When the operating system on Matthew P. Frye’s home computer crashed and died a year ago, he had two choices: spend hundreds of dollars to rebuild his desktop using Microsoft programs, or try the less expensive alternative of switching to the Linux computer operating system.
Frye chose Linux. It took the senior systems programmer at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, N.C., three months and $39 to download Linux desktop applications to replace those he used in Windows. Read the story at Triangle.com.
Home Users Leap to Linux
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
he had two choices: spend hundreds of dollars to rebuild his desktop using Microsoft programs
what? so he didnt really legally own those expensive microsoft programs on his machine BEFORE it crashed.. oooh now I get it…
> Some of the popular ones [Linux apps] are OpenOffice, Mozilla Web browser, Apollo audio player and Cameleo Light, an image manipulation program from Caldera Graphics.
Maybe I’m mistaken, but I think Apollo is Windows-only. Likewise, does *anyone* use the Camelo image viewer?
Still a good article for those unfamiliar with desktoip Linux.
I’m not cheering for Microsoft (I’m writing this on FC1)…but the article seemed to include a lot of half truths.
“If something freezes in Windows, I’m stuck,” he said. “But that doesn’t happen in Linux. You no longer have to worry about rebooting your computer because of crashes.”
This is pretty typical with less technical articles though. Glossing over the details and painting an image is the name of the game for the average user. If the computing industry starts creating the image of a simple to use, safe, and robost desktop OS called Linux, that’s what the industry will provide. It will happen, you can’t stop a train this big and fast :-).
The article did not really contain anything new. Articles like this one are a dime a dozen.
I found this paragraph particularly hilarious:
Fowle said she has noticed some small differences. For example, in Linux she has to click only once on a file to open it. If you double-click as you do in Windows, then you open two files, she said.
The single vs double click thing is a configuration option in Windows. And what does she mean by the term “Linux” here? GNOME? KDE?
Another difference is that she now has to format CDs and floppy disks to get them to run on Linux.
Strange, I never had to format a CD. And wrt floppy disks, either they are pre-formatted or you need to do it yourself, no matter what OS.
–Benny.
Yeah, but it can run you over. What do you mean by your last comment? Linux is already fast, safe/secure, and robust. But I am not sure if just images can force linux into an easy to use OS.
The current programmers seem to lean towards every aspect other than ease of use.
3 months and $39 for a linux “replacement”
OEM version of Windows preinstalled on new computers cost about $40 bucks.
If you run crossover office, you still need to pay M$ for the office software, unless it is a pirated version.
As desktop performance, OOo, Mozilla, KDE/Gnome simply can’t compete with their M$ counterparts.
For crash proofness, win2k/xp are way better than linux/kde/gnome.
virus, worms are a good reason for switching to half-baked alternatives, but this should not apply to a so called senior system programmer
Fowle said she has noticed some small differences. For example, in Linux she has to click only once on a file to open it. If you double-click as you do in Windows, then you open two files, she said.
Um, I double click on linux. It’s called an option.
That’s what’s good about Linux. There are lots of programs and tools out there, and you don’t have to pay as much for it.
Well… duh.
Microsoft declined to comment for this story.
Well… duh.
LOL
A highly paid US senior system programmer couldn’t keep a restore CD and need 3 months to build a linux box.
Asian street corner guys earning less than $1 per hour will do it in less than an hour.
Personally I think most OSS programmers do value safety and robustness. Most I believe also value ease of use, however resources, demand (as in number of users) don’t always place ease of use as a top priority.
As the number of Linux users grows (as a result of it’s good image), companies will invest (maybe invest more is more correct) in the ease of use they’ve been talking of. It’s come a long, long way but it will continue to improve.
she probably means mounting disks/cd-roms – automounter doesn’t work for her, I guess
I’ve been running Gentoo solely for 1.5 year. Linux is good, but it won’t replace Windows in a long time.
Linux is stable and XP equally so, contradicting the article. I personally think you get a lot for your money if you invest in Microsoft’s products.
Here’s what I dont really get…Why so many people can’t get off their stinkin’ high horse and understand that not everybody can be Mr.Super Geek. The one place that could use ‘open source’ or whatever software is in education, especially k-12. Anything to save money and maybe hire more teachers or aids can do nothing but good. Quitcher bitchin’ about dumb things like somebody not changing the setings for single/double click. Sure, it’s a ‘duh’ thing, but so is not running the patch in your email from [email protected]. And we’re gonna have dumb users doing dumb things, its easier to deal with 2 open docs having to close one than it is to have a computer full of viruses.
I think this article illustrates the potential for open/free software in k-12 education. Programmers and adherents of the ‘opensource’ deal need to realise this and HELP schools and kids.
And yes, I am doing my part..or trying anyway.
I like Microsoft bashing like the next person but for Pete sake, could they be any more light on the details? what was the operating system he was running? what type of system does he have?
I’ll put money on it, he is yet another schmuck who bought a $199 computer from Walmart with Windows and wonders why the whole thing keels over. He is yet another Johnny cheapskate unwilling to purchase a quality computer made with quality parts.
Funny how I see computers run days without a single crash and months without any “gremlins” from rearing their ugly head.
99.9999% of the time, when a Windows XP/2000 computer crashes, it is due to the actions of the person between the desk and the seat and the poor quality of the hardware. The only Windows XP BSOD I have EVER saw was due to a faulty Pinnacle PC-TV PCI card.
Joe Redneck (IP: —.br1.elk.ca.frontiernet.net) – Posted on 2003-11-24 09:22:35
Sure, it’s a ‘duh’ thing, but so is not running the patch in your email from [email protected].
So now I know it is people like YOU opening attachements from a forged email address and as a net result I get spammed with 148K attachments claiming that I should apply them asap.
Microsoft NEVER sends patches via email. Read and repeat. They send WARNINGS and BULLETINS but NEVER patches.
“Fowle said she has noticed some small differences. For example, in Linux she has to click only once on a file to open it. If you double-click as you do in Windows, then you open two files, she said.”
You don’t click anything in “Linux”. You click in Gnome, KDE, XFCE, whatever. Linux doesnt exactly have much to do with “opening files by clicking on them”.
Anonymous:
Who’s insisting on anything? If you can’t setup a linux workstation, or don’t want to figure it out (not all that tough), then don’t. In my post, I was talking about teachers and administrors. People who have specific needs and just want them to work. They hire techs to do all the funky work, regardless of which OS we’re talking about.
And another thing.. WTF is with the ting about choice all of a sudden being a BAD thing? Man, scarey stuff. /me starts to understand how Mr.Arnie got elected. Don’t even try to give me that line about ‘too many choices is confusing’ or whatever. Again, keeping this in the scope of a school environment (my experience), all these choices are left to the tech person, the perosn setting up the labs and whatnot. Hopefully, those people have done their homework (regardless of OS again). The choice that MATTERS to the people using the machines is the choice of saving cash or not.. or not having to worry about lame-o viruses..or being audited my some company making sure youve given them enough money.
Hehe.. sorry for the confusion. I was trying to make a joke about how people do dumb things.. like opening patches in the email. What I meant was, “and NOT opening patches in mail is a simple, ‘duh’ thing for people that use their brain…much like finding the settings for single/double click, but these are joe users.. hehe”
Eugenia, dear, you hadn’t enough holidays: you’ve already posted that story the 11/20 here:
http://www.osnews.com/comment.php?news_id=5183
Yet another fine switcher article… I especially enjoyed this part: “he had two choices: spend hundreds of dollars to rebuild his desktop using Microsoft programs”
LOL!!!
huh?? um… If the guy could get Linux installed, why couldn’t he re-install Windows and his apps?? Unless of course he doesn’t have the media for them since they were all installed off CDs borrowed from people? lol
I really didn’t get that part of the article. So bascially he switched to Linux because his friends weren’t available to bring over their warez?? lol
And I’m getting tired of hearing about how unstable Windows is, how it’s so prone to viruses, etc, etc…
If people A: Stopped buying junky and cheap PCs. and B: Stopped doing stupid things with said PCs.
They wouldn’t have any problems.
Windows XP for example is VERY stable. It, like Linux depends on the quality of the hardware you use. If you install any OS on a junky PC, you’re going to have problems.
I put together my current system in May of this year and I’m running Windows XP, and I have yet to experience a crash, lockup, or any stability problems. I’ve had apps crash, but they haven’t brought down the system yet.
As for viruses… um, if people aren’t stupid and don’t open attactments and stop running downloads and warez without virus scans, run a firewall of some sort, there’s no problems at all. I’ve had two viruses in the past 12 years, and both times it was my fault.
If you don’t do stupid things with your computer and you buy quality hardware, the two biggest complaints about Windows go out the door.
A Linux system will also be unstable on a crappy system. And while not having to worry about viruses, Linux users still have network security concerns to worry about. An improperly secured Linux box is just as insecure as an improperly secured Windows box.
It doesn’t really matter which OS these people use, they’ll still face a lot of the same issues because they don’t know how to use a computer!
And yes, this is coming from the perspective of an OS, hardware, and networking geek who’s been around for a long time now. So I definitely don’t have much compassion for “users”. I work with them everyday… And it’s a nightmare. They really need to teach people about computers in school. Make those 5th graders build their own systems!
And Windows wasn’t always stable… far from it. I remember pulling my hair out over Windows 3.1, 95, 98, and even NT. But it’s come a long way since then. And 2000/XP are very stable operating systems.
We can’t be blinded by our hatred of Micrsoft… Trust me, I can’t stand them myself. I hate the company, the people who run it, their politics, and business practices.
But it’s not a perfect world. There’s people in the Linux community I can’t stand as well.
And I’ve been around Linux for years now too. I started out with Red Hat 4.2 back in 1997. And I’ve been running it since. I have it on three boxes here right now. So I’m not against Linux. I fully support Linux. I just wish when bashing Microsoft and Windows, people would get their facts straight. People seem to talk about even current versions of Windows like they’re talking about issues that were present in previous versions of Windows. Windows has come a long way over the years. It’s a different beast today than it was a few years ago.
When clicking on a link on a browser (malformed url) can allow a malicious user to take over your entire computer, the operating system is broken.
Don’t make me pull out the security bulletin for this. So, yes, Windows today is better than it was a few years ago, but its security is still soft like Swiss cheese.
I love it how many folks here defend Microsoft. There is so much group-thinking. More than one post begins with, yeah I am a Linux user but … (I really like my Windows box) or I am a Linux user who can’t stand Microsoft’s business practices, but rather than be consistent with my views, I will continue to butress their monopoly by buying their products.
You guys need to work a little more on these poor attempts at convincing the real Linux users of your sincerity. We are not buying!
Were this guys apps stolen? Nahh – he just had a visit from the BSA who were going to audit him and force him to pay for the same application again when it had already been legally paid for. Or else, he and his org were going to court for *many* thousands of dollars.
And using Mozilla, OOo, Linux etc – think of the costs they save by not having to track licenses by using FOSS. That’s quite a bit of money to be taken from the TCO (does that figure in MS’s research?) when compared against MS software.
It sounds like he was running Pirated software anyways. Because if he had all that stuff before, he should have the disks for most of it. I don’t see why it would have cost him hundreds of doallors. This article just seems like it is spreading FUD and that is it’s only message. It really doesn’t help the cause at all.
By the way, yes I am an avid Linux user, I just don’t like to see articles this biased because it only detracts from the community.
I am running Windows XP on a Compaq TC1000 Tablet PC Notebook. It is certainly not very unstable, but sometimes it does crash so bad you have to do a hard restart. I have not installed linux on that machine so I can not compare it, but saying that Windows XP only crashes with cheap, non-standard hardware is just plain wrong.
This seems to project an image of saving him lots of money… But he spent 3 months getting to a workable system stage? I don’t know how he values his time, but 3 months of mine pays for a fair few Windows system licenses! Ridiculous and uninformed article if ever i saw one.
“I am running Windows XP on a Compaq TC1000 Tablet PC Notebook. It is certainly not very unstable, but sometimes it does crash so bad you have to do a hard restart.”
If you are having to do a hard restart in XP, your hardware almost always is the culprit. Have you looked in you event log to see if it is producing and error? You may have some sort of over heating problem. I would call Compaq, about this problem.
As to the article it is too light on details. I would like to know who they contacted as MS. They probably called tech support or sales.
Mr. Frye seem’s to be a thief who doesn’t value his time very much. At just an hour a day over three months thats ninety hours. At a measly $20.00 an hour that would be $1800.00. He could have bought a very nice PC with legal copies of XP and Office Pro, with money left over for a few misc. apps.
Looks to me like this article proves MS is correct about the TCO of Windows vs. Linux.
I also had a Compaq and it over heated like hell, and that is why made Windows XP crash for me. You may be having the same problem, it is not always apparent if it is over heating by just touching the case.
Also Windows XP is a very robust OS, what I mean by that is that when a program crashes is usually doesn’t take the OS with it. Like in the days of 9x. I have found if you are getting continual crashes and blue screens, in XP, you are most likely having hardware issues, and even Linux won’t solve that.
> When clicking on a link on a browser (malformed url) can
> allow a malicious user to take over your entire computer,
> the operating system is broken.
I really just see this as Linux not inovating and melding their products together. I mean it is easy to say that you have no security problems when none of your applications talk to each other. I mean you can even copy and paste across most applications in Linux unless they are built on top of the same application architecure, like Gnome, KDE, or etc.
> I love it how many folks here defend Microsoft. There is
> so much group-thinking.
Did you ever think that it might not be group-think, and might actually be the truth. I mean is it so hard to beleive that somebody loves their Windows OS as much as you love your Linux OS?
> You guys need to work a little more on these poor
> attempts at convincing the real Linux users of your
> sincerity. We are not buying!
Like I said me before, I love my Windows OS, everytime I go to Linux, I feel like I am wasting my time doing all these compiles for a less functional program. Microsoft Office installs in 20 mins on my home machine OpenOffice took over 3 hours. You just have to realize that maybe just like you we have made a choice and we love our OS just as much as you love your own.
We are not buying your attitude of a non-biased view on Microsoft, either!
Maybe I’m mistaken, but I think Apollo is Windows-only.
Maybe they’re referring to the Apollo file-sharing program instead. (It rocks, btw.)
This article is little more than your typical run-of-the-mill Linux advocacy. The only valid point I saw for switching in this article is the point of costly upgrades. The fear of viruses and trojans is NOT a problem if you properly maintain your Windows installation. I read the Linux security watch every week on Newsforge, no one is safe from security issues if they refuse to update their machine regularly. Software performance (especially on the desktop) is not a problem on my Windows XP machine (sorry! it doesn’t crash, so DROP IT.
I am sick of these erroneous claims.
As desktop performance, OOo, Mozilla, KDE/Gnome simply can’t compete with their M$ counterparts.
I disagree. Desktop performance with KDE 3.1.X + Konqueror + OOo (these last two with preload patch) can indeed compete with MS as far as speed is concerned. Personally, I think the KDE UI is much better than WinXP.
For crash proofness, win2k/xp are way better than linux/kde/gnome.
Way better? Not. They are equivalent – and in fact I’ve had more system crashes with Win2K than with Linux (not a lot more, but more nonetheless).
Like I said me before, I love my Windows OS, everytime I go to Linux, I feel like I am wasting my time doing all these compiles for a less functional program. Microsoft Office installs in 20 mins on my home machine OpenOffice took over 3 hours.
Perhaps you should install pre-compiled binaries instead of compiling from source. OpenOffice takes about 5 minutes to download and 5 minutes to install with any good installation app that comes with your distro – and all you have to do is point and click.
That said, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with Windows – except for the fact that it’s from MicroSoft, a known abuser of its monopoly. Wanting to punish MS by not buying its products is not a matter of zealotry, but of good citizenship in a society where your purchasing power can be wielded as a weapon against bad corporate citizens. I’m still using Office 2000 because I bought it when it came out, but I won’t buy any other MS OS or Office product.
Even if Windows was better than Linux, I wouldn’t use it at home because of this. The dangers of MS getting more entrenched in its monopoly are greater than the (very) small benefits one could (possibly) have by using their software.
>>Home users leap to Linux <<
Misleading title. After 10 years Linux has about 1% of the home user market.
>>he had two choices: spend hundreds of dollars to rebuild his desktop using Microsoft programs, or try the less expensive alternative of switching to the Linux computer operating system. <<
Why not just use the same msft apps?
>>It took the senior systems programmer at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, N.C., three months and $39 to download Linux desktop applications to replace those he used in Windows.<<
Why not just spend $5 and get a distro from cheapbytes?
>>”We were getting flooded with all types of viruses, and Linux provided much greater security”<<
Try using AV software. There is free AV software, or you can spend about $20 a year on commercial AV software. I use XP with Symantec all day, every day; and I have never been hurt by a virus.
>>Fowle was able to find plenty of comparable programs such as CrossOver Office, which allowed her to open and save Microsoft documents from work.<<
Or just use OpenOffice for free.
>>For example, at Best Buy’s Web site, Suse Linux Professional Edition 8.2 sells for $49.99, and Red Hat Linux Professional 9.0 is $149.99. The comparable Microsoft Windows XP Professional is $299.99.<<
XP-Pro is not really comparable because it doesn’t come with all the apps. You can get Linux with apps almost free at cheapbytes. On the other hand, if you buy a new computer, Windows pre-installed only costs about an extra $100.
>>There are versions of Linux that can be downloaded for free from the Internet. People who choose this option will have to know some Unix commands, the most common operating system for servers on the Internet, in order to set up devices such as printers and mice.
The other option is to purchase a Linux package made by open-source developers such as Red Hat, Suse, MandrakeSoft or Lycoris. These packages usually include some automated installation procedures similar to those found in Microsoft programs.<<
Was this article writen by the staff at redhat? It constantly ignores the fact the distros like Mandrake have ISOs availabe for download, or almost free from an ISO sellers like cheapbytes.
>>One of the biggest is Linux’s reliability and performance, said Mark R. Hinkle of Cary, who switched to Linux six months ago. Since then, his computer has not crashed.<<
My XP and Win2K systems haven’t crashed in over six months either. Reliability was big issue with windows 95/98, but not in Win2K or XP.
>>His computer hardware was getting older, and he said he had reached the point where he would have to spend a lot of money to upgrade, or shift to the less expensive Linux operating system. With Linux, he could build a system to suit his needs. This meant he didn’t have to bog his system down with programs he would never use, thereby freeing up the memory on the computer to run faster.<<
Try NT 4.0. You can usually find somebody selling an old version on half.com or usenet or something. NT 4.0 runs just fine on anything from a 486 on up. You can run practically any of your windows apps. Very difficult to get decent performance from any version of linux running KDE or Gnome on low-end hardware.
>>For example, he still gets his e-mail messages through Microsoft Outlook because he didn’t want to have to move his e-mail to another program, which would be very time-consuming.<<
If you have a *lot* of old emails saved, it might take you half an hour. I have hundreds of old emails, it took me less than ten minutes.
Idiotic article.
I realize that the article is rather light on details, but there is a way he could have been using perfectly legal software, and still had to repurchase if his system went belly up.
I’ve noticed the “big” companies aren’t actually shipping software anymore, well at least not original media. I’ve has the unfortunate experience dealing with Compaq, HP, and I forget whom else at the moment were all they provide are “recovery CD’s”, and HP wouldn’t even provide that. A friend purchased an HP desktop and it included zero (0) CD Roms. After the first boot it told him to get eight (8) CD-R disks and make his own set of recovery disks. If your hard drive goes belly up, you can use these disks to reimage your computer back to the way it was when you bought it, if the machine itself dies, you’re out of luck, the disks can’t be used on another computer. Another friend had a Compaq that actually included a recovery CD. Her 1 GB hard drive died, she replaced it with a 20GB drive, (1 GB drives are hard to come by these days) guess what? The recovery CD only works with 1 GB hard drives. I managed to find her a 1 GB used hard drive that she could use her recovery CD on. The 20GB became drive D:.
So, if you bought a computer that came with a windows OS, a version of MS Office, and other assorted software, all legal mind you, and it dies. You CANNOT reuse that software. If you build yourself a PC you would have to REBUY all of that software. If you disagree, contact Dell, HP, whomever, and inquire as to where they provide honest-to-God install media for all of their bundled software. I think you might e a bit surprised.
Just my $0.02 (Canadian, before taxes)
well as far as gaming peformanc goes i have always goten
higer fps in linux than in windows in all the games that are native for linux quake quake 2 quake 3 ut2003 and so on.
so that windows would have an advantage there is a pure lie well on my hardware it is anyway. i have never had a crash on my linux installations that i couldnt recover from tru sometimes i had to use ssh to unlock the keyboard and such.
but winXP has crasched more on my hardware.
so fore me windows migth seem half baked.
of course the experince migth be diffrent for evry one becus the hardware migt be so different and have different support on diffrent os.
… It took the senior systems programmer at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, N.C. …
Yes, he is a senior programmer, meaning he would be able to diagnose and possibly solve a lot of the problems that plaque linux on the desktop today. Unlike most regular home computer users.
I really don’t think that the average home users are “Leaping to Linux” quite yet!
>>Did you ever think that it might not be group-think, and might actually be the truth. I mean is it so hard to beleive that somebody loves their Windows OS as much as you love your Linux OS?
Dont worry. He is a typical liberal or european who thinks that if you disagree with them you are either uneducated or brainwashed. Because… their views are perfect of course!!!
“So, if you bought a computer that came with a windows OS, a version of MS Office, and other assorted software, all legal mind you, and it dies. You CANNOT reuse that software.”
I have never seen a system that didn’t have separate media for MS Office. If I bought a PC that didn’t have recovery disks for the OS, I would return the PC. This doesn’t even seem intelligent for the vendor. What happens when the PC dies before you get the copies made? Most tech support calls end in “reninstall your OS”.
omfg..
wtf is this? : “When the operating system on Matthew P. Frye’s home computer crashed and died a year ago, he had two choices: spend hundreds of dollars to rebuild his desktop using Microsoft programs, or try the less expensive alternative of switching to the Linux computer operating system. ”
first define crash… 1) hardware fried 2) windows fried
in either of these cases, you dont have to purchase windows again.. Weather or not you switch to linux you pay exactly the same to get your system back to normal.
Case 1) Lets say you fried your HD, so you spend $80 on a new one. You would install your same copy of windows on it. Total cost to repair: $80
case 2) Windows fried, all you have to do is reformat and reinstall. Total cost to repair: $0.
I know people like linux, and are trying to get others to use linux, but your getting to be like big coorperations and out right lying about situations hoping that someone will be dumb enough to believe you..
“There are versions of Linux that can be downloaded for free from the Internet. People who choose this option will have to know some Unix commands, the most common operating system for servers on the Internet, in order to set up devices such as printers and mice.”
???
I never had to use one single Unix command when installing Mandake 9.1 – 9.2 from the free ISO’s.
I cant possibly hit all the mis-information in this artical.. Head Exploding.. must stop reading.. AARHRHRHRH!!
There just has to be better standards(ie/ standard set of libs, UI, package manager, etc).
Heck look at the marketshare. LINUX IS ON MORE DESKTOPS THAN APPLE!
You know what this reminds me of. Those made up “why I switched” articles from Microsoft a couple months back. I guess this is the Linux version of those why switch articles. I mean now that Mac, Windows, and Linux have done it I guess we are just waiting for BSD. And out of the 3 that have put out those articles only the Mac ones actually sound true.
Why did he has to “spend hundreds of dollars to rebuild his desktop using Microsoft programs.”? Did not he OWN those programs!?
Could someone please explain?
The situation where Linux beats the stuffing out of windows is this:
SCHOOLS.
highschools, grade schools, colleges.
cyclic licensing charges prevent new hardware purchases, new teacher/prof. hires, new books, etc.
K12LTSP is probably the way to go, since there’s no way to screw up the OS (it runs on a cd or dvd.)
depending on what type of neighborhood you live in, the computers at your school maybe 1 year old, 5, or 10 years old (or not be available at all.)
so unless MS has donated PCs with windows / office, for free, Linux wins there.
For corporations? I say go with what your CIO is familiar / comfortable with.
I don’t know how your comment passed the moderators but it’s nothing more than a narrow minded flame.
I’d say I’m mostly liberal, and feel European thinking is much better than North American thinking (although I live in North America). Yet I disagree with that dorky pro-Linux comment as much as you.
Right wing fascists also think their views are perfect. If you have a veiw and think it’s part wrong, then you don’t really hold that view!
This article is either misleading or poorly written. I think we can *all* agree that it sucks…
I am running Windows XP on a Compaq TC1000 Tablet PC Notebook. It is certainly not very unstable, but sometimes it does crash so bad you have to do a hard restart. I have not installed linux on that machine so I can not compare it, but saying that Windows XP only crashes with cheap, non-standard hardware is just plain wrong.
What part of “I am running Windows XP on a Compaq TC1000 Tablet PC Notebook.” do you miss? Worse still, you were sucked into the tablet fad? what? you walk around with a tablet in your hand in your *VERY* important job and writing details down using its “fancy hand writing technology”. Can anyone say “version 1.0 sucker”?
So, lets recap, you bought a version 1.0 of the tablet and it is made from Compaq and now you expect sympathy? I would get more sympathy jumping in front of a train that what you’ve just done.
CooCooCaChoo,
Is there any need to be this inflammatory? I mean perhaps you strongly feel that the United States is “teh suck,” but you don’t have to sound like such a bigotted person when you express yourself. You sound like a bum-fuck inbred hillbilly when you go off on a generalization spree like that. Hope that helps clear it up. And hopefully you can catch my not too well crafted humor…
Windows has problems too. Most folks don’t know how to add security patches, use msconfig, clean spyware or keep AV updated. You can say that linux / kde is hard to use, but how many 3 year old windows installs run worth crap in a newb’s hands?
Linux vs windows desktop is a time / money tradeoff at this point. (as someone mentioned above about it’s deserved place in the school, college market). You can grab an $159 microtel, add $10 of suse pro or fedora isos and be up and running. That money won’t go very far on a dell or gateway system.