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KingBahamut
September 15th, 2005, 03:43 PM
In his latest column,, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols argues that Microsoft Vista is going to be so expensive that it's going to make users think hard about switching to Linux instead. "Desktop Linux is never going to have a better chance than it will in the next eighteen months," he says. My take: He forgets two important factors: Vista can run with all the flashy graphics turned off, and seven editions of Vista? How many Linux distributions are there to choose from?

http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS2504832575.html

To answer the last question -- So many that there is a site that tracks just the top 100 of them. Shameless Plug number 1 - http://distrowatch.com - Ladislav you da man.

I tend to aggree with Nichols on a number of points.

Excerpted from the article.


Vista certainly won't cost a penny less than XP Pro, but there's more to Vista's cost than just the list price. You also have to have the hardware that can run it.

This most certainly scares me more than anything else. With DRM looming over, and its affect on what hardware can be used or not used, along with the ghost of Trusted Computing hanging low, Im very fearful that the purchase of Vista is going become a nightmare of compatibility issues.


Practically speaking, I think you're going to need at least a 3GHz processor and a gigabyte of RAM. I can say that with some confidence, because that's what it's taking me to run the latest beta, Build (5219).

This machine for all intents and purposes would cost the average users what? 1500$ - 2000$?


Now, bleeding edge Windows people won't think twice about upgrading to boxes that can run Vista, come 2007. But, what about all those businesses that are still running Windows 2000? Did you know that even though W2K is no longer officially supported by Microsoft, there are still more W2K systems than XP boxes running in businesses?

There are large portions of businesses that havent embraced SP2 yet fully. How can MS expect Vista to be recieved with such open arms as they do, and this be the case.

This is our Time.....We should take it....

Leif
September 15th, 2005, 05:55 PM
Microsoft always claims much higher specs than needed to run their OS. This has been true for 95, 98, and XP. Vista will probably run just fine on most PCs bought the year or two before Vista comes out.

Gnobody
September 15th, 2005, 06:30 PM
Microsoft always claims much higher specs than needed to run their OS. This has been true for 95, 98, and XP. Vista will probably run just fine on most PCs bought the year or two before Vista comes out.
Microsoft claims Windows XP can run on a PII 233 with 64MB or ram and 4MB of video ram. It barely runs on double those specs. To run Vista good you will need a machine that doesn't even exist yet.

bored2k
September 15th, 2005, 06:46 PM
Microsoft claims Windows XP can run on a PII 233 with 64MB or ram and 4MB of video ram. It barely runs on double those specs. To run Vista good you will need a machine that doesn't even exist yet.
On the 733mhz, 128MB ram and 16MB of SiS video, Windows XP basically crawled to death. I remember alt+tabbing between the browser and MSN Messenger took a few seconds every time. And If I installed an antivirus? /me laughs.

In case Leif didn't know, about a year ago Bill Gates stated some requirements that are not even out on the market, claiming that by the time it was released they would be the normal "everyday computer". In order to run it on computers that are _now_ fast (not ultimate gaming ultra expensive computers), we would most likely have to run it on the lower graphical version setting.

Kapre
September 15th, 2005, 07:45 PM
This article i think is good for the linux comminity but I'm just wondering why wasn't Ubuntu being mentioned on his article? It's just Mepis and Xandros.

K

bored2k
September 15th, 2005, 08:06 PM
This article i think is good for the linux comminity but I'm just wondering why wasn't Ubuntu being mentioned on his article? It's just Mepis and Xandros.

K
We can't really blame them. A lot of linux users locked themselves a while on thinking that only those two are good for begginers. If I were to make an article, I'd mention at least 5 of the most suited distros or not mention none at all, thus avoiding communities like ours feeling left out.

Kapre
September 15th, 2005, 11:50 PM
I know that distrowatch is not a measure of how popular or good a distro is, but being in the number 1 spot uncontested for a couple of months (been following it only for since January) I think is proof enough that Ubuntu needs to get its proper place in the Linux world.

I've e-mailed this show here in TO (webpage@pulse24.com) a couple of times now and asking them why they haven't featured Linux (in general) in their show but no reply. Now that the Ubuntu below Zero will be in Montreal, I will e-mail them again and I hope they will say/mention something about it.

K

nocturn
September 16th, 2005, 07:50 AM
I'm slightly less optimistic about this.

The past has some interesting lessons and I think XP will we the dominant OS for the next two years to come because most people will stick with what they got (this is also why 2000 is still arround in large numbers).
Vista will take up a proportion of the market representing some companies that switch, but mainly new PC's that had it preinstalled (MS biggest stick, you don't get a choice no matter the cost).

That said, I do seeLinux gaining ground, and we will continue to do so.
The breaking point would be to get major OEMs to offer it as a choice on pre-installed systems (which would make the price difference with Vista stand out).

KiwiNZ
September 16th, 2005, 10:11 AM
I will not be buying Vista . It is simply a very expensive service pack

seiflotfy
September 16th, 2005, 10:18 AM
i think dapper drake will be kicking vistas ass by then!!
at least i hope so!! I also heared that one needs 3d accaleration for windows vista!! hehehe linxu can even run in text moda !! can u beat that microsoft!!!

ember
September 16th, 2005, 10:58 AM
I think it's mainly the copyright and DRM issues that will drive people away from Vista. I still use Windows XP (though Ubuntu has claimed place #1 on my computer), yet as far as I know, Windows Vista will, e.g. not play HDTV-resolution-videos with current screens, because it only outputs full resolution on that one with HDCP-connection.
Practically that means, I have to buy a completely new hardware set for a new operating system. And even if am not a student any more when Windows Vista comes out, this is not acceptable. I never bought a new computer for other reasons than a really cool computer game I wanted to play ;)

bob_c_b
September 16th, 2005, 11:31 AM
Microsoft always claims much higher specs than needed to run their OS. This has been true for 95, 98, and XP. Vista will probably run just fine on most PCs bought the year or two before Vista comes out.

Good one, that made me smile ;-) Most new MS software runs passably on "recomended" specs but is pretty ugly on anything below them, and unusable on minimums.

GeneralZod
September 16th, 2005, 12:47 PM
i think dapper drake will be kicking vistas ass by then!!
at least i hope so!! I also heared that one needs 3d accaleration for windows vista!! hehehe linxu can even run in text moda !! can u beat that microsoft!!!

It doesn't require a 3D card, but you benefit from additional speed and eye-candy if you have one, and unfortunately the same cannot definitely be said of Dapper (or even Dapper +1) at this stage.

I'm sure that disabling eye-candy will enable it to run just as well as, say, GNOME, on today's hardware.

Running in text mode offers few advantages and appeals only to hard-core nerds. It's cool that Linux is capable of this, but I don't see it as a real advantage, personally.

The best reason to prefer Linux over Vista will be the lack of DRM, huge amount of free and Free apps available (with some well-chosen and useful ones installed by default), and the cost.

Brunellus
September 16th, 2005, 02:19 PM
It doesn't require a 3D card, but you benefit from additional speed and eye-candy if you have one, and unfortunately the same cannot definitely be said of Dapper (or even Dapper +1) at this stage.

I'm sure that disabling eye-candy will enable it to run just as well as, say, GNOME, on today's hardware.

Running in text mode offers few advantages and appeals only to hard-core nerds. It's cool that Linux is capable of this, but I don't see it as a real advantage, personally.

The best reason to prefer Linux over Vista will be the lack of DRM, huge amount of free and Free apps available (with some well-chosen and useful ones installed by default), and the cost.
running in text mode scares my mother; thus, it is a good way to keep her off my back if I have to borrow her (ubuntu) computer.