# Will Linux erode Microsoft's dominance as a desktop operating system? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 2, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912 "2005-02-02T01:53:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/61 "2005-02-04T12:47:22Z")
In China Linux and Microsoft cost the same (effectively that is). If you’re a mobile user with smart devices, well the Linux ain’t even in the ballpark. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/62 "2005-02-04T13:18:03Z")
> [@black455](#): > > Once OEMs get serious about shipping home systems with Linux pre-installed, I think a lot of the arguments about it being “too hard” will disappear. Ever tried to install Windows 2000 or XP without the motherboard manufacturer’s driver disc? Not fun. In my experience, any modern, desktop-oriented Linux distribution will have _better_ native hardware support than a fresh install of XP. I got hosed by spyware last summer. I ranted about it in the Pit; I believe the thread was called “Fuck You, Adaware”, because everything was running fine for 7 years on the computer without incident until the moment I ran Adaware. 7 years, you ask? You bet. I am running a P2 300 with 64 megs of memory. When I bought the computer, it came with Windows 95, which is what was still on it as of last summer. This allowed me to be able to support older systems, and more importantly, allowed me to write efficient code. (Ever written an app that worked in 30 seconds, only to see it take 30 minutes on the end user’s computer? I did once, and ever after I have kept my computer as old as possible.) So during the next 3 weeks I tried as hard as I could to salvage my Win95 system, but Adaware had killed it. So I got WinXP. Popped in the disc, and picked “Install”. The install came up and informed me “This will take 45 minutes.” I clicked to begin, went and watched some tv, came back in 45 minutes, and it was done. That was it. All set, no problems. One mouse click. So, what exactly are you talking about with regards to how difficult XP is to install? I would have agreed when I installed Win2.0, 3.0, 3.1, and also the other machines I installed 95, 97, and 2000 on, but XP was the nicest install I experienced since I installed DOS 3.3. (Damn I did love that version of DOS.) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/63 "2005-02-04T13:25:51Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > Popped in the disc, and picked “Install”. The install came up and informed me “This will take 45 minutes.” I clicked to begin, went and watched some tv, came back in 45 minutes, and it was done. That was it. All set, no problems. One mouse click. This is precisely my experience, too. Network card, two graphics cards, USB card, onboard sound, scrollwheel mouse, card reader, nothing fazed it. Every Linux installer I’ve tried has hiccupped on at least one of these. Printers, alienware MIDI-USB adaptor, USB modem, ancient graphics tablet, and of course SP2, all install-wizard procedures. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/64 "2005-02-04T14:01:51Z")
So you managed to get the license key and the administrator password in there without using more than one mouse click? Did you use the keyboard at all? Or worse, did you not even set an administrator password? Personally, I love my linux at home, and I love my Solaris server at work. I fought tooth and nail to get that Solaris server into work, and now it’s the most reliable, stable and capable machine we have - and it’s running on the oldest hardware we have. It feels unfortunate every time I’m forced to boot into Windows because of some stupid-ass requirement by a website I deal with that only Internet Explorer will work. We need more non-proprietary standards, and I think we will see growth of open source operating systems. Hell my mother the bumbling computer idiot has managed to figure out ‘Click the hat.’ ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/65 "2005-02-04T14:32:17Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > You do know that Microsoft provides the same level of indemification that your generic Linux app does, right? None. Or almost none. By default, the most, according to their EULA, they can be responsible for, is the cost of the software. Really? I don’t know anything of the sort, nor does my attorney, nor do my client’s attorneys - especially if one is dealing with a municipality, who generally seem to only accept contracts for software with full indemnity. [http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,111705,00.asp](http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,111705,00.asp) > [@](#): > > The Redmond, Washington, software maker will pay its customers’ full legal bills if they get sued over intellectual property issues relating to its products. Also, Microsoft no longer limits its liability when a customer suffers damages due to gross negligence or intentional misconduct on Microsoft’s part, said Morris Kremen, associate general counsel at Microsoft, in an interview on Tuesday. First Google hit. Go to the MS website if you need more info. I’m not going to post a link to what MS gave me since 1) it’s in hardcopy and 2) I’m not putting my corporate documents on the web. However, even if it has no teeth, it doesn’t matter. Why? > [@](#): > > Not to mention the entire SCO case is falling apart like a decaying redwood. That is irrelevant. If the SCO case is laughed out of court tomorrow it is still irrelevant. The point is that corporate counsel are starting to feel that a risk now exists where one was not recognized before. Read my post again where I mention $3M in lost business, where the client had money in-hand, had the will to go, and was prevented **solely** by the fear of possible, potential, indemnity. > [@](#): > > In short, Una, if you think Novell and IBM are fly-by-night operations, if you don’t think you can trust products they sell you to stand the test of time… Then you’ve gotten scammed. Sorry. This whole Intellectual Property issue isn’t a big thing at all. We could go into why, but any reasonably informed person should know the outline by now. Basically, though, A: Consumer isn’t at fault, come hell or high water. B: If you try to sue IBM over IP, expect to be destroyed by the lawyer Nazghul. C: You want IP theft, look at Microsoft and the Stacker lawsuit. Do you have some sort of problem reading my posts? I most vehemently did not say or imply that I had any fear of these being real concerns, but that they were concerns that were impacting the industry and were going to in the future. Nor did I say or imply in any way that Novell and IBM were “fly by night operations”. You know better than that, or should. I am instead offering first-hand testimony of lost work, lost sales, and directives from my company based on what I classifed as an “(IMHO nearly nonexistent) issue of suits”. I also am not “being scammed” - I’m telling you that **my customers are** and my company is. You on the other hand are telling me it “isn’t a big thing at all”. Hello? $3M in lost sales? Over a non-issue? Not a big deal? I know this is GD but let’s try not to make things up here. Besides the fact if you had read my post instead of just responding with the pro-Linux party line, you might have noticed that **I’m on your side** (as evidenced by my side-rant on the suits in general). But I’m also in the industry and I’m aware of the real threat of legal action over what is (almost certainly) an unreal risk. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/66 "2005-02-04T14:47:02Z")
I’ll post one more thing just because my lawyer sent it me just now. It’s from the MS site so it obviously says the message they want to say, but there are nonetheless some facts in there which are both important and compelling. [http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/5/a/15a6c1c7-cf7c-455f-9927-986e46cab2ae/Yankee\_Indemnification\_Report.pdf](http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/5/a/15a6c1c7-cf7c-455f-9927-986e46cab2ae/Yankee_Indemnification_Report.pdf) > [@](#): > > Before SCO’s decision to initiate a $1 billion copyright infringement suit against IBM in March 2003, Linux and open source users thought little about indemnification. That’s because Linux and open source products were not widely deployed in enterprise environments. **It was not an issue.** (emphasis added) > [@](#): > > Indemnification is routinely incorporated into the terms and conditions (T&Cs) of corporate and consumer purchasing and licensing agreements. As Linux and open source gain more acceptance and become more widely deployed, indemnification—or the lack thereof—is much more crucial. **The minute a corporation gets sued, it loses.** A corporate Linux or open source user that lacks indemnification and product warranty will expend its own time, money and resources fighting the legal action. In addition to the obvious potential monetary costs associated with a protracted litigation, there are other pitfalls. A corporation that is involved in litigation risks incalculable loss to its reputation. Ongoing litigation could deter existing and prospective customers from signing on new business. (emphasis added) > [@](#): > > Some contracts, such as Novell’s SUSE Linux enterprise offering, place a cap on the amount of indemnification. In Novell’s case, the liability cap is $1.5 million per customer. > [@](#): > > Microsoft’s new Volume License Indemnification provision provides full indemnification with no liability cap and outlines several specific remedies or actions the Redmond, Wash., software giant will take on its customers’ behalf, including: > • Removing the infringing code > • Replace the infringing code with compliant code > • Rewriting the infringing code to make it compliant > • Litigating on the customer’s behalf—if Microsoft feels there is no infringement Now, E-Sabbath, since you have problems understanding what I write, either due to me being unclear or you not being able to understand, let me summarize my position in a few bullet items: - I **personally** do not feel it is a real risk. - Legal counsel of my company and my clients **do** feel it is. - The reality of the risk is **unclear and undetermined**. But lawyers do not like subjecting their clients to unclear and undetermined risks. - Until this is resolved, which it may not be anytime soon, this is hurting and will continue to hinder Linux deployment in corporate environments. - I have personally seen this indemnity risk, real **or otherwise** , applied to hinder deployment of open source, freeware, and shareware products. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/67 "2005-02-04T14:48:38Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > So you managed to get the license key and the administrator password in there without using more than one mouse click? Did you use the keyboard at all? Or worse, did you not even set an administrator password? Okay, you got me there. I did indeed have to put in the license key. I also had to set up my admin account, set my wallpaper, my fonts, and any number of other custom settings. But that’s not install. The claim was that the install is just as difficult, if not moreso, than Linux. The install is seemless. You can spend as long as you want in Windows configuration, as you can (I’m sure) in Linux. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/68 "2005-02-04T15:08:47Z")
Did you have to tell it which partition to install on? Because I’ve never, ever, installed Windows without having to either tell it ‘install here’ or to actually format a partition to put it on. And is your average computer idiot supposed to understand the difference between NTFS and FAT32 and know which one they should use? Do they know when they need to delete a partition? Create a partition? Format a partition? What’s the difference between the quick and normal formats? When should you not use a quick format? Other than the default drivers, which for video are often VGA and don’t allow high resolutions and color depths, especially if you have an add-on video card, you still have to install drivers for your specific hardware, including the motherboard, after the installation completes. Drivers for SCSI devices and SATA have to be installed. I have _never_ had a Windows installation get it all right without a lot of input from the user, so in that sense, it was no better than installing Fedora. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/69 "2005-02-04T16:23:04Z")
You need to pass a test to drive a car. There is a limit to how stupid a person can be and still use technology. I don’t understand why _installing an operating system on updated hardware_ is some kind of “ease” benchmark. It’s the dumbest benchmark I can think of, actually. Everyday use is a good benchmark. Installing programs? Well, that’s an ok benchmark for a long-term idea of “ease,” but generally I use my computer, I don’t spend all evening installing OSs, drivers, and software packages. I can’t even remember the last time I did install a program. I didn’t buy my car because it was so easy to build. Why would I? That isn’t how you use a car. And if my car needs work, I take it to a car guy who knows such things. It just so happens that in my time, I’ve learned to change the oil, and it just so happens that in my time, I’ve learned to install an MS OS and build a computer up from its components, but neither of those have shit to do with using a computer. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/70 "2005-02-04T19:22:35Z")
> [@scotandrsn](#): > > The reason Microsoft stays dominant in the business sector (other than its co-opting of the IBM crown) is the fact that every new version of Windows was backwards-compatible, unlike the constantly shifting Mac OS, which meant that your existing documents were always useable. Er, cite? Considering I can still take Mac applications written in 1984 and run them on my MacOS X 10.3 iMac today, I don’t think the “backwards compatability” problem is as bad as you paint it. This is especially notable given that Apple has made major changes to both its hardware base (680x0 → PowerPC, original MacOS → BSD UNIX) in that time. As for ease of installation, it’s hard to beat the typical installation process for Macs these days: 1. Drag application icon from CD to hard drive. 2. Eject CD. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/71 "2005-02-04T19:37:35Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > Other than the default drivers, which for video are often VGA and don’t allow high resolutions and color depths, especially if you have an add-on video card, you still have to install drivers for your specific hardware Huh? I’ve installed XP with anything from ten-year-old video cards through to brand new NVidia ones, and always had all capabilities available immediately. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/72 "2005-02-04T20:39:24Z")
Una, I forgot about that upgrade to their Volume License. You’re entirely right. [http://www.osriskmanagement.com/index.shtml](http://www.osriskmanagement.com/index.shtml) OSRM is the equivalent, on the Linux side. However, the first three actions, removing the code, replacing the code, rewriting the code, are all in your hands, or the hands of your designated support staff, as a trivial action, on the Linux side. Still, I understand your legal department’s position. I’ll just have to wonder if you use any non-Microsoft products, and how indemified you are there. It always struck me as a bit of a tempest in a teapot, indemification, as if the code is infringing, I don’t believe you’d have any issues. The company that _wrote_ it has the issues, not you. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/73 "2005-02-04T21:09:04Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > I’ll just have to wonder if you use any non-Microsoft products, and how indemified you are there. My friend, that is what scares me. I manage development of custom engineering software for clients all over the world, and there is pretty much no indemnity that we offer - not even $1 worth. This has never been a problem before, and then with the SCO action all of a sudden we started getting letters from corporate attorneys saying “please provide your business case for putting us at risk using your software. Thanks!” OK, I fib, they never say “thanks”. 🙂 And yes, my company is seriously considering banning outright, on pain of termination of employment, the presence of any software that does not carry the same indemnity as MS. In fact, E-Sabbath, spurred on by our conversation I asked another IT person today in my company, and discovered that a purchase of 38 Linux licenses from Redhat had been nixed by our coporate lawyers, and instead they are all going to be 2003 Server machines. I think that’s a terrible policy and a chilling trend, but I fear that it is growing, and may really end up hurting Linux in the end - perhaps killing it off even, keeping it a niche item like the Mac. E-Sabbath, I agree with you very much so on the realities of the risk, but corporate legal doesn’t operate under the same realities. ---
**Author:** ![rkts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@rkts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rkts)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/74 "2005-02-05T01:25:05Z")
**Merkwurdigliebe** : > [@](#): > > I actually had to choose between versions of mplayer when I tried to install it on Ubuntu. It wasn’t easy. I assume you were using the Marillat repository? That one has different versions of mplayer, such as mplayer-386 and mplayer-586, and mplayer is an empty package depending on all of those. That is an unusual practice, and never happens in the official repository. However, it still should not have been difficult, because you only had to choose the appropriate item from the list it presented to you. **GorillaMan** : > [@](#): > > When the software (or version) you want isn’t provided by Synaptic (say, something really esoteric, like a new release of Firefox), whaddya know? It’s command line time! What are you talking about? Synaptic is just another Apt front-end; it should have access to all the packages Apt-get has access to. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/75 "2005-02-05T06:12:21Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > Did you have to tell it which partition to install on? Because I’ve never, ever, installed Windows without having to either tell it ‘install here’ or to actually format a partition to put it on. I have a 4 gig hard drive. How many partitions do you really think I need? > [@](#): > > And is your average computer idiot supposed to understand the difference between NTFS and FAT32 and know which one they should use? Do they know when they need to delete a partition? Create a partition? Format a partition? What’s the difference between the quick and normal formats? When should you not use a quick format? I believe I chose the “Use all available space” option. Most users could handle that. > [@](#): > > Other than the default drivers, which for video are often VGA and don’t allow high resolutions and color depths, especially if you have an add-on video card, you still have to install drivers for your specific hardware, including the motherboard, after the installation completes. Drivers for SCSI devices and SATA have to be installed. > > I have _never_ had a Windows installation get it all right without a lot of input from the user, so in that sense, it was no better than installing Fedora. I would agree with that up until XP. All of your complaints are the same complaints I always had. But XP is a seemless install process. It sounds to me like you’re projecting previous version’s faults onto the current version, which is unfair. I say that because it also sounds like many in this thread are doing the exact same thing to Linux; projecting previous version faults onto the current version. Although I wouldn’t know, as I’ve never used (or desired to use) anything to do with Linux. I can write nifty software in virtually no time that can programmatically do all sorts of cool things inside other apps like Excel and Word. The bonus, from my point of view, is that my programs would work on 95% of all systems out there with no tweaking, since they all have the same applications. I personally love that Microsoft imposed some standards on computing. It was annoying beyond belief back in the days when every company had its own unique set of hardware, OS, and applications. It gave me nothing but headaches to try to keep straight everybody’s incompatible configurations. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/76 "2005-02-06T03:23:46Z")
I dunno if it will, but it will not die if it doesn’t. It’s development and use seem to be motivatied by the type of people who love the fact that if it is broken, they get to fix it. Supplanting Microsoft is a secondary consideration. Linux will be probably still be around when something does replace Windows, even if that someting is not Linux. I would have to agree that the ease of installing something that is not already in the distribution that you have selected is a little bit harder than the same action in windows. There is not a lot of software that does not make it into debian-unstable, or debian-testing farily quickly, though. I have installed every version of windows since 95, on a variety of hardware. The process has not become significantly easier, or harder since then. The most recent install of debian on my current box was just as easy. Ellis Dee and GorillaMan, using older hardware makes the install of a new OS easier, not harder. No matter if you are using Linux or Windows. The problems arise when you have hardware that is newer than the OS that you are installing. At my last job, most of what I did was install windows 98, 2k and XP using a Ghost image 30-umpteen times a day. If your network card or video card was released since that release of Windows came out, and uses a new chipset; then you are going to have to download and install new drivers, trust me. That said, I would agree with erislover’s asessment that these concerns are not really the concerns of a user. They would be the concerns of their technicain. I cannot say anthing about the fear that the SCO lawsuit has instilled in the business community, other than I would agree that it is a false fear. That does not stop real people from being scared of it. I can only hope that it will fade with time as people come to their senses. (I am supposed to find out whether I get my first job using Linux on Tuesday, so I surely hope so.) EllisDee, MS “standards” have not helped the interoperability of all these different systems, and have limited your choices. Office document formats are the easiest example of this. As for backwards compatibitliy, dosbox on debian has allowed me to play Aces of the Deep with sound without rebooting for the first time since my father bought a Win95 box in well, 1995. Microsoft did work hard for backwards compatibilty, but only for a few certian applications, such as SimCity. They did not structure their OS to actually be backwards compatible by default. I don’t really blame them, but they really aren’t as backwards compatible as they can sometimes be presented as being. Wow, that is really wide of the OP, sorry. In my defense, the thread has been that way as well. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/77 "2005-02-06T15:59:35Z")
> [@](#): > > **GorillaMan** said: > Huh? I’ve installed XP with anything from ten-year-old video cards through to brand new NVidia ones, and always had all capabilities available immediately. You’ve gotta be putting me on. I can’t even change the resolution on my GeForce under a new XP install until I’ve specifically installed the drivers for that video card. > [@](#): > > **Ellis Dee** said: > I have a 4 gig hard drive. How many partitions do you really think I need? I don’t know. I do know that I’ve got four hard drives and an accumulation of over 200 GB storage, and I also know that it’s unwise to place the OS and the data storage on the same partition. Preferable is to have them on separate drives. > [@](#): > > I believe I chose the “Use all available space” option. Most users could handle that. Which is a bad idea. You go to reinstall, what do you do? Wipe out all your data? > [@](#): > > I would agree with that up until XP. All of your complaints are the same complaints I always had. But XP is a seemless install process. It sounds to me like you’re projecting previous version’s faults onto the current version, which is unfair. Nope, I’m talking about XP. The one that I have to install daily at work. The one I just installed alongside Linux on my home desktop. It still messed up the drivers and continually _loses_ USB devices. It’s like the OS just forgets that they’re plugged in. I haven’t encountered that problem with Linux. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/78 "2005-02-06T19:31:00Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > You’ve gotta be putting me on. I can’t even change the resolution on my GeForce under a new XP install until I’ve specifically installed the drivers for that video card GeForce 2 & 4 running happily here in the state XP installed them, with all resolutions available. (It’s an ‘includes SP1’ CD, which perhaps makes the difference?) ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/79 "2005-02-06T21:53:26Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > GeForce 2 & 4 running happily here in the state XP installed them, with all resolutions available. (It’s an ‘includes SP1’ CD, which perhaps makes the difference?) Yes, that would be the difference. That cd was released after your GeForce 4 chipset was initally introduced. Microsoft was able to include a refernce driver on it. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912/80 "2005-02-07T17:41:54Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Er, cite? Considering I can still take Mac applications written in 1984 and run them on my MacOS X 10.3 iMac today, I don’t think the “backwards compatability” problem is as bad as you paint it. This is especially notable given that Apple has made major changes to both its hardware base (680x0 → PowerPC, original MacOS → BSD UNIX) in that time. > > As for ease of installation, it’s hard to beat the typical installation process for Macs these days: > > 1. Drag application icon from CD to hard drive. > 2. Eject CD. To each their own. I never upgraded to a major revision of a Mac OS without having to replace at least some software, and my experience with the OS9 “Classic” environment on OS X has been far less than satisfactory. However, Mac has always been at the forefront of being able to transfer files between the two systems. Far less than perfect, but still mostly usable. What I’m trying to say here is, if there were an enterprising Linux company who could come in and say: “Here is your new OS, which works better than Windows, runs faster, and takes up less space on the hard drive. You can install it on your existing hardware, so you don’t have to buy new machines. Here is our UltraOfffice Suite, in which you can open your existing .doc, .xls, .ppt, etc. files and work with them as though nothing had ever happened. If your worker’s are familiar with MS Office, they will be at least as proficient on UltraOffice inside of a week and a half, and will have found that UltraOffice enables them to be more productive than MS Office did, due to its more carefully designed user interface.” Then I think that company would find receptive customers, because Windows, with its shitty performance and productivity-sapping security problems and their required fixes, is overstaying its welcome. Mac COULD be it, except for the current necessity of hardware investment. Yes, their next major OS release could be the one that you can intall on an Intel machine, but then again OS X was reputed to be that OS nearly ten years ago, but theat functionality never materialized. A good part of the Linux community doesn’t seem to be interested in the opportunity the current situation presents. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-linux-erode-microsofts-dominance-as-a-desktop-operating-system/287912.md?page=5)