2008/6/10 Dotan Cohen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: <snip>
> Serious question: what is so good about Windows XP that it is worth > petitioning for? > > I have used Windows XP in the past, and found it a very frustrating > and insecure operating system. What features does Windows XP have that > users feel are missing from other OS's? > > This is not a troll, but a serious question. The Save XP petition started out, AFAIK, because people (Windows users) don't want to be "forced" [1] to migrate to Vista. It had nothing much to do with other options like Linux or Mac. One set of reasons for *not* migrating to Vista is given at http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html It makes startling reading and has much broader scope then merely "Vista versus XP". [1] Rightly or wrongly many companies will feel they *have to* stop using XP when Microsoft withdraws support from it. Re Linux: I am not a "gadget freak" but I do have several gadgets - PDA, mobile phone, flatbed scanner, all-in-one printer, PCMCIA WiFi LAN card - for which I can find absolutely no (or only very complex) Linux-based support. All those gadgets came with special software for e.g. syncing contacts with a PC. Most of the gadgets, but not all, also came with equivalent software for Mac. None of them came with anything for Linux. The scanner will do OCR but then wants to run MS Word to display the result. These things may be possible under Linux but they are certainly not "out of the box" which is what people nowadays expect. People want to display and/or backup and/or print their photos. They do *not* want to learn the intricacies of NDISwrapper in order to get their bluetooth phones to work. They also want the software to come from the company that makes the gadget. On a CD. In the box. It really isn't unreasonable. They don't want to have to learn about computers, any more than they want to learn how to strip down their car's engine; they have lives to lead. My wife's bank runs an internet banking scheme that will *only* work with Internet Explorer. We have tried complaining but ... So until the Linux fraternity can persuade mainstream gadget suppliers to support them most non-nerds (!!??!!) will continue using Windows and, to a lesser extent, Macs. -- Harold Fuchs London, England Please reply *only* to [email protected]
