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A life without Microsoft


Silearth

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After reading--and posting to--the IE8 thread, and after reading the anti-M$ postings of many of you, I went ahead and downloaded Firefox. I previously stated that I had tried it once. Well this time was different and I took an instant liking to it.

 

I spent about an hour checking out skins and downloading extensions.

 

Good bye internet explorer(well for most sites anyway)

 

Next I got myself a copy of Thunderbird and after a few minutes decided that it would replace Outlook Express.

 

But my work was not done. Next I got the latest version of Open Office to replace my aging copy of Office 2000. I had used Open Office before and liked it--just wasn't ready to give up M$ Office at that time.

 

The next day I was toying around with a friends laptop--a Mac.

 

But I couldn't go completly without M$......could I?

Edited by Silearth
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I can't give u any pointers on that .. I'm quite fond of Windows, even though it could be so much better offcourse, my main reason for sticking with the M$OS is that it runs all the apps I want .including ALL the games... which for Mac would be a problem ( I think )

then again ... I'm an old fart who grew up with dos and win 3.11 I think I would find it hard to adjust to a new OS

Edited by DreDBanGeR
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Wow Sil, lol. You just dove right in eh! I do very much like Thunderbird and am glad you're giving that a try. Oh and the downloading of Firefox skins, haha. That was the first thing I added to Firefox. I liked the Noia skin the most and have been with it for at least a year I think. Might be time to check out the new skins... Open Office is a nice addition. Gotta love that open source community. It's only a matter of time till an Open Source OS(fully compatible) is released. Can't wait for that!

 

There are a lot of Linux based OS's that are Open Source though they are rarely compatable with popular games. I've read in the past that it is possible to get some games working with a Linux OS but the steps to take aren't simple. Check out Ubuntu if you're curious about an alternative. I've heard a lot of people, real life and online, that are very happy with it. If you wanted to try it safely you could always install it while keeping your windows. That way when you start up your pc you could have the option of loading into either windows or Ubuntu.

 

I've been meaning to do that myself actually. Just haven't taken the time to. Needless to say I'm eager to get off the MS habit.

 

All that to say is that I think pc games would be your only obstacle. As for everything else I believe there is always an Open Source option.

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Now that you have firefox Sil, you won't look back, you may find from time to time with firefox updates that your Java becomes incompatible, but just reinstall java and it will all be fine.

 

I have converted quite a few users at my various work places to change over to firefox and they have all been very happy indeed.

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Wow Sil, lol. You just dove right in eh! I do very much like Thunderbird and am glad you're giving that a try. Oh and the downloading of Firefox skins, haha. That was the first thing I added to Firefox. I liked the Noia skin the most and have been with it for at least a year I think. Might be time to check out the new skins... Open Office is a nice addition. Gotta love that open source community. It's only a matter of time till an Open Source OS(fully compatible) is released. Can't wait for that!

 

There are a lot of Linux based OS's that are Open Source though they are rarely compatable with popular games. I've read in the past that it is possible to get some games working with a Linux OS but the steps to take aren't simple. Check out Ubuntu if you're curious about an alternative. I've heard a lot of people, real life and online, that are very happy with it. If you wanted to try it safely you could always install it while keeping your windows. That way when you start up your pc you could have the option of loading into either windows or Ubuntu.

 

I've been meaning to do that myself actually. Just haven't taken the time to. Needless to say I'm eager to get off the MS habit.

 

All that to say is that I think pc games would be your only obstacle. As for everything else I believe there is always an Open Source option.

 

I actually ordered an Ubuntu live disk a year or so ago. I used it a couple of times to try it out--Loved it! But never had the nerve to cut the cord and actually install it.

 

I can't give u any pointers on that .. I'm quite fond of Windows, even though it could be so much better offcourse, my main reason for sticking with the M$OS is that it runs all the apps I want .including ALL the games... which for Mac would be a problem ( I think )

then again ... I'm an old fart who grew up with dos and win 3.11 I think I would find it hard to adjust to a new OS

 

Right there with you. Dos and windows for workgroups. Ahhh, memories.....

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After doing a quick search it turns out that Wine can run lots of cool stuff on a Unix based OS like Ubuntu.

 

List of games Wine can run

 

Sacred can run on linux too, even if it's not mentioned in the list.

 

You need just two things:

- wine updated

- nvidia/ati owned drivers :unsure:

 

Edit 11-03-'08 - 6:55

 

Screenshot of my pc: Ubuntu + Compiz while running Sacred

 

schermata4py6.th.png

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Hmmm. The only thing holding me to windows at this point is sacred. There is literally nothing that I have now--that I couldn't live without, that does requires it.

 

Believe me, the longing to move from windows is not something that just occurred to me after playing with a mac for an hour. I have had dreams of alternate operating systems for years. I considered OS2, Linux and a few other choices. And I still have an Ubuntu live install disk hidden away somewhere--or I can order another.

 

Right now I am starting to feel a little short of breath and scared--the way you feel on a roller coaster right before that first plunge. This is usually how I feel when I am about to do something potentially foolish; when I know that I am really going to do it.

 

It is more than possible that this computer will be running Ubuntu before a week has passed. Perhaps I'll leave a bit of windows for playing Sacred.

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Believe me...I am no Windoze or M$ fanboy but in all honesty I love XP.

 

I too am of the DOS vintage and I have horrid memories of trying to get some games to work. (640K of memory is all you will ever need ;)

 

I also was one of the M$ mugs that bought ME :butcher:

 

But ever since installing XP SP2 and using open-source utilities like Firefox and Thunderbird my pc has never been better. This is a games machine and XP is definitely the gamers friend. :)

 

So I happily recommend XP as the OS but highly suggest to people that they forget using IE and Outlook Express and that demon from hell............. MSN Messenger :oooo:

 

stubbs

Edited by stubbie
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I'm one of the anti-youknowwho, you probably know. :)

 

They have dominated the OS market for too long that they are giving us less than what they could have done. I don't think anyone would doubt that MS can do so much better than they did with XP and Vista.

 

XP is stable enough, but could it have been better? Monopoly is never a good idea that what I think.

 

In the past I have worked in places where I needed to surf all days, and naturally grown to pure hatred with IE. It just crashes on you out of the blue, anytime anywhere, taking win98 with it even. :butcher: Sure it has improved, but just looking at that icon ignite some loathing.

 

Oh don't even start with Vista, I won't use it even if they give me money for it. :oooo:

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Love that screenshot Patroclo!

 

 

Well I won't deny that XP has served me well over the years but having an alternative is always a good thing. Microsoft has certainly had the luxury of being an only option for far too long and I'd agree that that can make them kinda lazy in their efforts to supply something top notch.

 

I took the plunge last night! Downloaded the latest version of Ubuntu, burned the download to CD and started it up! I like the fact that you have the option of installing it or simply running it from the CD. I only ran it from CD last night and I'm completely hooked already. I'll be picking up a new hard drive today and will get down to the business of installing it as well as Wine. Can't wait to try out Sacred in a Ubuntu environment! :butcher: Oh and the speed of Ubuntu was excellent. Even when running it off the CD it responds quite fast.

 

Maybe we should put out the request now for the Devs of Wine to make Sacred 2 compatible. :oooo:

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I ended up downloading the lastest version myself. I'm going all the way; just going to save my important stuff and do a clean install. Forget about dual booting. I figure if Sacred doesn't work I'll be free from it's lure so that I can get some of my projects done.

 

I am not anti M$, but I have always wanted to make the switch. I've just always had the feeling that there was something better out there; I just never had the nerve to do anything about it.

 

I know my sister moved from Windows to Redhat a couple of years ago--she never had any regrets.

 

So, I'm going to pick up a blank CD-R on the way home. This weekend is my target date.

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Sil, change OS if you like but I myself like XP, its always been stable for me, (not 1 blue screen!) and it runs most things. Also...

A reason not to use IE!

:)

~Doom

 

oh but I would love a Xp/Vista (for DX10)/linux triple boot :P

Edited by TimOfDoom
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You can't see the blue screen in XP, it will auto restart in the cases of blue screen.

 

Yup that's the "fix" for the blue screen. The problem has not been removed at all, just hidden. In that regard, it is no difference from 98. Luckily XP is stable enough... I would hate a cycle of restart more so than the blue screen.

 

In the rare cases that it does happen, it is a pain for XP user to determine the problem, as they may want to see the blue screen to see what causes it. It a pain to first turn it off.

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