The slow road to Windows XP

CNet ^ | 2005-0615 | Ina Fried

[HairOfTheDog]

MsOffice is a crappy Office Suite...jump to Corel for real power or to Open Office.

Right.... Exactly what percentage of workplaces have followed this advice?

[N3WBI3]

Well one can make the same point that a user will not know how to use windows update without trying it out first. If anything we have a documentation problem, not a technical one. The process of using Gyum or graphical apt is just as easy as Windows Update..

[dread78645]

With onyl XP to replace it, Im not too happy that soon we may have to migrate off of our 2K desktops. Especially as XP is going EOL at the end of next year! So companies will enither need to run a mixed environment (2k/XP) until Longhorn is released, or do two desktop migrations in two years... ugg

Sounds like job security for junior admins.

Oh well at least they let IT folks use what ever they want, they cant take my Linux box away frmo me ;)

localhost.dread$ uname -v
FreeBSD 4.11-STABLE #24: Sat May 21 19:58:37 CDT 2005 root@localhost:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/donhome

[N3WBI3]

It means End Of Life. MS will no longer sell windows 2000, and will not longer do major upgrades (though according to their website they plan security hot fixes until 2010)

This will not hurt home users too much but it will be hell in the office (like the windows 98SE days when you had 95/98/SE all in the same dept..)

[softwarecreator]

True, about the updates, except MS provides a way to automatically download them and they provide links on the start menu and desktop for this purpose.  My point actually is the installing of 3rd party software which is almost impossible for a casual user to do.

Just try to install AOL Messenger on Linux, one dependancy issue leads to another until you just give up.  I know that there are Linux 'chat' applications but a LOT of people use AOL chat and want to continue to do so.

[N3WBI3]

The problem is what happens when a company wants to add 20 computers, say in November? they are going to be XP. You have now increased the amount of work done by help desk, and people who develop internal apps by at least 30 - 40%.

[N3WBI3]

Sounds like job security for junior admins.

naa it just means more short term contracting jobs out there for junior admins..

FreeBSD 4.11-STABLE

Nobody's perfect, though youre probably closer than me ;)

[N3WBI3]

[tim@nimbus ~]$ uname -nsvio
Linux nimbus #1 Tue May 17 20:27:37 EDT 2005 i386 GNU/Linux

[softwarecreator]

You two wanna be alone?  =)

[Poser]

Any software product that is supported for six years has run its course. The difference between supporting XP and 2K to the desktop users is very minor. Microsoft has held up it's end of the bargain.

Offhand, I can't think of many other companys that continue to sell their 6 year old products. Is Apple selling the same operating system they did 6 years ago?

I don't get it.

[N3WBI3]

But what casual software is this hard for?

Just try to install AOL Messenger on Linux

Thats becuase AIM's linux implementation is no good, GAIM is what needs to be put on. I can turn it around and say install GIMP on windows... You need to first go out and install GTK packages, then gimp... not too easy its because GIMP was designed for Linux and ported to windows..

[knews_hound]

Yet ANOTHER reason why, when MS kills 2000, I will stop using Windows products entirely.

There is simply no good reason for me to pay ADDITIONAL monies for "improvements" in their OS.

I have started to experiment with various flavors of Linux and once I pick one, MS is gone from my life.

R I P Microsoft.

Cheers,

knews hound

http://knewshound.blogspot.com/

[softwarecreator]

GIMP on windows

Yeah, but who would when you have MS paint and others?  I think that Linux needs to start making 3rd party software easier to install if it wants to seriously compete with Microsoft.

Operating Systems need to adapt to want users currently are comfortable with, not the other way around.

[softwarecreator]

I have started to experiment with various flavors of Linux and once I pick one

Try Mandrake 10.1 (I think they renamed it as something else) ... to me it is the best and easiest to adapt to.

[N3WBI3]

The problem is the only other OS to upgrade two is five years old and itself goes out of date in a year! so in 2007. For a large office a migration can take 6-12 months and at the end of doing that you'll be 6 months away from another one.

Or you can wait until longhorn and then have XP *AND* 2000 in your office while you start an upgrade..

[Banjoguy]

...trouble is, originally it was a bundled; installed by default so many users just went with it. It was one of the strategies that led to the justice department action...actually drove Borland right out of the market place. IMO, this accounts for the plethora of installations using the MS product.

IBM was nailed for doing the same thing when they were the honchos in the mainframe market.

What I know is that the MS product is Klugy while the Corel product is powerful, smooth and intuitive. (I'm just getting around to trying out Open Office.)

[softwarecreator]

Or you can wait until longhorn

Man, I am sick of updating.  I don;t usually have too many issues with MS products but this constant 'new' software is really starting to get to me.  I feel like I just went thru the .Net revamp and now another one.

I think I may wait a while before I 'upgrade' to this new Longhorn (if it EVER comes out) before I try it.

[softwarecreator]

Klugy

klugy?

[HairOfTheDog]

Man, I am sick of updating.

Then computers may not be your best pursuit.

[HairOfTheDog]

Phooey.