Will there ever be a decent alternative to Windows?

[Q Classic]

Linspire is a steaming pile of crap.

agreed.

No matter what anyone says, it's still the easiest-to-use Linux ever.

wrong again.

you can get "ease of use" in any linux distro by installing the gnome/kde desktop and installing a decent package management system, far better than the idiotic CNR system linspire uses.

indeed, just what distributions have you used? ever tried the loads more useful Xandros? Knoppix/Gnoppix? Lycoris?

in gentoo, if you want a windowsish desktop, you can always
emerge -va xpde

of course, your advice is coming from a mac fanboi, whose last thread on "omfg t3h best linux 3v4R!!!11" had a poll that was unusable because it clearly showed a complete lack of knowledge on the concept of differing linux distributions.

sure, try linspire, if you want. or, actually show yourself some respect and use other distributions instead, most of which are just as easy--or easier.

[Q Classic]

...With VMware you install and run your copy of Windows XP Pro inside of Linux (no need to dual-boot), which will allow you to run your Windows games natively.

Spoken like someone who doesn't understand how VMWare or VirtualPC works.

Sure, it runs your Windows apps natively, but have you actually seen what hardware it emulates?

Good luck trying to run UT2004, Half-Life 2, SimCity 4... Using VMWare, you'll be consigned to playing games that do not require a 3d graphics card. Which, unfortunately for you, means that for most people, the VMWare solution is non-viable.

Not to mention the fact that you'd have to purchase VMWare as well.

And btw, I hear Windows runs much smoother inside a virtual machine than it does by itself. I'd hit it.

Does Windows run smoother? Does it really? Having used both VMWare, Bochs, VirtualPC, and Virtual Server, I can safely say that no, it doesn't.
The performance hit from emulating certain bits of hardware, even on extremely high-end systems, is enough to be annoying.

[Q Classic]

Heck, even Alpha Centauri is a pain to run under VMWare.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Someone else can take over from here.

* MNG doesn't read (sometimes) or reply (never) to Crazy Q's posts.

Crazy Q.

[Mercator]

Re: Re: Will there ever be a decent alternative to Windows?

Originally posted by St Leo
Having read The Old New Thing for some time (...)

Me too. I'm not entirely sure why, though, because all of the down-and-dirty Windows programming stuff goes right over my head and I'm not really interested in it either.

[Q Classic]

MNG doesn't read (sometimes) or reply (never) to Crazy Q's posts.

Which is why you have so many misconceptions about Linux, among other things ( as has been demonstrated by your impression of VMWare and virtual machines. as well as boot loaders. and windows computing. and... )

Way to go for closed-mindedness!

[Solver]

Asher, your luck with Linux is amazing. Heck, I am able to run it without any big screwups, although it's still a long way before I can call myself a Linux power-user, but it works very well for me, and I do not like it when I have to boot to Windows now.

The issue of reformatting... it all depends on what you want or need to do. I agree that getting down to the core of the problem and fixing it is more fun. Having done clean installs on many computers, doing a reformat & reinstall is fast and boring, obviously. And does solve the problem. Investigating the problem otherwise and fixing it is interesting and challenging, I agree. But it just doesn't work that way... because usually, speed is of essence. I just can't afford to spend an entire day on a problem that I can fix much faster by reformatting - although the slow way is more fun.

Linspire... gee, it's awful. What it succeeds at is taking the worst of Windows and bringing it to Linux. It doesn't have as much power as normal Linux has, and it does lose the stability of Linux as well. True, it will run many Windows apps... but then again, with a little bit of time and reading, I was, as many Linux users, able to set Linux up to run some Windows apps through Wine and other emulators.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Asher

The hell they aren't.

Do you know how difficult it is to install, say, Unreal Tournament 2004 on Linux? Even if you have a Nvidia video card, etc...

I wouldn't know. I don't use Linux for gaming.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by dejon
Then I guess you're the sort that would rather spend time fixing problems instead of reverting to backups and getting on with your work/play?

That's because Asher never worked in tech support in a company where work always was piling up. Spending hours looking for a solution to an elusive problem is a big no-no.

There's a good reason why HDD bit imaging software is useful. Reformat, dump, go.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
The performance hit from emulating certain bits of hardware, even on extremely high-end systems, is enough to be annoying.

If you can handle programs written in Java or similar languages, this can't be so annoying, eh?

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Asher
Because I actually have modern, complex hardware -- something that Linux cannot cope with as well as Windows for the desktop.

Then you're speaking from a PoV that's different from 99% of computer users, particularly corporate IT departments.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
That's because Asher never worked in tech support in a company where work always was piling up. Spending hours looking for a solution to an elusive problem is a big no-no.

There's a good reason why HDD bit imaging software is useful. Reformat, dump, go.

Reimaging is far better than reformatting in most cases.

And you're right, I've never had to work in tech support.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Then you're speaking from a PoV that's different from 99% of computer users, particularly corporate IT departments.

Corporate IT departments worth their salt have at least RAID1 on the workstations.

[Dis]

I'm coming out of the closet.

I support Microsoft Windows.

honestly. I haven't had that many problems with it. I don't see what's so bad about it. What's so bad about Microsoft?

[JohnT]

Yeah, I don't get it either. On this computer, I started with W98, upgraded to W98 service pack (if that's what they called it), upgraded to XP home, and then installed XP home service pack 2 with no reformats, no reinstallations... and no problems.