It's amusing how so many members keep responding to a troll. Please, read the last 5-10 pages of this thread and see how much time you wasted on someone who clearly has no idea about linux (and doesn't want to have), someone who clearly has little idea about Microsoft, someone who quotes your responses, but doesn't seem to read (or understand) them.

btw, how sad/unhappy/frustrated I'd have to be to register with some MS forum and keep slagging off windows.

DON'T FEED THE TROLL.

There are so many other things you could do.

That's what keeps mattvdh trolling, he's feeding on the attention we give him..

So what if from now on we drop the topic and start doing something more productive, shall we?

By calling mattvdh a troll, you are denying the alternative, because you find it too terrifying: that mattvdh believes everything he says.

I would still stand by what I said in the last post of mine.

Hi,

Only if you allow that person to place oneself at that level. I would append to the above with: 'or lack of experience' to the end of the last sentence.

I only justify what is written as wrong or misinterpreted by the 'troll'. If you just pass over then someone (poor misinformed newbie) may take the misstatement as correct information. It's sad that someone is allowed to dangle poor representation and selective memories as fact to a newbie that will then take the same as true.

It may feed the 'troll' but my stand is firm.

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha........ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

WINDOWS...

ha hee hee heeeee heeeeeeee,

VISTA.... he he ha ha hahahahahahahaaaaaaaarggghhhhhh it hurts... stop it

I have just installed windows XP 4 hours and the bloody wifi is still not working....., then downloaded linux mint ISO, 8 minutes, burned to disk, 10 minutes. installed as dual boot, 40 minutes, wifi 3 minutes...

god bless linux.

That's because they're brainwashed by M$. Most average users don't know what the term 'operating system' means; few people do. I tell them that 'operating system' is a general term for programs like Windows and Mac OS, and they finally get it. They need examples to know what I'm talking about. This means they only know about M$; I'd say 80% of Windows users don't know what they're using, how few freedoms they have, or if there's any alternatives, like the righteous Linux. Simply put, I think of M$ like this fictitious political party.

To be honest, I like both Windows and Linux. I like Linux a bit more for various reasons; that's why I'm here helping people with it. Microsoft is whom I have a problem with, I don't like their business tactics at all.

And really -- in retrospect -- this is a pointless comparison. Even Linus Torvalds agrees with me here. These are not competing OS'es, and really the dynamics of the situation are so different that it is basically comparing oranges with apples (pun not intended). Even the OS'es themselves are much different in every imaginable sense.

I dual-boot Windows XP and Linux, and I'm perfectly happy. Here's what I say: use & play with whatever floats your boat.

Everyone has made good points here, and I actually would like to complement Matt for walking into a Linux forum and literally outright defends/attacks the +'s of his favorite OS. Alot of guys here laugh when Matt said Windows is the superior gaming platform with the old Solitare jokes: but it's true. Is it really Linux's fault or anything? No. M$ has a dominant hold of the home user market -- the market that plays the most games -- and gets all the developer support & lock-in. I can't buy any of my favorite games for Linux... Sure we have WINE and that jazz, but in all honesty WINE is no guarantee. But the Linux community fires back a good point on the server side; Linux/UNIX dominates it. Why? Well, first of all you hardly ever reboot. Linux/UNIX can be up for months at a time with no problem. Furthermore, the system is harder to compromise from a few factors; market share, ports/programs and built-in security features come to mind here. Matt takes his argument a step further saying it's best for the home user. This is true! Why? Indoctrination, obscurity, absolute dominance, vendor lock-in, idiot-proofed, limited, GUI with big icons and primarily automated system tasks. Remember who we are talking about though: these are people who could care less about what or how they are using it -- if it works then it's fine for them. The the Linux users fire back with a deadly point -- Linux is free as in freedom. Money wise, Linux is completely on top here. No discussion even.

Anyways, I just wanted to say that Matt is not too much of a troll (although he has taken his arguments to the wrong place), and we Linux users love our thing too; so chanting curses on the namesake of the forum is probably not going to get far.

It is true that some good points have been made (although maybe over-gereralized). The majority of home computer users don't know what an OS is let-alone that they have a choice in the matter. This just adds fuel to the fire (as it is said). If they know of differnt computer types at all they think Windows "IS" PC and that the "other" is Mac. They don't tend to understand that there is an OS and have never heard the term in many cases.

This "IS" the real problem... In otherwords, the mass majority of the people are ignorant and un-educated in computers when it comes to other availible OSs'. I want to make a point here of stating that I am NOT calling them "stupid". Many very inteligent people are caught in this mess.

So then what? People have a choice... buy an expencive Mac (as it is "rummored" to be better) or buy the cheep knock-off sold by what they "precieve" as Microsoft for a mere $300 (in US currency) which includes not only "the Windows computer" (note I did NOT say an "Intel architecture" or "IBM compatable" PC with mouse and keyboard as this would be a foreign language to most new ignorant computer buyers) but a nice monitor and often a printer besides. So, price-wise "buying Microsoft" looks like the cheep but effective choice as a Mac can still run into the thousands thesedays. Although the price is now dropping with the change in hardware.

If (and that is a BIG "IF"), people have been told there are other options such as "something called Linux" they are still "often" miss-informed believing "it is hard", "everything is text mode like DOS was", "It won't support new hardware", "It is only for computer Geeks" or maybe even something with a half-truth like "you can't run your favorite program(s) on it". Implying there are no other quality programs that can take the place of any that might not actually be able to run under GNU/Linux. This of course is not the "complete" line of F.U.D. that exists by any means. It is just what has been most commonly brought up to me by potential new GNU/Linux users (having spent a good many years repairing, building and administrating computers (and entire networks) for others).

Microsoft in the mean time is doing it's best to crush, buy or discredit anything it views as compatition. Lord forbid GNU/Linux ever might see a 1 - 10% markit share in the "private sector" thus recieving some attention from hardware venders and commercial software firms. By "crush" I mean suing into submission or to the point (quite often) of total bankrupsy as the business has exausted all it's funds and can no longer survice under the constant legal costs of defending it's self from Microsoft's on going legal assults. I would also like to point out that many such businesses had not directly lost their court battle but were put so far into debt by it that they had to close.

/thread

@leopard

Well said, man!

Couldn't have put it better myself, really.

I strongly disagree with the bolded statement. I've seen all too often what happens when ignorant users use Windows - terrible virus and spyware infestations. These users tend to also lose their installation CDs, so they can't even reinstall. Typically the user doesn't even know their problems are software related, and believes they need to buy "a new computer because this one's really slow".

And this isn't just home users - I'm facing this problem in my work. Over 20 computers that have been made available to the public, who've been running as administrative users and using IE6, with no or out-of-date antivirus. I'm having to put in several hours work, including unpaid preparation work at home in evenings and weekends, to fix the mess. And it's a mess I have no reason to believe isn't the case in thousands of SMEs that lack dedicated IT staff. My company decided to employ myself. Others may continue in their bad situation, to put it frankly - continue being victims of crime.

So yeah, idiot proof my arse.

What's wrong with you people?! XP takes a maximum of 45 minutes to an hour to install. It generally takes me about a half hour with my PC and most PC's I've installed it on. And why didn't you get WiFi working? There's really no reason why the WiFi shouldn't work in XP.

How can you blame Windows for this problem, that is clearly a user-related error. Switching OSs wouldn't solve that users problems. And if they chose to browse the porn/warez sites then you should have a proper anti-viruse/malware/adware protection, this is just common knowledge.