How many RI'ers use Windows?

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How many RI'ers use Windows?

Postby slow_dazzle » Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:46 pm

I am prompted to ask this because after reading through Jeff's "Laughing Cow" post on the blog the apathy of people came back to haunt me as it has done for years. So why the question about Windows?

Well, we all dislike doing things that are irksome. Linux can be a pain in the ass although the Ubunto distro is, apparently, easier to use than, say, Red Hat. Even then, some proggies are difficult to get hold of that can rival third party Windows apps such as Photoshop and gamers can't do much on a Linux box.

Mac OSX is a better bet, because it is supported by a huge array of third party apps (apart from really good newsreaders), but some people say Apple is just as bad as Microsoft as regards business ethics. It's a far better OS than Windows though imo.

Maybe it's simply too much hassle to ditch Windows, even though we all know Microsoft is a corporate behemoth and maybe there isn't a really ethical alternative unless one is willing to go completely open source and put up with the relative lack of good, third party apps.

I'd be interested in reading comments on this issue - maybe it's irrelevant but maybe it's quite important.
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Postby Wombaticus Rex » Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:21 pm

I use windows, it came with the computer and it runs all my stolen applications. Not much of a choice, really, it's either have a "cool" and useless OS or run the programs I need to run with windows.
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Postby philipacentaur » Fri Feb 02, 2007 10:23 pm

I use whatever gets the job done most efficiently, and sometimes that's Linux, especially when time is not an issue but money is.

Apple is no less a den of scumbags than Microsoft, especially now that Jobs is back. In fact, I have a hard time telling the two companies apart anymore, aside from the fact that more often than not, Apple has an easier time converting their users into evangelizing zealots than Microsoft. I guess it's always been that way.
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Postby Joe Hillshoist » Sat Feb 03, 2007 12:07 am

Maybe it's simply too much hassle to ditch Windows, even though we all know Microsoft is a corporate behemoth and maybe there isn't a really ethical alternative unless one is willing to go completely open source and put up with the relative lack of good, third party apps.


Just about everyone I know that uses windows (out here in the physical virtual reality) didn't pay for it. Cept me of course.

As for mac...

anyone got an ipod?
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Postby Sweejak » Sat Feb 03, 2007 4:17 pm

I use a Mac, always have, so I don't have much basis for comparison. I think that among the original goals of Apple was the combining of art and technology and in spite of them being a hard assed business it is apparent that they still believe in that, from the sometimes brilliant hardware design to the smooth OS.

When I first bought a computer and asked for advice I had no clue about the OS wars, I thought Windows was a Mac product. My architecture friends told me I had to get a Windows machine but it was stated reluctantly as if it was a battle lost, a "reality on the ground" sort of thing whereas my artist friends were, shall I say, enthusiastic about Macs. So I went with a Mac. I've never found a lack of software for what I want to do. The reason there are Mac evangelists is because most Mac users genuinely enjoy their machines.

Aside from that I've had one virus since I've started using computers, brought in on a floppy. Whether this is only because I'm lucky or only because hackers don't write for a less popular OS I don't know and it doesn't matter that much to me. I hope Mac stays small.

I don't use the iTunes Store because I don't like feeling the DRM. Still, I give Jobs credit for breaking online music open where the RIAA's only policy seems to be to sue their potential customers.

I've downloaded Unbutu but never tried it, or any Linux version. I keep old machines around with old OS's just in case.

Here is a Mac evangelists review of Vista, but he doesn't address what I've heard are really odious protection schemes and sticks with the GUI, which I have to say looks like it was copied from Mac:
http://www.macuser.com/windows/ihnatko_ ... esnt_s.php

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Postby tsoldrin » Sat Feb 03, 2007 7:37 pm

I use Win XP, OSX and Freebsd. Free I've used for ages and it handles the nuts and bolts of my home network... it's indispensible. The xp I used to use for games as a necesarry evil but I was left in the dust as games required more and more cpu and memory (conspiracy?!) and now it's just a terminal/browser machine - firefox looks the same regardless of os mostly and it actually handles my funky collection of networking devices better than anything else. The OSX is an IBook I picked up free because it has a crushed monitor... and I cobled a normal CRT onto it... is now my game machine... it has a nice os underneith that resembles freebsd but it's a bit of a pain to dig down to it so I rarely bother. The last OS I 'bought' was AmigaDos/Workbench 1.3 ...and that reminds me...

(conspiracy!?): My old Amiga computers had as good, if not better graphics and sound than I see on top of the line PC's today... using only 1 MEG (512k on board, 512k expansion) and 30 mhz cpu... so what's with the 'conspiracy' which seems to drive people to continually upgrade their hardware to handle new software which really doesn't do anything old software wasn't already doing? ;) Not even mentioning truly awesome games used to fit on a single floppy disk and games today, if they were available to floppy would fill HUNDREDS of them.
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Postby Sepka » Tue Feb 06, 2007 1:01 am

W2K at work. At home, I generally boot into Mandrake, although I keep W98 on the main workstation too, for games (my taste in games is by no means cutting-edge). The laptop's W98 and Red Hat. My file and print server's NT4.
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Postby jingofever » Sat Feb 10, 2007 4:23 pm

I saw a link to this image with the headline "The real problem with Linux". Funny. By the way, the Tron guy on the right, a personal hero of mine.

Image
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Postby yesferatu » Sun Feb 18, 2007 1:57 pm

yesferatu
 

hahahaaa

Postby slow_dazzle » Sun Feb 18, 2007 4:25 pm

but we all did it when we first got into computers, didn't we?
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Postby Penguin » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:07 am

I use exclusively Linux nowadays. Ubuntu to be more specific.
I always, always hated Microsoft products. My first computer was Commodore 64 in 1983, when I was about 4 years old :)
Later Atari for many many years, then PCs from 8088 to 486, first MS-DOS, then Windows 3.1, then Windows 95,98,2000 and finally XP.

The times when I had to use MS systems I always felt kind of queasy with my computers, hated the operating systems. Then one day 4 years ago I simply had enough of it..Enough of viruses, spyware and the fact that it felt like Microsoft owned my computer and not me. I took a big hunting knife and let the XP cd (original!paid for!) simply HAVE IT. Felt good.

Installed Ubuntu Linux since Id heard its easier for beginners. Spent next 3 months playing with it, fucking my system up and generally learning about the new system and its intricacies...and having FUN with MY computer! Finally it was mine again, I could see all the details of the system, change whatever I liked and generally do all kinds of things that were impossible with Windows. Not to mention it was free, and born of a free exchange of code and ideas. Sharing and co-creating. Now I like that :)

Now I use only Linux, have tried many different ditributions (Suse, Fedora, Damn Small Linux, PCLinuxOS etc) but like Ubuntu best. Ubuntu is running both my two desktop systems and my old laptop. Never going back to proprietary systems. Knowledge, code and information need to be free ;)
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Re: hahahaaa

Postby Sepka » Wed Sep 19, 2007 11:11 am

slow_dazzle wrote:but we all did it when we first got into computers, didn't we?


I'd been at it for a few years before Windows came along. My first OS was Texas Instruments 9900.
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Postby theeKultleeder » Wed Sep 19, 2007 12:40 pm

I used Windows from '95 to 2000 (I didn't have a PC before then). When the Mac came into my computing life I was quickly won over. I've encountered none of the problems I had with windows, and as far as OS X, the Mac gives you more control over what your programs do.

Fuck em all, really. It's one of those things liberals are hypocritical about. Can't be helped if you want the technology.
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