[geeks] The Dog's Breakfast: Microsoft Windows Vista

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: "Jonathan C. Patschke" <jp at celestrion.net>
>Date: 2007/05/06 Sun PM 04:50:57 CDT
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] The Dog's Breakfast: Microsoft Windows Vista

>On Sun, 6 May 2007, Aaron Finley wrote:
>
>> For instance, I have three monitors over two video cards.
>>
>> It would take me hours to figure out how to get it all to work on
>> Linux.
>>
>> On Windows, it works on install.
>>
>> Things like that make anti-Windows comments silly. It works.
>
>Because spending the one-time cost of a couple hours of IT time once to
>get a working xorg.conf for a nonstandard workstation[0] makes much more
>sense than the recurring cost of a couple of hours of IT time a day
>dealing with end-users that have crapped up their PCs with spyware and
>adware and all the other junk software that make PCs slow to a crawl
>after a few months in the hands of naive operators, right?

You're comparing a one-off config investment versus a number of issues per 
day across an organization (few users, no matter how bad their perdicament), 
spend "a couple hours of IT time a day" dealing with their own problems - the 
comparison doesn't seem correct, IMHO.

>If a business doesn't have a software need to run Windows, and they have
>an IT department that isn't staffed solely by paper MCSEs, it really is
>staggering how much time and effort is saved by running something else
>(anything else, even that Linux crap).

Business should decide what they want computers to do for them, find the best 
software that addresses that need, purchase the required OS and hardware to 
implement the solution. Of course, once you have to create your own 
solutions, it becomes a question of what platform programmers and analysts 
you trust are familiar with...

>
>[0] On the vast number of recent systems, Xorg will work just fine,
>     assuming the proper drivers are present.  Multiple displays on
>     multiple video cards isn't the most office workstation
>     configuration by any means.

As paper-less offices[0] become more pervasive, this will become the norm - 
BTW, I include an open laptop with an attached monitor to be a multi-display 
workstation, as it is more and more common where I've been working these past 
few years.

Lionel

[0] one of my favorite quotes "The paper-less office is as likely as the 
paper-less bathroom" ;^)