On 2007-08-16, Conor <conor.turton@gmail.com> wrote:

> Windows costs nothing when you buy a PC.

Yeah, M$ is just giving it away. Silly you.

> When your computer goes tits up, you're more likely to find someone you
> know who can fix Windows than Linux.

Make that "find someone you can pay".

> When you buy hardware, you're pretty much guaranteed it'll "just work"
> when you use Windows....

Haven't tried Vista yet, have you?

> whereas in Linux, it's a bit of a lottery

Somewhat true, but getting better. My lastest linux install found and
configured everything automatcally.

> recommend it, only for you to find out that it was in an older version
> but not the current.

I see. You want it for free with no personal effort or responsibility,
too. Do you chew your own food?

I see no one has mentioned the biggest reason why Windows sucks. I
just experienced the 3rd drive-by download/infection in three years on
my little used Windows box. It wiped my main scsi drive. This
occured via Firefox with both java and java scripts disabled. I've
never experience this with Linux. It was a dual boot system I use for
little used Windows applications and linux hacking. Now, the whole
box is compromised and must be wiped clean.

I did discover one good thing, at least, for Windows users. The
virus, which also loaded half a dozen trojans, totally wiped/corrupted
a 34G scsi drive. I could still see files with Linux, but they were
all renamed crap and inaccessable. So, I tried almost a dozen
free/shareware programs to try and get my data back. All of them
failed. I finally found one, Power Recovery Professional, which did
the job. After a 20 min scan, not only could the files be found, they
were proper filenames. Only problem, the free software was actually
demo-ware with the recovery function disabled. Still, nothing else
even came close. Some wouldn't even see the drive. So, now I have to
fork over about $100 to buy the full software package and get my files
back. No problem. Cheap, in my opinion.

Just thought I'd make a plug for this product, as I'm not the only one
I know who has lost data from downloaded malware on a Windows system.
Happened to a friend while installing Vista. Like I said, it's the
third time it's happened to me, and I spend a lot of time and effort
attempting to make my Windows system secure. It's a losing
proposition. Also, you can bet that's the last time I set up a dual
boot machine. From now on, my Windows box will be an isolated system
with no shared drives and extremely limited, if any, access to my
network.

This is the critical problem with Windows. It's just not secure.
There's no way I'd do financial or commercial transactions on a
Windows computer. I've been using Windows since 3.1 and it just keeps
getting worse. I have to fight to retain control of my own computer,
as Microsoft and all the the software providers see it as THEIR
computer and have no qualms whatsoever about embedding phone-home and
control functions and a bunch of other crap they want, despite what
I, the computer owner, wants. This is just intolerable.

The real question is, do you want control over your own computer.
Linux puts the computer user back into sole control of his system.
The trade off is the user has to want to be in control. You have to
make a little bit of an effort to take responsibility for your
computer. You can't give up control of your box to software vultures
and then snivel when they do things you don't want. Vista is the
worst example of this. Microsoft considers you to be a complete
idiot. You not only don't own the software, you give away to M$ all
rights to access your computer. Who is this stupid!? Millions,
apperently.

</rant>

nb