Bob La Quey wrote:
I am curious what she is likely to run into that cannot be handled by say Open Office. Maybe some .wmv stuff?
For me, almost everyday at work, it's complex .ppt files and Word documents with lots of templates/macros. Open Office can often render them enough to be usable, but when they are "fill in the blank and return it" type documents, it can be quite annoying.
Also (and I have no idea if SDSU has gone this route) but often closed environments like a campus have proprietary software that either A) only has a Windows binary or B) is a web type app that only renders well in IE.
A third thought is, how computer-savvy is your daughter? Often things can be done in Linux that can be done in Windows. However, the instructions handed out at the beginning of the class will be for Windows (and possibly Mac). Is she able to translate from that to Linux?
Do you have a simple solution that I am ignorant of for keeping a Windows box running?
Turn on auto-update. Don't open attachments that you don't know are coming. Stay away from the seedy side of the Internet. Don't share software with your classmates. Don't install anything of the Weatherbug/CoolCursors ilk.
I've run a Windows system for years without any problems following the advice above.
Maybe I am just old fashioned but the vast majority of what I expect her to be doing is just simple word processing. That and web surfing. Just a few years ago we did word processing quite adequately on 10 Mhz machines. Web surfing can use more horsepower for sure ... but what it usually needs is more bandwidth.
You'd think. But "Interactive" interfaces like you find in academic programs are often flash-based or video-intensive. Both of these take more horsepower than you'd think to be usable. Also remember that, in 4 years, the slower computer you buy now will be positively decrepit.
PPS. A web service that would translate .wmv files to say flash would sure be nice, eh.
ffmpeg/mencoder can do this on the command line (provided you have the right proprietary codecs installed). I'm sure you could gin up an interface for them.
-ajb -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
