if your old windows machine is getting slow and cranky, why not try Linux? If you use the Wubi installer there is no risk. It won't disturb your Windows install. If you don't like it you can uninstall just like any other Windows installation.

If you have questions, I'm here to answer them. Here's Wubi:
http://wubi-installer.org/

Check it out.

Best,
Tick

Because all the windows programs won't work.

True, but most of the time there are Linux apps that do exactly the same things as your Windows apps. Bonus: They are free. Thousands of applications that you can try for the low low cost of a couple of clicks. All updates and patches are automatic. You don't have to keep visiting web sites to stay up to date.

With Linux you can forget about viruses, and defrag, and scandisk, forever. I think that makes it worth a look. There's no cost and no risk. Wubi won't hurt your Windows.

You can run some or all of your Windows apps in Linux. That's a little more complex. For now I'm just suggesting a peek.

Best,
Tick

Yeah, but why spend months trying to set up something reasonably close, and learn how to use it, to replace something that already works? I've got better things to do with my time.

Well, no. You would be replacing something that is broken by design. Each new version of Windows says that it fixes problems that they never admitted existed in the previous version. Each new version makes you withdraw from your checking account. You have to pay for your most used programs. You have to pay protection money to goons who may or may not keep you safe.

Ok. I really do get it. I was there. You are comfortable with running the system that you know. That's fine. Just remember that you are not locked in. You have a choice. You can upgrade to Linux. There is no risk. Just look! Here's the link again if you want to take a look;
http://wubi-installer.org/

Give it a shot and then come back here and tell me what you think. Ok?

Best,
Tick

I'm well aware, as I think most people on this board are, there are options to "The Evil Empire".
That's fine and dandy, if you want to make it your avocation. I don't.

I don't want to be a geek/nerd.
I don't want to tinker with it,
I don't want to read manuals/instructions in my spare time,
I don't want to soup it up,
I don't want to race it,
I don't want to even change the damn oil.

I just want to drive it... and call AAA when it breaks.

Ok. I understand your dislike of change. That's fine. It's human nature.

I was offering a bit of perspective for those who might be fed up with Windows. This is the technology forum right? Is this particular technology unwelcome?

Best,
Tick

nah, you're fine Tick. I would venture a guess that there are many here who wouldn't really know the first thing about it. I certainly don't. Heck I just realized that pushing down on my mouse wheel automatically opens a link in a new tab.

I'm admittedly too ignorant of the inner workings and too lazy to learn at this point.

Save your strawman, it's not dislike of change, it's dislike of having to take on a project, in reality a hobby because of the never ending revisions, that doesn't interest me. I would suggest a large percentage of this board do understand this shit because of their vocation/background, and might even find it an interesting avocation as well. What I'm saying is, I don't. I'm sure I'm not alone in that, but I only speak for myself.

Whoa, where the fuck did that come from? You were at no point being censored. You offered an opinion, your point of view, and so did I. I suspect there are people that don't agree with either one of us.

Actually I agree with both of you. Linux can be a wonderful environment to use. The problem is that it can be a bitch to set up and maintain.

One of the things I like about Macs is that you get all the sturdiness of unix with the usability from Apple. Best of both worlds.

"Linux is only free if your time has no value"
-- Jamie Zawinski

Linux
 

I have been using computers for a very long time.

I've known Bruce almost as long. Seriously.

Linux is a project. Unless you're doing software development or do IRC and IM continually, it's a major project to try and replicate a desktop environment and find equivalents. This is coming from someone who has used almost every major flavor of Linux, has compiled e17 from source, and who runs RHEL at work for mission-critical servers. I've had Linux desktops. I am running Win7 and Snow Leopard for my primary desktops, with a Vista desktop for testing. I do have Ubuntu in a VM somewhere that I haven't started in a while.

About the only thing I ever got working well for users was WINE with multiple versions of IE (4, 5, and 6) under Ubuntu. That took me an afternoon with WINE from CVS to get working correctly.

Even then, many of the good apps just don't plain work in Linux, such as Quickbooks, ERStudio, DBArtisan, Visual Studio, SQL Server Management Studio, and even Flash Player. Wine and DOSBox work very well for old DOS and Win9x-era games, but not for many modern apps. The apps that do work are few and far between, and woe be to the one who tries to use OpenOffice for classwork due to Impress going nuts and not handling the fonts correctly. Java and Flash just don't work well on the desktop there, and the video drivers and X still take alchemy to set up when s*it hits the fan. Sound is a joke and takes a ton of work when it fails. Printing has its issues too, and Mac OS X has many of the same issues due to the same printing subsystem (CUPS) being used. Don't even get me started on the e-mail program in Ubuntu and the world of suck that it is.

Many of the tools I can use to administer Linux work better on Windows, such as mySQL Admin.

Even surfing the web with Firefox takes a lot of work due to the fonts.

Many of the people who evangelize Linux just don't understand the use cases that many people have won't work for it, or the amount of work involved to even get a rough equivalent put in place for basic home or office needs. Those that are truly dedicated to the task will figure it out. Those that want their UNIX tools will run either Mac OS X or Cygwin to get their tools if they can't stand Linux.

Linux is a great server and kiosk OS, and is great for when you need a tightly controlled environment. However, it just isn't there for a general use desktop for home users, no matter how much some try to make it so.

That is good writing. The conclusion makes sense even for people who had no bloody idea what he was talking about for most of it.

This is where we are now:

Linux is not a good choice because it doesn't run the specialized tools I need to run, some of which are Windows development tools, and even Flash player.

In order to understand this, we need to alter it just a tad:

The iPad is not a good choice because it doesn't run the specialized tools I need to run, some of which are Windows development tools, and Apple actually prohibits Flash.

Doesn't make sense, right? But the iPad is not such a different device. It's just a computer with a wireless interface and a touch screen.

And so it turns out that running Quickbooks, Flash, and Windows development tools is not the future end-all/be-all of computing.

In fact, the iPad has no printing capabilities at all.

Perhaps that's why it's in such huge demand.

Isn't the I-pad basically an oversized cell phone?

Yes, and the modern cell phone is a small computer with more processing power than 20 year old desktop computers.