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Two years after Vista launch, 71% of business PCs still running XP

blogs.zdnet.com

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Re: Two years after Vista launch, 71% of business PCs still running XP

#11

Post by quoderat »

revorad wrote: post #9
quoderat wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Ubuntu right now. It has the best support forums and frequent updates, and is the best distro I've used over the years despite some glaring bugs. The most common apps I use are Firefox, gedit, Audacious, the shell, Brasero, VMWare (for testing Exchange setups in Windows), AbiWord, GIMP, Asunder, VLC and Pidgin. I started out on Red Hat 5.0 (not RHEL) in the late 90s. Used it full-time for about a year, then swi…

Thanks. I've switched plenty of distros (like most Linux users I guess). For now, I'm sticking with Debian. I find it quite fast and lean with xfce. One thing that's frustrated me in the past is that after having been a Windows users for years, I suddenly tried completely switching to Linux without knowing much about the commands and file structure. I still struggle with app updates and dependencies but I'm trying to…

Yeah, I think every Linux user switches distros over the years to find one that suits them best. It's always interesting (to me) to hear what path others have trod along the way.

I was lucky in that my girlfriend was much more deeply into Linux than I was when I decided to get rid of Windows altogether almost two years ago now. She was a big help. If I didn't know something, I'd just ask her. Unfortunately, I can't offer my girlfriend as a resource. ;-)

Even though I consider myself a geek (and you sound like you are as well), this book, Ubuntu for Non-Geeks, helped me out:

http://www.amazon.com/Ubuntu-Linux-Non-Geeks-Project-Based-G...

Since you're using Debian, a lot of that will apply, too.

I also just read a whole lot of man pages and used the great Ubuntu Guide site:

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Intrepid

And I used the Linux command reference PDF here:

http://fosswire.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/fwunixref.pdf

And of course a lot of Googling.

It does bother me that Ubuntu is coming to mean "Linux" to a lot of people, but it is a good distro.

What do you like about xfce? Never tried it myself.

Re: Two years after Vista launch, 71% of business PCs still running XP

#12

Post by blogimus »

revorad wrote: post #9
quoderat wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Ubuntu right now. It has the best support forums and frequent updates, and is the best distro I've used over the years despite some glaring bugs. The most common apps I use are Firefox, gedit, Audacious, the shell, Brasero, VMWare (for testing Exchange setups in Windows), AbiWord, GIMP, Asunder, VLC and Pidgin. I started out on Red Hat 5.0 (not RHEL) in the late 90s. Used it full-time for about a year, then swi…

Thanks. I've switched plenty of distros (like most Linux users I guess). For now, I'm sticking with Debian. I find it quite fast and lean with xfce. One thing that's frustrated me in the past is that after having been a Windows users for years, I suddenly tried completely switching to Linux without knowing much about the commands and file structure. I still struggle with app updates and dependencies but I'm trying to…

I don't have any book recommendations, at least specifically with Debian. I've always been able to get an answer on the web.

Now, I usually start with http://www.debian-administration.org to get some better ideas of how I can get some task done.

I also find some good tips for Debian and Ubuntu at http://articles.slicehost.com

Re: Two years after Vista launch, 71% of business PCs still running XP

#13

Post by mzexfswlkrji »

iigs wrote: post #7
cadalac wrote: post #5

Windows XP is actually a very good product so why switch?

In Redmond, Windows Current has generally been regarded as the biggest competitor to Windows Next, and there comes a point where people won't pay $hundreds for another dialog box prepended on the workflow for changing your IP address. You'd think that Embrace, Extend, Sell would be a better mantra than Embrace, Extend, Extinguish, but I guess that's why I'm not a Windows product manager.

Thats why you can't buy WindowsCurrent-1 Business would be perfectly happy sticking with W2k or NT4, there haven't been many breakthroughs in the technology needed to type a memo or update a sales spreadsheet.

The only way the money keeps flowing to Redmond is that new machines only come with WindowsNew and eventually everything else has to update because it's a pain managing a mixed environment.

Re: Two years after Vista launch, 71% of business PCs still running XP

#16

Post by grsites »

quoderat wrote: post #3

As I'm probably overly fond of pointing out, Vista is what caused me to switch to Linux. I know the businesses I work with have no interest in Vista, and probably won't switch to Windows 7, either -- at least not anytime soon. I'm advising all those who can to go to thin clients. That is actually about 90% of the business users who can easily use thin clients. They're often just as fast, far more secure, and so much…

Me too. Switched in April 2007 to openSUSE, now running 11.1...

Re: Two years after Vista launch, 71% of business PCs still running XP

#17

Post by aneesh »

cadalac wrote: post #5

Windows XP is actually a very good product so why switch?

Vista introduced features that let network admins have more control over machines on the network, and Win7 kept those features, and fixed many of the infamous Vista problems. So there is an incentive for corporate IT depts to upgrade to Win7.

For consumers, most won't intentionally upgrade. They'll do so by deciding they need new hardware, and probably Windows will come bundled with it.

Re: Two years after Vista launch, 71% of business PCs still running XP

#18

Post by iigs »

mzexfswlkrji wrote: post #13
iigs wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Redmond, Windows Current has generally been regarded as the biggest competitor to Windows Next, and there comes a point where people won't pay $hundreds for another dialog box prepended on the workflow for changing your IP address. You'd think that Embrace, Extend, Sell would be a better mantra than Embrace, Extend, Extinguish, but I guess that's why I'm not a Windows product manager.

Thats why you can't buy WindowsCurrent-1 Business would be perfectly happy sticking with W2k or NT4, there haven't been many breakthroughs in the technology needed to type a memo or update a sales spreadsheet. The only way the money keeps flowing to Redmond is that new machines only come with WindowsNew and eventually everything else has to update because it's a pain managing a mixed environment.

Indeed. Really all most companies want is continued support (patches). This model is crying for a subscription arrangement and MS was tripping over themselves trying to figure out how to make Windows a subscription business. It seems like it should be possible...

Re: Two years after Vista launch, 71% of business PCs still running XP

#19

Post by shiranaihito »

quoderat wrote: post #3

As I'm probably overly fond of pointing out, Vista is what caused me to switch to Linux. I know the businesses I work with have no interest in Vista, and probably won't switch to Windows 7, either -- at least not anytime soon. I'm advising all those who can to go to thin clients. That is actually about 90% of the business users who can easily use thin clients. They're often just as fast, far more secure, and so much…

I finally switched to Vista myself. All in all, it's nice to be running an OS that's not ancient, but that's about it.

I'll switch completely to OS X as soon as I can though.

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