It's a Windows world: deal with it

Tom:

"and gives you as much or as little freedom as you want"

So MS will give you as much freedom as you want? What a crock of crap.

justthething84:

I love this article and I love you for writing it.

I dont think there's a happy linux fanboy in this forum and its hilarious. You people who take this sort of thing so serious are SO far from reality it is pathetic. I must admit im one for the ps3/xbox 360 debate so yes I may be people like you (less pathetic of course). Its hilarious to see you guys muscle it out over whats best.

In this arguement however, the clear winner is Microsoft and I guess theyre gonna be the only company to provide the most popular OS in all of our life times. Why worry about which OS is best, its what does it for you. People who like to tinker would probably like linux more. In my case its definately Windows. I cannot be bothered getting linux to work/be compatible with my hardware so I choose the option that works (windows).

As for Apple, well I absolutely hate the Apple company. This is not because of Macs but because of ipods. I owned one and bought it for $500 and sold it for $200 3 months later - why? Because it was the WORST thing ive ever bought (now that says something!)

Bernardo:

One of the reasons I prefer Linux is so that I *dont* have to tinker with my computer all the time.

When I was running Windows, I spent far too much time maintaining my system, protecting it from viruses and other mal-ware, making sure I was on top of the current security situation (and work-arounds to stave off disaster until a patch was (hopefully) finally released, and fixing things broken by patches), and even re-installing periodically just to maintain reasonable performance.

My Linux box is so maintanance-free that I often need to look up quite basic things again -- things that I've forgotten because it's been so long since the last time I needed it.

A bit of extra time configuring new hardware (if I need to) is a small investment in ease-of-use. You think that "Windows just works!"? I think that "Linux just keeps working!>

justthething84:

You obviously have a lot of time on your hands because with my experience in using Linux its been nothing but a WASTE OF TIME.

What's the point in merging to another OS when I already have one that works? Thats the problem with Linux - it doesnt offer the REGULAR user anything different compared to Windows. When Linux does finally offer something innovative that sets it apart from the rest (in a big way) maybe more people will use it. As far as I'm concerned I just find it useless. Dont mention the BOOTING TIMES for Linux - they are incredibly pathetic for this day and age.

I have gone through the install process for Linux and every single time it's just been for no reason - why - because within a day or 2 I have pissed it off my hard drive cause it doesnt get used. Who even uses it? APC editors, and some IT people. The general public couldnt give two hoots about Linux and it's complicated ways. When someone who's been using Windows all their lives using Linux is like learning to use a computer again. Who wants to do that? As for viruses if your Linux OS was actually popular you'd hear about it's virus problems in the media more - but people just dont care about it :)

*slammed*

It's a Windows world - Deal with it.

MoNaRky:

Mwaa..ha..ha.. a hum.. Quite a belly laugh there. Windows World! hehe Especially since in the real world of computing power. Linux rules Supreme!

Let's take a trip to the top first. Super Computers where some 80+% of the Top 500 run on Linux. Any super computers run Windows? Any? No! Then we have HPC Clusters growing at a phenominal rate World Wide with literally all of them running Linux and maybe a few running Windows HPC OS (came out just last July '06, noobie land for old farts). That's millions of nodes on thousands of HPC Clusters worldwide running the best HPC software available! Yes it's Open Source and some of it is free as well. What does M$ have to compete in this Linux dominated new world? Not much, not much at all!

Next we have Servers and yes Microsoft still enjoys an edge here along with desktops, but with a growing population of users in both China and India choosing Linux for Servers and home use, the numbers for Microsoft Windows Install Base is dwindling in a soon to be free fall at least in China and with India, the majority of the future computer literate.

One thing people the world over can't resist is Free and when people have Open Access to their own data in a free environment is where you'll see Linux Rule the World with India and China representing near half the Worlds Population. Still uncomputerized for the most part too! Great market opportunities for Free and Open companies like Google!

But not for long and one, only need check the rate of growth of the many varieties available in China to realize that the Linux in names like "Red Flag"! Don't forget that here, an old M$ Open Source n Free adversary named Google are working on buying and and or rebuilding a Linux distro to embarrass the pants off Microsoft once again in soundly whipped defeat. Yes you can expect Steve (Monkey Man) Balmer to once again be tossing chairs in anger over Google. LOL

Contrary to the moronic view that a switch to Vista is unavoidable and quite simple, the real world is proving that, that switch is much more complicated and tramatic for the average user than switching to a good fast free interface such as Sabayon 3.2 Linux, PCLinux, Ubuntu or SuSE 10.2!

Personally Vista is much more complicated to run and do the things that are simpler to do in even Windows XP. So in the long run, it will be a colder day in hell than was the switch to XP from Win98SE. Which is still going on, I might add. As an IT and Networking Professional, I can tell you very few people in this country are ready for the tramatic leap into Vista in the near future. My guess today is to start pulling your money out of M$ stock before it crashes even further down it's long history of high's and Low's to the basement.

More Linux Potential users are born everyday in China and India than all other countries combined. The Chinese People after being controlled by a heavy handed Government, want nothing to do with a system that first of all costs money, and secondly has come to represent Demonic Corporate World Powers such as Microsoft and their monopoly is viewed in their eyes! How Many? How about half the world's population if you want to count numbers.

So sorry Bud.. but no! Short term Windows may grow, but long term World Leader will be Linux the Open and Free Way! ;D

justthething84:

Your post was huge i must admit im not really that stocked up with knowledge on which os is better but the os name that sticks in most peoples heads is windows.

its got to be the most widely used os in the world regardless of what any linux geek says. thats why microsoft is the RICHEST COMPANY in the world. giving away os for free is not going to make money.

google is a good innovation but it doesnt seem like a stable company (being relatively new and only pretty much web based). so i wouldnt bet all my money on it (dotcom crash anyone?). microsoft has already come up with an alternative for google and thats windows live search. one thing i find fascinating about google is the significance of the results it provides: usually after the 2nd or 3rd page most of the results are pathetically useless. yeah its quick but quick at giving you the results you need: no. people rave on about it but really its not the bees knees. user assisted search is the only way us HUMANS will ever find something, a computer server doesnt have an ability to understand what we are searching for.. yet.

whats google got to do with os well u brought it up.

and it is a windows world in general. people in the real world couldnt give two hoots about supercomputers and what software runs them.

Nick:

It's funny you admit you know nothing about operating systems, and then try and justify your hypothesis from a financial common sense approach. Not a bad idea except for the fact you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about at all. I guess if you were using almost any other browser you could have googled it quick from the top right corner, but IE must be better because it has more market share right? Microsoft isn't the richest company in the world by any measure, it's not second or third in fact it's thirty-first. That's right 31. We all know to find the highest quality products in the world you go to Wal-Mart because it is the tenth "RICHEST COMPANY IN THE WORLD" oh I got chills you are so right putting things in capitalized letters really drives your point home.

Google unstable? How can you be so out of touch with reality? "Google" has been added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a verb it's so popular! "microsoft has already come up with an alternative for google and thats windows live search" Well in that case hold the presses! How could all of us overlooked this! You mean to tell me that some other company has a *gasp* search engine? I guess Yahoo!, Ask.com, MSN Search, and dozens of other search engines before google weren't alternatives? Google is simply better than all of them. Really it's great I suggest you google "richest company in the world" (in all caps if it strikes your fancy) and maybe you won't come off as a total moron everytime you use your keyboard.

justthething84:

As for you with your response that was less than perfect: i didnt say i knew nothing about operation systems. do not misquote me. I still know which os is the most popular and why the case is for that. It seems your response was to firstly misquote me and then to go on and make out like everything i said was incorrect. As it stands we were both incorrect in providing information (and I can happily admit that mainly because I don’t really take this seriously). The list for the companies that are the richest in the world is at the following link: http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/18/06f2k_The-Forbes-2000_Rank.html As for google being unstable, who knows when another search engine comes along and knocks it off its perch? What other SERVICES can google offer that will keep it afloat when this happens? nothing, zilch. What google earth? Maps? Please. Microsofts got that already. As for microsoft, its extremely unlikey that any os is going to come along any time soon and take over the market. there are so many search engines out there with so much competition in that category that it would be easy for google to be booted. that said, google is extremely profitable and currently is doing well. what im saying is it is unstable because the only real service it provides is searching, and that can be matched by microsoft, yahoo, or any other search engine. Remember how famous yahoo search was back in the day - well now its been taken over in the race from google. well the same thing could happen to google if microsoft live search kicks off. Now do your research before accusing anyone of being less brighter than you. Silly silly *gives u a wowwy pop*

james:

arguing what os is best is like arguing which pickup truck is best, (which is chevy btw)... anyhow the point is this, Linux will continue to rule the communication industry because of how many unix systems are already in place and because of the cost. Now, conversly what microsoft is doing, is offering free education (virtual labs and documentation), free development platforms (express editions of visual languages), and slowly becoming more interoperable (through service oriented architecture, wcf, webservices etc). While the cost of linux is free, the cost of people who know how to use linux is monumentally more expensive than a microsoft fanboi like myself.

In my experience:
Music and AV industries will use Macs (mostly) (i think because they're quiet and notoriously compatible with MIDI and other automation)

Telecom and Government will use Linux/Unix (because as said before it's stable- when i say stable, i mean stagnant, not prone to much change/updating, and telecom and government are the least agile development worlds because they have a lot of "process" before they write code)

MidLevel/lowerlevel businesses with lower IT budgets will use microsoft (because theres a HUGe variety of easily installed solutions out there via vendors)

gamers will use microsoft. (because it has the largest selection and hottest titles in gaming)


why? because the OS is ONLY as good as the software that's available for it.

pppqe:

"do your research before accusing anyone of being less brighter than you."
was that a joke?
lolololololol
Besides, he did his research, it was in fact you that was incorrect all along.

justthething84:

yeah i know he was wrong.. what the point..

Mr. Wizard:

PET PEEVE: the way people seem to think that hardware, software and networks are somehow discrete elements of computing systems that can be effecively dealt with as if they are independent and isolated from each other.

Google is extermely aware that that kind of thinking is crazy. Microsoft would have you believe that if you aren't running Vista with MS Office, you are missing out on something other than high prices and frequent malfunctions. Believe me, you are missing nothing but headaches if you avoid Vista. Vista is easily the biggest, buggiest piece of overpriced bloatware most people will encounter these days. Vista makes the US government look efficient and economical by comparison.

It isn't as if Microsoft actually provides any sort of quality tech supoprt, even to those foolish enough to pay hundreds of dollars per "incident" for said tech support. Most people would be better off spending the

There are good, free alternatives to MS Office and MS Winblows. I'm finding that recent releases of many flavors of Linux running OpenOffice will run quite nicely on very generic hardware -- there is little reason to pay extra for a Mac, Dell, Gateway, HP, etc. logo on your computer. Likewise, when one is shopping for an ISP, one should look for reliable connectivity, high bandwidth, and low latency. ISPs that require one to use proprietary broadband/DSL modems, their own proprietary installation packages and/or Internet portals, or that restrict your full use of the bandwidth you are paying for are to be avoided.

Google (while not exactly perfect) does have a clue. Google works on all modern computing platforms (any system running Linux/Unix, Winblows, MacOS and a functional modern Web browser such as Firefox or Opera...even Netscape, IE or Safari, although the latter three tend to be dysfunctional, IMHO). Remember, with VMs, you can often run software meant for "foreign" OSes on your machine, assuming it is reasonably powerful and not bogged down by a pig of an OS such as Vista.

People are keeping their computer hardware for longer these days, for many reasons. Legacy applications and/or FOSS are increasingly viable alternatives to paying through the nose for the latest commercial programs from major vendors. There are more choices in high speed Internet Service Providers available to the consumer than ever before. You'd have to work to put together any sort of realistic modern computing platform that won't work with Google's free products (services). Google has a clue as to the future of computing.

bennyf11:

Microsoft Windows is the Most Popular OS in the world. Its a fact that even stubborn people like you need to realise. High end servers and servers DO NOT run Microsoft. But what do the computers that connect to these super computers, the MOST USED computers in the world run.... WINDOWS. Whilst I think windows is shit and someone should do something about it, it is inevitable that people will continue to use windows.

It's like trying to ban alcohol or smoking in all the world. many millions of people are used to it, so it would cause mass chaos. I know, from using Open Source Shit, that it is nearly impossible to maintain it and deploy it. this coming from a Computer Administrator Managing an entire school on his own. If I tried to get Linux on one of the computers, I would be out of a job. They can't run any windows programs, cant access 3/4 of the internet because they dont use IE.


Hope that helps

KRowe:

I know allot of non technical people may be reading this so just to let those people know--being the administrator at a school is entry level computer administration at best. Most schools don't have a much money so they get the cheapest they can find. Often times these guys don't even have a college education. I know a guy from my graduating class at the local community college that had a job administering not one school but a whole district. And he was one of the biggest stoners I ever knew. He doesn't even really use his computer except to get sports stats. So don't be fooled into thinking this guy is some sort of expert.

The reason he would be out of a job when he tries to install Linux on a PC at work is not because Linux is inferior in any way. It is because for the entire time he was at that job he has probably done nothing right and they just need a reason to fire him; it doesn't even need to be a good one. Not to mention he has no idea about how to do it right. Here's a hint, rsync + terminal sessions = maintain + deploy. Here's another hint, the reason you are single is because you are a loser don't stress it--just accept it.

I don't know where he got his info about 3/4 of the Internet not being accessible from Linux but that is pretty funny because about 3/4 (or more) of the Internet is being served from Linux right now. Do you really think that MS has some sort of magical wand it waves and stops Linux from writing its own browsers? About the only thing that doesn't work in Linux is ActiveX. But that doesn't work in Firefox either yet most people don't have too many problems with that these days since most webmasters are starting to learn that E doesn't stand for Internet (if you don't get what I mean; stare at your desktop with our eyes crossed awhile and the answer will magically appear AND you will probably look smarter too).

The fact is that nearly everything comes out in Linux before it does in Windows and almost without exception it is in Linux far before it is distributed with Windows. That is because Linux has more programmers by far; I mean allot more. If by some weird turn of events Microsoft did come up with something good before it was made for Linux; Linux would probably have it within a few months. As I have said MS can't possibly compete aside from spreading lies by infecting the stupid with their marketing hype.

About the only thing he got right is that Windows is probably the most popular OS in the world (it isn't the most used however...read on). But, like a previous poster has said, that is only for now.

I'd like to add what he said though by saying that once Linux reaches desktop dominance in these other countries I would also predict a strong increase in the use of Linux on the desktop in countries where Windows is currently dominating the desktop market.

Why?

For one, right now most programming is done through outsourcing to these other third world countries for many of the same reasons most other things are produced in those countries. Since they are\will be using mostly Linux it will mean they will be more likely to make these programs work in both Windows and Linux.

More importantly it will mean that Linux will have legions of new programmers with new and bright ideas. Windows can't compete with the amount or quality of code Open source generates now. As huge portions of the world are adopting Linux these days it is utterly hopeless for MS in the long term.

He is right about high end servers and super computers using primarily Linux. He didn't mention that nearly every network device which has an OS also uses Linux as well as most cell phones and hand held devices.

The fact is that most of these 'regular users' that people like to talk about already use Linux all the time (cell phone, ATM, websites, FTP, Usenet, land line telephones, kiosks, POS terminals, etc, etc, etc) and don't know it. Linux is so easy to use that when an end user is using it they usually have no idea. This is because Linux isn't trying to sell itself but it is also because Linux just WORKS. Your cell phone doesn't 'crash', your ATM doesn't have 'blue screens', if you can't see your website...its probably because of something on your end. Get it?

If you can't figure out Linux it is also because of something on your end. It is funny how nearly every Windows user can burn a DVD but hardly any of them can figure out how to burn a Linux distro. These days Linux basically 'just works' on your PC just like Windows does. Don't believe me? Try out this distro: www.kubuntu.org

You don't even have to install it to use it. Just burn it onto a CD and restart your PC. Linux will be up and running in about the same time Windows does off the hard drive except you didn't have to install anything! That is just one of millions of reasons Linux IS the best OS. It really isn't a competition it is a slaughter and it is happening right under your noses yet you can't see it.

But to be honest I don't care if idiots use Windows they are probably better off there. I mean, do we really want them on our forums Linux users? The problem is usually when others try to make us use Windows or they write something that makes us get out our Windows emulator. It is very hard to go back to Windows once you get used to Linux.

A good way to explain it to a Windows users is to imagine that you went to work somewhere and they gave you a typewriter to work on. Yeah you could get the crap they were asking for done but you know you are being held back and you know that they would be much happier if they would only let you use a PC but for whatever reason they have circular typewriter logos in their eyes. Then they all congregate on these lame ass websites that have jacked up servers which only actually make the post 1 out 5 times you press submit. And talk about how their stupid worthless typewriters are the bee knees.

A message to anyone who may be thinking about posting a comparison of Windows to Linux and says anything other than Windows is a worthless piece of crap and Linux (or some other open source OS) is the true ultimate OS:

You are a complete idiot, the only reason you think that way is because you know nothing, you are nothing, and you'll probably never be anything--other than a mindless sub-human parasite feeding off the intelligence of others.

The only hope you have is to either quit using computers all together or maybe, just maybe, someday someone will come along and explain it all very slowly to you in a way even a moron like yourself can understand.

I hope the writer of the main post got a good laugh from that. He can laugh his way to hell for all I care...ohh wait he uses Windows, I guess that is punishment enough. And to the rest of you Windows users, you better hope I never get access to your computers. If I do I'm going to turn you in for all that software you are stealing--then who will be laughing.

Remember, I don't hate you because you use Windows. I hate you because you are stupid.

mdhoover:

Crikey, you must be some Computer Administrator, or you just haven't used linux in quite a while (get a copy of ubuntu and apt-get my friend).

In the enterprise, pretty much ALL windows servers I see are run from VMWare ESX server (which is, guess what, linux based) as it is the only way to maintain your sanity and moderate system stability (due to the common hardware interface).

As for OSS, even the custom systems I have totally built from source require minimal attention, and with the free VMware player I can run windows under linux for the windows apps which dont work under Crossover Office or Cedega.

Fair enough, I dont believe linux is ready for the non-technical, but thats why there are macs.

Personally though, if Solaris x86 worked on more hardware I'd be using that over the rest...

crustymonkey:

to quote: "They can't run any windows programs, cant access 3/4 of the internet because they dont use IE" That is simply one of THE most ridiculous things I have read in a long time. Have you tried a browser other than IE in the last 5 years? All my desktop machines run linux and I rarely have a problem using any web sites, even those with Flash or Java applets. The fact of the matter is that, with Firefox's growing adoption as the browser of choice (even for the people running winblows), you would have to be a monumental idiot NOT to write cross browser code. And let me tell, as a former web programmer, it's a bitch to code anything for IE 6. Be it javascript and especially CSS since it doesn't even fully support the CSS version 1 spec in a time when CSS version 3 is being implemented. Oh yeah, if you do happen to run into one of those horribly coded websites where some idiot is still trying to use non-standard javascript/css or has committed the cardinal sin of using an Active X object of some sort, you can always install "ies4linux": http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/page/Main_Page To sum things up, pull your head out.

helios:

"...The general public couldnt give two hoots about Linux and it's complicated ways."

One sentence out of your post tells most people what they need to know about you. You are pathetically ignorant of Linux Distros and Human Nature, AND...you along with many others here fit the definition of quisling nicely.

It's all in the distro dude...I have 12 year old kids and 84 year old grandmothers using Linux, and many of them did the install themselves.

Between the two choices I name above, I would guess you are an even mixture of both. "Normal" computer users are flocking to Linux left and right...
I know, I do their installs. Sure, MS has market dominance, but at the cost of being liars and thieves. You and others howl in outrage at the oil companies, but defend MS with your very reputations.

Did I leave Idiot out of the choices?

My bad.

dabooch:

You're funny. I don't know if your tongue's in your cheek or not, but either way, you're funny.

It won't get the attention for a long time, but Linux is making major inroads on desktops, a person at a time, and increasingly working its way down the adopter sophistication curve. Technology adoption, even in conditions like this where market forces play a huge role (and Microsoft continues to try to leverage that to the utmost), is an understood sociological phenomenon, and Linux is crossing thresholds in that adoption curve, including having people like me (moderately technical, but not interested in spending lots of time on computers) move our whole family to Linux, simply to save time.

There will always be individual cases of people having difficulty installing it ... but the bell curve is shaping up nicely, w/ the vast majority NOT having significant issues w/ the latest releases of Linux.

The mindset change is more of a symptom than a cause.

att:

Actually booting time are faster with linux.
I have a Pentium4 1.7 ghz with 700+ mb ram with Ubuntu Linux installed.
I also have a Athlon 64 X2 4500 with 2GB ram and Windows Vista. Both computers booted up in same time give or take a few sec.

BatWing:

Fair enough. But it doesn't mean that one OS is worse or better than the other. I know that you are possibly not suggesting that but some people do get into this silly debate over nothing. Perhaps they are OS Zealots and that is a way of trying to be popular? Can only guess.
That is good that you find your linux box works for you. But the reality is different thing suit different people. There shouldn't be a one size fits all product. I mean who would want that? We have choice, so just make a choice and relax and enjoy your computers people. And most importantly enjoy people. Personally I prefer a nice female but some of you might just like a smoke and a pancake.
Good Day Sir. BatWing

Alicia C Simpson:

As of right now, it is easier to get the average Linux distro to run on your computer than Vista. I guess you will be switching to Linux because you can't be bothered trying to get Vista to run.

Actually the only time you will have a real problem with getting Linux to run is if you have bought a high end PC, like Dell, where they have tweaked the hardware to run a smidgen faster than everyone else. Proprietary systems will be everyones downfall.

Open systems are best!

Mr. Shovel:

The only real difference in all operating systems is how well they were designed. I switched to linux because I WANTED to tinker more. I found quite the opposite. Linux is easy, well designed and only distributions like gentoo require you to install stuff with the command line and most distributions such as Ubuntu and Fedora, require less forum searching, tinkering and shady patches. Windows has great wizards and stuff like that, but is really horribly designed. Solitaire and all those other crap games is still part of win32 for example.(I confirmed that myself with Windows xp Pro. Please tell me if this is not true with vista.) Windows is slow and there is no way around it. Period.

AnonymousX:

Look up, 64bit drivers ahead.

I'll grant you everyone needs to buy new computers to make the jump to Vista anyway, but discarding any old hardware without 64bit Vista drivers... ...I've seen dual core intel 64bit systems running 32bit XP cause there are no drivers for the AU$1000 graphics card...

How long do you have to 'tinker' to do a traditional install of Vista, patch & upgrade, OH YEAH, almost forgot, get one of those licence key thingies & then store it somewhere, find & install 64bit drivers, install the rest of the system software, install productivity software & secure the system? :-p Welcome to the nineties.

...show me identical releases of Vista that'll boot from a live CD on a legacy PC, an amd64 box & a new mac on most hardware with DRIVERS & basic productivity apps installed & running, security locked down in a non-offensive way... ...glitzy 3D desktop, transparency, blur, dropshadows, wobbly windows, etc (on the old box too)

Now look at upgrading an office to Vista, even with ghost. You need practically identical hardware to ghost windows & you'll need to re-image systems reasonably regularly (per virus) to make even a passing attempt at security. Do you know anyone who's upgrading to Vista? Might be time to upgrade your MCSE for an ADVANCED course in rebooting & reinstalling.

oohms:

Seriously... anyone who has issues getting windows to work is a complete noob.

Sure, i can dabble with linux all i want, and have given it a shot, but it just takes so much time to do any given thing that is more involved than the gnome/KDE gui allows me to change quickly.

Apple guy:

Yes I agree, complete crock of crap. Yes Microsoft has a huge market share, the main reason being they allowed all the computer manufacturers to use their product and tied in a load of extortionate licensing fees. At the end of the day people have to start asking themselves whether they want a decent operating system on their computers. MAC OSX leopard may have it's bugs for the time being but these will be ironed out and when they are I think you'll find Leopard to be an incredibly powerful OS; which might I add caters for both the home users and power users. You microsoft fanatics also have to ask yourselves about the security aspects as well as the user friendliness of Vista. I am not against microsoft, XP was a good product. Vista sucks. Mac OSX is awesome and their computers are like the Bentley's of the computer hardware world. Linux is too awesome. If anyone knows all this, I do as I work in all three operating environments for a living. Please will people who don't have a clue of what they are talking about not post comments. I think a lot of people here will agree with me. I don't hate microsoft and I am a UNIX fanatic. I just wish people would get their facts right.

bartek:

funny, but so untrue

Linux is almost at the point of doing everything a regular user wants it to do.

Windows will stay on top for at least the next 5-6 jears but the market will go to Linux, simply becourse it's free, stable, no viruses, ...

Have fun paying lots of money for Windhose ...

Anonymous:

Linux is the OS of the future...and it always will be.

Geeks don't know anything about marketing, or even about human beings. My Linux pals love messing with their computers, but they simply don't understand that the rest of us do NOT love messing with computers, we'll just take the path of least resistance. Although I abhor most MS products, Windows is, thus far, a very satisfactory operating system. When I plug stuff (peripherals) in, they work. Easy as pie. Not so in Linux.

I've heard about Linux for years, but the fact is that it's never quite "ready" for average users, and the promise of Linux has therefore lost all credibility. You can only BS about something for so long before people won't believe you at all, and if the day comes where Linux is genuinely usable for the majority of the market, nobody will believe it anyway, since the false promises and clueless geeks have annoyed us all to no end.

Easy Speed:

Anyone can install Linux; all the current flavours I've installed do so without any problems. Linux can do anything that windows can do except for one thing the same one thing that Apple cannot do and that is play all the latest games. Until Linux and Apple can do this then windows will rule.

mdub:

LOL. Seriously. "It just plugs in and works" has been a mac catchphrase for years because, well, it did.

Anyone who seriously can claim Windows > Mac for ease of use and plug and go has clearly not used a Mac for a few years.

If you want a reliable computer that just works, get a Mac.

Patrick Moon:

Actually your right. Today windows rules and next year too. But your old...and windows is for old people. The next generation, the generation of "the pirate bay" fighting **AA is comming. They don't want to be stuck to a lame OS. They want the freedom that is implied from growing up in an world network.

Thomas:

Guess the Linux "fanboys" includes Dell

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39273865,00.htm

justthething84:

as far as im concerned dell is a crap company. ive bought a monitor off them thats been replaced 3 times. a dell laptop i had refunded due to LIGHT LEAKAGE and poor quality build.

dell is going down the gurgla. they claim to have top notch customer service and seem to rave about it but to my experience its been really annoying having to try and translate what they are actually saying to you. so to put dell in the same basket as linux is correct - they are both crap so it makes sense to associate the 2.

Buster Crabb:

Yes, it IS a Windows world (for now) and we ARE dealing with it...by changing it. You can sit there in willful ignorance and Tory cynicism, or you can make yourself useful. With or without you, the revolution will go forward. Soon enough you'll be running linux yourself, and hoping no one remembers the drivel you penned today.

chucklehead:

so you're singlehandedly porting over every major software to work with linux/unix? because aside from that, theres no way you'll ever get linux in the hands of the mainstream american end user. End users want compatibility with everything they've already used, files, games, music, movies, internet without installing emulators etc. Additionally, you have the HUGe .Net programming languages out there... rapid development = more software, faster, and better quality.

For linux to make a chip in the main stream market share they will have to do these things:
1) run all microsoft software, .net framework, directx, ole, and odbc...
2) create rapid development ide like visual studio
3) interoperate with all existing platforms
4) find a common ground between all of the hundreds of kernels floating around and unify into one standardization.
5) provide education freely to the public, the way microsoft MSDN does.

and honestly, with all of that for them to have to tackle... if i were them i'd just give up and use windows. :P

some unix geek:

1) run all microsoft software, .net framework, directx, ole, and odbc...

Microsoft Office can be supplanted with most of its functionality in abiword, gnumeric and openoffice. Most of the functionality and _file compatibility_ is already in place. All but the most ardent server distros package these apps.

2) create rapid development ide like visual studio
Eclipse as the java runtime development environment exists. It's not bad. Most developers in linux stick with gnu suite, which whilst not the prettiest, is still the most powerful set of tools for c and c++ development.

3) interoperate with all existing platforms
The Linux kernel can talk tcp/ip, ipx, appletalk, token ring, smb, windows active directory, domain controllers, windows for workgroups, afp, appletalk, etc etc etc... Linux is a better network glue than any commercial offering out there.

4) find a common ground between all of the hundreds of kernels floating around and unify into one standardization.

There is only one kernel. There are multiple distributions. Pick one. They either use Gnome or KDE. Pick one. Standards ? The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to pick from. As long as the UI is intuitive, people can pick it up in 20 minutes.

5) provide education freely to the public, the way microsoft MSDN does.

All of core linux is free, including the documentation. Go to www.google.com/linux and just search away. The software is available for free. Ask a buddy. It's for the people by the people...

greg:

Typical winblows brainless user, windows does not give you what you want, it goives you what MS wants.

When ma and pa kettle start getting subscription charges for the privilige of getting flooded with viruses MS will take a hit.

Have you seen vista? every gripe people have against linux/mac (tooo hard, bad driver support, promptomg for password etc etc) is there. Your'e argument is flawed.

On top of the "security enhancements" in vista there has already been security patches released (also released fo XP so does not look like it got the 'new code base")

Keep windows - and its primitive interface and problems

James Bannan:

It's still funny - today's revolutionaries are tomorrow's dictators, so all these comments about freedom, change and revolution (which sound like pre-teen sociology arguments, to be frank) will, in time, be bounced right back at you.

Isn't history a bitch?? :-)

AnonymousX:

where do I sign?

Con Zymaris:

"It’s a Windows world: deal with it"?

In the immortal response of the 101st Airborne, when surrounded by the Germans at Bastogne, on the eve of D-Day and pushed to surrender, my comeback to you is:

Nuts!



Better luck next time ;-)

Fred Smurflet:

"today’s revolutionaries are tomorrow’s dictators"

Oh, so you HAVE seen The Pirates of Silicon Valley then James?

"all these comments about freedom, change and revolution (which sound like pre-teen sociology arguments, to be frank) will, in time, be bounced right back at you."

But not by you, because you are a Windows fanboy and don't have the requisite knowledge to rebut said arguments. If you did, your piece would have had some substance, rather than simply saying "Nyah, nyah, Windows has the biggest marketshare so there!"

Mike:

Who's blind? anyone can see the guy in the picture have devil's eyes.
The nature always finds best equilibrium in earth, it won't take long before nature clean this mess.
Seriously I think Playstation 3 will make linux famous and wanted on every home.

James Bannan:

Hey Fred - actually no I haven't, but it's on my to-do list... :-)

So fanboys don't have knowledge, is that what you're saying? Hmmm - interesting assertion. And fascinatingly, I don't see YOU trying to rebut any arguments, other than by saying "Nyah, nyah, you're a fanboy so there!"

Roy:

Some people felt the same way about IBM as you do about Microsoft. They were wrong. Times change. I make a living programming Microsoft stuff (Developers, Developers, Developers, right), and I'm looking at other stuff. And I'm no one special-There are probably more just like me.

Fred Smurflet:

"And fascinatingly, I don’t see YOU trying to rebut any arguments"

What arguments, little Jimmy? You haven't suggested any facts beyond "Windows has the biggest marketshare."

How about this: prove that this will be the case forever, as this appears to be the proposition that you are making. This might mean that you have to, I don't know, do some research, use some other platforms and such.

The fact that you have said...

"They DON’T want to spend an hour trawling through techhead forums searching for that one line of code to get something installed."

... indicates that you haven't used Linux for a very long time, if at all, thus rendering your opinion so irrelevant as to be useless.

Asses for the Masses:

Come talk to me when Linux can run on my laptop at 1024 x 768 (which Windows can handle), whereas Linux/FreeBSD. etc. can only manage a blurry 800 x 600. The interface is crap and according to a few studies that I've seen online (non-Microsoft) Ubuntu as well as Mac OS X have twice as many bugs as Windows. Microsoft just bothers to publish fixes more proactively. The reason people perceive Windows to have more bugs is because it runs on more than 90% of the world's desktops. Security by Obscurity is no security at all. Thank your lucky starts Linux and Mac OS X have less than 10% market share combined. And oh, if Microsoft is anti-competitive for disallowing OpenGL and SDL to run on Vista, why don't I hear you all screaming this label at Apple for disallowing Mac OS X to run on Intel x86 machines? It's a corporate world. Deal with it. Do you wanna fly in planes made my amateur hobbyists?

Anonymous:

Boot up Mepis Linux or the wonderful Puppy 2.10 Linux on your computer and see what happens.

FredT:

Suse installed and runs great on my Toshiba. It (Suse) came pre-installed on my new Lenovo (Thinkpad) and on my new HP desktop.

I've been using Windows since Windows 286 and have now switched. Why? Because it is ready for the desktop. So while it may be a world dominated by MS, it is sure nice to have something different that IMHO, I think is better.

chrome warrior:

Are you ignorant ?

Windows is a multibillion company !

Linux is done by free thinking people who have a very limited budget!

Windows has a massive legal team paid for by Microsoft !

Linux only makes money from server fixes !

Linux desktop is all free not a money making machine !

If India and China have all their kids on Linux programming :)Microsoft will have a monster of a population who hate Capitalists.

Apple was an innovative company in PC world so stop diggin into them ass well !

Each has its positive side and its bad side , it a free world but people who complain are not allowed to express themselves.

People who use their own minds instead of a package that does it for them.

All are unstable not one OS out there is stable for long something man made or man made third party puts stresses into all OS on the planet.

Cheers to a happy 2007 it ok to complain its ok to express your opinions , when you are not allowed ,look out for an army of people with guns in your faces.Many countries dissaprove of our freedoms so look after them.A PC is a freedom of expression by a stoke of a pen it could in the future cost you your freedom and your life.

Chrome Warrior

KRowe:

Come talk to me when Linux can run on my laptop at 1024 x 768.

Linux can work in any resolution your monitor+video card work in the same as Windows. Most distributions don't really cater to people who don't even try. Use a different distribution like Kubuntu or Puppy Linux they are a little more friendly to half asses.

Truki:

"we are the Microsoft/MSN/Hotmail generation"

Sorry I use Windows at work but not MSN and Hotmail. The most used web portal is still Yahoo! and Hotmail is crap.

Apathetic:

Who cares if it's a Windows world? I use Linux, it works great for me. It's not for everyone. It doesn't bother me that I'm in a minority - so long as I can use Linux if I choose. If DRM takes away that choice then I'll have a problem with Microsoft.

Fanboys - relax! What do you care what other people use? It's just a computer. Use what you like. That's like Kia owners needing everyone else in the world to drive one too so they can feel good about their car purchase.

james:

they don't make an OS as crappy as a Kia.

James Bannan:

Fred, I've been a Linux user for about five years. I administer a split Windows/Linux environment with 1500 users. I'm involved in projects porting Windows systems across to Linux and working on various cross-compatibility and admin issues.

I also build and maintain multiple Windows-based SOEs and I deal with users every single day. I KNOW what users want because I DEAL with them. And I can tell you with utter certainty that someone who doesn't care that much about computers and just wants to get online and do their thing will NOT choose Linux. That's not the opinion of a Windows fan, that's just basic human nature - most people want simplicity, and whatever else Windows may be, it gives you what you need in one package.

Feel free to talk about the right to choose, the need for breaking Microsoft's monopoly, the lack of competition, and right to free software....it's all good and it's all interesting. But I tell you mate, as long as most users can jump online and email their friends, they could not care less.

THAT'S the biggest fact of all.

Fred Smurflet:

"But I tell you mate, as long as most users can jump online and email their friends, they could not care less.

THAT’S the biggest fact of all."

So you're saying that the OS doesn't matter as long as people can do these things? Thanks, you've just proved my point.

What makes you think that OEMs will continue to push Windows forever? You haven't made a compelling case for this in the slightest. As Rob pointed out above, people used to say the same thing about IBM. And it's an IBM world isn't it? Oh wait...

Jack Carroll:

The older generation is stuck on Windows? Are you kidding? My computing habits were set in stone long before Microsoft came on the scene. I've been on Unix-oid op systems since the beginning. Microware OS-9, Unix, Linux, Mac-OS X, and now OpenBSD. I've had to put up with Microsoft at work, but it will be a cold day in Hell before I ever let it onto my own networks.

Chris Taylor:

This is an incredible naive and irresponsible attitude to have in regards to the dominance of one company on such an important area as desktop OS and application deployment.

It is not about Microsoft vs Linux vs Macintosh vs Sun etc etc.

It is about having an effective industry where companies have to compete on the bases of how well there products fit the marketplace, their ability to innovate, and ultimately the value they provide to the end user.

The "just shut up and live with it" argument does not help any of us. The dominant company will just keep rolling out inferior products at inflated prices, with little or no incentive to make any significant improvements.

The OS is too important to leave at the mercy of just one company.

veridicus:

I found a link to this page indirectly from Slashdot. This is the first thing I've ever read by James. And it will definitely be the last. James, you are an idiot. Your inflamatory attitude is only meant to gather links. Next time say something intelligent and you may get a return visitor.

James Bannan:

Fred, you're still missing the point entirely I'm afraid (and while we're at it, what IS your point?) - yes I DO believe that if people can achieve what they want, they will take the path of least resistance to get it. Take iPods. They're not the best MP3 players on the market, but they dominate. If you want an MP3 player, it's easier to buy an iPod that not.

I'm not talking about people who know and care about these choices - you forget that the vast bulk of computer users out there are not techies. They DON'T CARE. You care, and I care, and the people reading this care too, and that's why they're getting riled up (and personally insulting too - thank you veridicus for your invaluable contribution). But we represent such a small proportion of the computing community that it's not funny.

Chris Taylor is right in his reply - it's not about Microsoft vs Sun and so on. But it's not just about the marketplace either. It's about people and people's personal choices.

Steve:

Keep believing that. 16 years on computers, never had/owned or wanted to use windows. Neither do, now, 35 of my friends and family who are running virus free for couple years now. If Linux is OEMed like the MS PC in the store (as I do for all people I install it for), it is trivially easy to use. Not only that, but I get to talk to them about life when I see them and on the phone, instead of and endless litanny of things that just stop working over and over and over again back when they used Windows.

They range from Suse 9.0 to Suse 9.2. Thinking Ubunto as their next OS. Know what, they all surf, print, digital photo, scan, watch movies, and on and on just like the rest of us. No one, NOT ONE, ever asked me to change them back. Three have crossover office so they can run Quicken and photoshop, the rest I introduced to Linux equivalents and let em loose. So, like I said, you just keep believing what you write, and you live in your virus laden, insecure, spyware infected world and we'll live in our peaceful little corner.

Fred Smurflet:

"I’m not talking about people who know and care about these choices - you forget that the vast bulk of computer users out there are not techies. They DON’T CARE."

Yep, and following this logic to its absolute conclusion: if they don't get Windows preinstalled on their new PC, but instead get Ubuntu (for example) then they'll use it.

After all; they don't care, remember?

Arnie:

Here's a nickle, kid. Go buy yourself a real operating system.

Jeremy Farrance:

hahahahahaha... I love it... you UNIX geek you :D

David Emberton:

"Society's mind chose Microsoft, comply!"

Mark Southcombe:

Let them use Microsoft!!

Why do we need to bother extolling the virtues of Linux.

If they are happy with there unresponsive, insecure, blue screening, virus spreading machines leave them be.

Lets keep Linux for those who know better ;)

Howard Thomson:

There has been more than one survey of software developers that indicates that there are more (!) people developing software for Linux than for Windows. There are also more and more projects that work on both Linux and Windows (PostgreSQL, Apache, MySQL, Firefox, all-of-KDE-coming). China, India etc choosing Linux ... Windoze is Toast ...

feltch:

> we are the Microsoft/MSN/Hotmail generation of computer users.

Speak for yourself

It would probably be more accurate to say *you* are the MS(N)/Hotmail generation.

Wesley Parish:

Just for what it's worth, I had a friend, a Windows techie, tell me that the instant Linux gets a games industry up and going, people will drop Windows like a stoned AFL player fumbling a mark. Games seem to be the major reason why your average computer user still sticks with Windows. I suppose viruses could be another reason - because that's one of the first things you need to check when you're running a Windows network. Sadomasochism is therefore the other possible reason - you might like to expound on this as an explanation for Microsoft's success?

Again, for what it's worth, I seem to have started a Microsoft Preservation Society, to make sure that people such as my friend mentioned above, won't go bust when the centre of the computing universe shifts from the US to elsewhere, and Microsoft and Windows don't shift with it. Ergo my constant badgering of the likes of Matusow etc, to be more open - a lot more open - and lose a little now, or they will lose the lot later.

KRowe:

For the price of a copy of windows ultimate I cound buy a PS3 and have almost enough left over to get an XBOX too. Get the point?

v m:

linux SHOULD prevail because -

well,
NOT because it is 'free'
not because there are many m$ haters
not because people prefer security for data
not because people prefer control over data
or control over their operating system

but because its of the people, by the people, for the people.

frequently, linux advocates take the bait of writers such as the present one; they fail to point out this simple fact. We should ALL encourage using linux and make it better because it belongs to us- our community at large. It is up to us to keep the air we breathe, the water we drink free thus, it is also under our purview to keep the technology freeway accessible to all.

Acorn Wang:

You're all barking up the wrong tree. Soon
I will be using a fantastic free java based GoogleOS on my Sun PC. And utulising my Apple-Berry handheld to IM and email and anon anon. Viva la revolution.

Atari 520 ST, Acorn Archimedes A5000 & Amiga.

Respekt.

PS: Holdens are better than Ford.

da4shw:

I just love your tone of sarcasm... I almost thought you believed this ;O)

Roni Oliva:

Seems that M$ has really got you over a barrel. Maybe if you take off your blinders you will be able to see clearly that Windows may currently be the dominant desktop OS, but for how long? I have been using Linux as my Primary desktop and only play with Windows when I have to support my clients whom I adore because they keep me in beer money.

Linux is the future and certainly Vista will play a secondary role in future computing. When will you learn that Apple did the "windows" thing before M$ did.

Rombard:

And, just so we know where the credit actually lies, Apple stole it from Xerox, which is why they lost when they sued Microsoft about it.

Quazar:

Well, first of all, sorry for my English due to my speaking languaje is Spanish.
Second. I don't know if you have ever tried Linux, but being a Microsoft user for about 20 years (from MS-DOS 2x), and a Linux user since 2002, I'm feeling with rights to say that you are wrong in some ways. Right now Linux can do almost all Windows can do (except, of course, run some Windows specific software). You say "They DON’T want to spend an hour trawling through techhead forums searching for that one line of code to get something installed." Have you ever tried to install a Windows machine from zero on a Via chipset motherboard? I hope you have the driver's CD,because if you don't, better go to a friend's home and try to find them in Internet.

ShadowChaser Jimenez:

This is not at all a MS bashing. The truth is Microsoft has already lost.The security problems and unreliable operating system has caused countless headaches to countless people. Those are the people that are jumping ship.. So everyone else who is seeing these people switching to Linux and they are asking themselves why and asking the jumpers why. And the answers always the same. Reliability, Security and Savings.
Reliability- Linux systems tend more reliable because the Software is Open Sourced. So many programmers can spot bad lines of code and or obsolete code, thus better Software..
Security Hackers/Crackers and Viruses tend to take the path of less resistance.. Linux has built in security features that have been in past down since the era of Unix. everything from the Kernel to the File System can be isolated and protected. Not to say it's impossible, it can happen. But truth is it will happen a heck of a lot faster on a MS Operating System where internal security is at best spotty.
Savings, Linux can be purchased anywhere between 30-200 USD on-line or it can be downloaded for Free. The difference between the two is very very slight with a bought copy you get a manual and email/telephone support extra software and the feeling to Supporting Linux development. With the Free version you get the same System minus the Support/manuals and certain software, the software can be downloaded later from different sites for free. And the Big One is you don't need a License to added it to your son's computer or your laptop most of the time it's perfectly legal..exceptions are enterprise editions...
So maybe MS this is a MS world. 89% world computer run on MS. The funny part is five years ago it was 94% of the world PC's ran MS.. Things Are Changing!!!!!!

Paul Hands:

What a silly article.

We ARE dealing with it. By opting out of the M$ world. Market forces are changing the computing landscape : M$ is losing ground, losing reputation and losing market share becuse, dinosaur like, they can't or won't adapt to the new conditions.

I haven't used windoze for 5 years. The only time I even touch windoze is when I delouse a malware infested PC with my trusty knoppix CD. Usually, I install Linux and make the machine dual boot and let the user experience Linux and make an informed choice. Few go back when they don't have to pay for malware protection, office suites or thousands of other applications as well as not getting hit by every bit of malware out there.

Another rason I use Linux is that I don't condone piracy, and I won't pay the inflated price that M$ charge for becoming a malware victim.

Alex Chejlyk:

I used to believe that it was a Windows world, up until 2000. I lived with many problems (freezes, viruses and other strange behavior) for 5 years (95-2000). I finally opened my eyes and started searching for something better. I found Mandrake 8.0, a linux distro at Wal-Mart of all places. It installed easily, recognized all my hardware and was stable! I haven't had any malware (viruses/adware/spyware) since I made the switch. The number of system freezes I've encountered since I switched can be counted on one hand. Once someone commits to the switch (MS to a Linux based distro) the difference in stability is amazing, I've never regretted switching and doubt I'd ever switch back.
MS has the funds to make a great OS, but instead they would rather lock users in, spy on them (WGA reports to MS daily!!!), and deliver the least for the most money. MS is not a "good guy", they only produce new software when they want to generate revenue or they feel competition is stealing away market share. Having community built software, offers choice and freedom, something MS does not want us to have.

Alex

midi-man:

Lets speak the facts if it's mission critical it's Linux. Not because it’s bad, but because it's better, lean and mean I like to say. References FAA, land rovers to mars, Space Shuttle. Gates can only dream windows will go to outer space in his dreams.

I also have to agree with what people are saying the next generation of computer
users will get Linux experience in College. Like the older one got with Unix. But Linux is cheap and Unix was not so I think they will use it since they know its capabilities.

\|||/
(o o)
-----ooO-(_)-Ooo-------


Windows says where to you want to go today and Linux goes there!

Olafur:

"You’re all barking up the wrong tree. Soon
I will be using a fantastic free java based GoogleOS on my Sun PC. And utulising my Apple-Berry handheld to IM and email and anon anon. Viva la revolution."

Why should we trust Google more than MS?

MoNaRky:

Strange question with the simplest answer.

In the computer world, Google is the fastest growing enity in existence. The main reason is they build the best online software in the world. They don't sell it to make a fortune, but rather give it away for free.

For searching they OWN the world the free and open source way. That's why to Search the internet is now synonymous with just "Google It" or have you "Googled the answer yet"? Which has left Bill Gates retiring in disgust and defeat. While leaving Steve (Monkey Man) Balmer to tossing chairs in frustration in Google's growing World Domination of his own dwindling importance.

I mean who else in the world makes an ignorant statement like "Linux infringes on our Copyright" without backing it up. With Open Source it would be remedied extremely fast. But if Microsoft was to ever reveal their source, how many valid for copyright infringement would be found???

Windows is nothing more than a Junkyard and Pawnshop OS! Broken, discarded, and stollen code slapped together in haphazard fashion with plenty of booby traps and holes to make your personal security evaporate before your very eyes.

Vista OMFG! What a disaster waiting to happen and it's still plaqued by the same security issues as WinXP. Nothing's fixed, just moved around alittle and made more confusing, complicated and unusable by your average Joe User!

So who would you like seeing your data and programs? A paranoid myopic corporation afraid of losing it's dominance, or a Corporation bent on pulling the curtains down on secrecy for Free? ;D

Hans Bezemer:

Well, it just proves that idiots are everywhere. Also in Australia. Some are even columnists that instead of informing people think it is a good thing to comfort them into being idiots instead of doing their duty and informing them properly.

Some doctors think that amputating is the same as healing. Some psychiatrists think that lobotomizing is the same as curing. Some journalists think that repeating corporate PR is the same as journalism.

Sometimes it is really fun to read and confirm for yourself one more time you're just too smart and professional for this world.

Sometimes it is sad to see you just wasted your time again. Too many amateurs.

Hans Bezemer

Daniel Awlinson:

"Your admin account comes with a scalpel and sledgehammer."

The scalpel in this case being about as sharp as your average butterknife.

gopat:

I see the authors point, but in the end open source will rule. Yes, my laptop at work has Linux, our servers are Solaris and my home box and host provider has Linux.

On the surface Windows is easy, warm, fuzzy, intuitive and frosted with eye candy bloat. The reality is that you pay twice. Once when you buy it and again when it breaks or a virus sends your data to the bit abyss. Ultimately it is a real pain...

I recently installed Simply Mepis. Wow! One slick'n easy installation with one cdrom. Gee, everything fits nicely in a super robust package thats free and just flat out works...

The conversion will occur in developing countries where real value determines the winning OS. It may creep into the US if it can get a toehold in the schools.
P

Dave Rea:

Once upon a time a journalist could get away with pandering to the masses and feeding them mindless pap but, judging by the responses, this journalist has put his foot in it in a big way. Linux is not a niche player anymore. It is everywhere. Both the companies I work for use it for critical work. Linux does things that Windows can't and it is here to stay. It is being adopted at an exponential rate. Microsoft can't win without using hardball tactics. Or were you only joking?

luke [CV]:

Talk about slashdot hippies.

If Linux is so good for the desktop - please find me an Outlook alternative that does /not/ perform a dirty hack via OWA to gain access to my mailbox on the Exchange 2003 server.

(And don't say I should change the email server - not everyone is the network administrator.)

To sum up: There are things that Linux can do, that Windows can't. And there are a lot of things that Linux cannot do, and most likely for a long period of time until it matures, will never be able to deliver.

Keep Linux on the servers for now, and come back when Linux is mature enough for the desktop, ready for the non-technical minded, ready for the mums and dads out there, and ready for the MD to use, that's when you can come back and argue that Linux is a viable alternative.

Easy Speed:

Most mums and dads find it very difficult to do the most basic things on any computer. Imagine if they needed to install windows? I don't think they could achieve it in a million years.

KRowe:

Ever hear of Google?

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6734

...F*ing wintards...

Graeme:

James, I agree that average people want to take the road of least resistance when they want to do something simple like surf the internet or send e-mail. But have you noticed the increase in the barriers that Microsoft is throwing in people's way? You have to 'activate' Windows; you have to agree to endless EULAs for every tiny security patch you download; you have to install Windows Genuine Advantage software which calls home every day to make sure you are not doing something naughty.
You have to install DRM software to listen to music in Media Player; you have to pay for additional software and agree to more EULAs just to get a piece of software that you can actually type a letter in.
You have to purchase more software, subscribe to update regimes and agree to more EULAs in order to try to keep viruses and worms from infesting your system.
You have to download huge patch packs each month, and people like my parents who are still on dial-up find they cannot use the internet connection for half a day or more while Windows tries to patch itself.
Compare this to say a Debian install (which is really not a daunting as some would lead you to believe.) All the software you want is free; you choose how much or how little you wish to install; you have a choice of wordprocessors/browsers/etc; you don't have to sign your life and that of your decendents unto the third and fourth generation away; patches are generally small, infrequent and are downloaded quickly; the system is not a virus/worm magnet and when run normally is less vulnerable to malicious crap.
You can get a Debian system pre-configured for different purposes from different places (e.g. Ubuntu, DSL, etc.) making it easy to set up for specific jobs while maintaining the great Debian maintenance systems and bullet-proof performance.
The major shortcomings of Linux as against Windows for most people would be games and business accounting systems. Once these hurdles are overcome--or people just keep consoles for games and computers for internet and work--there is no reason for Linux (and some of the BSDs) to make significant in-roads to Microsoft territory. There are already PC manufacturers installing OEM versions on their 'Cheapest PC's, which is quite possibly the best possible way to cut the ground from under Microsoft's hegemony.
With the introduction of Vista and even greater hardware requirements, more EULAs, more restrictions and MS Spyware limiting what people can legally do with their machines, and less significant increases in functionality and performance (WinFS is out, and the much touted new graphics system is a resource hog to provide eye-candy which most people will turn off to get more performance where it counts), businesses will find fewer reasons to migrate to Vista which will lead individuals to hang back on their old systems or look for alternatives. Also Microsofts move to break compatability with established networking standards (i.e. Samba) will not win them friends in the business community. There is only so many times you can pull that little stunt and get away with it. Businesses now have alternatives and are not afraid to use them (tSCOg FUD aside).
Basically James, there is a mass of antipathy building up towards the Microsoft way of doing business which I believe will spill over into businesses then individuals actively looking for alternatives. And there are now real alternatives in the various Linu--and not to forget the BSD--distributions. (Apple is still too expensive and elitist.)

Graeme:

To Luke [CV],
Linux is more ready for the desktops of the technically illiterate than Windows as a good installation is less likely to give them administration problems, make it easier for them to acquire new software for a new job and be more secure against internet nasties than any Windows install.
Yes, as you point out there are corporate desktop issues with Exchange, but that is due to Exchange's non-standard, non-public protocols rather than any maturity issue with Linux. It is Microsoft's monopoly/monoculture business model which stands in the way rather than any technical issue, though Microsoft like to spin the PR to indicate that it is a technical issue.

woggle:

This is clear evidence of the FEAR now felt by the Windows hegemony. 5 years ago Windows dominance was so obvious nobody bothered to mention it. Now it's crumbling so fast that every week some cringing MS acolyte has to stand up and say 'they still rule!' This whistling in the dark fools no-one. I recall an occasion a few years ago when our CIO was told by an IT-illiterate deputy that using Windows for a new system was a 'no-brainer'. He, to his eternal credit, told the guy to try using his brain for a change. James, I recommend that approach to you as well.

Chuck:

So wrong. The handwriting is on the wall. The world today is about open standards so that all OS's can participate equally across the net. The real battle is to prevent M$ from succeeding with their "embrace, extend, pollute, control" approach to data formats. This battle is slowly being won, and the M$ monopoly is slowly being eroded.

The other reason that Vista, in particular, is going to have troubles is that NO ONE in business sees any point to it. I work at a location that has 3,000 PCs. There are no plans to upgrade to Vista, no plans to buy new hardware to run Vista, and we've been specifically warned to NOT install Vista because it will break legacy enterprise codes. Those enterprise codes are slowly being rewritten, and all of them transitioned to browser-based systems....and there goes the M$ lock on our systems. Can't happen soon enough.

nicari:

“It’s a Windows world: deal with it”

That's what I am doing. It's simple! I am just not using it. And that is the best way to deal with it.

Sexton Lovecraft:

James, your article appears to be content free. You come across like another PC support bod with delusions of being a consultant (or even a journalist).

One day my friend it is you who will come to realise that the OS (any OS) becomes more irrelevant with every passing day.

Last time I checked it was, and still is, a chemical world. Deal with it.

jdoc:

Three words: Linux, Google, Apple (and all companies like them). Innovation, leadership, and open minds will lead the tech sector for the years to come. MS has a death grip (still) on the computer industry, but it will fade. They've got NOTHING coming down the pipeline that will compete well with the likes of the above mentioned companies, and any company that comes after them. They need new management, like every major company in their position has needed in the past. They need fresh ideas, and some decent, innovative products. They can ride the market share wave for a few more years, but playing the "me too" game won't get them too far in the future (witness xbox 360 being outsold by PS2, still; no response to the itunes/ipod combo; media center STILL crying to be accepted; vista- yeah, we all know) They can't rely on strong arm tactics anymore, and the GUI was once in a lifetime. Sorry MS.

James Bannan:

Hi Graeme. You make a number of valid points there. I do agree that Microsoft seems to be making running a Windows system harder than it used to be - licensing, activation and so on. There's no doubt that it's frustrating even to the IT-literate. I also agree that if ground is to be made against Windows, it will come from Linux. The community of Linux users out there are producing some damn fine distros (like I mentioned, I actually AM a Linux user!).

I think it's going to take a little more ground coverage from Linux than just being able to run accounting apps and games. One of the great advantages with Windows is application integration and support - buy a third-party app, install it, and it's loaded into the Start Menu, Quick Launch, explorer shell, startup - whatever. You just don't get the same integration and ease of use or expandability with Linux yet. I know that you can set it all up manually, and that's great if you have the time and know-how, but most people don't want to have to worry about it. Point, click and forget.

I do know that this is one of the areas that Novell are working hard on with SUSE - improving application support and ease of customisation. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

I'm interested that manufacturers are using Lonux as an OEM install - which manufacturers?

And also, where did you hear that Microsoft was moving to break compatability with standards like Samba? I do know that there was a problems with Windows Explorer in Vista performing a fast query against older Samba-based servers (earlier versions of Windows only performed slow queries), but this has been resolved in Samba version 3.0.21. There may still be some outstanding issues with non-upgradable devices like NAS however. So I concede that it's frustrating, but I'm not sure about condemning it as an active policy of non-conformity.

mattbg:

There's a distinction to be made between "Linux on the server" and "Linux on the desktop".

There's no question that Linux is making headway on the server end, and I see no problem with that at all. It's very suitable as a server OS.

There's also no question that Linux is NOT making headway on the desktop end, and I also see no problem with that; Linux belongs on the server, not on the desktop.

JT:

The big difference is that I only know of HAPPY Mac users and I only know of UNHAPPY Windows users!

Why we should bother with such trite article I don't know, but I guess there were also idiots like him saying nothing was going to beat the horse and cart...

loopy_nj:

You are the patron saint of mediocrity, and I absolve you.

win:

LONG LIVE WINDOWS...LINUX SUCK, OS X SUCKS ALSO.

Al:

James, there is an old, old joke that describes your argument very succinctly.

Here it is cleaned up for a PC audience.

Eat human excrement, millions of flies can't be wrong.

Danno Banano:

Craziness.

Microsoft went after the young generation. Then moved to business when those people grew up.

Now, Apple is the king. Be ready for Apple to slowly shift towards business as their marketshare increases over the next 5 years.

Phoenix:

As a former windows user, there is no need to argue and get all upset with these simple thoughts of "Windows will rule" forever. Apple is simply strategizing to get marketshare. And they will get it. It may not be next year but much like Palm had 95% Marketshare and the Pocket PC came and modernized PDA's, Apple is a change that most people welcome since windows have not changed nor modernized nore improved in over a decade. People enjoy innovation. Windows won when word processing was new. Apple will win cause everyone will have a digi camera and video cameras, and don't need to worry about losing their precius pics to viruses. It takes time but, Mac and or Linux will ultimately kick MS butt. With a clean OS and maximum usability. Old people eventually do die.

Blue22:

I love when commentators say things like, "It's a windows world: Deal With It", when it's soooo obvious that this author is extremely bias towards Windows. Did you ever look to see who owns the company that runs this website and pays for the salaries of these people?? Yup....that's right, it's Microsoft. Ninemsn is a joint venture of Microsoft and it's MSN division and a Australian media company.

James Bannan, try not to be so bias looking next time. People are not going to believe what you say, especially when the people who help pay for your salary, is the topic in question.

Scottie:

iPod... not the best choice, but the natural one? M'entends-je correctement? iPod is the only Music Player w/ iTunes, and using W(i)MP is like using Burger King as a Nutritionalist.
C'est seulement mes deux centimes.

jonez:

Guy's a Dvorak wannabe. Just a 20-something puffing his chest in denial and bravado. And he doesn't write very well. Next.

Quazar:

I want to beleave that some people that are posting their opinion here, had tried Linux before. It is not the same to say that linux "is hard to install and to use" simply because somebody thell them that it is. Linux had made some inroads in the desktop arena and right now is more easy to intall it even than Windows. So, if you haven't tried to intall linux nor used it before, don't make fake testimony.

funduk:

"If someone’s a Windows user now, they’re going to stay a Windows user when Vista rolls out."

Hmm, I've been using windows and related products since BEFORE windows was even around. Never touched linux or a mac until this past year... And now I'm a 'switcher'.

I simply got sick and tired of windows' pains in the ass and its failure to deliver on the simplest of requirements I have for an OS.

So it's the Mac for me, Linux for someone else, but it seems to me these days people are LOOKING for alternatives for windows. Just because YOU will stay stuck on windows (quite fanboyish of you, btw) doesn't mean everyone else will...

You can have fun in your community of grandmas and e-machines customers all using windows.. good luck to you.

Hah.

ChrisL:

The huge hardware requirements of Vista put me off. Windows has never been as resource-efficient as it's competitors. I'm in the market for a new laptop in September; although I've used Windows for ages, I have to admit I'm tempted by a Mac. It's either that or break the bank for a laptop that will handle Vista when it's released.

Anonymous:

Well , I tried Vista Ultimate RTM on my pc - a dual 2.8Ghz dual core Xeon with 1GB ram and a Quadro FX1000 video card.
Used over 500MB of ram just in starting and watching memory usage would spike at 85% use on Windows startup.
Ran smoothly and most things worked - was tempted to buy when it was finally released but then I installed Ubuntu Linux.
Absolutely Free and everything I want to do from internet , email , DVD etc all works without crashing or any fees to pay.
I , for one , am never going back to Microsoft and I give copies of Ubuntu to everyone I can so they can try it out and install themselves - it is so easy to install , no need for endless drivers like Windows.

Sorry , it may be a Windows world , but the times are changing fast!

James Bannan:

Actually NineMSN has absolutely no editorial control over APC at all. You'll notice that we have dedicated Mac and Linux writers as well...

matthew:

Does any serious journalist really use 'fanboys' in their articles? pffft.

Ken:

Poster #65 -- do both -- get a MacBook :)

Anyways, as to the writer of this article, you really are pretty clueless to what other operating systems have to offer. If all of your articles were not about Vista, and perhaps you had a hands-on review of OS X perhaps, or Ubuntu, I'd be able to respect your opinion a little bit more.

Yes, businesses and everything will continue to use MS products, simply because everybody uses them, and they are the standard. Most businesses don't want to deviate from this, thus are forced into buying the norm.

As for this statement:

" Or buy into a system which looks great, feels great and has all the flexibility of titanium."

... I hope you mean simply the lack of gaudy 'themes' available. Do a little research and you'll quickly realize that many things can be accomplished quickly and easily via Terminal, or even AppleScript. The OS is EXTREMELY flexible and is BSD based. You really need to get your head out of your ass and stop trash talking your readers.

... douchebag.

Alan:

While the article is short-sited, a lot of the commenters are too. lol I don't think Linux will explode in the way Linux fanboys want to think, because, for most people, the task of installing a new OS is pretty intimidating. Linux may be free, but when the novice computer user buys their first Acer, EULAs or not, Windows is already *there*.

Apple has the edge here, because it's already got a lot of people's interest with the iPod. If they get frustrated with Windows PCs for whatever reason, it's not totally unlikely for them to look at their iPod, see the quality in it, and give Apple a look in. It has its foot in the door, so to speak. Linux, by comparison, has some distribution deals with a few PC vendors, but otherwise has almost no public presence. The public don't know about Linux, and that will always be a problem until the Linux community becomes more vocal about Open Source choices (hint: the internet doesn't work guys).

paul blaudschun:

the new apple notebooks DO handle vista well...

os x rocks.

James Bannan:

"many things can be accomplished quickly and easily via Terminal, or even AppleScript"

Well, based on that argument you've just put OSX right out of reach of the average user. If that's what they have to do to get something done, they won't do it. Simple as that.

And while we're at it guys, can we please refrain from the personal insults? Disagree with what I've written, lambast my ignorance or my lack of vision, but keep it polite and stick to making arguments.

Zip:

It strikes me that there are many different kinds of articles journalists can write and this looks to me like an opinion piece. (And a playfuly inflammatory one at that.)

On that basis, James, for daring to write an opinion that differs from mine, you are quite clearly the devil incarnate and will rot in hell for eternity. Scratch that, Gates is the devil isn't he? Quite a quandary... :)

For what it's worth, I've just done a quick survey of my office and found 8 Windows users, 2 Mac users, and a Linux user (at home; work is strictly Windows). So on no greater research than that, I suspect you're right. (Although in anticipation of future critical posts, yes most of my office workers are misguided imbeciles.)

Alex:

I'm not sure what the point your article is.
It seems to be the verbal equivalent of the playground "my toy is better than your toy, nya nya nya."
Although, it isn't even that. You freely admit your toy is "not necessarily the best." So now it's down to "My toy is used by more people than your toy".
You then go on to poke holes in the other toys, leaving it unsaid that if the other toys have issues, that since your toy isn't the best, your toy actually has more issues.
You then go on to say that your toy is more popular because the users are comfortable, and the ones that "don't care about computers" use it more because it's more pervasive.

So let's sum up. Your toy, while not being better is used more, and is more comfortable to those who don't know enough to know better. Therefore, even though the new version of the toy's features have been reduced, people still won't switch.

This is the point of the playground taunt where I shrug and walk off. Keep your toy. I've tried it, and don't want to play with it anymore.

Ken:

Sadly, Windows won't go that easily for a couple of reasons.

First, because people are not IT pros. For a lot of users, the term Operating System may be unknown, but they know their Windows. You have to explain to them that Windows is just one of the operating systems available. Same goes for Internet Explorer or Outlook.

Second, because the alternatives have their own disadvantages. And because of these, people prefer security of going with the flow.

"OSX can only run on usually overpriced Macs, it can't play games, (right now it can't even play Photoshop properly), its control buttons are in different places as I was used to, etc."

"Linux is free, is promising but... which Linux? Why this over that, who's gonna tell me which will work best for me. Where will I find drivers for my hardware and can I run my apps on it? Where the hell is C: drive!!??"

Those and a million more silly or not questions prevent people from abandoning Windows.

Things will change at some time, though. Linux distros will be more impressive and user friendly, Macs can dual-boot for the sake of the x application that need XP to run and Open Source becomes famous via Firefox.

Good luck!

Bob:

Surely in a democracy the important thing is choice, the trouble is there is too much
choice. Some people prefer others to make the choice for them, but the rest of us are
free to use functional os's and not simply bolster the coffers of private business.

James Bannan:

Ken - you're bang on the money there. Familiarity is a powerful motivator. I remember talking my parents into using OpenOffice rather than pay for Office 2003. Within a week they rang me asking me to get rid of OpenOffice - they didn't understand it and didn't want to...they just wanted Word back. Now, I personally use OpenOffice because it does everything I want, it's free and I can adapt to the changes. But I know from experience that this is not the norm.

And this is the point I've been striving to make - it's the familiarity of Windows which makes its position so strong. And coming up with a better product isn't necessarily going to change that. Mac and Linux aren't competing against Microsoft's market dominance alone - they're up against a vast pool of average users with modest requirements and a resistance to change. Basic human nature, in fact.

James Bannan:

Bob - very true. Too much choice is not a problem if you're geniunely concerned about the choices you make. But if you're not, too much choice is not a good thing. It's confusing and often frustrating. Then someone hands you a solution on a plate which meets your needs - are you seriously going to weigh up the pros and cons? Nope - you'll take it and think no more about it. And in any case case, democracy, in its purest forms, only really works in very small communities where responsibility and accountability is shared. Once things get too big, the whole one-man one-vote consensus thing flops into a quagmire...

Ken W:

Amazing... I am SO happy to be a Mac user.

And I don't expect Apple to suddenly attain a 90% marketshare with Mac and Mac OS X. That would be delusional and not even that desirable. But a doubling or tripling of current numbers is very doable, and it will make Apple a very profitable company. Such a situation would still keep Apple the underdog, while giving it the financial resources to REALLY turn on the innovation. I can't imagine a better scenario, especially with MS stumbling along for another decade or so.

Yes, most current Windows users will probably move on to Windows Vista. But that assumes Vista is actually released in the near future...

Simon:

i dont agree with the fact that windows users will sit back and addapt to vista... I for one know a great many of my friends have taken one look at vista, the demands on your computer and the cost and have decided their next upgrade is to mac.

I myself being an avid windows user for 20 years am for my next upgrade transfering over to mac. Abeit slowly, im starting with getting a macbook and having my pc at hand for a while, even then that may turn to the realms of just being a file server...

mattbg:

James (#76),

What are the chances that Vista will be too unfamiliar to too many people? It's quite a significant shift, at least in terms of how to browse and locate files within the file system. It seems like most things have changed, sometimes just for the sake of change (from my POV).

OTOH, if people are intimidated by Vista and want to go back, they will of course go back to XP and not to something completely foreign like OSX or Linux.

switchtoamac:

Over time, people will realize the value proposition offered by Macs and OS X. Apple will experience a growth of their user base.

http://switchtoamac.com

michel:

yesterday it was a dos world

and day of yore it was a unix world

and once upon a time it was an IBM world


tomorrow will not be windows world.

ho-guys-your-so-boring:

The truth is Windows sold at whichever computer shop you can think of: even MAC centers now display XP running on Imac.

So while windows will be installed and sold as the main OS for most computers by main PC sellers, we will be forced to use that OS. It will change to reflect the wants and don't wants of sheep customers: those who don't understand anything at underlying technology. That's why Vista is so cosmetical based and bring nothing else than a lot of CPU / GPU wasted power: because sheeps will pay for it and pay a lot, and will also pay for the hardware for it and will then make money to BG and all the guys / firms which have contracts with him.

People are conditionned to buy and are trapped in a windows world: nothing in the help files explain anything about very techy stuff. Because it's not good that people know, it's better to sell them everything due to their ignorance.

That's not a Windows' world, THAT'S A MONEY WORLD! It's all about market strategy and locking users so they don't move to others plateforms. Those others aren't targeted at the same desktop market in fact and don't compete with the same advertising / marketing power inf fact. The very same thing apply in various other domains of economic life. What we have there is a monopoly. It hides the USA because Windows is way to get information stored in a particulare way and also a way to impose a way of thinking: see how much people now push start to switch off their computers!!!

If you don't love Windows, through it by the window. :)

Thanks for reading

Asses for the Masses:

The gist of most of the comments here is that somehow Microsoft lacks in proper R & D. I'm not too sure of that. Anybody who claims that obviously hasn't wandered around the Microsoft / Microsoft Research websites. There's a bunch of hardcore research work that Microsoft's done that I don't see anybody else doing. Frankly speaking, there's more to Computer Science than 100 dollar OS license fees. In the larger scheme of things, 2 days of lost productivity costs much, much more than a one-time license fee. That's just how it is. At work, we are working with some cutting edge technologies that will save a certain sector of industry 30 billion dollars and will help hundreds of suppliers keep supplying to some of the biggest supermarket chains in the Western world. Can Mac OS X or Linux provide the underlying technologies needed to enable those solutions? In a word, no. It would, simply speaking, cost too damn much. A similar implementation using Oracle would cost upwards of a couple of million dollars. SAP, ditto. IBM WebSphere, ditto. Microsft, probably less than 100K dollars. It's not even a decision really. It's a given. We will develop our application around Microsoft technologies and do it pretty darn quickly too. From concept to implementation is probably less than 3 months. If we were to do the same thing in Linux, it would tentatively take us something like a couple of years of development, easily. As for technical support, anytime I need any kind of documentation/resources, I call up my Microsoft account manager. Who do I call in the case of Linux?

Nik:

I skipped over all the inane comments, because they are useless. Everyone wants to think that linux or osx will win the OS wars, but they wont. Linux doesn't have a major vendor to support corporate clients. There is no common version of linux. If you guys would settle on one distrobution, you would have a fighting chance, but you wont, its the nature of the beast. Everyone knows windows, microsoft has the money to push windows, and corporations justly or unjustly trust windows. That wont change. End users wont cause an os to win the wars, corporations and their mass licensing agreements will.

As for OSX, I love my macbook, I use it more than my pc. Will it topple Windows? No. Not unless the good old boys at Apple decide to rethink their proprietary hardware. If they open osx up to run on any machine, they will sell more copies, but they will have to support more hardware fluctuations, and they may bite it in the long run. I'm content with OSX not being number 1, and I think Apple is too.

James Bannan:

Mattbg - actually the chances of Vista being too unfamiliar are quite good. Although there are a few things which are similar, there are load of things which have changed as well. I don't think it will be much of a problem for home users - they tend to have a bit more time to come to grips with these things, and techie users will probably see it as a challenge in any case. It's business users I'm mostly concerned about. Change of this sort is generally unpopular, and it will probably mean quite a bit of retraining, especially when you throw Office 2007 into the mix.

Having said that - you're perfectly right. It won't push people to another platform - at worse it will keep them where they are. For some people, that's going to be the right choice, I think.

A E Goss:

Having upgraded my wife's 98SE to XP I see the "familiarity" of Windows as a red herring. XP standard looks very different to 98SE, though with the "classic" option it is a bit closer. But neither version is any easier to use than a GNOME or KDE desktop.
This family has gone from XP, 98SE, 98SE, 98SE to Ubuntu, XP, Ubuntu, Fedora Core in the course of a year. And the XP is only there as my wife is emotionally reliant on a Windows 3.1 version of Eudora.
While the big name suppliers are significant to the corporate world, many, if not most, home and SOHO machines are sourced from the local computer shop, and I suspect that this is where Linux pre-installed PCs will first enter the market.
Linux v. Windows is not the point. What matters is that one vendor must not own the road - we must have the possibility of diversity or we will be stuck in a groove of Microsoft's choosing for decades to come.

bt:

It's not very useful to argue about the "best" OS. Unless you are a technician, the best OS is the one that works for you and helps you to do the things you want without too much fuss. For some people that is Linux for a lot more people that is Windows.
The huge advantage of Windows is of course that it comes pre-installed on most pc's you purchase. Linux is probably superior in some ways, but Windows makes things easy and simple, and this is worth something.
This could change as Vista rolls out and MS is coming out with different versions of the OS for different users.
I think MS is making a huge mistake. Right now we have XP home and XP pro, that is enough, but if we have 4 or 5 different Vista versions out there, I can't see that being a good thing.
If anything this will help push Linux by getting MS users more comfortable with the idea of different OS's.

chris:

Wow talk about stir up the maclinux fanboys

CpILL:

I fail to see an argument in this article? I think that everyone would get a Mac if they where cheaper (and they will be soon) as the interface is famous for being easy to use. Far more so than Windows.

I used PCs for 15 years have a degree in Computing Science. After only 6 months on a Mac I will never go back. NEVER.

“Ask not for whom the bell tolls” M$...

Quazar:

@ Nik, you say "Linux doesn’t have a major vendor to support corporate clients" are you sure? What about Red Hat, Novell and IBM? you are spreading FUD here too. And, if you don't know, Linux if the prefered OS of choice for supercomputers. See http://www.top500.org/lists/2005/11 and count how many Windows supercomputers there are.

Quazar:

If you know that you Linux kernel is used by a supercomputer too, due to its scalability, performance, security, flexibility, openess, etc, you will be feeling that you are using a first class operating system.

Danny Cones:

This is dribble- you state nothing more than market share as your basis. How's this for market share- the majority of large corporate networks are still running 2000.

Using this as a guide it will be 2009 before Vista makes inroads to it's corporate base- maybe earlier if MS twists their arm some way with subcription.

Throw in the fact that you'll need new equipment with Vista, as well as the most recent MS office and you're looking at 3-4K per user upgrade.

Users don't pick corporate environments- IT managers and accountants do. Clearly you don't.

Trevor:

MS-DOS 4 teh win

Bucky:

Ok, so Microsoft is the leader of the PC world as it stands now, because of it's ease of use. I can live with that, but recently, I found an article about Microsoft "taking back" the big business computing side, where out of the top 500 largest computing firms, over 200 are Linux, and a measely 1 is microsoft. Where I work, there is a big split between Microsoft stuff, Unix, and mainframes(which are the most secure pieces of equipment ever invented), and over 80% of problems occur on the microsoft machines, which only take up maybe 30% of the work load. And what is it, like 70% or somewhere around there of web servers are unix or linux, right? But then this discussion wasn't about the big boys, it was about the poor consumer stuck with a crap product because they don't know that there's something a little more stable out there. But until the every day user gets despirate for a more secure operating system, they'll stick with windows because it's easy to use for the average joe, and it's everywhere. You can't go to the local staples or office max to pick up a copy of linux. you usually have to research the different flovors to see what you want out of it, which is a little daunting to most people, because they don't know what the heck they want other than the ability to chat, surf the net, and read their emails, and play games(which apple doesn't support that much either). The linux user base is growing though, more and more people are becoming more computer literate and are able to understand what was unfathomable 15 years ago to understand due to lack of documentation, which is readily available on the internet now.

Mark:

You know what James, up until 12 months ago I don't think I'd ever seen a Linux installation but here I am 12 months later typing this on a Suse 10.1 box, and no, it's not dual boot.

No virus worries, no malware and runs for weeks and weeks and weeks and it just don't slow down. If someone like me (average joe) is happy to make the jump you can bet there are plenty more that will follow, it's just a matter of time.

Microsoft's glory days are over, you are witnessing the beginning of the end and they have done it to themselves with horibly insecure bloated products and agrogant pricing policies. I for one don't want to play along anymore.

Microsoft will never go away but I bet in 5-10 years the OS landscape will look a hell of a lot different than it does today and MS part in it will be a hell of a lot smaller footprint, people do eventually wake up, sometimes it just takes a while.

GeorgeH:

I liked the line about not caring who ripped off who. Because if we did care we'd be blaming Apple and Xerox more than Microsoft. Don't forget about Amiga and how their computers were great but damn expensive.

I believe 100% that it is a windows world, yeah but only for the standard desktop system. At work all of our critical servers are all Linux based.

OK, at home I personally use Linux because I want it to do what I want. I don't have to reboot when I installed new drivers and it handles memory and disk scheduling much better than windows. Customizable, but thats because I care about it. Others don't care.

I still use Windows to play certain games that don't come in native linux format.

It is also true that the world lives in a "Install -> next -> next -> Done" mentality for software. To work right out of the box. Half of the software I install on linux always need me to configure something or compile something else. I don't mind but others do, so they use windows and I don't.

If all the windows users of the world started using linux then Linux systems will become as bloated and dumb as the windows systems that exist today. Linux does have and has had many vulnrability exploits so you can't say that Linux has no viruses.

Rob:

Windows VS Linux.... egads... Windows may not be the greatest os in the world, but it is the most popular, why has it got to where it has today...

Because it's delivered on what the majority of people want!

Become accustomed to... sure there are patches after patches, endless security fixes, problems galore... complaints all the time....and you know what, the average person still prefers it over other os's....

I've always looked for a better OS, The Amiga was nice for its time, BeOS was fast and responsive yet never really got anywhere, Linux is great as a server OS but as a Desktop doesnt really compare to Windows XP/Vista for the average person, it's getting closer (by imitating familiar xp interfaces).

Sure companies are keen to look at Linux due to (hopefully) lower implementation costs, but EVERY single linux Distro I have tried makes the computer turn into a snail compared to windows xp.

Who really wants to bother with different packages to download for different linux distros, compile from source, run this shell, make sure the kernel is compiled with this and that......agggghhhh....

When I run multiple apps on windows, it plays along nicely.....with the linux distros..chug chug....pause....wait....respond....
Like for example using that hideous open office which has been praised so much...

Windows XP always seems more responsive, generally faster than ALL the GUI linux distros I have tried.

I dont want to waste time having to configure or compile something just to get it to run, i've got better things to do with my time.

Rob:

One other thing, when I am using the PC, I'm not concerned about how scalable, how many large corporations use a particular OS, I want that os to work for MY needs.

Linux is awkward, its like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle which just dont fit, like the kde/gnome/other window managers.

I would be happy to pay the prices that Microsoft charge to something like Linux if it was simply more usable than windows, which in most cases it isnt. It doesnt feel like a first class os when running, more like something along for the ride, playing catch up.

Windows got its faults yes, however consider this? if linux had the same price tag as windows, would it compete?..

imo it just doesnt feel as complete.

GeorgeH:

Hmm, I'd have to disagree with you Ron on the fact that Linux is slow and chugs. Obviously when we talk about Linux based systems we're talking about the Linux Kernel toppled with a GNU OS and some X server on top of it, further more with a particular window manager.

I noticed pretty much that Red-Hat/Fedora, Mandrake and SuSE systems were slow for me. That's how it's been configured. I personally use the Gentoo Distro. It is fast because I make it fast, it is lean because I trim the bloat, and depending how bad I want my OS to crash I can decide to compile drivers into the kernel or leave them as modules.

Linux based systems may be playing catch up on the Desktop market but not in the server enterprise market. Windows is playing that game harder and they're losing.

Big business would rather choose a linux/postfix/courier-imap mail server than a WindowsNT/MS Exchange solution. Why.. it's heavy, it's bloated, it costs, and it takes MS courses to figure out how to work MS Exchange.

Any standard linux admin could set up a postfix based mail server in seconds.

Two different markets and the one that linux is leading (in my opinion) is the enterprise market. Imagine having IBM on your back telling you to install Linux on their eServers and to use Tomcat and java? heh. Where's windows? on the secretaries desk .. but thats always where it will be.

helios:

You have been put in your place by those much more articulate than I. It boils down to this. You run 'doze, I run 'nix...pclinuxOS thank you. You give me your real IP number, I'll give you mine.

I will also give you my cell number...that way you will be able to call me and ask me to please give you your computer back.

You won't be able to email anyone until you do.

helios.

btw...I am a 55 year old 21 year Army Vet, MSW-holding "fanboi." SOME of us eventually realize that Microsoft does not have our best interests at heart...unless we are stockholders.

helios:

...Become accustomed to… sure there are patches after patches, endless security fixes, problems galore… complaints all the time….and you know what, the average person still prefers it over other os’s….

Sorry about the back to back...I missed this. To this author...Are you a mainstream media journalist? Only one of those and my 11 year old daughter would have the simple-mindedness to make such a statement.

People do not as of yet KNOW they have a choice. This "Linux Thing", has changed the way a multi-billion dollar business approaches their entire market.

Here, let me help. Just think REAL hard about the best experience you ever had...if you really concentrate on it for long enough, the voices will go away. If you are NOT psychotic or delusional, then I am left to assume you are a talking head for a major 6 oclock news show.

Rob:

Re: 101
> To this author…Are you a >mainstream
>media journalist? Only one of those and >my 11 year old daughter would have the >simple-mindedness to make such a >statement.

Your 11 old daughter must be very intelligent and it is simple, because its fact.

And no, I am not a journalist, I'm a programmer who develops in open source technologies that run on *nix servers. Yet I always develop on windows, with its security problems, spyware and virus issues. I choose the best tools to get the job done efficiently.

If Linux desktop worked as well as windows, I would have no hesitation in jumping over to it.

>People do not as of yet KNOW they have a >choice. This “Linux Thing”, has changed >the way a multi-billion dollar business >approaches their entire market.

Absolutely, competition is great. however people do KNOW, Linux has been around for some time now, Microsoft got the key points right with windows, that's probably why newer Linux distros aimed for the desktop tend to behave more like windows.

>Here, let me help. Just think REAL hard >about the best experience you ever >had…if you really concentrate on it for >long enough, the voices will go away. If >you are NOT psychotic or delusional, >then I am left to assume you are a >talking head for a major 6 oclock news >show.

Ahhh, talking from your own personal experience huh? , It sounds to me like you are the one who is psychotic. Thank you for offering to help but I dont suffer from your condition.

Its funny though, my best experiences have nothing to do with computers.

Rob:

Response to #99

>Hmm, I’d have to disagree with you Ron on >the fact that Linux is slow and chugs. >Obviously when we talk about Linux based >systems we’re talking about the Linux >Kernel toppled with a GNU OS and some X >server on top of it, further more with a >particular window manager.

Yes, however when most people download a linux distro, they see Linux as the system with the GUI, not the Kernel with a Xserver running on it.

X runs slower on all machines I have tried it on compared to win.

>Linux based systems may be playing catch >up on the Desktop market but not in the >server enterprise market.

Completely agree with you on that one. I'd say server wise the roles are reversed.

Jeremy Farrance:

GNU/Linux slower ? Hahahahahahaha !! On my system Kubuntu is a speeding bullet compared to Windows XP.

Nixus:

The Biggest reason windows will most likley remain dominant is because Internet, music and video are important. they are simple and linux and windows can do boath just as well, But when you get into things like going out and buying a scanner, DV-Cam Recorder, Wireless Web Cam, Pocket PC (not crappy palm pilot, newest video games like anything produced by Valve (half life 2), touch screen tablit pc, wide screen plasma monitors, TV out, dule monitors, TV Tuners with MCE compatible remotes, hybrid flash hard drives, or any other bleeding eadge new technology that would be very compatible in windows and stupid noob friendley becomes a living nightmare to configure in linux. Such as buying a 700 dollar video card by ATI and finding out that there are no supported linux drivers, or they are supported, but good luck getting advanced chipset features working. Hardware compatibility is the most important thing. With out it , the 2 grand computer loaded with features is nothing more than a broken pII. So if windows can keep up to date with all the 10 000 000 drivers out there for all the new stuff and linux remains 5 years behind, or requires editing the xorg.conf script just to get 3d effects working, then it is a no brainer. Stick with windows and you can shop for the sails and the deals not just go shopping for hardware based on "ok these 3 things work in linux so i got to buy one of them or nothing at all mentality. If you think im wrong let me know, because For all the linux people out there who think it is ready for the desktop pc market, let me ask you: How will you get the support of all the commercial drivers and hardware support with out opting for a commercial operating system, afterall you get what you pay for.

Thank you for reading my rant, I am not a windows fan boy, I use Ubuntu and Gentoo as well as linux, but the linux stuff is more to do with having a toy computer to tinker with.

Stuart:

So, a writer for a Microsoft sponsored website covered in Microsoft adverts thinks Microsoft is best.

Well, whoo-eee - well I'm convinced.

Seriously, though, the whole Windows vs Linux Desktop debate is a short/mid-term battle IMHO as the Desktop OS as we know it is likely an endangered species in the long term.

There is already an overlap in the functionality of available platforms (mobile phones, games consoles, media players, iTV, desk/lap-top PCs, digital cameras) and this overlap only looks set to increase.

The average 1st-world kid growing up today are used to having minimal control over their platform (PCs being the exception) and so long as the functionality they require is available (currently games, web, mail, chat and multimedia) with a reasonably intuative interface they don't care about the underlying OS and hope never to ~have~ to care about it.

When they grow up they may indeed need to use accounting or administrative or even development tools but their expectations of and attitudes to technology use will be entrenched.

Stable, largely pre-configured consumer platforms will therefore be increasingly popular. They are likely to continue to be marketed primarily on cost and so will likely increasingly be thin-clients run on centrally managed Open Source OSes and with proprietary plugins which will, ironically, provide the user with less, rather than more, control over and connection with the underlying OS.

Of course, Microsoft will try and combat this, then - having failed to crash the now unstoppable bandwagon - will jump on it, late, but enthusiastic.
To be fair to MS they may actually have a foot on it already this time but in an embedded market I think they will still ultimately have to change their approach completely to compete against Opensource.

Back in the infancy of the car industry when a car had about 3 moving parts a driver had to be a skilled amatuer mechanic to get the thing to work at all.
These days the average driver can barely change a wheel and apart from the enthusiasts and those who want bragging rights couldn't care less about the make or configuration of their car's space-age engine. The average driver wants to just jump into a car (any car) and have it go where they want and do what they expect, reliably and in a familiar fashion.

As the common demominator in any industry is that the end users are usually people I believe the personal computing industry will almost certainly evolve along the same lines.

T.C.:

Thank you all above for getting me a new opinion about Linux and Window$.

My next PC will be a Linux-Machine.
I'm a graphic designer with the full Adobe program. So I have to make the new PC a dual-boot. But it will definitly be a Linux-based PC.

I am 39 years old. I've been tossed around by MS my whole live. Remember: "Windows helps us to solve problems we haven't got until now."
I am so tired of every day security updates, driver conflicts and suspicious checks by MS every time I get an online update. Hey MS-guys, I bought this f***ing OS and the much more f***ing Office Bundle for a lot of money.
I am no crook!
Don't you treat me like one!

For this, my next PC will be a Linux.
Thank you guys for sharing your experiences with me.

Graeme:

James,

You asked me a question and I'm sorry I didn't read it and get back.

Who installs Linux on their PCs?

GameDude in Brisbane puts out a "Cheapest PC" which includes Linux and a plethora of F/OSS software. And under $400 for a PC capable of looking after your business books is pretty good. (See www.gamedude.com.au > Systems > Cheapest PC.)

Dell is installing Linux OEM upon customer request on some machines now.

The $100 laptop project for 3rd world countries is using Linux.

There are probably others which I don't have time to find now but these are the one's I can confidently claim. I think you can also buy an IBM/Lenovo machine with Linux pre-installed (but I'm not totally sure.)

As far as Windows breaking compatability with networking standards, yes it was the Samba issue I was thinking about immediately but I was also thinking more generally about their "adopt and extend until compatability is broken" business practice which they regularly use which is how the Samba issue arose in the first place. I'm also thinking LDAP. And recently they have been trying to use that on XML for document formats.

Shumaher:

Hello! Author, you're absolutely right!
And really nice journal, interesting site name www.apcstart.com :), I see you you're are not newbe. Don't stop the good work!

rob:

Hmmmmmm, wasnt there similar issues when windows xp was announced....I cant remember exactly, but I'm quite sure that people were saying the same things about linux/windows back then.....and well, lets face it, Windows XP has still dominated! the market.

Linuxes popularity has definitely grown, but hardware developers cater to Windows FIRST, and then to Linux, it doesnt really matter what the reason is..its just how it is.

Sure you get people moving to Linux, but not the majority.

I guess people can say all they like, hope, wish, and prey...but I think the title of the article "It's a windows world - Deal with it" sums it up.

A cow:

Anyone who thinks that there would be no viruses if we all used linux is delusional (can't be stuffed reading through it all, but from what I have read 2 and 6 namely.). Think of it like this: If Windows was the minority there would be no viruses for it. The simple lesson here people is viruses are not targeted at systems that no one gives half a shit about.

Face it, if Mac or Linux was big, popular and in the same place as Windows it would be exactly the same. They would be the arsehole that everyone hates. As far as a lot of people are concerned, it's cool to be a non-conformist. Sometimes conforming is good. Eg, all these people are walking by a cliff, do you jump off it just to be cool?

James Bannan:

Heh heh - extremely true. This comic sums it all up:

http://www.cad-comic.com/comic.php?d=20060513

justthething84:

i knew someone who owned a mac and it caught on fire in his loungeroom and destroyed his plasma. what a joke.

mac = crap

Declan Kennedy:

"Sure companies are keen to look at Linux due to (hopefully) lower implementation costs, but EVERY single linux Distro I have tried makes the computer turn into a snail compared to windows xp."

Whoah, hold the phone!

This is only true of Live CDs. Even a relatively bloated distribution such as SuSE, when running from the hard disk, will leave XP panting by the roadside.

Sheesh, DSL running from a memory stick will destroy XP for speed. How responsive do you reckon a Live CD of Vista or XP would be, were it even technically feasible?

"Microsoft got the key points right with windows, that’s probably why newer Linux distros aimed for the desktop tend to behave more like windows."

Really? Ubuntu is the most popular GNU/Linux distribution of the moment, and has been for some time. It uses Gnome on the desktop, so resembles Mac OS more than anything else.

The only similarities it shares with Windows are some of the naming conventions, such as Add/Remove Software. However, the implementation is usually far superior.

Add/Remove Software, for example, can download and install a huge selection of software, and all the user need do is tick a little box.

Windows is everywhere, James got that right. If you want to use it, then do so, but let's keep it clean, above the belt and (above all) accurate.

Kattepus:

The LinoTards never had the IQ to see beyond their own nose.

They never will, just like RAF and FARC.

They Kook Up unusable shaftware and waste people's time.
They are NOT the average citizen, and never will be.

The best evidence for this is the very fact that the even bother to come here and argue for hours about what the most PC OS is..

Adults who actually work for a living and got a real life outside their wouldn't bother.

I have suffered and cheered with DOS, Windows and assorted guff for 20 years. I have tried various linSux-distro's and laughed my @rse off at the thought that anyone could mistake that mishmash for a usable alternative on anyone's desktop.
Besides, anyone who is a White non-gay should stay away from it if they value their Mojo.

Oh Behave..

I am now a Mac User and very much enjoy it. Converting took 10 minutes with PearPC, after which i bought a Mac Mini and only occasionally looked back when i needed something done that required a real serial port.

The Author of the article is absolutely right. There is such a thing as "Critical Mass" and MS has very much got that.
It would take an unbelievable level of mistakes on their part to spoil that, and that is not likely to happen.

Although the Mac is highly superior in the "Getting Work Done Department" i realise that it is not for everyone.

I don't care mind that MS gets the lions share, as long as they keep the LinuFairies at bay

Dizzy:

You know, I didn't even finish reading the plethora of comments by legions of fanboys and idiots. In fact, I congratulate James Bannan on this article.

Also, the numerous comments about James being an idiot on his own flipping blog, calling him in idiot is, frankly, idiotic.

You this Windows is for old people? I barely meet United States COPPA and am a near-expert at computers. My friends call me Bill Gates! I run my own website, I create games using Game Maker, and I do homework. All using Windows.

And don't call me a fanboy. I've been going on a spiel with myself about how Windows isn't the best. Right now, it is. I'm not made of money, so OS X is out of the question. I've been using the 2002 Upgrade of XP for FIVE YEARS now to keep computers up.

I use Firefox, OpenOffice, GIMP, and a multitude of other open source programs. I love them. And guess what? A lot of the programs on my PC are made for Linux. Does that mean I switch? NO!!!!

So, Microsoft is a monopoly. However, they are not the best. Though, on the flipside, Windows is the best operating system for working, playing, and using computers. Again, no fanboy trolls attacking, please. You know, though I don't approve of MS's business tactics (WGA inclusion, activation, slow dev, bugs before and after releases), their advertisements have a ring of truth.

There's a whole world of software and devices that run on Windows. Check download.com for me: how large is the Windows-based sections? At least twenty-five categories of software with subdivisions. Mac OS? One category with divisions. Linux? Where is it?

I like the developmental core of Linux, e.g. Open Source, but we live in a world were operating systems aren't yet like that. I mean, come on, my Dad runs a restaurant where they bought a sub-OS for orders that cost $15,000 for a license! And you're crying about Windows costing $100?!?!?!

Vista is going to dominate at release, simply because it is a new Windows. Aero will be great. Mac may have some better apps and look better to some, but Windows is better. I have not walked into a PC store, with software or games, and seen a "Made for Mac OS" or "Made for Whatever Linux Distrubution YOU have" logo. What do you see? "Designed for Microsoft Windows". Yes. It's true.

To continue on, Windows is targeted for viruses and worms for its popularity. It is impossible to find every hole and bug in Windows. So, instead of sending Microsoft a nice little letter, they decide to blow up the most popular operating system by putting a file on their system that makes their system say "Nyah, nyah, you're a Windows fanboy" every time they click there start button due to a loophole.

I'd bet you that, if Mac or Linux became the monopoly, loopholes would be found a whole lot faster.

Declan Kennedy:

"You know, I didn’t even finish reading the plethora of comments by legions of fanboys and idiots. In fact, I congratulate James Bannan on this article."

Don't worry - they won't read your polemic either, since you chose to start your post with an insult. Then criticised people who insult James in their comments. *cough*

"And don’t call me a fanboy. I’ve been going on a spiel with myself about how Windows isn’t the best."

"Mac may have some better apps and look better to some, but Windows is better."

*cough*

By the way, you say that you do a load of wonderful things, all on Windows, including running a web site; but what OS do you think serves your web site? It ain't Windows.

Give you a hint: it ends with x.

Dizzy:

I know that; I didn't mention it becaused I was pissed. Sure, I made contradicting statements. Yes, I like Linux. I have tried it out but none of my hardware works with it. Plus I'm not going to format my harddrive for a Linux distro that may or may not work on my only-needed-for-three-months-six-gig-hard-drive when I spent time on installing Windows.

Gareth B:

The Linux freaks could be right. Windows dominance may be nearing the end. Even though, it will still be the OS for the next 5-7 years. (unless they *REALLY* botch it up).

From this point of view, Jame's post is largely correct - there won't be a dramatic shift to Linux (or Mac OS, or FreeBSD...) with Vista's release. However, I think the whole 'msn/hotmail generation' bit was a little over the top. More like we're now the google/gmail generation.... and that's probably not a good thing for MS.

Irconically, Linux may finially get some desktop penetraction about the time your desktop OS finally becomes irrelevant. Almost everything will become a net service in some way (whether it is locally hosted or not), and it won't matter at all whether you've got Windows, Linux, Mac OS or Syllable.... it'll all be the same.

For all those worried about losing DRM, I'm sure it will be ported to Linux - because if its not, the content owners will make it required. Will there be workarounds? Sure, just like there currently is in Windows.....

wjpenington:

The problem is that there is no real competitor to Windows. Mac is tied to hardware, has no games (or a varity of options for many programs) and apparently dodgy support. Linux throws up too much choise, still no games (apart from a 2D arcade games, mostly featuring Tux), no centeral, simple method of getting support and patches and (in some distros) assumes to much knowledge.

There is NO OTHER operating system that you can go to the shop, pick up a box, install, have some annoying charecter explain everything, and asks no real system configuration questions (sometimes just user name and computer name on OEM disks) and lets users just install a game and start using it.

We need a new commercial competitor. Linux is'nt effective enough. Some one needs to release a well-branded, well supported OS, where the maker is accountable, that will run on the same hardware range of hardware that windows does. That is why everyone wants google to release Gubuntu. I hope they do. We need something.

Sgt_Raven:

"Windows will stay on top for at least the next 5-6 jears but the market will go to Linux, simply becourse it’s free, stable, no viruses, …"

its free, yes...stable....maybe...no viruses...yes but why no viruses....what becasue its more secure NO

it hasnt got viruses becasue of the platforms popularity.. why create a virus for a neish market when you can effect a wider market by releasing a virus on a larger playform i.e windows


its the same as mac... logic dictates that if you were to try to effect as many ppl as possible you would avertise (or in this case release) on the biggest medium possible not one of the smaller os's.

viruses for linux arent that hard to make and an unconfigured linux box is much easier to hack than an out of the box sp2 windows

Declan Kennedy:

"viruses for linux arent that hard to make and an unconfigured linux box is much easier to hack than an out of the box sp2 windows"

LOLZ!

What a brilliant piece of satire, I almost thought that you actually believed it. Oh, you did?

Funny that I wrote a piece 2 months ago referring to a study by a security firm which showed that an unpatched install of SUSE Linux 9.0 was the only unpatched OS not to be compromised when put online. Sure SP2 makes Windows almost as secure as Linux, but it was released years after the OS.

Apples and oranges, and your assertion is wrong regardless.

slackdaemon:

Like a roomful of high school boyz comparing cock sizes, silly. The tyranny of the bell curve is a terrible thing. Mediocrity will always rule, as will the C student. But micro$oft is a product. All products have a shelf life.

PermanetPress:

its the same old tired argument, who knows what will happen in the future, but systems such as the various Linux's better Apple offerings and anything else that is not from Redmond is good for consumers because it gives them choice and leads them out of the mindset that you can "only use" Winblows.

its like saying that its a *insetFavoriteCarBrand* only world - get used to it, its a big crock of crap, more hetrogeny = better for everyone.

Rob Di Toro:

Hmm. the insults start flying when the 'Penguin Pushers' soft-spot is poked: Compatibility and Reliability.

The attitude amongst most people with a view here is that they agree that 'windows' is age and 'vista' is the buzzword, but they also like to drop in the fact that more enterprises are using one of the many flavours of Linux, as it is free (or cheaper), customisable, and generally better - because the concept was not invented by a rich, skinny man with glasses.

The reality is, although the above statement may be true, many enterprises - even some government divisions are using Linux; the average home or power user generally don't employ Linux specialists to fix their every woe. The average home user, also doesn't have a Red Hat certificate framed and mounted in their study, and the average home user doesn't like spending dozens of hours on forums and support-lines, just to perform a simple task that didn't quite ‘hit the hay’ as they may have wanted it to.

Bottom of the line is, Vista is (nearly) here, and comes with every possible combination of features and aesthetic feels to cater for your computering requirements (and limitations due to hardware etc).
The Vista Upgrade advisor asks the user which of its revolutionised technologies, scans the PC for any necessary upgrade requirements based on your selection, and determines what version of Vista will be right for you - the options are endless.
Flexibility. College-dorm Ubuntu “hackers” snorted at Mr Bannan's article when he mentioned this - and I can see why. Many people think Linux is the most flexible OS there is, and in a way, they are right. you have the option of learning thousands of different Linux commands to customise the software to look and feel the way you desire - but take cover and search for the installation disks if one unsolvable error is made.
Vista on the other hand, allows you to customise and change any aspect you want, within safe boundaries. These boundaries eliminate the need for code-line forums, a Red Hat subscription or a SuSE textbook, in the long run costing more time and money than a version of Vista could ever dream of.

Unlike many people on this discussion, my opinion is unbiased. I grew up on Macintoshes, suffered through the pain of Windows ME, I currently program a Linux server for a Darwin-based small business, a MSDN subscriber, and have settled down with Windows XP - like a majority of home-users. I have experienced it all, and have made my decision to stick with reliability and compatibility, and shudder at the thought of having a Linux support forum as my homepage.
I, like many Linux “patriots” (who refuse to admit it), cannot wait to feel the excitement of tearing the shrink-wrap off my Windows Vista Ultimate box, installing simply and without the unappealing black window with white (or green) text, booting up my PC and feeling the reliability.

Mark Killey:

I have used both Windows and Linux.

Both have pro's and cons.

I mainly use Windows, because I can play commerical games on them and the graphic and music programs I use are not available or will not run in Linux.

People might argue why don't I find equivalant programs in Linux, well they don't exist. Who is going to develop the programs I need for free?

I use an OS that I find the most use out of.

Dave Mccord:

I really hate these types of articles, the soul purpose being to piss off people of a certain type. Lets start a flame war! Childish really. very sad.

But lets attack that whole ease of use thing.

I just got a new laptop. Installed Suse 10.1 and left xp media center on.
Lets get that new dsl account going: Win. 45 minutes later after the install cd and page after page of answering ?s I was done.

linux. filled in 2 pages of 2-3 ?s like sign in name and password. 5 minutes done.

Oh my printer. Win. plugged it in and "please insert driver" i don't have it. Search the net, is that it? which one do i use? it's an HP and a common one to! driver installs still doesn't see the printer. reinstall. still no joy. how long have spent doing this?

Linux. Plugged it in.'found new printer-hp Photosmart 7150-Install now?' why yes please. enter. Done.

Before I installed suse i played with windows. 2 days in my cd drive dissapeared. Wha? called hp tech and they gave a few things to try and an offer to replace the drive. Installed linux all is good. Still gone in windows. So i googled a few hours and found an obscure tech note to use regedit an going into {hskjhiuyehjks6546546565465sohjkds4dhds}5fu5shd and deleting
{hdh4fgrf5gfgfhs5692gt}

Wha?.. it worked. Now that reliable.! And usability!
I mean, OFCOURSE {hhe4dfd5dfkhdsd5dbdss5jds5}546fhsdd thats my cd drive! i'm so stupid. Why didn't i think of that first.

Now, I really DO NOT care if you use linux or not.(i wish you would for your own sake) But i'm sick of anti linux crap about how to do anything you have to go command line, or get a degree in comp sci., from people who where annoid with win 3.11 tried it out and got lost. Yes Linux can be as complex as you want, but if you haven't tried it in the last year you don't know how easy it IS.

And note: everything Vista once promised but no longer does is already included in Linux. And you don't need to spend $3k in new hardware to make it work.
I will also note that I was worried at first when i bought my new intelDuo pc laptop with windows. It didn't seem much faster than my Ibm p3 750. Until i gave it linux. And Suse is not noted as being the fastst of linux distros.

Mike Le Voi:

Ok - no emotion - just a few comments. IMHO, there are 2 main reasons today why people do not go with Linux on the desktop/laptop:

1 Ease of install
2 Program availability.

Surely it all comes down to that?

Just a few facts from my own experience - and I have been playing with operating systems for 30 years BTW - so obviously I am a dinosaur :-)

I use MS Virtual PC 2004 to test out operating systems - or to install stuff that I do not want want cluttering up my normal enviroment - or to install different versions of the same application and/or server software. And yet, I have only found one LINUX distro that worked out of the box - and it was the latest version of Puppy. Please note that I want a GUI and CLI - not just CLI.

Fedora Core (3 - I think) - screen errors
Ubuntu - GUI screen did not work at all
SUSE 9 - Great install - until the sound card crashed
SUSE 10 - off latest APC DVD - I played safe - ignored sound - but networking does not work!

Even worse, everyone of these installs took over an hour. I can bung in a WIN2K, WIN2K3 or WINXP CD and it installs and works first time in 30 minutes. OK - so Virtual PC is a MS product - but the simulated video and sound and network cards Virtual PC provides are really bog standard stuff.

So, LINUX people, if you really want me to play with this product and use it, get it working reliably under Virtual PC, please :-) It cannot be that hard - Puppy does it - and it boots off an ISO image in 1 minute.

Second point - I am a media person - video, audio etc - and a VB programmer - yes - no JRE for me.

I can write a program in a 10 year old IDE that runs like a rocket on any modern Windows PC - and have a 99% chance of any user in the world running it without issues. And for media, I cannot switch to LINUX because such excellent products as Wavelab simply do not exist on that platform - probably for the same reason. The developer won't take years of his life porting a program to LINUX - especially if the LINUX community want it all to be free :-)

I will happily switch to LINUX when the install is fast and easy and works 100% of the time - and the required apps exist - but until then it's Windows for me.

PS Not Vista, I suspect - MS have made a big mistake and made XP too stable and fast on any decent modern laptop or desktop. I do not need any more bells and whistles - I am more than happy with the ones I have now.

Chxta:

You used MS Virtual PC? No wonder they didn't work properly. Use VMware.

milambyr:

I've tried two versions of Linux and they do install easily...however, installing programs can be a daunting task, in fact, it made me so mad trying to figure out how to install an app (even with instructions) and then it took me forever to find out how to load it or uninstall it. Linux is not user friendly yet. I can't speak for everyone, but the fact all I have to do is double click to install an app on Windows is enough for me to stick with Windows, I shouldn't have to follow instructions on how to install/run/uninstall a damn program, and I'm not an idiot, it was just way too much effort.

The only thing I haven't seen in the comments here really is the fact that yes, some games are made for Linux, but a hardcore PC gamer will stick with Windows, until gaming companies start making games for Linux (or even only Linux) Windows will stick around.

If there ever is a transition from Windows to Linux, it will take many many years and it will be very slow, there is a lot more to it than just "I am young and we young people know how to use Linux" there are multi-million dollar contracts with governments, gaming companies, Fortune 500 corporations, that will not go away over night...and lastly, every one knows how to use Windows, it would be hilarious if one day I came into work on this military installation and every computer had Linux installed on it, nobody would know what to do because not everyone is a computer person like most of you Linux guys.

Lachlan:

To user #125: If you're using Virtual PC, of course its going to run Linux slow. Because it has to load all of windows' bloat as well.

ATM - I use Windows XP - with VMware and an Ubuntu install on my desktop. I'm a uni student currently studying CompSci.

Windows runs my games, Linux runs my code. I CAN'T code my C++ in windows because the compilers don't comply to the international standards.

A thousand CompSci students are currently learning the Linux way at our uni, and a number are readily awaiting the day Linux will run their favourite game, so they can throw Windows through the Window.

Alex V:

I've found it very interesting to read about the whole 'Microsoft's the market leader, put up with it' talk, without a single utter of piracy and why it is the the dominating OS.

Sure enterprises/big company's legitimately make a huge contribution to MS's market share, and because Joe Blow uses Windows at work, he then illegally copies Windows (because OEM XP cost $130) of his mate, and installs it on his shiny new PC , all because thats the OS he's used to.

This piracy monster that Microsoft condones, has obviously grown their market share (im not talking about sold copies here, number of computers with it installed) over the past 10+ years. and now it will damage their market share in the future, all because of the new WGA system. Joe blow won't want to run Windows for to much longer if he cant update and fix the security holes in his pirated OS, and he isn't a whizz to find a crack on some dodgy website to by-pass it, which will no doubt infect his computer anyway.

How much of malicious code was written on pirated Windows OS's?, a lot i bet. As many comments above, Windows security problems are because it is so popular, more to the point, though, its because allot of people can get it for free and abuse it with out paying a cent for it.

Which leads me to the obvious question, what will happen if (probably when) Linux/Mac OS gains popularity (because they are free/bundled with hardware)? will all these malicious code writers jump ship as well? Then make the rest of us suffer? At least Linux/Mac OS has a solid secure foundation, unix, to keep them at bay.

Personally, I've been using (and putting up with) Windows since v3.1 to XP, until last year, i brought a iMac G5 (Mac OS X). My 60 year old dad who uses the typical, Word, Excel, Email, Web setup hasn't had too many problems (e.g. the whole close window button and keyboard swap around) at all , and he gets work done when he wants, with out any hassles. ill stop the Apple preaching now ;)

The average computer user wants a simple choice, there are already too many choices for dish washing liquid, let alone Linux distro's.

People want familiarity: at the moment the closest OS to Windows in terms what big brand, 3rd party software it can run, is Mac OS X. For example, It can run Microsoft Office, and Adobe software (on intel chips they're emulated through Rosetta, i know), and of course iPod+iTunes phenomena, in this aspect, Linux has a long way to go to. Games are a whole another matter, I'd say the next gen game consoles (PS3 and Wii especially) will probably throw out the whole "only the best gaming experience is on the Windows+PC platform" debate. Leaving windows behind, only to copy other OS's (mainly Mac OS X) in order to keep up.

I Quote: "Windows lets you in, gets you going and gives as much or as little freedom as you want. Don’t care about computers? Windows has a Wizard For All Occasions" So does Mac OS X and some Linux distro's, only a lot better.

i Quote: "Or buy into a system which looks great, feels great and has all the flexibility of titanium." is clearly a stab at the Apple platform: no ones stopping you from adding more and bigger HDDs, more RAM (upto 8gb in G5s, 16gb in Mac Pro Xeons), better monitors, better Audio card, better Gfx card (with exceptions) and processor upgrades (G4s) to a modern Mac desktop system. Flexibility? how about knowing your investing in a quality computer that will last for your needs, with the option to expand? not a pile of parts with a leaky/unstable OS attempting hopelessly to make them all live together happily.


We do live in a Windows world, but no one has to put up with the crap that MS shovels out, its clear that Governments/Org's are aware of other options, the average consumer and business are only one more step away.

IMHO only when average computer shops (and technology suppliers to businesses) in the shopping centers are knowledgeable and aware in other OS's and can advise customers on the right choice of OS for their needs, not just the familiar choice, will Linux and Mac OS become major players.

Thats my 2c (more like $20)

Peter Mauger:

The reason M$ will continue to dominate the market is quite simple (at least as I see it). They provide the most simple to use development tools on the market. I learned to program in C and since moving to the .Net framework I've found that using C and C++ is like using a toolbelt compared to having a factory at your disposal. The .Net 3.0 Framework will reduce the effort required of me to produce commercial applications by half again and is native to Vista. Similarly DirectX 10 will produce some of the most mind blowing games ever made with the least effort required of developers to code to specific hardware configurations (they're talking 8-10 times faster processing on SIMILAR hardware). And that's why M$ has soooooo much great software available for it and also why they have such a dominance in terms of games. They actually make it easier for the people who produce the software that everyone uses to do their jobs.

And when someone suitably outlines the business plan that will allow me to produce OpenSource software as my profession and not my hobby then I'll start looking at helping out the cause. Until then you'll only see software developed by people who have the time aside from work to develop it (and I'd much rather get a life outside of computers...).

It's my honest opinion that most software vendors charge too much for what they sell but until market forces bring software prices down to some level of value-for-money normal people will suffer. But then that won't happen until human greed stops being a driving force in this world ;) We can but dream...