Windows Vista, what do you think?

[ronwest]

Originally Posted by XA-Coupe

I am far from a guru but I can find my way around okay.

I think that these days most who are interested can fumble through a Linux experience

The biggest improvement in Linux (IMO) is the attitude adjustment that many of the users have undergone. The elitists are still around but these days tend to get told to pull their heads in.

I got interested in Unix/Linux around 10 years ago but after a short spell left it for a number of years. There's only so much of "RTFM!" that I could stomach.
I came back to it at Mandrake 8 and since then have had a dedicated test box.

I like Linux, but I also like aspects of Windows so in the foreseeable future will have at least one Windows box.

For those who haven't tried Linux, give it a go.

There are distros that need not be loaded onto your hdd (and will not interfere with your Windows installation) but can be operated from the cdrom.

Here is one:http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

[70caprigt3k]

Yeah each have their good points and bad points but at the end of the day its up to the user, its always good to have a windows box for compatilbility reasons. At the end of the day though Linux is something different and a little variation never hurt anyone.

Originally Posted by XA-Coupe

Fedora FC2 is good...FC3 killed the computer it was installed on and now FC5 is out I need to find a donor machine to try it out on.

I agree 100% FC2 was good, FC3 killed my comp too and i never tried FC4 but so far i have had an awsome run with FC5 and they seem to have fixed alot of bugs that plauged earlier versions but there is still the pesky J2RE pre-installed to work around but other than that its worth a look, its come a long way.

[BlueRaven]

I think that Ubuntu is a great distro and a bright hope for new users of Linux. The documentation and forums on the internet are fantastic and realistically, with a bit of tuning, you can do almost anything with it.

Having said that, the only thing that keeps me using windows is the fact that I understand how it works better and applications that I NEED to use are not supported in linux yet. The fact that linux can run some windows applications is fantastic, as its not something that windows has ever really had to do....but without linux ports of everything readily available and with limitations of wine, I need to use Uncle Bill's product instead.

Sadly.

By the way, I absolutely love the fact that Firefox is installed on most large distros by default!

[parawolf]

Originally Posted by SlickHolden

Vista will finally make the 64 go at full speed, And also make older PC's run with some extra speed, It will be to XP what XP was to Win95.
Right now you only get half the speed of the 64bit CPU's, Vista will be the prefect time to take advantage of the 64bit world.
I'll hold back for 12 months for it.

Having managed 64bit systems for approximately 5 years PRIOR to x86 market getting it I feel like I need to make comment on this uninformed comment above.

64bitness is all about register sizes, and as a result memory addressability.

Commercial Unix distributions (HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, etc) that are 64bit capable (all of them mentioned) support the idea of LP64. This means that in your C/C++ code anything that is defined as a datatype of a "LONG" or that is a "pointer" is by default 64bit in length.

It is my understanding that Linux distributions do this too.

Microsoft has killed any form of direct application compatibility because they have decided that they would go with LLP64, which means a data type of "LONG LONG" is 64bit, "LONG" is 32bit, and pointers are 64bit.

A CPU, memory architecture or Operating Environment that supports 64bitness is not "twice as fast". It is not able to process "twice as much". It is just that the data that sits in the registers can be 'twice as large'. This results in it possible to address 64bit of memory space. This does not mean your memory bandwidth is improved.

In fact the comparing two identical systems, one running in 32bit mode and the other running in 64bit mode, the 64bit system could actually be slower, if your bandwidth is not optimised for the larger data paths required.

64bit will not revolutionise the desktop, it will not cure cancer, it won't make you sexier to members of the opposite sex. 64bit has been in the enterprise for years (some.... 8 or 9 years at least) within distributed systems - it just enables larger applications, and more applications to run, due to larger memory capabilities.

[70caprigt3k]

Originally Posted by parawolf

it won't make you sexier to members of the opposite sex.

Damn i wasted my money on an Athlon 64 for nothing... :

[flappist]

I have installed and look after many hundreds of servers and I follow a simple rule.
If internet is involved then use linux, if private networking for office automation is needed use windows.

My linux servers are about 66% RHEL4, 25% RH9 with the remainder legacy RH7.3 & RH6.2. The windows are evenly fairly spread over 2003AS, 2003SBS, 2KS, 2KSBS with a couple of NT4s still lurking about.

I have found windows is still the best for internal use purely because the thin client works reasionably well and the majority of "required" software is designed to run on it.

On the other hand linux has a firewalling system that works well, a proxy that is efficent and reliable and is immune to the majority of viruses and malware. It is also a lot more suitable as a forensic tool when hunting bad guys.

N.B. linux is not bad as a host for forums either

I am sure I will be using vista when it is released but only after a few months and the first 20 or 30 patches and updates are released.

[Bucket]

*Ahem*VISTA?*cough*

[ronwest]

Originally Posted by Bucket

*Ahem*VISTA?*cough*

yes, I must admit that I was surprised at the number of official MS Beta Testers.

Another thing we have in common ;)

http://tinyurl.com/2a537

[TURBO_GHIA]

so where do you get it from ??

[ronwest]

Originally Posted by EDMONTY

so where do you get it from ??

I don't know how much of this type of info is acceptable on this forum but if you are not an MS beta tester, there is a lot of publicly available info to be found by googling something like "vista dc++" or "vista torrents".