Is WinXP to become the last embraced version of Windows?

[bda1967]

I'm dual booting with XP Home 32 and Vista Ultimate 64 and I must say that I am impressed with the Vista Ultimate 64 bit. I was a Vista hater some time back but the more that I mess with it, the more I like it. For one, it's just as fast as my XP set up is on this computer and I'm not even overclocked yet on the Vista install. All my programs are running fine and I'm gaming just a easy and fast as I am on XP. I was only seeing 2.75 Gigs of RAM on XP and I'm seeing 4.0 on my Vista. I'm not sure if this is a big deal or not but I'm getting an overall score of 5.5 on Windows Experience due to my RAM is only at 5.5. CPU, desktop and 3D is at 5.9 and primary hard disk is at 5.7. I'm using the beta Nvidia drivers and they seem to be working well too. I'm glad that I took the plunge and bought this OS because it was worth it. I still like my XP but I'm seeing no reason to use it at this point. Maybe my install is too fresh and I'm going to run into all sorts of problems here shortly but I've seen nothing to indicate any problems yet. Did I mention that it is fast?

 

[I.M.O.G.]

I would join the linux community if it werent for the command prompt commands all of the time.

I know this is for security reasons, fair enough, but they should be on a GUI level by now. Novice users (such as myself in a Linux OS) have no idea, and spend a good 3 or 4 months learning, rather than enjoying. I can pick up a game and within 2 minutes am enjoying myself. Can pick up a new piece of software and enjoy it if its any good.

The lat time i installed Ubuntu, i was pulling my hair out just trying to install that bloody free army game. I got it installed eventually. It was really good. Till i had to try and get admin rights again to install something else....

As soon as Lunix make those command prompt commands a GUI or allow an optional GUI to proces these commands, ill be right there on Linux.

Dont get me wrong, im a regular jenny from the block. I was bred on Dos 5 and ASCII art, when Telix was the only way to communicate via PC, and those old games, which were great. But those days are gone now. Bring on the fancy GUI, and make it snappy linux, or you wont compete in this day and age.

I'm not sure how long ago you tried that, but the instructions for installing that game are very simple:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AmericasArmy

Its one command to install, one to run now.

Most things are gui, for some special things, like games are more complicated. Its pretty commonly held that Linux is a poor gaming platform if your a gamer.

Honestly, I never would have used Linux before google came around... but Google is the ultimate manpage - most anything can be done after a quick search with some straightforward commands.

 

[FudgeNuggets]

I'm not sure how long ago you tried that, but the instructions for installing that game are very simple:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AmericasArmy

Its one command to install, one to run now.

Most things are gui, for some special things, like games are more complicated. Its pretty commonly held that Linux is a poor gaming platform if your a gamer.

Honestly, I never would have used Linux before google came around... but Google is the ultimate manpage - most anything can be done after a quick search with some straightforward commands.

OSX is better but not by leaps and bounds. A lot of people were REALLY irritated when they found that SPORE was running through a Windows emulator similar to WINE called, Cider.

 

[jayfella]

I'm not sure how long ago you tried that, but the instructions for installing that game are very simple:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AmericasArmy

Its one command to install, one to run now.

Most things are gui, for some special things, like games are more complicated. Its pretty commonly held that Linux is a poor gaming platform if your a gamer.

Honestly, I never would have used Linux before google came around... but Google is the ultimate manpage - most anything can be done after a quick search with some straightforward commands.

I guess it would have been around 9 months ago. I think the most annoying thing was that whenever i asked, people said "keep trying" - and im like "keep trying what, people. I have no idea what im doing"

I do agree that Linux is really really good. I really like the feel of it, and enjoy using it. Its very fast compared, but dont you think that because of all the distro's, its pretty complicated to get an answer because most people use different ones?

 

[I.M.O.G.]

I guess it would have been around 9 months ago. I think the most annoying thing was that whenever i asked, people said "keep trying" - and im like "keep trying what, people. I have no idea what im doing"

I do agree that Linux is really really good. I really like the feel of it, and enjoy using it. Its very fast compared, but dont you think that because of all the distro's, its pretty complicated to get an answer because most people use different ones?

It can be - I learned a lot in how to use google to find relevant search results, as well as where to go for accurate answers. Each distro has its best resources. That takes a bit of time and makes things a lot easier once things start to click.

Generally, answers apply across distros - they tend to vary most around package installation - this depends on your package manager and the base your system is built with - portage, debian, rpm. That is what differentiates distros more than anything. Any distro that uses the same base is going to be pretty similar in the questions and problems your most likely to encounter.

The Ubuntu forums are SO high traffic, and theres so many new clueless users (I was one not long ago), I found I had to do a lot more sifting thru good/bad answers with Ubuntu - but there are good answers there and they commonly show up in google.

For Gentoo, the gentoo handbook is extremely helpful - its very very detailed and if you follow it, you will end up with a working system, and learn a lot about how things work... Then you can do it again since you understand things better and can see how you would improve things. Rinse, wash, repeat and you see a lot of progress in how well your system runs, and how customized it is - Gentoo is pretty cool, read about Portage if you are interested. The Gentoo wiki is also a great resource, and then theres the Gentoo forums which are also very good. The first place I go is often here tho, after I google search.

The hardest part for me is knowing whats relevant when I get stuck and have to break down and ask for help - most things I can search and find someone who's done it before or ran into the same problem. Knowing what to ask exactly, how to ask it, and where to ask it takes some time - and thats a big part of getting good answers.

You got some bad advice... I've gotten great help from the guys in our Alt OS forums tho, very helpful crew.

 

[jayfella]

we are all also forgetting the fantastic move by microsoft in allowing their software to be cracked, not forgetting the wise move of allowing their new OS to be downloaded through riverdownloads, and even to this day, can be downloaded.

Wise move indeed. And it worked.

 

[MrTurd Ferguson]

Well I remember when I got my first PC...leaving a Commodore 64 was hard for me cause that is what I started on...stop laughing.

It took a bit but I got use to it and then along came Windows. The first Windows machine in our house...I hated the thing. My first words on it was "where's the DOS prompt at?" and "this is just some BS for lazy people".

A little time and I started liking it better and better...now I can't hardly remember any DOS commands anymore...sad huh?

Windows 95...thanks God for Windows 98...then I was like "this is dorky" and I threw a prayer meeting at my house when Windows ME came out. I skipped right past Windows 2k and went for Windows XP Pro (32 bit). And I was like "Jesus Christ how did I ever live without this" and when Vista came out I was like "screw that crap".

I'm using a Gateway Solo 1100 right now...Intel Celeron running at 466mhz with 256mb of RAM and a 20gig HD. Now you talk about slow...but I'm running Windows XP Home on it right now and have been for a few years now. Everything I've had around here has had XP Home or XP Pro on it.

Until today. My other toy machine has that cheap Biostar micro-atx board in it, 60gb HD, Intel P4 504 Prescott (3.2ghz OC) and 2 gigs of RAM. It was running XP Home...then XP Pro...now Vista HP. I simply love Vista...it's just as fast as it was with XP on it...and I was expecting it to be slower. My water-cooled project is going to have Vista on it...just don't know if it'll be Vista HP or Ultimate...and I don't know whether I want to install 32bit or 64bit...I guess I could just try one and then move to the next one and so on until I try them all and decide which I like best. It's just time consuming that way.