[NTLUG:Discuss] Re: OpenSource articles glore...

[Tom Adelstein]

On Fri, 2005-02-04 at 17:16, Greg Edwards wrote:
> Robert Citek wrote:
> > Anyone have any idea what percentage of machines or how many machines 
> > are still running Win98?  I would imagine that anyone that has a machine 
> > powerful enough for Win2K probably bought it with Win2K.  Or is it 
> > common to buy a Win2K machine and then install Win98 for whatever reason?
> > 
> > Regards,
> > - Robert
> 
> I'm still running Win98 on 1 workstation.  The reasons is very simple, I 
> don't have to pay for what I've already got, it doesn't have passport, and 
> it runs everything I need to run.
> 
> All I need a Windows machine for is accounting and desktop publishing.  So 
> far I haven't been able to justify the cost of buying a newer WinOS, or 
> the hassle of installing a newer WinOS.  As long as OpenOffice and my 
> accounting package will run on Win98 I'll probably stay with Win98, worts 
> and all ;)
> 

Couple of points. Win 98 may have as much as a 50% share of the
Microsoft desktop space. The Irish bank(s) migrating to Sun JDS is
moving from WFW 3.11. So, older distributions are not unusual in
enterprises. 

Microsoft messed around with Windows 98 and 95 and created a NDIS
protection error on CPU's with 2.1 GHZ and higher. A fix does exist, but
they don't provide a download. They'll do just about anything to get
people to upgrade to a higher version of the same product. If you've
ever analyzed Windows 2000 Pro or XP Pro - they're using a different set
of "words" for the same networking functions they used in pre- Windows
2000 systems. It's like a new game of scrabble. But it's still scrabble.

I don't discourage people from using Windows (it's almost a complete
waste of time - addicts have to bottom out before they'll seek help) ---
but alternatives for just about everything exist. You can use Quickbooks
and some other accounting software on Linux with Crossover office as
well as Linux alternatives to desktop publishing. 

Ultimately, Linux advocates should consider any use of Windows as
interim steps to get to a completely free computer environment. Maybe
that sounds radical, but it's the goal. I'm not saying free as in beer,
but free as in freedom.

Anyone who looks deeply into the Microsoft world knows that they're
pushers and we're junkies. That's a fair assessment of what they do. 
One word of warning. An associate of mine got a virus on his wife's
Windows system. It ultimately goes into the bios and destroys the system
in an unapparent and slow manner. He tried to troubleshoot the virus and
used the hard drive on his Linux boxes. It killed them too. So, he lost
four machines. This virus got into any place it could find a little
memory such as video cards.

You may want to consider doing your tax returns over the Internet if you
can't get Turbo Tax to work with WINE. But then again, do whatever you
see fit. Whatever path people are on is the right path.

Tom