For some clients, just install Ubuntu
Unofficial statistic: 85% of people who use computers, use it for 2 reasons, and 2 reasons alone: email/internet & office.
The last time someone came to me and said he needed to reinstall Windows due to the overwhelming junk and sluggish crap, I asked him what he used his computer for. When he said that he only used it for email and internet, I thought, why bother reinstalling Vista? I installed Ubuntu Netbook Remix on his laptop, and boy, was he happy. The simple, easy-to-use interface, with none of the clunk of an OEM version of Vista and all it’s crap….all for free sounded good to him. He’s been using it for a good 6 months now, and has had NO complaints.
FANBOY ALERT: I am not a linux fanboy, nor a Windows fanatic. Personally I believe every OS has it’s different uses…my laptop and servers would all have some linux distro or another, and the rest of my 4 computers have Windows 7. And yeah, I wouldn’t mind an iPhone, either.
Now the above story comes from a person who never even heard of Ubuntu before I installed it on his laptop. He’s just glad he has a simple OS to get online, and I’m glad I didn’t have to go through the lengthy process of reinstalling vista without activation.
I’ve heard a story from a fellow pc repair guy, about his aunt being a Microsoft die-hard, and would not accept anything except Windows on her machine. He went ahead and installed Ubuntu on her machine anyway, and told her it was the beta version of Windows 7 (which hadn’t come out yet), and she was totally happy with it. I don’t know what she did when she found out it wasn’t Windows though (if she ever found out).
That’ll be my standard protocol from now on. Whenever anyone comes to me for a re-installation of Windows, I’m going to find out what programs they use on a daily basis. And if it’s your typical email/internet/office user, I will suggest Ubuntu. So far none have been disappointed. Saves me time and hassle as well.
Now this won’t work all the time, there are a quite a few users who need to use Windows-specific applications, and Windows is simply the only solution for that. You either love it or you hate it, but you can’t do without it.
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I also do remote computer repair via CrossLoop.
I _am_ a fanboy, and use Ubuntu 9.10 for almost all of my personal use. I too am very happy with it. But I do have to turn to Windows for three things:
-Watching 30 Rock on nbc.com
-Running Finale (doesn’t work under Wine last I checked)
-Using my employer’s web interface to Outlook
You can watch 30rock with Linux on hulu.com and/or the Linux Hulu client which provides a slightly better experience. (Using the standard Flash 10 installed by Ubuntu 9.04).
Can’t offer anything for Finale or Web Outlook though.
Good for you!. Ubuntu in my experience has and will continue to outperform Windows in every category except for gaming and that is just because windows was the only medium to run games on for so long. I don’t think Linux will put microsoft out of business any time soon but it is going to definitely push it to the wayside and stop them from dictating so much in the computer and software industry.
I tried ubuntu once. It was fine until i realized how many programs that i use on a regular basis that are microsoft based. Majicjack is one for example.
Regretfully i had to go back to the darkside
What about using Wubi so there is the option to dual boot? I know this doesn’t decrapify Windows.
the best roofing is either ceramic or metal roofing`;;
It’s true. The average user cannot tell the difference. Just install Ubuntu, then move the menu bar to the bottom, then you’re done.