XP or Vista

I like them both....actually Vista has some nice features

I agree it has some nice features if connected to new hardware with new software. In a business setting, there are some advantages because most software is newer. Running it is different, though, and some people are still liking XP.

Vista does have some nice features. I use it

Vista is not that bad if you get it on a machine that already has it pre-installed. Most of the problems Vista users have is when they upgrade from Windows XP.

The simple truth is that Vista isn't going away, so you might as well get it.

I tech for a living and am doing a fair amount of work on Vista. These are either business machines, that run pretty well ... or individual machines that should not have Vista on them (but did come pre-installed with it). These either haven't the horse-power or are trying to run applications that aren't really compatible.

I know a lot of people who are hoping the 2009 date that has been bandied about on Windows 7 is true. I agree people need to give Vista a look but, if they thought the "Save XP Petition" was going to work, it hasn't.

I got a new computer a month or so ago with Vista pre-loaded and I've had nothing but trouble with it.

Business will use XP till it's no longer supported.

And so will I

And after that MS might start to lose market share. I've been administering Linux servers for more than 10 years, but I've always considered the desktop to be pretty fugly. I have a Ubuntu machine now, and it's pretty good- I'm still not quite ready to switch my mom to it, but I might be if they spend another year fixing it. And of course Mac OS is unix based and seems pretty solid too. Now that it runs on Intel chips MS has to sompete directly with it.

Vista is a disaster for MS. No one wants it, and that's bad news for a flagship product that took years to make and can't be easily patched into something better. If they don't come up with a really good OS next release they will become a smaller company- they won't go away with those cash reserves, but they will shrink.

D.S. - I've had some people switching to Ubuntu. A few to the SuSe desktop as well. I do think for those who websurf and do the occasional document, there will be more switching without even thinking about it. Of individual machine clients, a number are seniors who get "blessed" with new machines by their kids. I can't help think more of them will have Linux in the next couple of years -- a lot are already using OpenOffice rather than paying high dollar for MS Office, so the learning curve is partway accomplished.

Personally, I like Linux for many server applications and use it on an "additional" desktop, though its still a MS world and it is still an easy platform for quick, homegrown applications.

For the sake of all the good product they've made, I hope you're wrong about MS creating a disaster with Vista, but there sure is a lot of talk about "ME revisited". Vista business versions coupled with Office2007 really demonstrate some nice features and I'd hate to see all of it discouraged.

I'm switching to Mac

Thanks for this information. I wanted to get my daughter a laptop for graduation and would have preferred to have XP versus Vista on it, but we aren't going to be able to afford it now, anyway. :-(

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There is pretty much the same. I like both!

What does Apache run on? Still Open Source, or Linux?

It a few years ago supported over 80% of all the Internet activity in the world didn't it?

Apache has versions for Unix (Linux) and Win32. I seem to remember it has been compiled for a few other OSs as well and is available in torrent.

Apache is still open source, and will run on just about every platform where it makes sense to run it. The older versions weren't well suited to Windows- they did their multi-processing by forking separate child processes to handle requests, which is a cheap operation under Unix, but an expensive one under Windows. The new versions are threaded, a better model for Windows. That said, I would not run Windows on a critical server- some people do, and seem happy with it so maybe that is just a prejudice of mine, but it is one I will hang onto, I think. It's also worth noting that there are a number of new web server programs out there that fill various niches better than Apache- I haven't run Apache in almost two years. But yeah- it used to be absolutely dominant, and is still one of the most widely used programs in the world.

I think you make a good point about Office Debra. It seems to me that Office is the core of MS's business and that the biggest threat to them is from acceptable substitutes for Office. My Mom (who I guess is a senior now- she's 63) is a writer and editor, and the biggest thing tying her to Windows is the fear that she won't be able to open some Word documents if she switches to Linux.

Unfortunately what MS has done to try to slow the inevitable is make it hard to open documents saved in this year's Office if you are using an Office from a couple years ago.

Paradoxically, this may drive my mom away from them. The other day she got a newish Word document that she couldn't open with her version of Word and called me up, I installed Open Office on her machine just so she could use it to convert the document to an older Word format. So we might switch her to Ubuntu soon- it would make my life easier as I could shell into her machine when she needs help with something (and even run a remote X session if need be). As it stands I have to go to her house when she needs help- much as I love my Mom, and like seeing her, I'd be happier if I could do tech support for her without actually being visiting her premises, and Unix/Linux is a lot better for that than Windows.

DS - I think MS shot themselves in the foot with their version of ODF. Nothing makes people more upset than lack of interoperability.

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