[OFB Cafe] Cafe List

[Derek Broughton]

On July 12, 2008 23:22:52 Chris Olson wrote:

> Whatever the reason, each one holds some validity in one way or another. 
> All I ask is that people don't pre-judge me simply because I have found it
> necessary to switch back to Windows after years of using the
> "alternatives".  I use Windows because of the software available for it - I
> do stuff with it that I simply couldn't do with Mac OS X because the
> software I use now doesn't exist for the Mac.

I always understood that.  You used to talk about how Linux wasn't ready for 
general use because it couldn't do what users needed, and I kept pointing out 
that _your_ needs were a bit more specialized than most people's.  Linux 
Desktops aren't actually answering the needs of any larger fraction of the 
people today than they were then, afaict, but it still means that "most" 
users can do everything they need with Linux.  Do they want to?  Of course 
not.  Until it becomes simple to buy a PC with a Linux system already 
configured, only the geeks are going to go that route.
>
> When Apple made the move from PowerPC to x86-based processors, I had to buy
> all new software (eventually) anyway.  So I switched back to Windows.  And
> Windows treats me just fine - I have no problems with it, I rather like
> Vista (we have the Vista Business version in our Dell XPS laptops), it's
> rock stable (in almost two years I have yet to ever see a crash or lockup),
> and IMHO they've made a lot of improvements over Windows XP.

They've made a lot of changes (I've always considered XP to be pretty solid - 
the only time I've ever seen the famous Blue Screen has been on my wife's 
laptop running XP under Linux/virtualbox), but I'm not convinced they've made 
a lot of improvements.  Too much eye candy, and serious networking 
deficiencies (at least diagnosing and fixing my mother's dial-up would have 
been vastly simpler under XP).
>
> Vista also has a few things I don't like, such as the hardware requirements
> (it's slower than Windows XP on some tasks using software that's not
> Vista-optimized).  Overall, I can't say Windows Vista is the best OS on
> earth, but it's not bad either.  

I'd agree with that.
-- 
derek