the scanner, but that's about as bad as booting Windows.

I also sometimes boot Windows at home to view and print PDFs, because Acrobat reader just works better.

I'm still looking forward to the day that I can be Windows free. I already own it, so there's no need to wipe it if it's ocassionally useful.

Stop being so reasonable

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