Why I think Window$ is hard work. :)

[koosjr]

Sigh.... And So I am busy since about 4:00 this morning to get my bliksimse Laptop BASICALLY functional!

I am using Linux now for the past 10 years and I wish the world can understand how incredibly peaceful it is to install an OS within 30 minutes and have a system with everything one needs for just about any basic function and more, and it keeps on going until the hard drive fails.

This week, my very reliable Dell D630 which miraculously ran on a WinXP SP2 installation for almost 2 years (I am not lying!!) without too much troubles, eventually slowed down to a point where it was simply not possible to read mails. This whole even was triggered by an accidental activation of automatic updates. After the first update, it was downhill within days.

Unfortunately, due to the many engineering design software that I cannot go without, I have no option but to use Windows for work. In fact, I still have an old DOS box running with hardware dongles for some classic, but potent software which was never matched by any later attempts. It seems though that through VBox, most of that packages can be made to work.

To solve my predicament thursday, I had no option this week but to load Mageia 2 one morning before work so that I could at least type something and have mails. However, it will need a bit of tweaking to work on the Xerox etc and I though of perhaps going back to WinXP. What a stupid decision.

Good Grief. By 8:00, the laptop was ready in raw format with at least all the drivers installed. I then found that even after the fresh install, it labored at 20 MB per second to retrieve the backup over the LAN and the 40 GB would take hours. That same 40 GB took me just over an hour to transfer the very same way on Mageia. So I went to the shop to get a new 1 TB removable Seagate to save some time, and so that we have it for backups. By the Time I got back home from the shop, a fraction of that 40 GB was transferred.

From there on every damn thing from the Office Suite (Libre Of course), Thunderbird and Chrome just to get the very very most basics had to be manually installed.

Now please explain it to me? Exactly where does Open Source cost more than commercial? I mean the OS, the basics and much more are for free. It takes an hour to make it run and set up the accounts. From there on it never needs repairs.

In our office with Windows based PC's, the techie have a standard appointment for once a week to sort out the nonsense.

I am this " close to suspending myself by the testicles with fish hooks to relief some of the pain. Thank goodness for Linux.

[doktor5000]

What exactly is the point of your post?

Apart from that, i'd like you to adjust the topic, we discourage flamewars and strong/foul language. Also, many of us need to use windows or like to use windows, have you also thought about that? It has its advantages, and there are also many nice tools that help f.ex. with deployment of default software selection (i.e. http://ninite.com/ ). Also windows isn't at fault when your backup takes so long because it comes from the LAN. Also for others windows doesn't slow to a crawl over the years. I've had WinXP installations running for several years, without any performance impact or other problems/glitches.

[koosjr]

Ag Dok. I just had to vent off some steam.

Yes, we cannot get along without Windows. However, after 10 years of having both Linux and Windows under my roof and being able to compare, for me the Linux box is the one that I prefer to use because it was rock solid through Mandriva 9, 10, 2005, 2008LE, 2010 and then Mageia 1 and 2.

Currently, we have 2 Dell Laptops both on WinXP, a Macbook, 2 Mageia boxes and 2 Windows boxes in the house. There is not a single one of the Windows units that could pull through without a reinstall somewhere in it's life. On the Linux boxes, the reinstall comes when I switch to a later version. That's it. Same goes for the Mac. And my Android devices works like a charm.

And for me, I simply cannot overlook the fact that a Linux box is fully functional 30 minutes after install. That is simply impossible to do with a windows installation working from scratch.

But other other hand, lets be fair and say that Windows at least keeps a lot of people in jobs. And that is not a bad thing.

[doktor5000]

Sounds way more differentiated now, thanks

[mk]

I also still have one XP box at work, which I need because of 2 pieces of software.
It's been running for about 7 years now, yes, 7. No terrible issues, just BSOD maybe twice per year..
It's an archaic Duron 800 with 1GB RAM. So so for basic stuff, but I will wait till XP support ends and get new hardware after that. Possibly also eliminating the need to still use Windows at work.