Thanks for all the info Ed! There's a lot there, most of it I understand, a bit I don't. But it gives me a much better understanding of what going the Ubuntu route involves.
Thanks again, Ed 300E On 5 February 2012 15:17, Ed Booher <edboo...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 11:28 PM, E M <pokieba...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > I just had a look at the ubuntu site, along with some of the demo pics of > > their OS. It seems from the demo pics, that the LibreOffice icons are > > displayed. Not sure if that means ubuntu is bundled with LO ? > > > > Linux as OS includes absolutely nothing bundled with it. Linux is the > kernel, the very core of the system. However, Linux as a marketing product > placement includes something truly crazy, like 250,000+ bundled > applications. This is because the modern Linux distributions all have > access to back line applications systems, not unlike the App Stores popping > up. Ubuntu, Red Hat, SUSE, they all have direct and immediate access to > almost every other open source application available through their package > retrieval system. So if LibreOffice isn't actually in the distribution DVD, > it's less that three clicks of the mouse away. > > > > I really like the idea of a free open source OS, along with software that > > works on the same principles. Not that I mind paying for software at > all, > > but all this "phone home" stuff, constant updates, and linking my > personal > > info to various other sites MS, Google, and others might offer, is > getting > > to be a bit much I think. > > > > Well, the problem is, if the only reason you are changing your OS is to get > away from "phoning home" then you are going to be disappointed. Even the > modern Linux systems are talking to home servers to offer you updates and > packages. They aren't quite as bad as Microsoft, but then again, when you > think about it what little Windows is phoning home about amounts to so much > information daily that there isn't really a good way to localize and point > to an individual specifically. Basically the logistics involved with trying > to pin point a single user is astronomical, the data is being used as an > indication of large wide reaching problems. > > Not saying you *shouldn't* worry about phone homes, but that many of them > can be ignored. > > > > I've love to scrap my Vista OS, and use something like ubuntu, along with > > my firefox, but being such a non techie guy, I have no idea how to do > such > > things to a PC. > > > > Easier than falling off a log. Drop the disk in the drive, click, click, > click, use. The "Big Three," Ubuntu, Red Hat and SUSE have all spent a very > large amount of time, money and other resources to make their installation > procedures as easy as a reinstall of a Windows product. In fact you don't > even have to install them as the only OS which others have already pointed > out. > > However, if you truly want to rid Windows from your home completely, make > friends with a tech savvy person in your area. Don't think you are in > Indiana, but I could have you up and running in pretty much no time. The > real problem isn't the OS install, it's the data migration. How much do you > have that is in a Microsoft Office format? (DOCX, XLSX, etc.) While > LibreOffice can open most of the Microsoft file formats, they aren't always > 100% accurate. So saving them off in a more standard format, (RTF, CVS) for > the transfer might be a good idea. Do you have any data that is in a true > Microsoft only format? Not necessarily Microsoft the company, but Windows > the OS? Do you use any software that *only* runs in Windows, and therefore > you will not be able to open that data on anything but that application on > a Windows system? How *much* data do you have? Several terabytes? Couple > hundred megabytes? > > You might want to look into a NAS like Brian has been asking about for his > Macbook. A small system with simple RAID to help you keep a backup strategy > is *always* a good idea. When a drive fails and you lose data, how bad is > it for you? For me, I'd lose a decade of irreplaceable photos. There is no > "hard copy" of them. Keep this in mind as well. > > > > As a side note, what are everyone's thoughts on what's going on with the > > upcoming changes to Google? > > > > Which ones? If you mean their privacy policy, they actually do mean what > they say, it's gotten easier. They had something like 15 different legal > documents for privacy across their companies, each with their own little > gotchas. They now have 2, so all Google companies except Postini now use > the same Legal Privacy document. Do you mean how they have end of life > several different Google services? Wave, App Builder, etc? Or are you > referring to other changes? > > > > Ed > > 300E > > > > EdB > > -- > "Das beste oder nichts." - *Gottlieb Daimler* > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
