2008/6/11 Harold Fuchs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > 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.
I do not think that they can expect security updates or new features, but I doubt that the OS will 'stop working' in the sense that it does when one does not activate it. If a company or individual wants to use an unsupported OS, then why not? I know of people still using Amigas, and those haven't been supported for over a decade. > 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 ... Which gadgets and peripherals, specifically? I'd like to write to the manufacturers and request support. > 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. I do that every week! That's why I'd like to know what devices you need support for. Thanks. Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il א-ב-ג-ד-ה-ו-ז-ח-ט-י-ך-כ-ל-ם-מ-ן-נ-ס-ע-ף-פ-ץ-צ-ק-ר-ש-ת A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
