(as opposed to 50 million in Vista)

The story.

That's because he includes the lines from every program in all the accompanying packages. Throw MS Office into the mix (Debian includes OpenOffice), and comparable Windows programs to correspond to all the other packages in a Linux distro, ... then count the lines. It is a fair presentation of the statistical facts, tho. OTOH, we all know what you can do with statistics.

ot ...

how could anyone counts lines in debian , there arent any lines in debian actually ...

infact , linux lines shouldnt include lines about drivers("built-in" or not) and "extra" fs and such ...


//but as i said , its ot and i can be totally wrong ...


.

I didn't know that, and will indeed be doing that. For desktop computers I can just as easily purchase parts and put it together, but I don't have the experience or the will to put together a laptop. That adds atleast $100 to the price (Assuming the machine has XP Home installed). I wouldn't mind getting that money refunded, since I wouldn't be using the product.

As for laptops coming without an OS or with some version of Linux. Ironically the cost of the systems would go up, right now with mass production of Windows laptops they can make a bunch of Windows ready machines. If they start making a small number of Linux or no-OS systems the cost of those systems would cost the same or more than the Windows system.

Here is an actual story about that.

Pretty interesting but might be difficult to get done anyway.

HUH!? Unless you're running something like Slackware.. I don't know wtf the guy is talking about.

<sarcasm>Of course it's easier to open up IExplorer, go to google.com or whatever, search for the program, hope it's freely available, go to the website, search for the download link, download and run the installer than just issuing something like "apt-get -y install program".</sarcasm>

I just love it when someone expresses a personal opinion as a fact and hopes it sticks.

--

Anyway.. I fail to see the purpose of the article. I mean seriously. Is the author trying to manipulate the readers ? Is he simply stating an opinion (if so, why should anyone who knows enough to form their own opinion care).. what?

I forsee lawsuits and people switching over to Linux. I knew Mircosoft was a horrible company, but I wouldn't think they would have gotten that dirty. This isn't very nice for the users or the hardware makers. It will be interesting to see how things are after Vista starts coming out on store-bought machines.

To be fair introuble, i think you're a bit wrong. I'm a reasonably proficient computer user and have installed windows on multiple computers over the past 4yrs or so. I got into linux when i got hacked off with windows being slow and crap on my lappy, so thought drunkenly one night "f it, i'll install something else". Now it took me at least 3 months to get Fedora working OK (no 3d acceleration as card not supported, built in wireless didn't work, modem didn't work). Then my laptop died, got sent a new one by the insurance, tried installing Fedora. Couldn't get it to work behind my Uni proxy; so tried Ubuntu, didn't like my AMD processor; settled on Mandriva. Works really really nice. BUT.... took me an hour to get wireless to work, 2 hours to get 3d support, can't do this, can't do that. Now i admit this is my experience, and its the vendors fault for not supporting the hardware, but I'm a Maths student so have access to loads of Techies in my Dept. and have LOADS of spare time and I got well p*ssed when after 3hrs of googling suspend to RAM won't work. Compare my linux experience to windows, CD in, 45mins later have working wireless, 3d support, everything looks nice etc etc.... Now i hate windows, but you are living in cloud cuckoo land if you think that Linux is ready for the AVERAGE end user. You have to put the hours in to get linux to work, and most people can't be bothered.

That's a very skewed and unfair way to look at it, sure the average user may not be able to get linux set up in some situations, but the average user also can't stop windows from breaking.

Yer it probably is skewed. But i'm only going from my personal experience. As i said, i've tried a few of the hundreds of linux distros out there and have found installing them both time consuming and problematic, all though the benefits over time over windows no doubt outweigh the problems, getting Linux to work as well as windows is a pain in the rear. Installing a windows system is like hiring a dodgy builder to build your dream home, up in no time, then the cracks appear. Installing linux is like building your own home, you have to learn how to lay bricks, do the plumbing etc, but then you get a mint house. That said though, if i want to do any kind of music production, i switch to windows, because 2 weeks is too long to spend trying to get a sequencer to work in linux...

Okay, my experience is quite different, but aside from that, potential installation difficulties don't mean that linux is unsuited for more widespread use, most people don't install their own operating systems anyway.

Yer but most operating systems don't have the backing of one of the most powerful companies in the world.........

yup, and one person I know from another site won't be using Vista,
he cannot play his games, or use his hobbyist 3d graphics apps in Vista.

no watching that dvd, or listening to that cd either, unless is fully supports Vista's draconian "Content Protection" scheme. this means buying a brand new version of every dvd you own.. every cd you own..every game.... [ ad nauseum ]

I'll stick with being lnux only thanks. I can listen to a cd or watch a dvd with no problem at all.

Yeah I read that... actually that article prompted this whole thread....

The newer versions of distros such as Unbuntu don't take hours to configure. Most everything one wants comes right out of the box. Now I will agree it isn't ready for an average user to boot it up and be able to do everything they want without any real configuration (like Windows). I often hear Windows users bitching about their systems not working right. So they understand it isn't perfect and I hope that Linux (thanks to the great programmers out there) keeps getting better, because better is what these "AVERAGE" users want.