On Tue, 2007-02-20 at 09:42 -0800, Lan Barnes wrote: > On Mon, February 19, 2007 11:42 am, kelsey hudson wrote: > > It still won't sway my standing that I really hope vista eats the big > > one. I pity all the poor idiots out there using it and allowing the > > microsoft machine to flourish. Bad sheep! > > > > You're being naive/unfair. My wife (no sheep, I promise you) just bought a > laptop. They refused to even discuss reconfiguring it with anything but > the factory Vista image.
Which is one reason why I won't purchase from a name brand vendor. Locally, there are two places I now trust (and my company has also purchased equipment from them as well): D&J Computer (Formerly Microtron 2000 or MT Tron) and Chips and Memory. Both of these places will give you what you ask for (generally I ask for no OS). Sure, I may forgo the service contracts, but to me a computer that needs service is not worth paying for. Nearly every computer I have ever purchased has lasted for years longer than any Dell/HP/Whatever service contract would have covered without having to be fixed. There are a couple of exceptions, but those were my own fault (I simply selected the wrong hardware or ran the thing to death). My laptop from D&J, purchased in 2003, was recently repaired by D&J and they came out to my office and did it. It's actually a MSI brand P4-2.66. It needed a new P/S (a generic type used on many laptop models) and a new fan is all. I've used the hell out of it at work and home until recently (when I asked the company to pay for fixing it, they did and decided it would be a good idea to buy a new desktop Linux box - which I selected from Chips and Memory). Since I bought it, I've used my laptop more than I've used any desktop either at home or in the office, with the exception of my own server that's been on since I bought it in 2001 (with rare shutdowns in the heat of the East County summers). I do realize that some companies insist on purchasing from the Big Boys in order to get the service contracts, forcing them into whatever those vendors will provide (at the expense of flexibility and quality). > > Vista will dominate because new machines come with it and vendors refuse > to roll them back. BTW, this just in this morning on /., the number one request at Dell is to have Linux pre-installed. Number two (or was it three?) is Open Office. OSS is alive and well! :) PGA -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
