No, no, no. Windows is bad enough, you want him to buy a proprietary piece of hardware that runs proprietary softare, each of which lock you into the other?
If you are not running some kludgy vertical or niche market must have application, keep your hardware and install Linux. It's not just stable but infinitely customizable (which seems to be Harold's biggest complaint). And not only does it run on your existing hardware, it is so much more streamlined and performance optimized, that it has a fountain of youth effect on your old hardware. Today's distributions are easy to install and use. There are GUI tools for just about everything. If you are a home or small business user, go with Ubuntu, or one of its variants (the more robust and integrated Kubuntu, the more lightweight Xubuntu, the kid oriented Edubuntu, etc. The learning curve has significantly flattened and compatibility with ubiquitous MS formats is quite good. (Open Office does a much better job of handling MS Office 2007 formats than earlier MS versions, 2000 and 2003, do.) Best of all, you can run it from a live boot CD to test it without installing anything. (You won't get the performance booting and running it from the CD as you will by installing it, so don't judge performance that way. If you are in a larger business with MS server software, such as Active Directory and Exchange, go with Novell's Suse Enterprise Linux (Desktop or server). This package is fully supported by Dell and others, joins an AD domain effortlessly, and everything is tuned for cross-platform compatibility. I manage about 300 desktops and 20 servers solely from Ubuntu running on a 6 or 7 year old "white box" and Suse on a four year old machine. When I need to, I can use remote desktop to run Windows apps. I just replaced Symantec AV on the servers including the Exchange server with Kaspersky AV without leaving my Ubuntu white box. Evolution works well as an Outlook replacement, and the Palm conduits are stable and robust. Because of market share and vendors aiming and tuning their products at Windows, it is still true that more things work out of the box with Windows, but in my experience, users and IT people can't fix things that don't work with Windows. And when Windows breaks it isn't worth trying to fix. The solution is fdisk and reinstall. On the other hand I can usually fix things that break or don't work the way I want them to in Linux. Oh, and speaking of the proprietary world of Apple, I love my iPod, but won't touch the iTunes store. Why buy an .aac format that I will not likely ever run on a competing piece of hardware? ITunes is like a drug pusher: once you buy aac, you are stuck with Apple hardware. That's the end of my rant. On Friday 22 February 2008 11:32:45 L wrote: > Get a Mac, mac! > > On 2/22/08, Harold M. Goldner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > You know, once upon a time, the computer was designed to make life easier > > for all of us. When did the device start dictating life? We have become > > so deadened to the effect of the OS over our lives, the software > > publisher's 'decisions' regarding what happens next and how, that we > > don't even whine when we note software doing stuff that is sufficiently > > annoying if our children did it we'd make them stand in a corner. > > Tell me why I have to tolerate a Palm reset completely taking my handheld > > offline for a minute or so, or random software causing resets which hand > > and go nowhere? Why does my practice management software crash silently > > in the background all the time (and the vendor tell me all I have to do > > is upgrade, even though reports of upgraded users are 'more of the > > same?') Windows has been crashing around us for years and years and > > years, and still as Don points out, they have 75% of the market. The > > Vista pioneers are suffering from no-device drivers and other pains or > > compatibility issues. > > I open a brand new file dialogue box in Word and it still can't remember > > which directory I just opened moments before, it plows back to the same > > old darn directory every time. > > Outlook wants to tell me how many emails I have and I don't even run > > outlook. > > Yeah, there are lots of things I could do to fix things. I could read > > manuals. I could hire trainers. I could actually learn the software in > > detail. But, folks, I want to practice law, not be a computer programmer. > > I want to help my clients, not my vendors. I want to do what I want to do > > how I want to do it and not have the darn tools get in the way. > > There are times when I am convinced the Amish have it right. > > Yeah, I love my Treo, but that doesn't mean I don't want to hurl it at > > the wall once in a wall. I like my computers, but I also am glad my > > building's windows are sealed shut. Vista? TimeMatters 9? Agendus 12? Go > > AWAY! I have work to do! > > End rant. (Sorry folks, new to the list and 3rd rant this week. I'm not > > normally like this. Really, I'm not.) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
