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Windows Vista VS. Linux - What's your choice?
Hello!
I've been reading many articles about Windows Vista loosing the market Windows XP gained. I know many Windows XP users who, after buying a 64 bits computer decided to install a good 64 bits Operating System by avoiding the use of Windows Vista. So, which Operating System should I install if I want stability, speed and hi-end user interface? Many ex-Microsoft users decided to install on their computer Ubuntu Linux. The reasons are obvious: - Hi-end user interface with the option to run a 3D desktop system even better than the heavy processes consumer Vista AERO. - Automatic hardware recognition fully integrated with the graphic interface. - The installation is not a text-based software, but is Ubuntu it self running through a Live-CD/DVD. This means that Ubuntu boots from the Live-CD and you can use it as if it were a volatile Operating System, while volatile? because every change you make to the OS will be discarded after rebooting the computer. Then if you want to install Ubuntu onto your hard drive you can double-click the Install icon and voila! Ubuntu will be installed on your computer after asking some few questions about your self and where you live. - GPL hi-end software installed as default. Totally free. - VERY EASY! |
I don't think that I like the new operating system all that much to be honest. I really think that xp is soooooooo much easier and cleaner to use. My fiance is a computer techie and also agress with me whole heartedly. He also thinks its a bit of a pain in the bum when people realizes their computer isn't up to date enough for the program when they buy it. Then their like "oh so we have to spend more money?" I just think to myself why change? I know they have to upgrade sooner or later but why not to something that the general population of computer users can actully use without too much fuss?
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Well! Thanks for the reply!
I totally agree with you. Why changing if it is not necesay? But, on the other hand, sooner or later will be in the need of upgrading. And I think it's better getting used to a new operating system now that we don't have the need than HAVING TO GET USED TO BY THE FORCE. I've just bought a new computer. Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, a nice graphic card and it was frustrating to install WIN XP, so I decided to download MAC OSX Tiger because it's a Unix based OS and it's supported by most of the main software brands (Adobe, Mozilla, Google, etc.) but it was a hell for me to install it on my non-Apple computer. I was so sad about that and I knew that I was a little step away from installing a Linux OS onto my computer. That wasn't the plan! I wanted MAC OSX, not Linux -because it's complicated- nor Windos Vista (Hell! NO!). But after reading some articles and asking some Tux lovers I downloaded UBUNTU for free. And when installing I realized that Linux was changing into something more and more user-friendly but with the stability that caracterizes this kind of OS. Adobe soft now are The Gimp and Xara Xtreme. I have poor PDF support but I have a vmWare Virtual Machine running WIN XP. Internet is hell faster in Linux than in any Win OS I ever tested. The security, well I have no ciruses and no malware on my UBUNTU!!! HA! I'll be posting soon! |
I have a Mac, so I run OSX and love it.
I wish I could give you some info on this, but I have no idea. I'm just glad I don't have to use a PC all the time... XP's not bad, I use it at work. But I've heard awful things about Vista. |
I have Vista Home Premium, 32 bit... and I love it. *dodges tomatoes*
My only viable qualm with the system is the fact that it doesn't reach back to pre-vista programs very well. That means that my language series, my old Sid Meier's Civilization IV, most of my fringe accessory drivers and even bits and pieces of the CS2 suite I owned did not function with my new laptop. THAT made me angry. For the most part, though, patches and rewritten drivers are coming and available through the internet support, so I'm not going to sob too loudly. ^_~ I feel like the 'paranoia' of Vista is greatly exaggerated. It's similar to having anti-virus and system care programs on your computer...but...without all the hassle of buying new programs. It only asks for confirmation when things are accessing the registry or altering/adding files that directly affect the computer's ability to run. SO, if your computer is asking for ten billion permissions to access, you need to revise what types of websites you're visiting and what kind of email you get, myo. The only time it ever really got in my way is when I first got my computer and I was busy loading all of my programs on to it. Then, I just got tired of having to triple-OK everything. I like the user-features of Vista, too. the layout of the control panel and file tree is a little difficult to navigate at first but it doesn't take too long to peg. The Computer Search engine has been hugely refined, which is in my world a windfall of ease. Google desktop is also the niftiest thing since Otaku Mascots window sitters. It is similar to the Mac Dashboard application, but not quite as advanced yet. It has gadgets like currency converters, calendars, all sorts of analog and digital clocks, weather gauges, language flashcards, to do lists, system monitors, etc. All within two clicks of the Shift. but yea. I like it. It takes some work to get used to, especially Office 2007. Woo, was that a surprise! |
I have Windows XP for now...
I quite like it, but mostly because it's what I'm used to... It has taken me ages to get as into computers as I am now, and I am constantly learning... I think switching would be too much of a task right now, especially since I can't for the love of me ask for help from anyone... I have this inner urge to be independent, even when it would make sense not to be O_O |
I'm glad to have Mac OSX and Windows Vista users expressing their opinions. I've got terrible experiences using Windows Vista. My brother has a Core 2 Duo Laptop with 2 Gb DDR2 and 2 HD 100 and 150Gb, NVidia 256 Mb graphic card. A great machine! He is a DJ and he uses VirtualDJ. He used to have an AthlonXP computer with 512 Mb, not so bad, in this machine running WinXP he uses VirtualDJ without any problem, but when using VirtualDJ on Vista on his new laptop, the music played some unwanted pauses in the middle of the song, and it was impossible to load another MP3 or video. Notice that we are talking about a two-proccesors machine with 4 times the RAM he used to have.
To solve this problem I had to turn of AERO and turn to Classic Windows Mode. Then turn off firewall, real-time antivirus, and system restore. Then moved page file to another partition (to avoid main partition defragmentation). At this point VirtualDJ starting working just like in his previews AthlonXP (just some problems running videos). I'm don't want to sound like an absolutist Tux lover, but I find Windows Vista requiring too much processor, memory, hard disk space. And it's just a desktop/laptop operating system. We are not speaking about a Scientific/Mathematical Software running on a Cluster. We have MacOSX Leopard that will deliver a Compiz Fusion like environment that can give the user a superior experience than AERO does, plus it will consume minimal resources - have in mind that MacOSX is aimed for the graphic/web designer and the main resources must be reserved to satisfy the graphic suite demand. There are very few threats to this OS. So you don't need to be running an AV and networking and Internet are secure enough for the end user since MacOSX is based on FreeBSD. Linux has Compiz Fusion, KDE or Gnome are the main windows managers for the OS. But you can still choose beetween many windows manager. Viruses? Nhaaaa... Malware? Nhaaaa... TRY IT! hehe! |
My dad had Vista on his new laptop, but He felt it was just slowing things down with all its flashyness, so he went back to XP. Much better he said ^^
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What I wanted to bring to light is the need we all will have or are already having of turning to 64 bits.
And you might tell me. I'm a 32 bits user that will never need 64 bits. And I will tell you that as your amount of music grows in your mobile devices, the Internet connections turn faster and faster every day, you stop watching movies on DVDs, now you are using HDDVD or BlueRay Discs. 1024 x 768 wont be the default resolution for an standard desktop computer, it will be replaced with 1920 x 1200 and for that you will need more than 32 bits of processing capabilities. Another thing that you will need to have in mind is the number of hard drives and also the speed. We are watching how Terabyte is getting used more frequently in computational matters, SSD drives are about to arrive massively to stores. Well, it seams that all I have been writing are just some futuristic words taken from Wikipedia, but is the technical side of this reality: High Quality Video Conferencing High Definition Video Streaming via Internet 3D environments deployment over Internet Enriched Personal Card handling through mobile devices Intelligent House Controlling through PC or Mobile Device Rich Multimedia everywhere you are Artificial Intelligence applied to Web/Graphic Design This are just some of the things we are or we will be using. This facilities will need PCs to be acting as Servers, so we will need those 64 bit architecture systems online as soon as possible. |
I've installed Ubuntu onto 2 computers and personally, I prefer it to Windows except for a few things. What I would first suggest you do is check on ubuntu forums if people have had problems with the wireless you have on the computer you are thinking of switching over. If you aren't using wireless you should be fine but in both systems I switched, the wireless was the biggest pain I have ever had because my card (Broadcam) was not recognized and I needed to get the driver to work using some scripts. This was hard because I had never done it before and some methods didn't work.
Also, if you have some programs/games that you really like on Windows, be sure you can get them to work on Linux (or that there is at least an alternative). I don't work with Macs if I can avoid it because I've always managed to crash them faster than a Windows machine. As far as Vista goes though, I'm not going to test it out until the first Service Pack comes out to fix the first group of bugs. |
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I the other hand, some "generic" wireless devices should get some trouble on Linux or Mac since drivers are programmed to function under WinXP/Vista only. I've just bought a wireless set of keyboard and optical mouse. From Microsoft. I've tested it on Windows Vista an without drivers some keys were disabled. But when testing on Ubuntu I got the entire keyboard functioning, special keys pre-configured since Gnome is already set to use special keys from any keyboard. Something similar happened when installing an HP PSC 1210 (scanner, copier, printer machine). On Windows is very very problematic and time consuming to make it work at first time. On Ubuntu I no need to install drivers, scanner and printer were configured since installation plus I got some economic printing mode option unavailable in the Vista or XP drivers. poet`s playground: WOW! that's a brand new MAC! Congrats! I love metal ending on computers! Thanks for replying the both of you! |
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Since XP isnt one of the options,
I choose.. Linux. |
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I think the problem with the software may have been a combination of Vista's incompatibility with pre-vista programs, and the inability of older programs to interface with the new vista programming. Sometimes the effects of that forced fit are barely noticeable, and sometimes they are hugely bothersome (much like pausing tracks and frozen choice menus.)I had that problem with some of my older programs until they developed a patch for it. And, yes, Vista uses up lots of processing power. One has to take that with a grain of salt, though, remembering that this is effectually a brand new system and will require some time to pare down its processes to absolute minimum, as windows xp had seven full years to do. ...either that, or RAM will get less expensive. one or the other. I'm sprry you had to fight so hard to get your brother's programs to work, though, that is ALWAYS unfortunate regardless of the OS in question... |
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I´m glad to be writing in page number 2!
I'm glad to having people using a variety of OSs! It would be great if someone would take a bit of his/her time to speak about MAC OSX. Since I'm a full time Linux user running WinXP only in virtual machines. Have great news for Linux and Gamers! AMD has bought ATI one of the leading 3D cards manufacturer. In adition to this acquisition AMD is realeasing ATI drivers under GPL so this means that Linux environments will take great advantages of this. In the meanwhile OpenGL 3 it's under heavy development so I'm sure we will have a 2008 with many Linux titles using OpenGL 2 and 3. Game titles will run faster on Linux PCs than on Vista PCs due to the low resources requirement of Linux plus the great stability and speed OpenGL always delivers. On the other hand Microsoft's DirectX 10 will be up and running but I can't figure out how DirectX will do to get some descent processor and memory usage from an always overflodded Vista OS. |
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Thanks Yreka for the post, it's really useful what you've wrote.
You brought up the support subject so I will speak about the Linux Ubuntu support and the Linux Software support. To start with, let's speak about Wiki's, Wiki's are called to the "extended manual" pages from the different Linux Distro's and Linux Software. A knowledge base and everything related to the software/OS in matter. Ubuntu has it's Wiki page, The Gimp has it's Wiki page and Automatix has it's Wiki page. This Wiki will cover installation under different distros, usability, upgrades, extensions, troubleshooting, behavior with different software/hardware. In few words it's everything you need to know about the software/OS arranged and powered by the great search engine used in Wikipedia. If the wiki page is not enough you can always go to the software/OS online forums or you can visit any Linux forum and inside this forums there are lot of people with great knowledge and the will to help not so experienced users. Here in my country there is a very big forum that covers general matters and has a great Linux sub-forum, all for Spanish speakers, asking something in this sub-forum is getting the exact troubleshooting in less than 24 hours! I love PsicoFXP! Linux can be problematic if you are new to some Unix uses - very different to Windows' -. But after you get used to 'not having partitions' and assigning permitions to a folder or a file and using sudo/gksudo to run a program as 'administrator'/root, it gets easy, very easy, because in Linux everything you plug (if it is listed on the compatibility docs of the OS) just works great. You will have to pay attention to the hardware compatibility with Linux. For example: I've bought a generic bluetooth dongle after plugging it nothing happened so I run to some Linus forums about bluetooth and it happened to be not listed on the compatibility Linux docs for bluetooth devices. I went to the shop where I bought it and I asked for a replacement from another brand. I got an MSI BT Dongle and after plugging it in just some seconds Linux was mounting my cellphone and my wifes cellphones plus the music and asking me if I wanted to import the address book into my contacts. When a cellphone rung my Ubuntu screen went alive telling me that my brother was calling me from his cellphone. WOW! I'm writing this and I can hardly believe it yet. So, if it works with Linux it will give you real solutions! Fun! And no problems at all! |
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It was a RedHat based OS, very nice looking Linux, relatively few problems for those days, but very very heavy! I can remember Windows 3.1 then 3.11 and DOS 6.22! LOL! In those days I used to pass hours of my free time programming in Clipper! UHMMM!!!! YES!!! I'M A BIT OLD!!! JUST A BIT! LOL! |
We have a Mac in our family, whenever that is available use it! Yay for Macs! Macs run way better, they run faster, not as many glitches (very few), run faster, better made, better at least in my opinion, in what I want to do. Better operating system.
I have myself a Dell Inspiron 8600, which as its problems but its alright now that I think I've fixed what I wanted to do, got the right programs for problems, but I want a Mac. |
Mac osx, Windows Vista is the worst operating system going.
Their is no comparison between pc and mac. |
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