bbgruff <bbgruff@xxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> Mark Kent wrote:
>>>
> http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/29/dells-mini-inspiron-eee-pc-killer-revealed
>>>
>>
>> It'll need to run Linux. Even XP at US$18 is all very well until you
>> start adding in the cost of sofware to actually do anything, then the
>> load of running anti-virus on it.
>
> The anti-virus, anti-spyware, Registry cleaner, Registration, WGA, etc, and
> little in the way of pre-loaded and automatically updated apps. is all a bit
> of a downer, isn't it?
Indeed.
>
> Not too sure about your $18 price. Are you sure that's not £18? The best I
> can work out from similar recent offerings is that the "Restricted hardware
> special low-cost XP Home" version is adding $30.
Um, I can't recall where I've seen the number, but it might well have
been £18, as you mention it.
>
> As for S/W (applications) cost, there is the counter argument that one can run
> OO.o, Firefox, T/bird. GIMP etc. on Windows? That said, there is also the
> counter-counter argument of course that if one is running all those great
> apps, one would be better off just binning XP and using an Operating System
> (which is precisely how I came to use Linux)....
That's true, of course, you could run open-source applications on top of
a proprietary operating system, but you'll still have all the security
issues which are inherent in Windows, which open-source applications
cannot necessarily protect you from on Windows.
>
>> Besides, why would you pay anything
>> for code which is a few patches to NT5, released 8 years ago?
>
> You don't make that argument very strongly. Are you mellowing towards the
> wintrolls in your old age?:-)
Hehe - I've been a little busy recently :-)
> Isn't the point that XP has just come to the end of the line? Just how much
> security etc. support can be expected for it now? I really can't see Redmond
> offering much - apart from anything else, if they give it full support over
> the years ahead, umpteen million current Windows users will will expect to be
> able to continue to use it, and Redmond's Vista sales will be cream-crackered
> again.
I'm assuming that Microsoft have pretty much given up on Vista, as
everyone else seems to have.
> By contrast, if they take it with Linux, they get today's OS, getting even
> better month by month and absolutely no obsolescence...
>
Unless you end up with proprietary drivers, though. I've got a mythtv
box which is an Asus Pundit running Ubuntu with an nVidia video card.
The nVidia driver is very good when it works, but I've had a couple of
problems with having to enable different repositories in order to get
the "restricted" drivers - something which would've been a problem for a
non-technical user, I suspect. By contrast, my Ubuntu desktop office
machine, also an Asus desktop, has an Intel video card and the free
OpenGL drivers work very well for it. I've not had any updating
problems with that machine.
Anyway, it remains an argument in favour of open-source, however you
hack it!
--
| mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
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