Sort of related - How do Microsoft get away with it?
Because if I worked for them, I would have quit a long time ago.

Linux is free, largely unsupported, yet works on pretty much every machine I've ever tried it on.

Yet Windows Vista, which I've just installed on my development PC, doesn't even support my graphics card. The one which worked just fine under Ubuntu and WinXP.

Not to mention the other numerous bugs that it seems to have.

Any other company would have gone under by now - why not Microsoft?
(Half of Stephen Fry's right buttock pissed on your dog on, Tue 27 May 2008, 15:32, 7 replies)

I think I know
The key is in the phrase:

"Windows Vista, which I've just installed on my development PC"

Vista is a pile of shite. I know it, you know it. But I bought a copy with my work machine. And you bought a copy. So did lots of people.

Vista stinks. So what's the alternative?

1 - Stick with XP - MS is trying to make it as hard as possible, but it can be done. My new gaming machine will have XP (with a Fedora partition), and it will run like a beast as a result.
2 - Linux - Sorry, but command lines went out of fashion in about 1992, and despite the various GUI shells, you need to know the command line to do all but the most basic things. There's a million different versions, all of which work differently. It's too hard for newbies to get the hang of, and that sinks it for home and business use, so it's only used for servers and geeks.
3 - Apple. There's a reason the Mac only has 4% market share, and the fact that Leopard sucks almost as badly as Vista is just the start. Apple's stance towards pricing, cloning and its baffling decision to make developing for Mac way harder than it should be all contribute to its niche status.
4 - An etch-a-sketch.
(Axeman Jim, Tue 27 May 2008, 16:44, closed)

etch a sketch
is a viable option...

but not in earthquake prone zones...
(Dan dan dan They tik urh jerbs!!!, Tue 27 May 2008, 17:19, closed)

sudo rm -rf /dev/hda/WINDOWS
Should do it.
(Ktulu O'Ryleh float like a turd, sting like chlamydia, Wed 28 May 2008, 0:43, closed)

oo! An anti-MS post
how very late 90's - early 00's!

MS has got where it is today by a few slightly suspect p[ractices that have established them as the worldwide standard. They have become such the norm that, if you suddenly replaced every install Windows with *nix, 95% of the world's PCs would suddenly become expensive paperweights, as their users would be unable to cope with the change.
(ScousersPet, Wed 28 May 2008, 9:45, closed)

Linux
Oddly enough, my Laptop (256mb ram, 1.6ghz) runs XP fine, but Ubuntu will hardly run on it at all. I still dual boot my main machine though.

While I have you, any recommendations for a less recourse intensive distro?
(oeb, Wed 28 May 2008, 10:42, closed)

Ickle Linux
If you like ubuntu you could try Xubuntu. Failing that there is also Damn Small Linux, Puppy Linux, Arch, TinyMe and Zenwalk.

That should give you something to chew on...
(Ktulu O'Ryleh float like a turd, sting like chlamydia, Wed 28 May 2008, 11:59, closed)

p.s.
I'm not anti microsoft... I think a properly installed and maintained XP is as good as any linux. And Microsoft, for all their theivery and skullduggery, made the desktop what it is today.
(Ktulu O'Ryleh float like a turd, sting like chlamydia, Wed 28 May 2008, 12:01, closed)