Making the full switch

[donecweb]

Right now I have 4 computers. One running XP Home (my wifes), one laptop I keep for helping others with Windows problems, one with XP Home that I am thinking of selling and a new laptop with Vista and SimplyMEPIS on it. I have not changed anything on My wifes computer except for adding a new hard drive and doubling the memory almost a year ago. Today she tried to update ZoneAlarm and got a message she had to reactivate her Windows XP Home Edition because changes to the computer require reactivation. The internet connection would not work for the activation even though it works for everything else. So I called to activate it over the phone and after 20 minutes I was still on hold. I finally got it activated. However this has been the final straw. I am changing all my computers (even my wifes and she is against all things Open Source) to SimplyMEPIS 6.5 (a Linux distro for those that are not familiar with it). I will keep a copy of Windows on my computer for helping others but no computer will run Windows as an operating system again. I will also not be learning Vista so I will not be help people with it. That is 4 legal versions that Microsoft has lost due to the way they do business. I am throwing away the money I sent on those versions to avoid bad OS's showing my level of displeasure. Also at this time of my little rant I would like to mention that people say Windows has the advantage of a phone number to get help. Well in the past I have tried to get help this way and have never had success. As far as I can tell if you need help with windows you can search their database or pay a technician to fix your computer. With Linux there are a lot of sources where you can get help for free. Possibly that could be a problem for some as there are so many choices for getting help they may consider it too hard. But at least there are places to get help.

[White Wolf]

I know the feeling
I have to call every time I reformat/reinstall windows because i changed the motherboard.

[SensoVision]

So I called to activate it over the phone and after 20 minutes I was still on hold. I finally got it activated.

Activation is probably one of the most annoying things which Windows had, I've heard a lot of bad feedback about activation.

I am changing all my computers (even my wifes and she is against all things Open Source) to SimplyMEPIS 6.5 (a Linux distro for those that are not familiar with it).

my girlfriend got Debian and WinXP, she still perform some tasks in Windows but try to learn Linux in the meantime and do things when possible in it.
I think it's a bit cruel to change OS for your wife if she don't like open source that much, maybe dual boot would be better choice?

I will keep a copy of Windows on my computer for helping others but no computer will run Windows as an operating system again. I will also not be learning Vista so I will not be help people with it.

I've seen Vista only on screenshots and refused few times to help people as I simply not familiar with it and may not provide comprehensive help. People here start considering Linux as their OS at least for work as well.

BTW I've changed hard drive recently and installed new Debian Etch on it, I've to say that it evolved a lot from the last year, now in Windows style manner, a lot of things was been automated and installation process become even more easier. Previously I was recommending it to people new to Linux with caution but now I believe it's no harder to use than other distributions.

[Andy]

I think for most people, Windows works well and provides a nice user experience. But if it breaks then it can be a major problem.

Linux is still an alien land for most people I think and when I tried it a few times, it seems a bit behind in terms of the way it looks on the screen.

Maybe one or two applications are the reason why people would not switch away from windows? For example, I have some Windows software that I love to use and if I changed to Linux, I can't use them anymore.

[SensoVision]

For example, I have some Windows software that I love to use and if I changed to Linux, I can't use them anymore.

they wouldn't work in Wine? As some applications may actually work sometimes even faster than in native environment.

[Andy]

I don't know. Maybe other people could post their experiences of running Windows Apps under Wine in Linux?

p.s. is their a Windows program that lets Windows users run Linux Apps in a Window?

[SensoVision]

I don't know. Maybe other people could post their experiences of running Windows Apps under Wine in Linux?

you can browse application database to see how well your program is running under Wine: http://appdb.winehq.org/

is their a Windows program that lets Windows users run Linux Apps in a Window?

don't see any point for this, as most application written for Windows is OpenSource and multiplatform so frequently compiled for Windows as well. Anyway there are Glade for Windows: http://gladewin32.sourceforge.net which should make some applications running under Windows(but I guess it wouldn't be so easy to do as running Windows application under Wine)

[donecweb]

is their a Windows program that lets Windows users run Linux Apps in a Window?

You can run Linux in Windows in a virtual environment.

[Andy]

You can run Linux in Windows in a virtual environment.

Sounds tricky

[SensoVision]

Not at all, it's very easy at least when you run Windows under Linux, but since program are same for every OS it shouldn't be hard in Windows too. Here is emulator I'm suggesting: http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/
BTW Windows loading in it way much faster than original installation(on the bad note some programs work slower than in pure Windows).