Pricing
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+sets+Vist ... op?tag=txt

That's pretty much the pricing struxture that Windows has been using for XP, isn't it?

Windows Vista Ultimate, Illegally Downloaded Torrent Version $0.

Fedora Core 4, $0

Never heard of that one before. Care to give a quick rundown?

I'm going to try and switch to Ubuntu tonight.

winner winner chicken dinner

100% open source, earning curve but, IMO, it pays off.



I've never tried it, but I hear it's great for beginners, but not so much overall.

I'm no expert, but I think that is just elitst talk. I'd love to know what Ubuntu can't do that another distro can.

is that possible with that new bullshit software MS automaticaly installs, verification or whatever it is called

I often considered swithing to an open source OS, but never let it materialize. I think i'm too addicted to using windows. Am i right in assuming you need to run a dual boot? Will most programs work with it? The programs i use the most are cd ripping/encoding apps, torrents, and image editing apps.

I've found that when I dual boot I still use Windows 90% of the time. A number of distros have live cds that you can boot off of and use without installing anything. Thats a good way to see if its for you.

I'm the other way around. I rarely ever boot windows anymore.

As far as programs working... None of the same programs will actually work (unless it's a java program), but they have equivalents for everything. There is cdparanoia for ripping, lame/vorbis/flac etc for encoding, azureus for torrents, the GIMP for image editing... Mostly it's just an adjustment.



Or maybe I just heard from people who actually used it that it's not that good.

As much as I support open source software, much of the software available is pretty standard stuff. I do heavy graphical development as well as video editing and production, web design, and music and audio production, and the kinds of software available to linux or the open source community for these kinds of things are pretty weak compared to the industry standards. You dont see professional multimedia developers using linux.

It's not simply a matter of adjustment, but of needs. If all you're doing is basic stuff like web browsing, email, word processing and listening to music (IE, basic, every day stuff), then going over to linux makes a lot of sense. But I couldnt do half the things I want to do without using Windows. Like it or not.

CD ripping is a big thing for me, because i need to use a program that i can trust is going to give a superior rip (EAC, and to a lesser extent CDex are the only programs i trust). I use Azureus now and love it, so i like that it will work on other platforms. I haven't used GIMP in years but i recall it not being very good. I do some intense image manipulation sometimes so i NEED to be able to use Photoshop.

It sounds like i would need to have a dual boot if i was going to try one of these programs.

For cd ripping/burning check out Amarok. Photoshop is a tough one to leave behind, but if you have a reasonably powerful system and a decent amount of memory, you can run XP on VMWare, inside of Linux.

Well, I wouldn't recommend completely ditching Windows unless you have a particular reason to set up a dedicated Linux box. I still use Windows for things like games and... well, just games.

From what I've read about verification I don't see how anyone can keep their Windows OS updated as patches and hotfixes are released. Anything on your system that you try to update that's MS based has to be verified first. If you're copy isn't verified then you can't get the update and who knows what happens legally. I may have to pony up and actually purchase a copy of XP soon as my 98 is possibly nearing the end of it's life. I realize that Vista is right around the corner but the pricing is obscenely high. Or I may switch to Mandrake like I've wanted to do for over a year now.

Tim: check your PMs

In any case, whatever device MS will have against pirated copies, there will be a crack around the corner for those willing to use it

If Vista is anything like XP, you can bypass that whole verification/activation process by getting the corporate edition of the software instead of the retail version. In the past they haven't put that shit on their volume licensed software.