Vista woes lead IT pros to Macs, Linux

IpodNN ^ | November 19th

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

Many IT professionals are turning to Mac and Linux systems to avoid installing Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system as an upgrade, according to a survey conducted by King Research. Of 961 IT professionals polled, a whopping 90 percent expressed concerns about migrating to Vista. What's more, over half of those surveyed said they had no plans to use Microsoft's latest operating system at this time. Macs are currently the most favored alternative to Windows with 28 percent of respondents saying they would most likely to turn to Macs, rather than upgrade to Vista.

[antiRepublicrat]

I can only imagine informing 10,000 computer illiterate users that they will be required to learn a completely new OS.

I think that's one of the reservations with Vista. There's a learning curve between XP and Vista GUIs, and if you're going to do that, you might as well get a better OS as well.

[Swordmaker]

Vista driving Windows users to Mac or Linux... PING!

Thanks to Halfmanhalfamazing for the heads up...

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[BunnySlippers]

My IT department will not upgrade to Vista.

They did try to let me use a Mac for my job but proprietary software does not allow it. But they are considering Macs as alternatives.

[sionnsar]

That graphic looks more like one a Linux proponent would use. (Reading this on my Kubuntu machine.)

[shorty_harris]

I'm getting a new notebook computer for work. I have a choice between a MacBook Pro and a Thinkpad (with XP Pro installed). I'm seriously considering the Mac, and running virtualization for any windows-only stuff.

I currently have an older Dell notebook running linux (originally came with Win2K).

[Billthedrill]

Many IT professionals are turning to Mac and Linux systems to avoid installing Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system as an upgrade...

Well, with respect, no. IT professionals can install and use them all. That's why we're...professionals.

And only an idiot newb would install Vista as an upgrade. Never, never - slick your HD and do a clean install. Trust me on that one.

[Vinnie]

I have a choice between a MacBook Pro and a Thinkpad (with XP Pro installed).

If you are just going to use it for work, assuming little graphics, It's a tossup.

But if you are going to use it for personal stuff also the Mac is really, really nice.

What sold me was a trip to the Apple store, then walking out and down the mall to the Dell kiosk.
One look at the Dells displays compared to the Mac sold me.

Mac

[KoRn]

I suppose I would be considered as an “IT Professional” according to their survey. There’s no way Vista is getting used at our company. I would never subject our users and helpdesk to such a crappy OS. I will go to Linux on the rest of our home PCs that are still on Windows now rather than moving to Vista. I would never subject my wife and kids to such a crappy OS.

[George W. Bush]

Even Windows Millennium was not such a turkey.

The funny thing is, when XP came out it wasn't so great. But Millennium was so horrible that no one wanted to go back to it. So they stuck with XP.

With this Vista turkey, M$'s problem is that XP is still perfectly fine.

I guess it's still a good idea to burn your ships when you arrive in the New World. At least, if you're Microsoft or Cortez.

[Vision Thing]

and I’m running a Ubuntu workstation (via VMWare hosted on my XP machine) to build Linux software for our microcontroller product firmware, ‘cause that’s the *only* reasonable way to get ‘er done.

You must have some serious hardware to not just run XP, but then to run an extra layer for VMWare, and then another layer for Ubuntu. Why don't you cut out all those middle men and run Ubuntu as a standalone?

[L98Fiero]

“I think that’s one of the reservations with Vista. There’s a learning curve between XP and Vista GUIs, and if you’re going to do that, you might as well get a better OS as well.”

Yep. That’s what was driving the increasing use of terminal services in our shop. The bulk of the users ran legacy OS and used their PCs as “dummy terminals”. Outside of management, new equipment was Wyse terminals with Remote Desktop configured instead of PCs and logged into our terminal server farm for applications.

From Group Policy, resource management and upgrade standpoints, it was far easier to manage 20 servers than 1000 PCs.

[Nervous Tick]

>> You must have some serious hardware to not just run XP, but then to run an extra layer for VMWare, and then another layer for Ubuntu.

Not that serious. Couple-of-year-old Thinkpad R-52, 1.86 GHz. What makes it all play nicely together is 2 Gb of memory. The Ubuntu guest is actually quite performant for my needs. Mind you, I’m not doing anything more demanding on the Ubuntu guest than running Eclipse + a gnu toolchain on ucLinux kernel compiles. Anyway, the VMWare “layer” doesn’t seem to tax the CPU a whole lot — at least, not that I can tell.

>> Why don’t you cut out all those middle men and run Ubuntu as a standalone?

That’s a good question. The answer is, as I mentioned before I need XP for some software and Ubuntu for the gnu toolchain. Sometimes, I need to use them at the same time. The kicker is, I need to take the whole package with me on the road! That rules out two separate workstations.

Now I suppose I could dual-boot Ubuntu on the laptop. But dual-booting is a PITA, plus I only have a 40Gb HD (I got a “deal” on the computer, meant to change out the HD but procrastinated and now it’s all full of software — you know the drill.) So believe it or not — I run all my virtual machines from one of those 120Gb USB hard drives! Works like a charm.

I really like VMWare Workstation 6. It isn’t free but it’s worth the dough (couple hundred as I recall). Has a lot of great features — for example, the ability to use dual monitors with any supported guest OS. Another nice thing about VMWare (as opposed to a separate machine for each OS): I can carry /several/ virtual machines, including for example a “mirror” of my Ubuntu virtual private server, that I have set up with the same resources as the VPS, so I can pilot changes before I muck with the production server.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

clinton news network..............

hehehehehehehehe

Maybe!

But you can go to most publications and they’re all(it seems) talking about vista woes.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

Good for you!

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

^^^^^^^^^I plan to replace the Dell’s w/ Macs next year. Tired of MS and all the PC problems.^^^^^^^^^

Once you have your production machines replaced w/ macs, You'll have two dells to play with. You should put linux on one of them.

You said this: ^^^^MS and all the PC problems^^^^

You'll quickly find out that it's nothing more than MS and all the MS problems.

Ever since Apple went Intel, they really are nothing more than a PC. Hardware wise they're virtually identical. The biggest difference is the BIOS.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

You can get some thinkpads w/ linux installed right from the OEM AFAIK.

[AnnaZ]

I've been running Windows since '97, but this Christmas I'm getting my first Mac. And I'll admit, Vista has quite a bit to do with it. I despise it.

[Vinnie]

You should put linux on one of them.

I've played w/ Ubuntu and Mepis. Burned the CDs and used them some.

Never got up the nerve to partition the HD and install them because I read numerous bad outcome stories of folks that tried it.

Since I don't leave my comp. on 24/7 I always had the problem of losing my 'preferences' every time I shut down.

Another problem was the fonts. The rendering IMHO is terrible.
Ubuntu is so pretty on startup but some sites I surf just couldn't give me a readable font.

[Crusher138]

As a person who has been using PC’s since basic and MS-DOS, I have been a staunch proponent of all things Microsoft. That being said, I have replaced two of my home computers with Macs in the last two months.

I went through introducing my mother to Vista. Her printer and camera didn’t work, she didn’t like the interface, and I keep getting calls to come over and show her how to do this or that.

At work, we would need the $400 version, which is just wrong.

I saw a Mac Pro running Windows XP using Fusion and I knew I had found my next computer.

They just run better. No driver problems, much few virus and spyware issues, no incompatibilities. It just works.

Any new machine we have to buy for work will be a Mac.

[antiRepublicrat]

From Group Policy, resource management and upgrade standpoints, it was far easier to manage 20 servers than 1000 PCs.

That's what's switched a lot of people to Linux, especially since the license for those 1,000 terminals is cheap.