so I bought a new tower two months ago and had it loaded with W7, 'cause my old XP was gong to be unsupported and 8 was a nightmare (so I was told)
Now my new computer is a lump of melted plastic and tin and I wonder ...
Just because XP will no longer be "supported" by it's maker ... does that make it bad or obsolete or whatever to a guy that surfs FR, looks up definitions and plays a couple of hidden object games ?
Why am I so afraid of "We Will No Longer Support Yoooooo !!!! " ???
If I can find it, I'm goin' back to 98SE .... LOVED it !!!!!
Stupid is written as stupid does.
Users care about having access to the software tools they need, the ability to quickly launch and switch between them, and occasionally access files directly. Otherwise, they don’t care about the OS anymore than a driver cares about what allow his engine block is made of.
Only about half of Microsoft’s OS offerings have historically met the above criteria. Yet because of the hegemony with PC makers, we’ve put up with them anyway.
It’s not such an impossible target to hit from a technical point of view. Breaking the hegemony will prove much more difficult - we’ve already seen the “Pawn Stars” anti-Chromebook TV ad where the punchline is “Without Windows and Office it’s not a real laptop”. Perception becomes reality...
Who cares if MS is not supporting XP? It will still continue to run effectively. For home PC users, making things secure is as simple as taking internet access away from XP and granting it to a Linux distro.
Run FREE VirtualBox on XP. Create a Linux Mint VM there. Disable internet access for XP and enable it for Linux VM.
I have already done this and it works like a charm. Both can run at the same time. XP for utility and application use, Linux VM for internet access using Firefox.
I’m somewhat a Unix geek but I still use Windows 7 as my desktop and Windows for servers although I support several Red Hat distros.
I installed both the latest Red Hat and Ubunto onto an old laptop and the installs were painless, even the wireless driver worked. It also flew compared to Windows 7 on the same laptop. Contrast that with my copy of X86 Solaris which is a pig to install and runs terrible. Hell, I had a Sparc workstation on my desk a long time ago and hated it compared to HP UX.
I actually like using VI but didn’t need to to get everything running.
It’s not as simple as windows, Open Office used RPM and gzip if I remember correctly which are easy enough to use and if you don’t remember the myriad of switches after the commands, there’s always a man page for the commands.
Support for XP ending means any vulnerabilities will not be addressed with an official patch from MS. I wouldn’t worry about it too much as XP has been around for a while so I’m hoping most of the holes have been plugged unless a systemic problem with the Windows architecture is found.
Yes, Windows itself is the problem, very funny.
I have a dual boot system now. Windows XP Pro/Linux Mint 16 and it works great. I am converting over to Linux as I learn the system. It is easy to install Linux Mint on a new computer. Plus once installed on a hard drive, I can duplicate the hard drive and install it in a new computer and it runs fine with out the Windows "Activation BS".
Here are the command that I use to customize the Linux Mint installation:
Install All-Save Folder from CentronB Thumb Drive
System Settings on the panel
Works space Apperance (Plastic)
Mouse Pointer
FireFox - on the desktop
Thunderbird - email - on the desktop
VLC - video and sound - on the desktop
Google Earth install - on the desktop
Konsol Terminal on the panel
Ksnapshot to the panel
sudo commands for Linux Mint
Software Manager - on the desktop
Synaptic Package Manager
Muon Discover install
Welcome Screne on desktop
Update Manager on desktop
Bleachbit install and setup - on the desktop
deja Backup install - on the desktop
System Settings on the panel
Gedit install and on the panel
Info System info install - on the desktop
Pictures, Music, Videos link on Desktop (Drag to desktop: Link Here)
GtkTerminal install - on the desktop (for Serial Port)
Kompozer - install data first - on the desktop
FileZilla - on the desktop
I still need Windows XP for packet radio and some old DOS programs.
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al