[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Dear Microsoft: Thanks for the Help, Linux here

[Evildave]

Muahahahaha!

A bit of schadenfreude, I know.

It's so nice to watch Microsoft self-destruct like this.

Here's a silly prediction:

2016 Microsoft Linux

[rtfire1]

my 3 year old could right a better review/fanboy linux write up. vista is a great os on vista pcs just like xp is great on xp pcs. I was going on my xp install every day now I go on once a month to play a game. Linux is a great OS My soon to be step son is putting it on his ps2 we just picked up all the stuff he wanted for it. I had it on my psp but found with opera on my cell there was no need any more for using my psp for web browsing.

I should point out that mt lunix boot on my laptop is more stable then xp (it would help if they had all the drivers for my laptop in xp).

[mikedgolf40505]

I am going to stop defending Microsoft since I own both Mac and PC. But I do find it very interesting that since I am on sites for both OS's (do we really count Linux) that it is always the Linux and MacHeads that are blogging on a PC site and killing Microsoft; but you never see it the Microsoft heads on MacWorld slamming Mac. HMMM.....interesting. A wise old man told me that if you have to continually shout to prove yourself, there may not really be anything worth proving.

[butlerwm]

I've been a Linux proponent for many years. However, I'm realistic enough to recognize Linux has a long way to go in the "ease of use" department. Most major distros finally have OS installation down to an art. However, application installs are still a hit-and-miss affair unless you're familiar enough with command-lines (I'm an old DOS user) that you don't work up a sweat when you need to open a terminal window. And by the way, most Windows users don't know what command-prompts or terminals are (if you know, you're not one of the "most Windows users" I'm talking about). To solve that, Linux distributors have to settle on a common ground installation interface. Right now, the various distros tend to agree on very little. Simply having an OS pre-installed isn't enough to push it into the mainstream. It require ease-of-use across the board. Most people use computers because they have to in order to do they jobs not because the want to. Windows just addresses that better than Linux.

[rtfire1]

Very good point! I will never forget the first time I told someone that they need a dos promt an they looked at me like I had three heads.

[bluefalconloyd]

I really don't understand why people have such a hardtime with Windows Vista? In the beginning Vista was hard to use as an OS due to 2 reasons. 1) Most didn't have computers that could handle the install PLUS their regular program usage 2) Many programs and hardware were incapatible with the OS.





Now that has changed. The only reasons I see people complaining about Vista are easily fixed problems that if you have a general knowledge of how a computer works should be no problem for a user to fix. Vista is a great operating system, I own a 64bit copy of Home Premium and do everything from gaming to college work to software development on it. The general public just needs to upgrade their 4-5 year old PC's and become more knowledgeable with computers in our techno-savy society.

[publicmenace]

I tried Ubuntu Linux as dual-boot to XP and didn't really dislike it until I ran into problems with hardware drivers. The Linux peoples' allergy to "closed source" software was the death knell for me. I couldn't find one single Linux driver to run my 3 y.o. Lexmark printer. End of my Big Linux Adventure. I'm not going to trash a perfectly good printer just to be able to use a free OS. Maybe some day I'll try again, but for now (at least until my printer wears out) I have to stay with what works.

[300DShooter]

This has got to be one of the silliest articles on PC World.com in a long time. XP is very long in the tooth, Vista and 7 are the future, and Linux won't be more than a geek toy for a very long time. It's time to give this "Vista Is Crap" mantra a break. It works fine, as good or better than XP, so please, give it a rest.

[butlerwm]

bluefalconloyd said:

The general public just needs to upgrade their 4-5 year old PC's and become more knowledgeable with computers in our techno-savy society.

I hate to the bearer of sad tidings but a two "day" old computer with less than a gigabyte of RAM (make that 1.5 GB with shared video RAM) and/or a CPU of less than 2 GHz still runs like a rock through mud with Vista. It's the reason most major PC makers insisted on continuing to offer XP on their low-end systems and why they began offering Linux. Vista made their systems look like brinks because of the "unreasonable" minimum hardware requirements of the OS. A PC with 512 MB RAM and loaded with XP can still be deamed a speedy computer. The same system loaded with Vista is a doorstop.
Additionally, our society is anything but "techno-savvy". Much in the way that millions of people drive cars but only a faction of that population knows how to work on them; hundreds of millions of people own and use computers while only a very small minority know anything about the machines they use. If the society were truely tech-savvy, Linux use would be higher than it is and discussions of the superiority of one OS over another would be a moot point. As it is, using technology and understanding it are two very different things. That truth was the driving force behind development of the GUI and CUI (Common User Interface). Everyday users required a way to allow them access to functions without understanding how or why those functions were being accessed. It's that whole "lowest common denominator" thing.
"Time is time" and in time things may change to where most computer users understand the basics of the machines sitting on their desktops. Until then, Windows (and Mac OS) remains a more viable alternative to the common user when compared to Linux. I wish it weren't so but unfortnuately it is.

[bluefalconloyd]

I can agree where you are coming from, and for this people should take responsibility and stop blaming microsoft for releasing a shitty OS...when it is in fact those people's computers and knowledge of. That's all I'm really trying to say. If you know your way around a computer and have the computer to run it Vista is an amazing operating system.

[caskey100]

The only problem with Linux systems is that it is still very built around more advanced computer users. Even if your using ubuntu you need to know quite a bit Linux command line interface. Linux is close to becoming a good competitor with Microsoft but it yet has the dummy proof userability the Windows has used to help get them the market share that they hav to this current day.



Personally I run a dual - boot of XP and Ubuntu. Mainly due to the fact that it is really hard to do any kind of gaming in a linux enviorment, it can get tricky.



long live Linux and her creator...Linus.

[ivorycruncher]

I'm a PC support technician at a medium-size company (around 400 employees or so). We are just now starting to roll out Vista PCs to part of our finance department, and so far I've had very little trouble. Granted, I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to sysprep the stupid things (Microsoft, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE release some adequate documentation for this!), and I've run into a couple stubborn apps here and there, but within a reasonable amount of time, I've managed to work the bugs out of the deployment process. Aside from always having to run certain apps in administrator mode, which requires a UAC prompt, just about every app we have works just fine, and we have quite a variety, some quite old. There are still certain things that are just plain broken (like network discovery), but overall Vista is working very well so far. Remember, most of the compatibility issues should be blamed on third-party vendors, not Microsoft.

[caskey100]

I think the driver support issue is a double edged sword in which both the third party companies and Microsoft where somewhat in the wrong. Yes the companies should of been more proactive about making sure their products where compatible wih Vista. But with all the uncertanties and changes Vista had went through no one had any idea what would be released and from what I know of driver support that isn't an ideal enviorment to try and make drivers for. As far as I have known most of the hardware that wasn't supported was MOSTLY from off brand companies and no - names in the markets, along with many of the legacy devices that many people still hold onto and try to use.

[BBirdtree]

just 2 thoughts -- i) desktop Linux today is as easy for the user as any other os (better than win in many ways as I can experience every day; ii) most problems -- closed drivers that do not work with linux (and spoecs not available for the community to create them) ii) configuration and admin are simple as long as you keep to distro rules and tools (start tweaking at your risk, but the same applies to win or mac os).
As for a previous user comment about lexmark printer -- yes it is one of the few companies that do not open specs and does not provide linux drivers. so the printer does not work not because of linux zealotism but because the provider does not let it work.

[Yert]

Since Vista Linux adoption has gone up less then a fifth of a percent. Apple's market share is no better then it was over a decade ago back in 1996 when Jobs came back. I'd say that Vista has totally destroyed Microsoft from those figures. /sarcasm

[Eruaran]

@ Yert: Apple's market share is in fact rising (in more than one market) and nobody has reliable figures on Linux adoption on the desktop since most users download their distribution of choice. For example: My PC is a Windows sales figure for Microsoft, but it's running Kubuntu Linux. There are millions like me who fit into this category.

[butlerwm]

> {quote:title=Yert wrote: }{quote}Since Vista, Linux adoption has gone up less then a fifth of a percent. Apple's market share is no better then it was over a decade ago back in 1996 when Jobs came back. I'd say that Vista has totally destroyed Microsoft from those figures. /sarcasm
[/quote]
...and Apple is laughing at your sarcasm, all the way to the bank. The one truth about statistics is that they can be skewed (manipulated) in favor of any given perspective. The truth of the matter is that for the calendar year 2007, Apple ranked number four in new computer sales for the US (per Gartner and IDC--see the January 17, 2008 PCWorld article, "Apple Growth Spurt Continues"). Only HP, Dell, and Acer sold more units in the same period.
Still snickering? Well, let's put that comment into perspective. The figures mean Apple sold more computers than any single of the following companies: Gateway, Toshiba, Lenovo, Panasonic, and Asus. They show Apple saw US sales growth between 28% (Gartner) and 30% (IDC). Also, while it may mean Apple's market share is, in percentages, no better than in '96 that share equates to many millions more units. Apples 5.7% share worked out to approximately 3.6 million units. That's nothing to sneeze at and represents enough numbers to justify software makers investiment of time and manhours to produce programs for the Mac platform. Last, but not least, when we consider the market share was by a single computer maker, in a market that's deemed dominated by Windows, it becomes more evident that Apple is a serious player in the computing world.
Oh... almost forgot. The 28% to 30% growth shown by Apple was greater than either of the three makers at the top of the sales list. HP saw 14.9%, Dell saw 9.3%, and Acer saw 10.7% (from Gartner's US PC sales figures). If the trend continues, Apple could easily see itself climb even higher up the ladder of system sales and market share. If Windows users continue to be disheartened with Vista (which in spite of the Vista cheering section, they are still disheartened), it could well help Apple to win a bigger piece of the pie.
One last point. On the subject of skewed figures, we have to remember that in the middle of '07 Acer acquired Gateway (and as such, eMachines and Packard Bell) which pushed them into the number three sales slot for that year. Had such not been the case, Apple would have owned the third place slot for US sales.

[HighSierra]

Windows 07 = Vista SP2?

[Andy2005]

I've been using computer for more than 16 years. Over these 16 years I've seen how MS grows from 3.11 to Vista. I have to admit MS was a superior OS in the past. But now it's all about choice. I've been using linux since RedHat was version 5.1 and I also watch it grows along with other linux distros. I use linux mostly for running MUD server, Website server and Email server. I ran into alot linux complication using desktop every year i.e ( no driver for the hardware), no Flash and no Java. Every year I have to switch it back to Windows OS after giving linux desktop a try. Not until 1 1/2 year ago I completely switch to linux. At that point i started to realized that linux is mature for desktop. All problems I've accounted before had vanished. I bought PCI linksys wifi card and stick it into my linux and it recognized right away. Now I have more confident using my linux. I still do use Windows but now I have a choice to choose. Check out Asus SPLASHTOP boot up with linux in 5 secs. :)