Why don't you use a proper operating system?

May I ask why some of you just keep staying with Windows and Microsoft applications despite all of It's heavy amount of annoying problems? I'm really interested in your opinions!

I mean I've used Windows for several years and through the years I've learnt alot of techniques for keeping the computer healthy and now I only have minor problems. Still, during all that time I could have learnt using a GIMP properly (open source image editing app).

I think you should consider this...

* It's insecure by design. It's simply a magnet for viruses, spyware, trojans, hackers. This has nothing to do with It's large userbase.
* It's buggy. Problems range all the way from the stupid registry system to the tcp/ip stack. Windows also has a tendency making the system go slower and slower the more you use it. Some reasons are clogged registry and heavy fragmented file system. File systems under *NIX operating systems don't fragment significantly. This means that the operating system tries to keep related files together on the disk. Windows does the opposite as it throws the files all over the disk.
* Updates accumulate in the Windows folder and makes it bigger. In other operating systems new files get installed and old files get removed. If you want to regret the update you'll just block the new version and the old version gets installed.
* No respect for other boot loaders. Windows overwrites the master boot record (mbr) with It's boot loader even though there may already exist another one.
* Closed source means you can't fix the bugs yourself and that only one company is able to fix it. It also means that you have no idea what's happening under the hood. Your system may be phoning several times a day without you knowing it. And of course you are not able to optimize the code for your specifical system.
* It costs, sometimes a lot. *BSD and GNU/Linux is free. Also there is no activation which has caused a lot of problems for Windows user. No need to worry about calling support when changing important hardware.
* Installation is very efficient and easy. For ex Ubuntu puts the partitions properly right where they should be and not on the 1st and the 5th partion like my triple boot results in.
* Integrated drivers. Linux has support for most hardware both old and new out of the box. Unlike Windows you don't have to download the drivers from the manufacturer's website.
* Eye candy. Ever heard of Beryl/Compiz and AIGLX/XGL. I won't explain it in detail... These video shows it best; www.youtube.com... . You also have a wide variety of windows managers and desktop environments to choose from; Gnome, KDE, Fluxbox, XFCE, Blackbox, Enlightenment, XPDE, TWM, Openbox.
* Support for non native apps and games. Operating systems like GNU/Linux have the power to run apps made to run on other operating systems like Windows. This can be accomplished through compability layers like Wine, Cedega and Crossover office.
* Big support from companies. Operating systems like GNU/Linux have support from mayor companies like IBM, SUN, Red hat, Novell, Oracle, Canonical, nVidia, Nokia etc.
* Cryptic error messages. Bluescreens, error popus etc. are very hard to understand under Windows.
* Lousy provided applications. Applications provided with distributions like Ubuntu are much more useful than the standard calculator, notepad and paint you get with Windows.
* Microsoft's company tactics are unfair. Ever heard of SCO vs IBM/Novell? Microsoft has done a lot of nasty things through the years like providing this company (SCO) with money just so it can come up with false acquisations and launch an attack on companies that support GNU/Linux and open source.
* Easy of use. Operating systems like Ubuntu are very easy to work with and maintain.

Links

www.ubuntu.com...
www.gentoo.org...
www.freebsd.org...
www.sun.com...
www.novell.com...
en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 2006-11-7 by bracke]

Why do people use Microsoft?

I feel it is the easiest customer experience with many features that operate on their own. It may be slower at times as resources are devoured, but it is to benefit the average user.

Originally posted by bracke
May I ask why some of you just keep staying with Windows and Microsoft applications despite all of It's heavy amount of annoying problems? I'm really interested in your opinions!

I don't have any annoying problems, that is why.

* It's insecure by design. It's simply a magnet for viruses, spyware, trojans, hackers. This has nothing to do with It's large userbase.

I never had any virus, spyware or trojans on my computers that weren't contained by me, and the only real virus I ever had was on MS-DOS, long time ago.

* It's buggy. Problems range all the way from the stupid registry system to the tcp/ip stack. Windows also has a tendency making the system go slower and slower the more you use it. Some reasons are clogged registry and heavy fragmented file system. File systems under *NIX operating systems don't fragment significantly. This means that the operating system tries to keep related files together on the disk. Windows does the opposite as it throws the files all over the disk.

The stupidity of the registry is not a bug, is a feature.

*NIX system really do have a clearly better file system, but FAT, FAT32 or NTFS never got me in trouble.

* Updates accumulate in the Windows folder and makes it bigger. In other operating systems new files get installed and old files get removed. If you want to regret the update you'll just block the new version and the old version gets installed.

Only if you let them, the updates can be deleted

* No respect for other boot loaders. Windows overwrites the master boot record (mbr) with It's boot loader even though there may already exist another one.

That is one of the things for which they never found a good answer to the few people (compared with all their costumers) that have complained about it.

* Closed source means you can't fix the bugs yourself and that only one company is able to fix it. It also means that you have no idea what's happening under the hood. Your system may be phoning several times a day without you knowing it. And of course you are not able to optimize the code for your specifical system.

Yes, we can't change the code, but that does not mean we do not have any idea of what is happening, if we want to know we just need to devote some time to it, like with any other thing.

* It costs, sometimes a lot. *BSD and GNU/Linux is free. Also there is no activation which has caused a lot of problems for Windows user. No need to worry about calling support when changing important hardware.

The price is hugely inflated when you compare it with the price for resellers. As I work in a company that can buy it as a reseller, I can get it cheaper.
I never had any problem with activation, and I don't know anyone who has had.

* Installation is very efficient and easy. For ex Ubuntu puts the partitions properly right where they should be and not on the 1st and the 5th partion like my triple boot results in.

I suppose you are talking about *NIX systems here instead of Windows.

Once more, this is a problem that affects a small percentage of Windows users, Windows (and Microsoft) strength is the huge client base, most of them just use the computer as if it was a typewriter.

* Integrated drivers. Linux has support for most hardware both old and new out of the box. Unlike Windows you don't have to download the drivers from the manufacturer's website.

True, but once again I never had any problems, when I buy any hardware it brings its drivers with it, except with a Mustek scanner (I think they make the worst scanners on the market, and this didn't even had the manufacturer label) that I tried to install in a version of Windows for which they didn't' had drivers.

* Eye candy. Ever heard of Beryl/Compiz and AIGLX/XGL. I won't explain it in detail... These video shows it best; www.youtube.com... . You also have a wide variety of windows managers and desktop environments to choose from; Gnome, KDE, Fluxbox, XFCE, Blackbox, Enlightenment, XPDE, TWM, Openbox.

You can use the window manager that you want with Windows, you just have to change some of its configurations. I used once one whose name I do not remember now.

* Support for non native apps and games. Operating systems like GNU/Linux have the power to run apps made to run on other operating systems like Windows. This can be accomplished through compability layers like Wine, Cedega and Crossover office.

I never had any need of using software that didn't existed for Windows.
In this case, the other systems have to use those compatibility layers because they don't get that software made for them, so they had a need for those type of things.

* Big support from companies. Operating systems like GNU/Linux have support from mayor companies like IBM, SUN, Red hat, Novell, Oracle, Canonical, nVidia, Nokia etc.

And...? Everything I ever needed from some of those companies was supported on Windows, no problem there.

* Cryptic error messages. Bluescreens, error popus etc. are very hard to understand under Windows.

Most cryptic errors I have seen in Windows are not system messages.
Bluescreens are something I rarely see, but yes, they are more cryptic than the other error messages, but the worst message I saw was on a SCO Unix System V. It took almost and hour to understand what they meant with the message.

In fact, that was the only time I saw a Unix system on "its knees". The problem was lack of disk space because of a bad configuration from the people who had installed it.

* Lousy provided applications. Applications provided with distributions like Ubuntu are much more useful than the standard calculator, notepad and paint you get with Windows.

That is something I think Microsoft can not provide without being accused of unfair tactics.
The anti-virus companies have already complained about the security enhancements in Vista, saying that it is unfair. Imagine what would happen if they included Office and Visual Studio...

* Microsoft's company tactics are unfair. Ever heard of SCO vs IBM/Novell? Microsoft has done a lot of nasty things through the years like providing this company (SCO) with money just so it can come up with false acquisations and launch an attack on companies that support GNU/Linux and open source.

Maybe they are, that is why we have courts. If the judicial system does not work its not Microsoft's fault.

* Easy of use. Operating systems like Ubuntu are very easy to work with and maintain.

I say the same thing about Windows, that is why I stay with it.

Just as an aside, when I went to work on the company I work today, 14 years ago, I suggested a change to Macintosh. Almost everyone said it was cuter that DOS (obvious, isn't it?) or some of the "graphical" systems of the time, but the lack of Portuguese versions of the system and other software make them choose Microsoft. After that, people were happy with Microsoft, so they didn't even thought of changing.

PS: I have also used, besides every version of Windows since 3.1, a Macintosh LC (the system with most bugs I ever used), SCO Unix System V, Red Hat and Suse Linux. I have downloaded the Ubuntu iso but I haven't had the time to install it. The system that gave most trouble installing was Red Hat, but that was many years ago, I remember that my computer had only ISA slots.

Oh, and a ZX Spectrum that I think still works, I have to try it one of these days.

I recommend this link, www.whylinuxisbetter.net... . I don't agree with everything but I think It's decent.

Well all I know is that Vista is the bomb and after a few problem that I fixed it my self now works like a charm!

GO GO GO VISTA!!!!

The problem with most sites like that you posted a link to suffer from the same problem as those promoting Windows, they do not tell things like they really are.

One example is when they say that Linux runs better on older hardware. In most cases, they are referring to systems running without any GUI. A Linux system running a modern window manager needs more or less the same hardware than an similar Windows system.

Another problem is the "reboot" syndrome. In a company related to the one I work bought a HP server with Windows 2000 to use an accounting program. When they had some problems they called the support people, who went there in the next day. The guy who went to see what was the problem with a Windows 2000 server was a Linux fan, so the first thing he said was that the system probably needed a restart. It needed not, and after some useless attempts we reach the conclusion that the problem was with their software. That server never gets rebooted, it usually only shuts down when there is a power failure because it is the way it was configured.

Many of the occasions when an install says it needs a reboot are only an old custom, I have tried many times restarting only the install service and all works well.

Another problem is that some dye-hard Linux fans changed at the time of Windows 95 or 98, so they do not know a thing about more modern systems.

I once had a discussion in a newsgroup with a guy that didn't knew a thing about NTFS, he never had the intention of knowing anything about Windows since 1998 and talked about Windows 2000 and XP has if it was Windows 98.

At a time, my friend was a Linux fan and mentioned to me that it is so much easier and way better and I gave in after much thought and decided to install Kabuntu. I did it and was much excited to find out if what my friend was indeed so. I followed all the instructions and channeled all the specifications, until on the first try my monitor was way out of wack. So I finally found control panel and display settings, there it was, my monitor was set to a default setting. So I looked for the controls to change it and than right there I ran into more trouble. I had to configure it manually using some sort of command code!! I had to search the web for my answeres which took forever and eventually found some helpful intructions. In the end up, my monitor still did not work and I was not impressed at all with Linux, it is not on my experience, user-friendly.

:shk:

Originally posted by El Che
Well all I know is that Vista is the bomb and after a few problem that I fixed it my self now works like a charm!

GO GO GO VISTA!!!!

Woo yeah! Vista is the way to go my friend! Lol

It happen to me to. You what user friendly VISTA sorry I know but after using it I can't help but falling in love with it! I never use such a user friendly OS.

Have to agree that the big problem with Linx is lack of user friendliness. It is fine for geeks and people with lots of time on their hands but for the rest of us it doesn't cut it.

When they make it easier to install, setup and work with then I think Windows has a big problem.

What also concerns me is that there is far too many distro's out there too. There must be hundreds and I can't see why. What needs to happen is maybe a dozen or less be built and everyone pool their resources to improve them and move forward rather than the two or three man crews trying to create a new version with their name on it.

Vista?

It recommends 2GB of memory and it takes about 10GB on the hard drive. That's just a little less than Microsoft Flight simulator X which has high res scenery's for the whole world!!! I get more I candy and a more heavy experience with Ubuntu. I've tried a late build of Vista and there are both good and bad things about it. The boot loader is much better, the user interface is better, security is better etc. Still it will use heavy DRM techniques and decide what you are gonna run on it, it takes too much of your computer (harddrive, cpu, ram), many promised features have been removed, it still uses NTFS, the EULA (license) forbids benchmarking (forget about 3dmark, pcmark, aquamark etc),

What really baffles me is that people who are very afraid of broken privacy use closed source systems especially from a company who is known to be sneaking around inside your computer.

Microsoft does good things like Xbox, keyboards, mice, pc games, xbox games etc. but most things deserves It's place in the trashcan.

And of course the CEO of the company doesn't seem to be that healthy neither...

www.youtube.com...

I recommend searching on Steve Ballmer and you'll find a lot of stupid things this man has done. Here is an example:

yro.slashdot.org...

Vista?

It recommends 2GB of memory and it takes about 10GB on the hard drive. That's just a little less than Microsoft Flight simulator X which has high res scenery's for the whole world!!! I get more I candy and a more heavy experience with Ubuntu. I've tried a late build of Vista and there are both good and bad things about it. The boot loader is much better, the user interface is better, security is better etc. Still it will use heavy DRM techniques and decide what you are gonna run on it, it takes too much of your computer (harddrive, cpu, ram), many promised features have been removed, it still uses NTFS, the EULA (license) forbids benchmarking (forget about 3dmark, pcmark, aquamark etc),

What really baffles me is that people who are very afraid of broken privacy use closed source systems especially from a company who is known to be sneaking around inside your computer.

Microsoft does good things like Xbox, keyboards, mice, pc games, xbox games etc. but most things deserves It's place in the trashcan.

And of course the CEO of the company doesn't seem to be that healthy neither...

www.youtube.com...

I recommend searching on Steve Ballmer and you'll find a lot of stupid things this man has done. Here is an example:

yro.slashdot.org...

Mac OS X is the best, you get the power of UNIX with the user-friendlyness of a great GUI.

Originally posted by 7Ayreon
At a time, my friend was a Linux fan and mentioned to me that it is so much easier and way better and I gave in after much thought and decided to install Kabuntu. I did it and was much excited to find out if what my friend was indeed so. I followed all the instructions and channeled all the specifications, until on the first try my monitor was way out of wack. So I finally found control panel and display settings, there it was, my monitor was set to a default setting. So I looked for the controls to change it and than right there I ran into more trouble. I had to configure it manually using some sort of command code!! I had to search the web for my answeres which took forever and eventually found some helpful intructions. In the end up, my monitor still did not work and I was not impressed at all with Linux, it is not on my experience, user-friendly.

:shk:

When was this? You do know that Ubuntu/Kubuntu is a very new distro and that it doesn't represent GNU/Linux as a whole? Development is moving very rapidly however, and your problem may very well be fixed. Be sure to check the wiki's and the forums for more information. It's very well worth it.

I'm not saying GNU/Linux is a perfect operating systems, as It has It's flaws like crashing on certain systems, bloat in the code, no GLPv2 or v3 support etc.

Come on. Systems are getting far more advanced and still people are demanding peak effiency that meets there criteria for less resourceful technologys. Yes, Vista recommends at least 1GB of memory and that is not a problem anymore! Would you want your system running on 512 MB or better yet, 2 GB of space? You don't see that the IT Industry is pushing past the small limits of older tech. There is no problem with there expensive requirements, it's time to move on. You can only go so far with effiency, the bar has to be moved up eventually.

Mac OSX is a very nice system but It's proprietary although for most people It's no big problem as Apple is a decent company. It also only runs on Macs (officially). And It's lacking the amount of software that GNU/Linux has available.

Right now I'm fighting the big bad "missing or corrupted ntoskrnl.exe" error. It's funny really, the error says the file is missing but according to experts the error can have like 5 different causes. Trust me It's not easy trying to fix this one.

Originally posted by 7Ayreon
Come on. Systems are getting far more advanced and still people are demanding peak effiency that meets there criteria for less resourceful technologys. Yes, Vista recommends at least 1GB of memory and that is not a problem anymore! Would you want your system running on 512 MB or better yet, 2 GB of space? You don't see that the IT Industry is pushing past the small limits of older tech. There is no problem with there expensive requirements, it's time to move on. You can only go so far with effiency, the bar has to be moved up eventually.

True but I would still want to use a modern OS on an old system. And the bar has been moved up from 256MB (XP) to 1/2GB (Vista) just for some small cosmetic changes. That's a lot. Linus Torvalds managed to make his 2.6 kernel much more resource friendly than 2.4. A step forward in other words. Vista also isn't a scalable system. You can't install Vista on a USB key flash disk and bring it with you. You can't use it as a livedvd/cd and boot directly from it without touching the hard drive and use it as a rescue system. You can't install it on your pocket pc neither. To install Windows on your Pocket PC you would have to get a Windows Mobile disk from the manufacturer. *NIX runs on everything; toasters, cars, routers, switches, pocket pc's, Palm handhelds, mobile phones, surfboards etc.

[edit on 2006-11-8 by bracke]

[edit on 2006-11-8 by bracke]

Have you used it! I been using this OS for a while and I love it so what you nee 1GB of ram. It worth what you get. I have used OSX and it is good but just isn't my style.

Vista is a great OS so what after all delays and compatable issues. Vista even trys to fix the program so it can work on it. Come on and now it even show every thing that install not in the backround. It great and many of the featues are just plain useful. I bring my laptop to school and I use everything even the gadgets!!!!

I never going back to XP after this!

Originally posted by El Che
Have you used it! I been using this OS for a while and I love it so what you nee 1GB of ram. It worth what you get. I have used OSX and it is good but just isn't my style.

Vista is a great OS so what after all delays and compatable issues. Vista even trys to fix the program so it can work on it. Come on and now it even show every thing that install not in the backround. It great and many of the featues are just plain useful. I bring my laptop to school and I use everything even the gadgets!!!!

I never going back to XP after this!

LOL to that!!

Originally posted by bracke
And It's lacking the amount of software that GNU/Linux has available.

Everything available on GNU/Linux compiles on MacOS X and runs fine.