Seriously, you know the old saying that starts, "If you can't say something nice..."?
I've put Linux on less than a tenth as many computers as I've put Windows on, but Linux has caused me at least 10 times as many problems and is way more than 10 times as much hassle, yet somehow I manage to not say bad stuff about it in every other post I make.
...and then there's the old saying, "If you can't take a joke, stay out of the kitchen!" :0)
My first question was half serious. I have a legal Win 7 license I run in a VM. I should be able to upgrade it to Win X (unless it is one of the restrictions - I haven't read the fine print).
VM's are ephemeral, so what is the life of my VM as far as continued free upgrades?
And as far as the poop water project, I think it and some of the other initiatives funded by the Gates foundation are great. Sure beats spending your ridiculous wealth on a basketball team! So that was a nice thing I had to say.
If none of that was directed at me, then consider the puzzle of my VM question.
I actually have a Win 7 laptop that I may upgrade - see, I use Windows too! I'm OS agnostic, they all have issues!!
Just installed windows 10 on a second computer (my main one this time!). This one I did with an ISO image.
Yes it completely overwrites the operating system. But no, I didn't do a backup (yikes!). Over the last few years I've been working from multiple different computers - study, man-cave, sometimes a little laptop when I'm travelling, so I've got used to either storing files on google drive, or on a USB hard drive. So all my important files exist in multiple places and each individual machine doesn't matter so much (most of my computers are a bit old, they have Vista labels on them, so ? 2007 vintage but running windows 10 fine). [addit - I can't seem to install windows 10 on my CP/M machine]
I've had disk crashes over the years like probably everyone. Also I've seen people really unhappy after losing their mobile phone/portable device and storing data in many places works for me. So I don't care so much taking a risk with a completely new operating system
This second computer worked fine except it overwrote the display drivers and defaulted back to low screen resolution, but it only took a few minutes to download new drivers.
I know there are some people who might not like windows, but I'm very happy with how this is going.
I am happy to see that MS is taking its gains from a 30% profit margin and stores of off-shore tax-sheltered income and funding Bill Gate's generousity. I do wonder how Melinda is doing with Bill's pre-nuptual agreement that allowed him to spend an annual vacation with an ex-girl friend. (I admit that I don't admire either Bill Gates or Steve Jobs for their family values.)
Please note, that I said that I do have Windows 7 and find it useful for Parallax legacy software.
For those that can't seem to grasp Linux...
Maybe Windows is right for you. But my Linux experience is that I actually became better informed, more realistic about my computer knowledge, and more efficient in how I use my computer. Aside from the added expense, Windows seems to have consistently found ways to demand more maintenance time, and cause less productivity.
I do admit that at first, Linux seemed rather confusing. Reading the classic books about UNIX help immensely. The are other modern books from No Starch Press that are very easy to read. http://www.nostarch.com/howlinuxworks.htm
Most of my ire is about commerce treating customers as Pavlovian dogs. It is just not where my core values lie. I live in the past, where many believed that businesses felt that 'the customer was always right'.
++++++
BTW, my experience with Linux and Windows dual boot is that I have always had to allow the Windows installer software to dump any recognition of the Linux partitions --- and then I have had to boot Puppy Linux from a CD or DVD and rebuild GRUB (the dual boot software). That might work with an up-grade to Windows 10 as well. I just dont want to waste the time and effort to verify this is feasible.
It seems Microsoft policy might preserve a dual boot of multiple versions of Windows, but it certainly will not support any other OSes. Thankfully, it seems it won't dump the Linux partitions. It just ignores them.
I have found tons of misleading advice about Windows/Linux dual boot on the internet. I rely on my own trial and error efforts. No sure that the misleading advice is intentional. But one should always start with a complete image of the hard disk in reserve. Installing a OS update without doing so may leave you with no previous data and just the new OS.
All things considered... this thread hasn't been a flame war, quite pleasant.
More refreshing would be a thread about Windows, or anything else for that matter, where somebody didn't feel compelled to bring up Linux.
The title of this thread, "...Is it worth it?", is inviting comparison, worth it compared to what? I think that allows the suggestions of alternatives.
This thread is asking me if the proposed upgrade is worth it. My answer is "No". Why? Because I don't want to be beholden to proprietary solutions any more than absolutely necessary. Because I want some control over my computing environment.
That's fair enough is it not?
"If you can't say something nice..."
A very familiar saying. When dealing with people I think it is sound advice.
However are you suggesting there should never be negative comments posted to product review pages? That one should never point out the downsides of proposed solutions?
Apple, MS, and others are not people we should be polite to. They are corporations whose mission is to extract peoples money. We have no duty of politeness there.
Besides, a certain well known boss of a certain well know OS supplier described Open Source and Free Software as a "cancer". How nice is that? I have no sympathy for the feelings of such people.
To the topic at hand. "...is it worth it?". So far are don't recall anyone here attempting to answer that question. Not one new feature has been mentioned as "must have". Not one improvement has been pointed out.
Hmmm.... I guess I am free to say NO, but not explain why?
I have not blindly trash talked Mircosoft and Windows in this thread, though I admit that I have in the past and I no longer do so because it really doesn't contribute anything wonderful to Parallax Forums.
Give my past bigotry about Windows, I am not surprised that some are equally bigotted about Linux. Sadly nobody is going to learn anything from such entrenched positions. I would hope that we can be informative and educational. I tend to be dismayed with how all 'for pay' OSes pretend to offer educational opportunites, but fall short when compared to the open-source community.
We live in a world where the rich have gotten very rich in the past 30 years, and the rest of us need to watch our budget. I am retired and I can no longer afford big new investments in computers or consumer electronics. In fact, I cannot afford to return to the USA to live. Fortunately Taiwan is very reasonable. Vista was simple a wake up call that I had to seek an alternative.
And I have mentioned the possibility for dual boot.
Here are some futher technical tips... be very careful to get this right. Microsoft does make a dual boot with a non-Microsoft product confusing and a challenge. In particular, the user MUST allocate Linux paritions as empty partitions first in Windows and then Linux must always be installed after the Windows OS accepts the new partition scheme.
Why so? Windows keeps a record of all the partitions on your hard disk and if the size and number of partitions is not right, Windows refuses to boot. Microsoft won't explain how or what needs fixing to repair this. They seem to consider it a proprietary security feature.
I rely on dual boot as I reside in Taiwan and if my OS goes down, I have an immediate alternative. Also, having two very different OSes allow one quite a few opportunites to prevent identity theft.
" I am happy to see that MS is taking its gains from a 30% profit margin and stores of off-shore tax-sheltered income and funding Bill Gate's generousity. I do wonder how Melinda is doing with Bill's pre-nuptual agreement that allowed him to spend an annual vacation with an ex-girl friend. (I admit that I don't admire either Bill Gates or Steve Jobs for their family values.)"
"Apple, MS, and others are not people we should be polite to. They are corporations whose mission is to extract peoples money. We have no duty of politeness there.
Besides, a certain well known boss of a certain well know OS supplier described Open Source and Free Software as a "cancer". How nice is that? I have no sympathy for the feelings of such people."
If we are going to let the morality of the people who own / design operating systems to determin which ones we use then perhaps we should use ...um ...er ...um; well we could always take up knitting - just a minute - who owns that!!!
Dave
(PS. How do you get quotes to work these days?? (without resorting to HTML tags))
Wait a minute. Do you have to install this on top of your existing Windows? That is not good. A stand alone install disk with Windows 10 going into its own separate folder or partition would be better. I guess I'll have to check into that.
You may be able to do a dual boot if you set up empty partitions in your Windows 7 or 8, and then run install. The installer may be context sensitive and ask which partition to install to when it sees more available.
Quote like so:
[ quote ]
(PS. How do you get quotes to work these days?? (without resorting to HTML tags))
[ /quote ]
But don't put any spaces between the square brackets.
Maybe assessing the morals of the people we buy things from is not such a bad idea. Vote with your wallet as it were. It's the only kind of vote capitalism understands after all.
Some people won't buy goods from companies that exploit child labor or who mistreat animals or are lax about environmental pollution or whatever.
My issue with MS and others is not all about the morality of the owners exactly. What do I care if the owners and bosses have a wife and ten mistresses and so on.
No, pragmatically I don't think being dependent on a single supplier for your computing infrastructure is a good idea. Especially if that supplier is in a foreign country.
Ownership is an issue. I don't want to lease or borrow an OS. I don't want to be told where and how I can run it. Or how I can hack with it. Or who I can share it with.
Closed source is an issue. Who knows what your machine is doing? Who has control here?
"knitting" - been there, done that. Us young lads were knitting our own woolly hats to wear out on fishing trips. I have heard that in the modern world full grown men are into knitting their own woolly hats to wear when snow boarding and such. Sadly I have no recollection of how to knit anymore.
First question is: "Do the Propeller tools actually still work there?" The Prop Tool, Simple IDE, PropellerIDE, prop-gcc and so on.
No disrespect to those that don't use windows, but there seems to be a lot of repetitive transmitting of ideas, and not much receiving. This was answered in post #25.
Just a general comment about upgrades - I still have CP/M, and somewhere around the place I have Windows 1.0, and then there are copies of Windows 95 and 98. Between CP/M and Windows 95 a lot changed. But you could look at Windows 95 and Windows 10 and say, hey, they look almost the same, there is a start bar in the corner, and there are icons and the programs are in the same folder, so why bother upgrading from Windows 95?
The answer is all the things in the background. Lots of things won't work on Win95 that will work on newer systems. I can plug in a USB hard drive, and it runs. I can plug in a FT232 USB to serial device, and it finds and installs the drivers from the internet automatically. It can find the make and model of my monitor. All these things have happened incrementally over the last 20 years and each operating system can do more under the hood, even if it largely looks the same.
Or, to take another example, I was an early adopter of Android, and I got a tablet and it had a USB port. Great, plug in a mouse and that worked. Plug in a keyboard, and that didn't work because the driver hadn't been written. Ditto every other device that goes into a USB port. All those USB drivers all are available in Windows, and no doubt, over time, Android will have added them too, and when that happens, I suspect the look and feel of that operating system won't change much, but it will become more useful.
Ok, maybe none of this will sway those who fundamentally don't like windows. This thread is about upgrading to the new version of windows.
So a question for those running Linux - are you running a reasonably new version of the operating system, or one from 20 years ago?
So a question for those running Linux - are you running a reasonably new version of the operating system, or one from 20 years ago?
I run a "current" version of Linux Mint. I had high hopes that Microsoft would correct design issues from Windows 8 with Windows 10.
Now it appears that their primary focus is an ongoing financial relationship with their users. This is great for the Microsoft share holders, but not something that I see as a positive for the users of this new system.
There is nothing new here.. Apple has been doing the same thing successfully for quite a while. It just disappointing to see Microsoft heading the same direction.
Interesting read, Microsoft's "Privacy" Statement can thus be summed up as "You have no privacy at all when using our products".
I rest my case (for now )
The first sentence leads me to believe that this is not the standard user agreement - I hope.
Thank you for choosing to participate in a pre-release program for our next version of Windows! The purpose of the program is to enable you to provide usage data and feedback to Microsoft while trying out the pre-release software and services.
To clarify: I started this post for opinions. I expected to hear both the Windows side and Linux side of the issue. That is why I was a little afraid it may become a flame war but this has been a civilized discussion so far and very informative.
Personally I am like mindrobots, the OS doesn't matter to me as long as it works. I have Windows 7 Home Premium on my laptop and an external HD with Linux Mint 7 on it. I spend 95% of my time on Windows but I do like the open source nature of Linux. I do feel Linux is harder to work with but it works as well or better than Windows. I have a saying "If Microsoft can do it there is a 3rd Party or Open Source program that can do it better". For example Libre Office is just as good as Microsoft Office and I use Thunderbird instead of Outlook.
As for buying products based on the company"s morality; I have subscribed to a site that basically found something wrong with just about every major manufacturer and store. If a company's viewpoint is adversely against my viewpoint I may not buy from them but I won't nitpick at a company over little details.
It's true. Linux will be a little harder to work with. At least initially, but you don't have to abandon all of your Microsoft programs.
Wine has been steadly improving to the point that I'm able to run my Microsoft Office and Diptrace directly from the Linux desktop.
Dual boot with Windows 7 is a reasonable position to put yourself into. Give Linux a chance and soon you'll find yourself on that side more and more.
Stick with Windows 7 for now and wait for the bugs to be worked out of Windows 10. Microsoft said Windows 7 users will have a year after it's release to upgrade for free so unless Microsoft changes their mind or Windows 10 has a must have feature wait and watch other people's experiences. Besides who knows what hardware won't work with Windows 10 that worked fine in 7; That was a big issue when Windows 7 first came out, replacing XP.
Genetix, I do plan on waiting until at least the official Windows 10 release or Windows 10 SP1 comes out before replacing it. Right now I have it running on Virtual Box and I am loading it with my must have programs. So far only one, Dell Dock, doesn't work which can be replaced by Star Dock. I also have a game I want to try but it already taxes my laptop so it probably won't run in Virtual Box.
It does unnerve me a little that Big Brother Microsoft may be watching my every move if I go to Windows 10
This makes you wonder if any (or how many) of the large Linux distributions are starting to gather data to monetize their users.
Interesting thought.
I'd like to think that any such shenanigans would be very quickly picked up by the linux "community" and that any distro doing that would soon find they have user base of zero.
But, given the number of, say, Ubuntu users who are in it only because it free and easy to use without caring about the motivations of Open Source and Free Software it's quite possible that they don't care if, say, Ubuntu is abusing their privacy.
Clearly most people don't know and/or care how they are spied on and how their personal information is spread all around the world. So yes a Linux distro like, say, Ubuntu, could get away with it.
N.B. I'm not actually suggesting Ubuntu does this. I'm only using Ubuntu as a place holder for a distro that gains mass appeal among those who think that the only reason for switching from Windows or whatever is the zero dollar price tag.
Meanwhile, the only advertising I see comes through web browsers no matter what OS they run on. Browsers know all about you and your habits.
And I worry more about what the Linux based Android phones and tabs get up to. Android is the biggest Linux distro we have. It knows all about you. And is mostly tapped and controlled by the phone companies.
Comments
I've put Linux on less than a tenth as many computers as I've put Windows on, but Linux has caused me at least 10 times as many problems and is way more than 10 times as much hassle, yet somehow I manage to not say bad stuff about it in every other post I make.
My first question was half serious. I have a legal Win 7 license I run in a VM. I should be able to upgrade it to Win X (unless it is one of the restrictions - I haven't read the fine print).
VM's are ephemeral, so what is the life of my VM as far as continued free upgrades?
And as far as the poop water project, I think it and some of the other initiatives funded by the Gates foundation are great. Sure beats spending your ridiculous wealth on a basketball team! So that was a nice thing I had to say.
If none of that was directed at me, then consider the puzzle of my VM question.
I actually have a Win 7 laptop that I may upgrade - see, I use Windows too! I'm OS agnostic, they all have issues!!
Yes it completely overwrites the operating system. But no, I didn't do a backup (yikes!). Over the last few years I've been working from multiple different computers - study, man-cave, sometimes a little laptop when I'm travelling, so I've got used to either storing files on google drive, or on a USB hard drive. So all my important files exist in multiple places and each individual machine doesn't matter so much (most of my computers are a bit old, they have Vista labels on them, so ? 2007 vintage but running windows 10 fine). [addit - I can't seem to install windows 10 on my CP/M machine]
I've had disk crashes over the years like probably everyone. Also I've seen people really unhappy after losing their mobile phone/portable device and storing data in many places works for me. So I don't care so much taking a risk with a completely new operating system
This second computer worked fine except it overwrote the display drivers and defaulted back to low screen resolution, but it only took a few minutes to download new drivers.
I know there are some people who might not like windows, but I'm very happy with how this is going.
Here is a good review review http://www.pcworld.com/article/2690912/trying-windows-10-tech-preview-keep-these-7-things-in-mind.html
I am happy to see that MS is taking its gains from a 30% profit margin and stores of off-shore tax-sheltered income and funding Bill Gate's generousity. I do wonder how Melinda is doing with Bill's pre-nuptual agreement that allowed him to spend an annual vacation with an ex-girl friend. (I admit that I don't admire either Bill Gates or Steve Jobs for their family values.)
Please note, that I said that I do have Windows 7 and find it useful for Parallax legacy software.
For those that can't seem to grasp Linux...
Maybe Windows is right for you. But my Linux experience is that I actually became better informed, more realistic about my computer knowledge, and more efficient in how I use my computer. Aside from the added expense, Windows seems to have consistently found ways to demand more maintenance time, and cause less productivity.
I do admit that at first, Linux seemed rather confusing. Reading the classic books about UNIX help immensely. The are other modern books from No Starch Press that are very easy to read.
http://www.nostarch.com/howlinuxworks.htm
Most of my ire is about commerce treating customers as Pavlovian dogs. It is just not where my core values lie. I live in the past, where many believed that businesses felt that 'the customer was always right'.
++++++
BTW, my experience with Linux and Windows dual boot is that I have always had to allow the Windows installer software to dump any recognition of the Linux partitions --- and then I have had to boot Puppy Linux from a CD or DVD and rebuild GRUB (the dual boot software). That might work with an up-grade to Windows 10 as well. I just dont want to waste the time and effort to verify this is feasible.
It seems Microsoft policy might preserve a dual boot of multiple versions of Windows, but it certainly will not support any other OSes. Thankfully, it seems it won't dump the Linux partitions. It just ignores them.
I have found tons of misleading advice about Windows/Linux dual boot on the internet. I rely on my own trial and error efforts. No sure that the misleading advice is intentional. But one should always start with a complete image of the hard disk in reserve. Installing a OS update without doing so may leave you with no previous data and just the new OS.
All things considered... this thread hasn't been a flame war, quite pleasant.
This thread is asking me if the proposed upgrade is worth it. My answer is "No". Why? Because I don't want to be beholden to proprietary solutions any more than absolutely necessary. Because I want some control over my computing environment.
That's fair enough is it not? A very familiar saying. When dealing with people I think it is sound advice.
However are you suggesting there should never be negative comments posted to product review pages? That one should never point out the downsides of proposed solutions?
Apple, MS, and others are not people we should be polite to. They are corporations whose mission is to extract peoples money. We have no duty of politeness there.
Besides, a certain well known boss of a certain well know OS supplier described Open Source and Free Software as a "cancer". How nice is that? I have no sympathy for the feelings of such people.
To the topic at hand. "...is it worth it?". So far are don't recall anyone here attempting to answer that question. Not one new feature has been mentioned as "must have". Not one improvement has been pointed out.
I have not blindly trash talked Mircosoft and Windows in this thread, though I admit that I have in the past and I no longer do so because it really doesn't contribute anything wonderful to Parallax Forums.
Give my past bigotry about Windows, I am not surprised that some are equally bigotted about Linux. Sadly nobody is going to learn anything from such entrenched positions. I would hope that we can be informative and educational. I tend to be dismayed with how all 'for pay' OSes pretend to offer educational opportunites, but fall short when compared to the open-source community.
We live in a world where the rich have gotten very rich in the past 30 years, and the rest of us need to watch our budget. I am retired and I can no longer afford big new investments in computers or consumer electronics. In fact, I cannot afford to return to the USA to live. Fortunately Taiwan is very reasonable. Vista was simple a wake up call that I had to seek an alternative.
And I have mentioned the possibility for dual boot.
Here are some futher technical tips... be very careful to get this right. Microsoft does make a dual boot with a non-Microsoft product confusing and a challenge. In particular, the user MUST allocate Linux paritions as empty partitions first in Windows and then Linux must always be installed after the Windows OS accepts the new partition scheme.
Why so? Windows keeps a record of all the partitions on your hard disk and if the size and number of partitions is not right, Windows refuses to boot. Microsoft won't explain how or what needs fixing to repair this. They seem to consider it a proprietary security feature.
I rely on dual boot as I reside in Taiwan and if my OS goes down, I have an immediate alternative. Also, having two very different OSes allow one quite a few opportunites to prevent identity theft.
Quotes....
" I am happy to see that MS is taking its gains from a 30% profit margin and stores of off-shore tax-sheltered income and funding Bill Gate's generousity. I do wonder how Melinda is doing with Bill's pre-nuptual agreement that allowed him to spend an annual vacation with an ex-girl friend. (I admit that I don't admire either Bill Gates or Steve Jobs for their family values.)"
"Apple, MS, and others are not people we should be polite to. They are corporations whose mission is to extract peoples money. We have no duty of politeness there.
Besides, a certain well known boss of a certain well know OS supplier described Open Source and Free Software as a "cancer". How nice is that? I have no sympathy for the feelings of such people."
If we are going to let the morality of the people who own / design operating systems to determin which ones we use then perhaps we should use ...um ...er ...um; well we could always take up knitting - just a minute - who owns that!!!
Dave
(PS. How do you get quotes to work these days?? (without resorting to HTML tags))
You may be able to do a dual boot if you set up empty partitions in your Windows 7 or 8, and then run install. The installer may be context sensitive and ask which partition to install to when it sees more available.
Quote like so:
[ quote ]
(PS. How do you get quotes to work these days?? (without resorting to HTML tags))
[ /quote ]
But don't put any spaces between the square brackets.
Maybe assessing the morals of the people we buy things from is not such a bad idea. Vote with your wallet as it were. It's the only kind of vote capitalism understands after all.
Some people won't buy goods from companies that exploit child labor or who mistreat animals or are lax about environmental pollution or whatever.
My issue with MS and others is not all about the morality of the owners exactly. What do I care if the owners and bosses have a wife and ten mistresses and so on.
No, pragmatically I don't think being dependent on a single supplier for your computing infrastructure is a good idea. Especially if that supplier is in a foreign country.
Ownership is an issue. I don't want to lease or borrow an OS. I don't want to be told where and how I can run it. Or how I can hack with it. Or who I can share it with.
Closed source is an issue. Who knows what your machine is doing? Who has control here?
"knitting" - been there, done that. Us young lads were knitting our own woolly hats to wear out on fishing trips. I have heard that in the modern world full grown men are into knitting their own woolly hats to wear when snow boarding and such. Sadly I have no recollection of how to knit anymore.
This thread is about Windows 10. Is it worth it?
The OP is looking for feedback on that particular Operation System Upgrade.
Please keep the dialog to that.
I'm still waiting to hear what the compelling new Windows 10 features are from those who have been busy installing and checking it out.
You never know, even I could be swayed in my verdict.
First question is: "Do the Propeller tools actually still work there?" The Prop Tool, Simple IDE, PropellerIDE, prop-gcc and so on.
I am still waiting to hear why I should upgrade a perfectly good Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 also.
No disrespect to those that don't use windows, but there seems to be a lot of repetitive transmitting of ideas, and not much receiving. This was answered in post #25.
Just a general comment about upgrades - I still have CP/M, and somewhere around the place I have Windows 1.0, and then there are copies of Windows 95 and 98. Between CP/M and Windows 95 a lot changed. But you could look at Windows 95 and Windows 10 and say, hey, they look almost the same, there is a start bar in the corner, and there are icons and the programs are in the same folder, so why bother upgrading from Windows 95?
The answer is all the things in the background. Lots of things won't work on Win95 that will work on newer systems. I can plug in a USB hard drive, and it runs. I can plug in a FT232 USB to serial device, and it finds and installs the drivers from the internet automatically. It can find the make and model of my monitor. All these things have happened incrementally over the last 20 years and each operating system can do more under the hood, even if it largely looks the same.
Or, to take another example, I was an early adopter of Android, and I got a tablet and it had a USB port. Great, plug in a mouse and that worked. Plug in a keyboard, and that didn't work because the driver hadn't been written. Ditto every other device that goes into a USB port. All those USB drivers all are available in Windows, and no doubt, over time, Android will have added them too, and when that happens, I suspect the look and feel of that operating system won't change much, but it will become more useful.
Ok, maybe none of this will sway those who fundamentally don't like windows. This thread is about upgrading to the new version of windows.
So a question for those running Linux - are you running a reasonably new version of the operating system, or one from 20 years ago?
I run a "current" version of Linux Mint. I had high hopes that Microsoft would correct design issues from Windows 8 with Windows 10.
Now it appears that their primary focus is an ongoing financial relationship with their users. This is great for the Microsoft share holders, but not something that I see as a positive for the users of this new system.
There is nothing new here.. Apple has been doing the same thing successfully for quite a while. It just disappointing to see Microsoft heading the same direction.
Mac OS X updates & upgrades have been free for several years now!
dgately
-Tor
Look at that paragraph which starts with "When you acquire.."
I rest my case (for now
The first sentence leads me to believe that this is not the standard user agreement - I hope.
Personally I am like mindrobots, the OS doesn't matter to me as long as it works. I have Windows 7 Home Premium on my laptop and an external HD with Linux Mint 7 on it. I spend 95% of my time on Windows but I do like the open source nature of Linux. I do feel Linux is harder to work with but it works as well or better than Windows. I have a saying "If Microsoft can do it there is a 3rd Party or Open Source program that can do it better". For example Libre Office is just as good as Microsoft Office and I use Thunderbird instead of Outlook.
As for buying products based on the company"s morality; I have subscribed to a site that basically found something wrong with just about every major manufacturer and store. If a company's viewpoint is adversely against my viewpoint I may not buy from them but I won't nitpick at a company over little details.
It's true. Linux will be a little harder to work with. At least initially, but you don't have to abandon all of your Microsoft programs.
Wine has been steadly improving to the point that I'm able to run my Microsoft Office and Diptrace directly from the Linux desktop.
Dual boot with Windows 7 is a reasonable position to put yourself into. Give Linux a chance and soon you'll find yourself on that side more and more.
Jeff
Ouch indeed..
Any time I've used a computer, I don't recall wanting it to show me ads.
I think rather than a Win X upgrade, my laptop's next upgrade will be to a nice Linux distribution.
This makes you wonder if any (or how many) of the large Linux distributions are starting to gather data to monetize their users.
Of course, it is all done to provide *ME* with a better user experience!
Stick with Windows 7 for now and wait for the bugs to be worked out of Windows 10. Microsoft said Windows 7 users will have a year after it's release to upgrade for free so unless Microsoft changes their mind or Windows 10 has a must have feature wait and watch other people's experiences. Besides who knows what hardware won't work with Windows 10 that worked fine in 7; That was a big issue when Windows 7 first came out, replacing XP.
It does unnerve me a little that Big Brother Microsoft may be watching my every move if I go to Windows 10
I'd like to think that any such shenanigans would be very quickly picked up by the linux "community" and that any distro doing that would soon find they have user base of zero.
But, given the number of, say, Ubuntu users who are in it only because it free and easy to use without caring about the motivations of Open Source and Free Software it's quite possible that they don't care if, say, Ubuntu is abusing their privacy.
Clearly most people don't know and/or care how they are spied on and how their personal information is spread all around the world. So yes a Linux distro like, say, Ubuntu, could get away with it.
N.B. I'm not actually suggesting Ubuntu does this. I'm only using Ubuntu as a place holder for a distro that gains mass appeal among those who think that the only reason for switching from Windows or whatever is the zero dollar price tag.
Meanwhile, the only advertising I see comes through web browsers no matter what OS they run on. Browsers know all about you and your habits.
And I worry more about what the Linux based Android phones and tabs get up to. Android is the biggest Linux distro we have. It knows all about you. And is mostly tapped and controlled by the phone companies.
We have to be vigilant at all times.