Vista Vs Ubuntu

[acorn_farmer_84]

Hi, :)
I came across 2 reviews/articles, one on Vista, another on Ubuntu.
In both, the writer used the OS for 30 days on his home pc:

Here they are:
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.h ... VzaWFzdA==
http://consumer.hardocp.com/article.htm ... 9uc3VtZXI=

What do you think?

[AZ Rail Rat]

GREAT ARTICLE on Vista Danny Boy. Also seemed to be VERY un-biased. (or is that unBIOSed?)

I have two cars (1990 Cadillac Fleetwood & 1986 Lincoln Town Car). I used Win98 SE from 2000 until 2005. ONLY went with XP because I built MACzeane. Point: I can go with the old stuff just fine, thank you.

Unlike some, I don't mind XP. There was so much difference between performance of my old and new computer, it is impossible (without a lot of wasted-time evaluation) to determine how much performance/enjoyment came from XP and how much from the new hardware. That said, would NEVER go back to Win98.

I did not see much in the article that spun my top. In fact, every day, Vista proves to be just like SM's Railraods - - - A LEMON. :(

Edit: Wait - - - in the case of SMR, my above statement was an INSULT to LEMONS!!!

[Hawk]

Edit: Wait - - - in the case of SMR, my above statement was an INSULT to LEMONS!!!

You are such a naughty boy Rat.
I've read the article on Vista. Can't say as I'm too surprised. I still need to read the article on Ubuntu.

[AZ Rail Rat]

Since the Vista article talked about having to "learn" so much new, no time to teach this old mouse new tricks.

[acorn_farmer_84]

this site is obviously biased,
but a nice anti-vista site i came across:
http://badvista.fsf.org/what-s-wrong-wi ... dows-vista

Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system is a giant step backward for your freedoms.

Usually, new software enables you to do more with your computer. Vista, though, is designed to restrict what you can do.

Vista enforces new forms of “Digital Rights Management (DRM)”. DRM is more accurately called Digital Restrictions Management, because it is a technology that Big Media and computer companies try to impose on us all, in order to have control over how our computers are used.

Technology security expert Bruce Schneier explains it most concisely:

"Windows Vista includes an array of "features" that you don't want. These features will make your computer less reliable and less secure. They'll make your computer less stable and run slower. They will cause technical support problems. They may even require you to upgrade some of your peripheral hardware and existing software. And these features won't do anything useful. In fact, they're working against you. They're digital rights management (DRM) features built into Vista at the behest of the entertainment industry - And you don't get to refuse them."

DRM gives power to Microsoft and Big Media.

* They decide which programs you can and can't use on your computer
* They decide which features of your computer or software you can use at any given moment
* They force you to install new programs even when you don't want to (and, of course, pay for the privilege)
* They restrict your access to certain programs and even to your own data files

DRM is enforced by technological barriers. You try to do something, and your computer tells you that you can't. To make this effective, your computer has to be constantly monitoring what you are doing. This constant monitoring uses computing power and memory, and is a large part of the reason why Microsoft is telling you that you have to buy new and more powerful hardware in order to run Vista. They want you to buy new hardware not because you need it, but because your computer needs it in order to be more effective at restricting what you do.

Microsoft and other computer companies sometimes refer to these restrictions as “Trusted Computing.” Given that they are designed to make it so that your computer stops trusting you and starts trusting Microsoft, these restrictions are more appropriately called “Treacherous Computing”.
Even when you legally buy Vista, you don't own it.

Windows Vista, like previous versions of Windows, is proprietary software: leased to you under a license that severely restricts how you can use it, and without source code, so nobody but Microsoft can change it or even verify what it really does.

Microsoft says it best:

The software is licensed, not sold. This agreement only gives you some rights to use the software. Microsoft reserves all other rights. Unless applicable law gives you more rights despite this limitation, you may use the software only as expressly permitted in this agreement. In doing so, you must comply with any technical limitations in the software that only allow you to use it in certain ways.

To make it even more confusing, different versions of Vista have different licensing restrictions. You can read all of the licenses at http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/us ... fault.aspx.

It's painful to read the licenses, and this is often why people don't object to them. But if we don't start objecting, we will lose valuable freedoms. Here are some of the ridiculous restrictions you will find in your reading:

* If your copy of Vista came with the purchase of a new computer, that copy of Vista may only be legally used on that machine, forever.
* If you bought Vista in a retail store and installed it on a machine you already owned, you have to completely delete it on that machine before you can install it on another machine.
* You give Microsoft the right, through programs like Windows Defender, to delete programs from your system that it decides are spyware.
* You consent to being spied upon by Microsoft, through the “Windows Genuine Advantage” system. This system tries to identify instances of copying that Microsoft thinks are illegitimate. Unfortunately, a recent study indicated that this system has already screwed up in over 500,000 cases.

[Hawk]

That one leans more towards other articles I've read.
Here's a few more links for those that are bored enough to read all this data.

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker ... ID=6163159

http://WindowsSecrets.com/comp/061012

http://hawkdawg.com/longhorn.htm

http://windowssecrets.com/comp/070215/

http://consumer.hardocp.com/article.htm ... 29uc3VtZXI

http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/ind ... ewsid=7675

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/p ... _cost.html

http://windowssecrets.com/comp/070201/

http://hawkdawg.com/Stuff/Where_Do_I_Get_Off.htm

http://www.tweakhound.com/vista/oink.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/produc ... fault.mspx

http://askbobrankin.com/upgrade_to_vista.html

http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/02/27/win ... -with-you/

http://windowssecrets.com/comp/070315/

[thegrindre]

Gawd, I'm convinced I'm convinced, already. I'll never use Vista. I promise... LOLOLOL (Great stuff here, though).

[Hawk]

If you need some more help grindre, I believe I've still got a couple more links about Vista floating around.

[thegrindre]

I hate a smart a$$... LOL

I've done some reading here and found that Linux is still a bit off for the casual user, which is most of us. And as far as games go, no way at all. You still have to 'know something' before you can really use it.

I was wondering about Mac/Apple's OS? Since my system is so bare at the present, I thought I might try a different OS.

[acorn_farmer_84]

well, macs have the same problem as linux in that hardly any games work on them, (along with other software),
in fact i might go as far as saying that less games work on mac than linux.

[Hawk]

The Mac is not just an OS, it's a completely different system. You can't install a Mac OS on a regular PC. You have to buy a Mac computer. They use different hardware.

[ljn]

I have downloaded both the client and server versions of Ubuntu, an have made a boot CD for each as well as installed it on a old 6gb & 10gb drives. So far it is fun to play with, it has run Linux programs that I have. I did all the download and CD copies on 1 the windows computers, then stuck the CD into the Compaq, turned it on, with a Fat32 formated drive, followed the instructions and loaded Ubuntu.

I also have a 10gb drive with Susie 10.0. I need to get cpu's & motherboard's which are faster then 475 mhz (2 old Compaq desktops only $40 each) which is what they run on now. It is a cheap way to learn Linux

[acorn_farmer_84]

Well,
duel booting Linux with windows just got a billion times easier with wubi,

Wubi is an unofficial Ubuntu installer for Windows users that will bring you into the Linux world with a few clicks. Wubi allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu as any other application.

Wubi is a Windows front-end for lupin. Wubi and lupin provide a user friendly installer which allows users to install/uninstall Ubuntu like any other Windows program, without modifying partitions, without replacing the bootloader, and without having to burn a CD. Ubuntu installation is almost identical to a standard dual-boot installation both in terms of behaviour and performance.

http://cutlersoftware.com/ubuntusetup/w ... index.html

http://www.download.com/Wubi/3000-2098_ ... ag=dl-blog

[Hawk]

That's good news!

[Hawk]

I'm getting ready to reformat my hard drive and I'm thinking of trying Ubuntu. I'm a little confused about one thing.
Should I create a separate partition for it? Could I create a separate partition for it.
From hat I understand from the Wubi site you CAN NOT install on a separate partition as it installs in the Windows folder.

Can anyone clear this up for me?

[besterik]

I'm getting ready to reformat my hard drive and I'm thinking of trying Ubuntu. I'm a little confused about one thing.
Should I create a separate partition for it? Could I create a separate partition for it.
From hat I understand from the Wubi site you CAN NOT install on a separate partition as it installs in the Windows folder.

Can anyone clear this up for me?

The main CD Image for Ubuntu can be used both as a Live-CD and an Installation CD. That is, you can boot up with the CD and get a slow version of Ubuntu running, so that you can check out what works out-of-the-box and what doesn't and see the graphical interface. You can also start a graphical installer from there. There is a tool on the CD called GParted, that will make new partitions on a harddrive that already contains Windows, so that both OSes will be on the same drive. So there is no need to make a separate (actually at least two) partion for Ubuntu (or any other modern version of Linux), since the installation program will help you with that. You must however install Windows before you install any other OS, since Windows will overwrite the part of the harddrive where the bootup info is stored (and NOT make it possible to call other OSes, unlike Linux).

FYI, RT3 will work just as well as in Windows, if you buy a Windows-emulating software called Cedega.

[Hawk]

That's good to know about Cedega.

If I'm reformatting the hard drive anyway, can I not go a head and set aside a partition for Ubuntu at that time?
Do I have to let the Ubuntu installer do the partitioning?
I was thinking f setting a 10GB partition for it and a 512MB for the swap file. I'm assuming it requires it's own swap file and doesn't share Windows page file, right?

[besterik]

The swap file is actually a special swap partition, and 512 MB is ok for it (more won't hurt if you have a big harddrive). Installing Ubuntu with all default program will take like 2-3 GB, and I have almost 5 GB on my desktop computer, without counting any games, documents, music, movies or downloaded files in general. If you want to write data to your Windows partion, then it's best to have at least a part of it as FAT32 (Since writing support for NTFS is still a new function and it seems to make some re-indexing or something every time data is written to a NTFS partion, or sometimes just stops responding).

Since you are formatting the disk, then the best is probably to just leave the part for Linux unused, so that the installer makes sure that each new partition gets the right file system (The Linux data partion will be Ext3 (or maybe Ext2) by default and the swap partition is called swp or something like that).

[Hawk]

I've got a 320GB hard drive so I guess if I leave 25GB empty Ubuntu can use that and do what it wants with it, right?
It can use that for the swap file and main partition for the OS and other programs.
I'll let Ubuntu set up the swap file at say 1GB or even 2.

[acorn_farmer_84]

good luck Hawk, :)
I personally prefer Kubuntu over Ubuntu,
Let u know what its like when you finish setting it up and all, :)