Anybody here still using Windoze?

[cjnkns]

Just curious how many people here still use Windoze in some capacity.

I am considering installing a distro on my main Windoze box so I thought this would be
an opportune time to ask this question and get a good feel for whether or not I can live in a world without MS? (Well at home anyway)

[d41]

Re: Anybody here still using Windoze?

Can't you just do a dual boot? That way you can have Linux and Windows on the same computer.

[lowey23]

Re: Anybody here still using Windoze?

No windows (nearly two years). Don't miss it a bit and will never EVER go back. I don't use my PC for gaming, though, but it does everything I want it to. And Beryl got a huge Wow from a couple of Windows users on the weekend. Made my day.

[DeathKitten]

Re: Anybody here still using Windoze?

I've been windows free on my own computer for over three years now. I had to use it at work when I first switched, but I don't work at that horrible place anymore, and my dad still uses it so I have an admin account on his computer, so that when I'm visiting and he wants something computer related done, I can just sign in and get it done, and my last boyfriend felt the need to berate me for using linux and insisting that neither mac or linux is a viable alternative to windows. That wasn't the only thing that caused me to break up with him, but it indicated bigger problems even if I could ignore his ignorance on the topic of good operating systems.

That said, as much as I dislike windows, I can respect someone who uses it after having given a genuine chance to something else. My biggest problem is all the people who insist it's the most awesome thing out there without giving anything else a real chance, or the people who make no effort to try anything else because windows is what "everyone" uses.

All that aside, making the choice between dual booting and just getting rid of windows all together is a heavy choice until you either feel comfortable in the linux, or have a good friend who is willing to be there if you frell something on your computer and can't get at the internet to get yourself some help. When I made the switch, I was quitting windows cold turkey, but I also had a friend who was willing to be on call to help and I'd previously tried dual booting only to find I wasn't booting into the linux enough to actually learn my way around. Three years later, I'm quite happy I made the switch, even if the friend is no longer a friend (not because of the tech support thing though) and I'm going pretty much solo these days.

[dibl]

Re: Anybody here still using Windoze?

It is a fact that there are certain things that really can't be done very well without a Windows OS -- although I'm quickly learning to be happy running it in a VMWare Player window within Linux, rather than as a bootable OS. Here are three situations that I am aware of (and this is excluding all the gaming stuff):

1. Your motherboard BIOS is only upgradeable with a Windows-based flash app.

2. You wish/need to run the best genealogy app -- The Master Genealogist.

3. You bought a Motorola Razr V3 cell phone, and would like to get the pix off of it. (Arguably/possibly, Moto4Lin can be made to work, but not by me in a week of research and trying ....).

Two cents' worth ...

[askrieger]

Re: Anybody here still using Windoze?

I actually have Windoze on my laptop, which mainly runs Dapper. It's there specifically so that, when I have to take it through airport security and they ask me to turn it on, they won't see anything "suspicious".

[cjnkns]

Re: Anybody here still using Windoze?

I thought about dual booting but I had really bad luck with that when I was
attempting to dual xp and fedora 2 years ago. (terrible luck) mostly from my lack of knowledge I am sure.
Not sure what it is but I am not much for dual booting - unsure why but whatever....

I have never flashed (upgraded) my bios .. that's not possible with linux? I find that strange and really weird if true.
The whole reason I am attempting the fated switch has a lot to do with not wanting to move to vista ever!
I have heard horrible things about that OS - and to get my gf comfortable using it too.
Not to mention since using Kubuntu on my laptop it's been really enjoyable so I am hoping that I can just commit to linux altogether! Linux has some really cool toys too! Amarok omg that is a very nice app!

[d41]

Re: Anybody here still using Windoze?

I thought about dual booting but I had really bad luck with that when I was
attempting to dual xp and fedora 2 years ago. (terrible luck) mostly from my lack of knowledge I am sure.
Not sure what it is but I am not much for dual booting - unsure why but whatever....

I have never flashed (upgraded) my bios .. that's not possible with linux? I find that strange and really weird if true.
The whole reason I am attempting the fated switch has a lot to do with not wanting to move to vista ever!
I have heard horrible things about that OS - and to get my gf comfortable using it too.
Not to mention since using Kubuntu on my laptop it's been really enjoyable so I am hoping that I can just commit to linux altogether! Linux has some really cool toys too! Amarok omg that is a very nice app!

IMO, if you're planning on overwriting Windows altogether, you should try setting up a dual boot first, and then if it fails, just overwrite Windows.

(Just back everything up first)

[DeathKitten]

Re: Anybody here still using Windoze?

3. You bought a Motorola Razr V3 cell phone, and would like to get the pix off of it. (Arguably/possibly, Moto4Lin can be made to work, but not by me in a week of research and trying ....).

My mom's boyfriend has a razr, and he seems to be able to make it play nice with his OS X. Which carrier is yours hooked up through? I know Verizon's horrible about crippling bluetooth and cable transfer of photos from a camera phone to a computer (greedy buggers want to charge you to email it to yourself). I know my Nokia 6103 worked with the bluetooth for photo transfer with almost no trouble.

That said, I'm not a fan of motorola products. Sorry you're having such trouble with yours.

[dibl]

Re: Anybody here still using Windoze?

Which carrier is yours hooked up through?

Cincinnati Bell Wireless -- but it's not really a carrier problem, it's a Motorola PhoneTools (only for Windows) problem.

That said, I'm not a fan of motorola products. Sorry you're having such trouble with yours.

Yeah, I liked my old Nokia real well, but it was TDMA and eventually became obsolete. The Razr is a decent phone, and PhoneTools works great under Windows, like it's supposed to. I dunno about OS X -- that's not a feature of my life. Too bad Moto4Lin isn't developed more -- it seemed like a good start, but way too tough to make it work -- you need a computer science degree to get it to connect, never mind transferring a file.

[linuxwizard]

Re: Anybody here still using Windoze?

Started using Linux last April. I have used my xp maybe 6 hours since last year. My only use of xp is my HP scanner which is not supported in Linux and Music Match to buy music. All I need to do is buy a new scanner and I don't buy music like I did. So I could do without xp very easily. Everything I need I have found a replacement for it in Linux and it is better. I just wished I would have started looking into Linux sooner. Very pleased with Ubuntu / Kubuntu.

[Princey]

Re: Anybody here still using Windoze?

What HP Scanner do you have, LinuxWizard? I got mine to finally work under Linux. My main reason for keeping a Windows partition over the past 3yrs since I made the switch is mainly because most firmware upgrades are WINDOWS only--motherboard, CD/DVD RW drives, etc, etc and some of the Security-centric flash drives. More so, for the few programs (Paintshop Pro addict here) I run Windows in a VM when I have work to do in PSP. I don't miss Windows at all. No spyware scans, no defrag, no anti-viri scanners competing with me for memory.

[linuxwizard]

Re: Anybody here still using Windoze?

Hello Princey
HP Scanjet 4570c

[gehentogo]

Re: Anybody here still using Windoze?

A year or two ago I also failed at learning Linux by dual-booting XP and Fedora. I gave up until I found Kubuntu Feisty Fawn.

I started with a dual boot setup, and then nuked XP after about two days. I am now totally addicted to Kubuntu, and would recomend it to anyone. I was motivated to use Linux because of the free (as in beer) software, but now I just love using it. No viruses, everything is fast, and my desktop looks and reacts the way I want it to.

If I had it to do over again, I would set it up as a dual boot (it's really easy to do), move all my XP files over to the Kubuntu side, then get rid of XP all together.

Now if I could only motivate the US government to get rid of MS at work, I would be all set. But something about the Army not permitting ANY FOSS software on their computers. Weird.

BTW, my only problem so far is also with a scanner. My HP 4200C is only supported basically. It scans color photographs great, but I haven't been able to tone the settings down to line art. But, scanners are cheap. I'm getting a new one soon. It's not worth it to me to go back to XP just for that.

[newbienNJ]

Re: Anybody here still using Windoze?

Yes, but as much as I use to in the past. Mainly use it for editting my resume on office. Yes I know that Kbuntu has OpenOffice, but there are templates that office has that I can download where as OpenOffice is less.