[Flipside]

Thing is, it's not the Activation stuff that annoys me, it's the fact when you upgrade your computer, you have to transmit that information to Microsoft at one point or another. I feel like I'm doing their market research for free.

The other thing is the usability of the code. Which is, as has been pointed out, pretty Archaic. It seriously needs re-writing from the bottom up, however, a certain Smart person also produces software which is crap. I still wouldn't condone downloading pirate copies of his games.

[Annihilation]

Good reason to get rid of Window$ and start learning how to use Linux. The fact that windows is a steaming pile of **** helps too.
I use a legit copy but just because it came bundled with my computer.

Good thing I like to play old games more than the modern ones. They probably will run nicely in linux.

[Grey Wolf]

Flipside, it depends on the sort of upgrade. Windows could really care less about your video card, or if you add an extra hard drive or two. The only time I've been forced to notify MS was when I replaced my MSI KT3 Ultra 2 with a Soltek nF2 board, and when I replaced the Soltek with an Asus A7N8X, due to the Soltek lacking the holes to mount a Zalman CNPS-7000.

[Scuddie]

All valid points.  However, there are tons of things that windows can do that linux can not (easily, that is).  For example, if you have a mystery piece of hardware, and you cant even find the FCC code.  What do you do?  If running Windows XP Pro/2003, pop it into your box, watch Windows detect the unknown hardware, then run Windows Update and see what it comes up with.  If running Linux, good luck.

Also, Linux doesnt have unified libraries like windows has.  Want to install Wine on a standard install of Mandrake?  Sure.  All you have to do, is verify that you have the required version of (insert lib here).  Neither an earlier, nor later version will do.  Then, make sure you have the (insert pack here) compiled specificly for your build of Mandrake.  If you install it for Redhat of the same revision, dont come crying to me when your system wont start the next time you boot.  Then, grab the completely unknown library that lies in the armpit of the internet, and hope it's still there.  Finally, rebuild the kernel with an unconventional method of doing so, and only on the second Tuesday of each month.  If all is done successfully, you shouldnt have many problems running the Wine installer.

Granted, the second one is a bit exagerated, but it pretty much sums up the experiences I had with linux a year ago.  I dont know if its still that way, but it has certainly made me shy away from it since then.  When things start becoming more standardised, I will consider trying Linux again.

[Nuke]

there are 3 reasons i dont use linux: 3dsmax, truspace, and photoshop

[Flipside]

Heh, to be honest, I don't think Microsoft are half as concerned about the contents of your hard-drive as people think, there is a high level of paranoia in that department anyway.

I wish there were a way to run your Internet connection through Linux and keep Windows for everything else, the only way to do that is to run a seperate server computer, and I don't have room for a 3rd

[Stealth]

the further i get into computer science, the more i hate software piracy

[Martinus]

Originally posted by Scuddie
All valid points.  However, there are tons of things that windows can do that linux can not (easily, that is).  For example, if you have a mystery piece of hardware, and you cant even find the FCC code.  What do you do?  If running Windows XP Pro/2003, pop it into your box, watch Windows detect the unknown hardware, then run Windows Update and see what it comes up with.  If running Linux, good luck.

[color=66ff00]Linux does have problems in this regard but a large part of that is the fabricators of the hardware are unwilling to cater to linux. Texas instruments, which makes a lot of chipsets flat out refuse to cater to linux despite it's growing userbase and it's not a isolated example. ATi are in this boat as well IIRC.[/color]

Also, Linux doesnt have unified libraries like windows has.  Want to install Wine on a standard install of Mandrake?  Sure.  All you have to do, is verify that you have the required version of (insert lib here).  Neither an earlier, nor later version will do.  Then, make sure you have the (insert pack here) compiled specificly for your build of Mandrake.  If you install it for Redhat of the same revision, dont come crying to me when your system wont start the next time you boot.  Then, grab the completely unknown library that lies in the armpit of the internet, and hope it's still there.  Finally, rebuild the kernel with an unconventional method of doing so, and only on the second Tuesday of each month.  If all is done successfully, you shouldnt have many problems running the Wine installer.

[color=66ff00]Gentoo and portage are the answer, it's even possible to install portage into another distro of your choice and this immediately solves all your dependancy problems. Debian has apt-get too and it's fairly well liked.[/color]

Granted, the second one is a bit exagerated, but it pretty much sums up the experiences I had with linux a year ago.

[color=66ff00]Wait a bit, Gentoo will soon be released with a new liveCD easier installation method. It sounds like you tried Linux and were so put off by your negative experience that you've got a vehement dislike for it.[/color]

I dont know if its still that way, but it has certainly made me shy away from it since then.  When things start becoming more standardised, I will consider trying Linux again.

[color=66ff00]the thing about linux is you get out of it what you put into it, sounds like a cop out answer but consider this; I can choose any wordprocessor I like (even MS products) under linux, I never have to install even a part of a software package that I don't like and most importantly nothing is built into the OS unless you choose it. Having something built into the OS is not only restrictive but undesirable, it cannot be unloaded as easily if it goes belly up and it can't be swapped for an alternative, you simply have to keep it and not use it.

Too many people are hung up on the argument that if linux is great then windows suck or if windows is great then linux sucks. I have uses for both, windows does games and linux does everything else for me. I'd like linux to be able to do everything simply on the want to be able to tweak and fiddle with it (something I like to do and another bonus of linux ).


I guess that Linux requires a certain 'hands-on' mindset whereas windows is for people who don't mind being told how to do something provided it's easy.[/color]

[WMCoolmon]

If running Windows XP Pro/2003, pop it into your box, watch Windows detect the unknown hardware, then run Windows Update and see what it comes up with.

I've never had this work. In fact, in the software detection department, Linux beats the crap out of Windows as far as I'm concerned. Change of hardware? No problem. Just make sure support is compiled into your kernel. Much as I ***** about Gentoo's install procedure, it is incredibly easy to optimize your kernel so that ONLY what you want is installed, or everything you could possibly want is installed (But loaded into modules, so the only slowdown is on startup).

[Nuke]

i like linux and i would use it, but windows emulation does not give you the same performance, especially with games ansd high-end graphics applications, as running it in windows would. if i had a second computer id be running linux on it.

[WMCoolmon]

It isn't all that hard to dual-boot you know...perfectly safe, I've done it with Yoper/W2k and Yoper/WXP using LILO (Piece o' cake, it adds the Windows entry for you I believe) and Gentoo/W2k using GRUB.

I think you might be able to use a FAT32 partition as your home directory, and keep your stuff in a folder with the same name as your Linux username. Thus, all you need is ~5-10 GB for Linux apps.

[Nuke]

indeed im just worried about what the linux installer is going to do to my other partitions. that and i only got 4 gigs of unallocated space.

[Clave]

That's not very much.  You should always aim to leave about a quarter of your drive(s) free.  Things slow down and get inefficient when a drive gets near to capacity - it's time to go shopping!

I have 75GB free on Drive A, and 100GB free on Drive B, and no Drive C....

Is NTFS not better than FAT32 btw?

[Scuddie]

Well...  Lets just say that if I was forced to run FAT32 instead of NTFS, I'd be terrified beyond the scope for rational thought.  Anyway, I sincerely wish linux would be able to tap into an NTFS device, instead of only relying on FAT/FAT32 for common read/write access.

BTW, is linux now using PC DOS conventions with drive lettering?  Or are you just too lazy to say HDA0 and HDB0?

[Nuke]

Originally posted by Clave
That's not very much.  You should always aim to leave about a quarter of your drive(s) free.  Things slow down and get inefficient when a drive gets near to capacity - it's time to go shopping!

I have 75GB free on Drive A, and 100GB free on Drive B, and no Drive C....

Is NTFS not better than FAT32 btw?

4gb is one quarter of that particular drive well not quite, more like a fifth. anyway a new drive is low on my list of wanted upgrades (beneath new mobo, more and/or faster ram, and a video card that doesnt suck). im out of eide ports and i have no sata aprts. i do have a scsi controler but scsi drives cost a fortune. though if i found a cheap one id buy it in a sec. i could get an external usb 2.0 drive, but my onbord controlers are always on the fritz.

iirc from my linux class, the installer will create int own partitions using linux's own file system (extsomething), aslo it can use ntfs partitions in read only mode. i was using mandrake 8 in that class so there may be one out there with better ntfs support.

[WMCoolmon]

There are two types of Linux file support, the default kernel and captive-ntfs. The first does read-only and writes to files as long as the file size doesn't change. Captive-ntfs does full read/write, but you have to get DLLs from Windows properly installed.

[Flipside]

Thing is for me, I use my second computer as a render-server and for the Internet connection. Since the Rendering software is Lightwave, I can't run it under Linux, and since I have a DSL connection, dual-boot isn't an option either