I will admit to a bit of double standard, although I still stand on my statement. His ATI video capture device does work with Windows, just not Vista at this point. Windows and hardware manufactures have had agreements for almost two decades that Windows would have generic drivers so that the hardware would work in a base mode. Thus, when I installed Vista on my old laptop, without specific ATI drivers, Vista installed generic drivers and the screen worked, but in 800x600 mode.

That is distinctly different than an OS, granted open source which means it gets support when the supporters feel like it, which is touted as working with everything does not work with a wireless connection on a laptop, which today is critical to the basic function of the laptop. As I have already conceeded the information I received was faulty, however, it does not change the fact as evidenced from the Linux forum that the device support is spotty and difficult to setup.

One does not have to install 2GB of memory for Vista to work if you install a clean copy, and do away with many of the resource robbing add-ons that come on many installed machines, expecially the ALL IN ONE SECURITY SUITES from Symantec and McAfee.

I just helped a good friend set up his grandson's Christmas present - a new eMachines desktop with 1GB of memory and Vista. I runs fine, plays the games he wants and has not given any problems - it just works. We spent more time downloading drivers for a USB wireless device so he could connect to his grandfathers network than we did setting up the network.

Many business applications and games use direct video calls and that is a bad habit left over from DOS. Microsoft has been warning for decades they would cut off that path and told all programmers to go through the kernel for security purposes, and they were ignored. In Vista, that path is closed and that caused most of the problems. That path has been closed forever in Mac OS and probably in Linux as well.

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Thanks to Solar Wings for the special siggy.

There is nothing spotty about ubuntu's support. You didn't go to their forum, did you? You went to a general linux forum and got an answer from 1 person who knew as much as you and was in the same boat as you. Wow, you sure did give it the old "College try"! Was ubuntu's support down? Did it just not dawn on you to check with the people that put the project together?

{color:#000080}"(open source)...which is touted as working with everything..."{color}

Where did THIS gem of misinformation come from? You are really reaching now, my friend.

I still stand on my statement. Broadcom is supported and works fine. I don't even care that you didn't try. I don't care if you or anyone else ever uses linux. You should all use what works best for you and meets your needs. I use Win 2K, XP, debian and knoppix liveCD because all have different qualities which I desire and sometimes need in my line of work. I do, however, care that you and others like you spread lies, ignorance and unwarranted bias on subjects that you really know nothing about.

What amazes me even more is that you downloaded a free OS and had a small problem that you didn't even bother to try and remedy through THEIR support and you feel obligated to bash it... yet , after spending money on Vista, if Microsoft released an HCL driver patch that required you to waste 2 days backing up everything you have, completely reinstall Vista, flash your bios, shake a voodoo chicken over your screen, your printer/scanner would no longer be supported and the patch meant that none of your graphical apps from XP would work any longer you'd do it in 1/2 a heartbeat and still praise them. Let me play Sigmund Freud here a moment... Vy do you and ozzers feel zis uncontrrrrrollable urge to defend zis company? Did your Fazzer not hug you ven you vere young? (Hey, its a joke. Laugh a little!)

{color:#333399}"it does not change the fact as evidenced from the Linux forum that the device support is spotty and difficult to setup."{color}
You appear to be an educated fellow. How can you even write this when you, yourself, claim it is the job of the manufacturer to provide drivers and expect to be taken seriously? Do you count your misinformed post and the incorrect reply in your evidence? How many others on that forum are just outright incorrect because people gave it 1/2 a try? How about a quick Google search for "problems with vista" which brings back over 6 million hits. I guess they all imagined their problems? I'm sorry but Double standards don't fly with me and those that have them will twist the facts however they feel necessary to show that they are right.

ALL operating systems have flaws, including Vista. To deny that simple fact is to shine down one's brilliant ignorance upon the world. I reiterate, simply because you didn't have a problem with an OEM upgrade does not mean that problems do not exist. And, again, if I bought a pre-packaged system with Vista installed I would expect it to work out of the box. OEM is not the same thing as attempting to upgrade your system (which, incidentally, is what this article was about)

I agree that linux seems to be more stable. I tried a copy of ubuntu that I downloaded from they're site on my 2 year old laptop. The installation went perfectly, Wanted to use it for awhile to see if I would make the complete jump to linux. One problem that I faced right off the bat was the time that it took from turning on the power to actually being able to use the laptop. The time was vastly different (longer) than what I was used to with XP, but I gathered that it was just because of the different way that the OS loads. Unlike the other gentleman that had the problem with his wireless card in his laptop, ubuntu recognized my broadcom card right away, and it even got me to download some updates for my laptop hardware. The only problem that I faced with using Ubuntu was with my printer setup. My printer runs through a dlink print server. That was my problem. I downloaded the drivers for the printer, had it all installed, I typed in the ip port for the printer, but low and behold no printer showed up. I tried to read up about it, but I finally found out that dlink does not support Linux using this print server. I kind of thought that D-Link would actually support Linux, but I guess that they don't feel that there is enough people using Linux to warrant them enabling Linux people to use they're products. I find that kind of stupid, because they even support Mac but not Linux. Go figure that.

To all of you People whom cry about MS Windblows compared to Linux . . Try this one out its is a live cd of linux

http://www.puppylinux.com

This a very SMALL version of Linux and its got 99 % of the computers out there and the drivers for them and it is version Puppy 3.01 all of 99 megs in size so download the ISO burn it to a CD and run it ! ! You will be supprised at how fast it runs and what it can do I can run MS Doc's and stuff in the open office there . . So don't be giving me you can not run the office software on Linux . . I also would suggest you get the Linux Mandriva i586 2007.1 version DVD and put it on a spare drive . . I added everything I could and then some I even added Code Weavers Pro to it so I could load the MS XP Office Pro on to Linux and prove to people I can run your stuff and better then windows can . .cost of Linux Mandriva on DVD delivered to your HOUSE under $20.00 cost of Code Weavers Pro $60.00 and your under $90.00 . . and you said your XP Pro cost you what ? Or the version of "Vista" you paid for cost you what ? . . Let me hear how good your MS is now . . I am not a Linux booster but I like where its going and to speak of the OTHER system called Mac did you hear of the large gains in market share they made this year . . "Vista" is loved over at any Mac place all the way to the bank . .

And all this is less than the cost of XP Pro or "Vista" by its self . . You already have the MS software just add Linux and Code Weavers Pro and then load the MS software and your off and running in any office . . and as to networks What do you think runs the web ? Hummmmmmmmm ? It is not MS !

NEXT ?

I only run windows inside of Linux as some things do not as of yet run in Linux as the drivers and software are not yet made for it . . . And when Its inside of linux I will cut off Windblows in a heart beat . . And NEVER look back ! . . I got a page over on my web site you MS users should read . . Its the computer Geeks page link on the left hand side http://www.lynns-store.com { a Illegal Alien News Letter Now, it was a e-commerce site }

You are just an excuse machine!

{color:#000080}"The comment about working with everything is a compilation of all the
"switch to linux" posts that have appeared on PC World's community."{color}
And this is ubuntu's fault? You can't research for yourself? You blindly believed them and now hate them all?

{color:#000080}"
Linux is only free if you are blessed with unrestricted high speed internet"{color}

There are a hundred sites where you could have mail-ordered the disks for as low as $1 each. Your fault again.

{color:#000080}"If it is so easy to get a laptop up and running on Ubuntu or any other
flavor of Linux, I would challenge those of you who claim a solution to
log onto the Linux forum and help those waiting on the 50 pages of
postings for help."{color}

I challenge you and everyone else to use the search function and find that the question has been answered countless times. As with any help forum, first read the posting FAQ and second use the search function before asking the same question over and over. That ettiquette that has been in place since BBS days.

Again, I don't care if you use it. Stop making excuses for your lack of patience, desire and interest. This is a waste of time because it is obvious that any problem you might have had is someone else's fault.

Good day.

I have four legal copies of Vista Home Premium. One came pre-installed on my new laptop, one came from HP as a free upgrade to my Media Center replacing XP MCE. The third came as a purchased upgrade for around $150 destined for another desktop and the fourth is a full OEM version installed on a new build for around $110. Three are installed and working perfectly.

Perhaps I should have said my time with a lack of frustration and aggrivation is worth more that that. I spent more time trying to get Ubuntu installed and communicating on one machine that I have spent on Vista getting it installed and functional on all three machines combined.

While I admit to being a newbie to Ubuntu, I am far from a newbie on computers, starting with an original IBM PC and DOS 1.0 (320KM diskettes not the 360KB that 1.1 supported).

The problem with the wireless was just the first problem. The second was after I installed it on my new build on a third drive, it would connect to the internet (Ethernet connection) but would not read any NTFS drive, nor read the NAS device with all my files. When I was told about an arcane text based fix that would read NTFS, I threw in the towel. I gave up text based patches decades ago. I'm happy with Vista and it works.

I am visiting with a friend who has a home network and converted his machine to Vista several months ago and wonders what all the fuss is about, for he has more trouble with his wife's machine (XP) than he does with his VIsta (as in no porblems). We spend a few hours off and on Christmas afternoon getting his grandson's new computer with Vista up an running with Avast and Superantispyware and he then carried it upstairs and it has been working fine ever since (with only 1GB of memory). Most of the time was downloading drivers for the wireless USB adapter, the existing printer and the two security programs, and explaining things to him.

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Thanks to Solar Wings for the special siggy.

Regarding Bill and Melinda gates: hear! hear! They do genuinely good deeds with their money and are, by me, Good People.

Btw they were recently made honorary Doctors of Medicine at Karolinska Institutet here in Sweden (an internationally acclaimed research institute which names the Nobel Prize winners in the natural sciences and medicine) for the reasons rkinne01 cites plus for providing health care and hospitals in developing countries as well as financing research into the greatest global health treats.

Doesn't sound like an "Evil Empire" to me either.

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"A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five". ---Groucho Marx

If you read the site it says "TO BUY THE CD CLICK HERE" on several of the sites ! And to get a lot of the different versions go to here !

http://www.linuxcentral.com

There is Broad Band from things like Sprint or Verizon and it reaches tons of places . . Or get a thumb WiFi for what $10.00 I think last ones cost me and go to Star Bucks and drink some coffee download the ISO files and burn to a CD ! And to Rgreen4 . . There is a place on the web that has Puppy Linux and it is VERY FAST and TINY It seen the thumb WiFi and loaded it plus all the computers hardware and that was Puppy Linux 3.01 ISO and it is not so big you could not download it on dial up 99 megs . . http://www.puppylinux.com I ran this in a Compaq 486 Laptop with16 MEGS of ram and it had 4 megs left over to run the apps in and that is in FULL SCREEN ! It has games, and Office Programs which WILL load the MS files and run them And it ran faster than the windows 98 SE which was on the Hard Drive . . I loaded it into my OWN laptop a "VISTA" ready thing ( came with "Vista" on it ) and I got another 512 meg memory chip on sale for under $15.00 and added it but it ran like a scaled cat runing Puppy Linux in ram ( Live CD ) . . I can send the CD to you for a few dollars for playing with via Snail Mail . . It will also Install if you want to use it ( dual boot ) type thing as it will install on a windows hard drive and not mess it up . .