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Windows 7
A few nights ago Microsoft released their Windows 7 operating system here in Australia. There were the usual queues at midnight. I can't believe how many people line up to pay a lot of their hard-earned money for an operating system.
Personally, I use Ubuntu Linux mainly because it's free and I don't believe I should have to pay for an operating system. Ubuntu does everything you would want from an operating system (including being able to run windows software) so, like the teachings of Buddhism, why should I pay for it? Not only that, but Ubuntu has six monthly releases so I don't need to wait 5 years for an update to my operating system.
Anyway, I didn't have anyone else to tell so I just had to blurt it all out here! So... now you know you don't need to pay hundreds of dollars for something you can freely download.
Anyone else using a free open-source operating system? Let me know!
Cheers,
Vangelis
Personally, I use Ubuntu Linux mainly because it's free and I don't believe I should have to pay for an operating system. Ubuntu does everything you would want from an operating system (including being able to run windows software) so, like the teachings of Buddhism, why should I pay for it? Not only that, but Ubuntu has six monthly releases so I don't need to wait 5 years for an update to my operating system.
Anyway, I didn't have anyone else to tell so I just had to blurt it all out here! So... now you know you don't need to pay hundreds of dollars for something you can freely download.
Anyone else using a free open-source operating system? Let me know!
Cheers,
Vangelis
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Comments
Years from now, I'll buy a used machine with Win7 installed, and I'll replace the XP box with that. It's important to stay up to date!
I used to have a job as a SQL Server db admin. I removed the windows shell from the XP box they gave me, installed blackbox and a bash shell, and did all my routine chores by running sh scripts. I occasionally needed to run DOS commands, but I could do that in sh. It was almost like using Unix, except that I still had to reboot occasionally.
Hi fiveballs, I find Open Office to be sufficient for most purposes, however when you get down to complex VB macros, etc, then it kinda falls apart. You can install MS Office in Linux under WINE if you really need it.
Cheers,
Vangelis
Hi Lincoln,
I find the opposite to be true actually. There are thousands of applications that you can install in Ubuntu just by clicking on them in Synaptic Package Manager (or using apt-get from the command line) and I find that there is generally an app for anything that you would want to do. And if you are a gamer and need to run windows games, just install them under WINE. It usually works quite well these days.
Cheers,
Vangelis
Haha - yes, well said. Hating Micro$osft was something that I had to come to terms with. That was until my daughters bought an iPod Touch! Then I saw how Apple locks you into their system so totally that it was downright claustrophobic. I now sing the praises of Windows and if I had to pay for a home operating system, I would choose microsoft over apple every time. But then, why pay for an operating system that only gets updated every 5 years when I can download a free operating system that has 6-monthly releases! Speaking of which, only 5 days to go for the Ubuntu 9.10 release!
I should mention that I was dual booting XP/Linux for some years until I realised one day that it had been over a year since I had booted into XP. I then blew that partition away, never to be seen again! That was a good day...
Oh, I forgot to ask you, I'm intrigued. You said that you have a Unix variant. Are you using Sun Solaris? Or something else entirely?
Cheers,
Vangelis
I just need to gush over my machine.
Just bought (upgraded from Leopard) and installed Snow Leopard and I love it so much it makes me want to cry a little. Only $35! Installed in, like, I don't know, 7 minutes or something? Now my machine's running faster, smoother, sweeter.
Why, oh, why did I wait 6 years to switch from Windows to a Mac? I'll never get those 6 years back. Those 6 frustrating, angry years. Now my computer (MacBook Pro) actually makes me happy. Yes, I know. But it does. It really, really does. All the time. After a year it still shuts down in 6 seconds. I've never had a single problem with it I couldn't fix in a few minutes and I'm just barely computer literate. I'm always finding these little shortcuts and tricks, easier, faster ways to do things and with Snow Leopard there are a ton more great surprises like that. Improvements that not only make sense but make me feel like someone cares about the quality of my time with my machine.
I'll never expand my knowledge and understanding of computers enough in this life to be able to do anything more than basic stuff so a Mac is perfect. I don't need to tinker with it. I don't need to get into its guts. I just need it to work and do what I want it to do and unlike every single Windows machines I've ever used, it does.
Okay, that's all I'm going to say on the subject.
(I love Snow Leopard. ....sorry.)
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/10/21/microsoft.promos.win.7.with.bk.deal/
Yes, vmware and other virtualization solutions on Linux are a real pain.
You can try these links:
http://samanathon.com/how-to-install-microsoft-office-2007-in-ubuntu-9-04/
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1173365
Office 2007 is fully supported on WINE however, if you are running Ubuntu Linux, don't install the version of WINE that is available in the Ubuntu repositories because it is too old. Download and install the latest WINE from the official website. The links above give full details of how to do this.
Hope it all works out for you!
Cheers,
Vangelis
Glad you're enjoying your Mac, Brigid. Whenever I walked into a computer shop (which was often!) with my daughters, even from a young age, they would automatically gravitate to the Mac machines and start playing with all the special graphic effects. It's a very intuitive operating system. And of course, ever since Apple based their OS on BSD, it became much more stable and secure.
Cheers,
Vangelis
There are some crazy advertising campaigns mentioned in that article! Microsoft have gone crazy advertising this new release even in Australia - every second commercial seems to be for Windows 7. Oh well, maybe they'll eventually brainwash me to... lol...
XP was the last good Microsoft operating system, if you like me. I've tried Vista and I hate how it's just a poorly cloned version of OS X.
And I'm with ya, Brigid. I have a 17" Macbook Pro and the upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard was, well... Divine.
Here in Brasil the black market released it before the official release (at least here in Brasil) and they sell it for 5 dollars, while the official version costs like 100 to 300 ish?. Microsoft has been saying this version is full of problems but nobody cares, not even the police.
Here is what a news website (somewhat reliable) has to say (translated by me):
Windows 7, Microsoft's new operational system, is coming to the stores of the biggest electronics sale center in São Paulo only next week, but the "ambulantes" (people that sell stuff on the street) have been selling the illegal version of the product for a month.
On Santa Ifigenia street, in downtown Sao Paulo, the ambulantes say they have been selling around ten copies of the software a day. They cost between 10 and 5 dollars (more or less). In comparison, a store on the same street that sells original software, sells, roughly, 25 copies of Windows a month.
Altough there are many ambulantes spread across the whole street, they dont get intimidated by the police presence. In about one hour, six cars of the police passed by the place and didn't make any aprehension of the products.
Mach kernel. The shell borrows from various BSDs.
There was nothing more secure than a classic Mac right out of the box. The lack of a built in command line made it much harder to crack. Stability, on the other hand, got to be a bit of a problem. :-)
Brigid, you smart thing, you.
Nameless, we had a similar situation in the US in the early nineteenth century. US publishers sold all the popular British novels, without paying any royalties. Dickens hated the US because we pirated everything he wrote.
Ok, ok, I jest but you can as of now download the latest version of Ubuntu but I guess the news is not so great when the releases are on 6 monthly cycles, not every 5 years! Lol.
Get your next fix here: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
Cheers,
Vangelis
Lol!!! Oh so funny!
This one shows all operating systems - South Park style. As usual with South Park beware of the language!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-22EpQOm8c
And the Novell commercials that I didn't even know about until now coz I don't live in the US.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtp5gNhBZgo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eTguZ5OzJ4
Another great little animation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYXZIbm4XTQ&feature=related
~nomad
http://fedoraproject.org/
~nomad
I almost split a gut when I read that! What a birth defect!
Palzang
Haha... Hi Nomad,
Well, after all the flood of Microsoft commercials after its release, I couldn't keep my mouth shut any longer! Sorry if it offends you but I had to go on about the myriad of free operating systems that work perfectly well. Why pay a fortune for an operating system when there are perfectly good alternatives that you can just download?
You are right - each to his own. Maybe I'm just a tight-ass or maybe I just like the fact that there are free alternatives that can compete against the offerings from multi-billion dollar companies. In fact, some years ago, Microsoft identified Linux as its biggest threat. Did you also know what they did about it? They funded one of the Linux companies to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars to issue lawsuits to all companies using Linux (and many do use it for their servers) claiming that they had the rights to the source code and that all other Linux companies had stolen it!!! Of course there was a big court case regarding this at which they were not able to produce the evidence that the code had been stolen (surprise, surprise). That's just he way Microsoft works to stifle the industry but it's oh so difficult to stifle a multiheaded-hydra. Cut one linux company and 10 others will pop up somewhere else. The true power of the Linux community is that its source code is open and available to all for updating and modification.
But most of all, I brag about my operating system coz I'm a geek!
Much like petrolheads brag about the type of petrol they use (of course, I only use high-octane unleaded 98 RON
Cheers,
Vangelis
Ye, it's just like saying football is not a religion... who are you kidding? lol!
Hi dhammachick, might I suggest that you try a version of Linux that you like and install it dual boot so you can use it as well as windows. I had to do that initially because I couldn't get away from windows - I was too well trained by microsoft to think the windows way. But after using Linux for some time (took years) I realised I hadn't booted into my windows partition for over 12 months. That was when I decided to finally totally eradicate windows once and for all. I think what I am trying to say is that just like me, you find Linux difficult because you are so used to working the windows way. You need to wean yourself off it because it's too hard to break the habit cold turkey.
Oops... I just realised my faux pas. Hope I didn't offend anyone...
joymartin, if you don't mind, what about 7 enhances your productivity? I'm not debating your statement, really just curious..I may learn something.