[Vision2020] rebate checks

[Paul Rumelhart]

I haven't used a Mac since the Mac Classic, so I really can't comment on 
them.  I bought a new system a few months ago, which naturally came with 
Vista.  I used Ubuntu to resize the Vista partition and to install 
itself on the majority of the drive.  I also plugged in my other drives, 
and now have about a terabyte of storage.  I boot into Vista once every 
few weeks to play one game, and cringe every time I do it.  Vista is 
invasive, annoying, and has had odd problems.  Really slow file copies 
at times, network downloads that need you to be active on the machine 
else they drop to modem speeds, messages that pull me out of the game 
I'm in to tell me something trivial, without my being able to switch 
back to it.  And every time I boot into it I have to remember to turn 
off my USB printer, because otherwise it will go to a black screen and 
stay there instead of booting.

I rejoice every time I reboot back into Ubuntu (actually Kubuntu).  If 
there is one thing Linux isn't, it's "in your face" like Vista is.  I've 
got one or two small Ubuntu issues, to be fair, but they are trivial to 
me because I know what to do about them.  If I get a kernel update, I 
need to reinstall the latest NVidia driver, because my particular card 
isn't supported by the generic one.  That happens once every few months, 
and I don't mind because it's free and because it's coded by people who 
enjoy coding for the betterment of mankind so I feel ok cutting them a 
little slack.

I'm a fan of XP, but my XP partition won't let me boot into it because 
it requires reactivation and I've thrown those disks away long ago.  
Ergo, more time spent in Ubuntu.

Paul

Chasuk wrote:
> On Thu, May 8, 2008 at 11:30 AM, Scott Dredge <sdredge at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> I've never been been a big fan of Internet Explorer.  I was on Netscape until their quality degraded due to lack of funding and then I switched over to Firefox which performs very well for me unless I need to go to the Microsoft update page which forces me over to IE. Also, has anyone switched over to Vista?  I bought a computer last year that came loaded with Vista, but I was having enough subtle trouble with it that I finally just reinstalled XP last weekend on that machine.  In my opinion, there isn't much reason to go to the Vista OS.
>>     
>
> Vista is a significant improvement over XP, theoretically, but all of
> those theoretical improvements are under the hood.  It doesn't share a
> single line of code with XP, the original "Vista" project having been
> rebooted  in late 2004.  I wouldn't recommend it as an upgrade,
> especially as Windows 7 is due in 2010 (the successor to Vista).
>
> Microsoft made a major mistake by releasing a 32-bit and a 64-bit
> version of Vista, a mistake that they apparently intend to continue
> with Windows 7.  Currently, when you but a new PC (laptop or Desktop)
> you are buying a 64-bit machine.  This has been true for at least 18
> months.  Yet it likely includes a 32-bit version of Vista.  They also
> made a mistake by releasing  Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium,
> Vista Ultimate, Vista Business, and Vista Enterprise  versions.
>
> I've recently switched to a Mac, and it was the best computing
> decision I've ever made.  The hardware is more expensive, but the OS
> is the most flawless I've ever used.  If you want to stick with
> cheaper harder, go with Ubuntu, a popular flavor of Linux.  It is
> capable of anything that Windows is, unless you are a major gamer, in
> which case Windows is still the only viable option.
>
> Here are my OS recommendations, in descending order:
>
> Mac OS X 10.4 or higher
> Ubuntu 7.10 or higher
> Windows XP Pro
> Windows 2000
> Vista Premium 64-bit
> Windows 98 SE
>
> If you are a major gamer, my recommendation would be revised to this:
>
> Vista Premium 64-bit
> Windows XP Pro
> Windows 2000
> Windows 98 SE
> Mac OS X 10.4 or higher
> Ubuntu 7.10 or higher
>
> Note that these ordering are always debatable, particularly in the
> gaming list.  My logic is that stability is always important, so a
> stable, capable gaming rig is more desirable than a capable, stable
> gaming rig.  These days, any system that you buy is more than capable
> for 99% of us.
>
> Chas
>
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