Purchasing new PC: Vista V's XP ?

[ClubMan]

I really don't get why customers continue to support and reward Microsoft with their hard earned money. There are far better alternatives with the pain of switchover practically nil.

Not much of an option for the many people who have non Mac hardware?

You do realise that spyware, malware and viruses are Microsoft phenomena?

Not totally correct:

4.1 The vulnerability of operating systems to viruses

Although Windows is by far the most popular operating system for virus writers, some viruses also exist on other platforms.

 

[aircobra19]

Theres always Unix or Linux.

 

[ClubMan]

Theres always Unix or Linux.

I'm losing some of my faith in Ubuntu having spent several nights trying to get various things working on a Dell Latitude C400 compact laptop. Basic stuff that works straight off with XP... e.g.:

• Blank screen on booting (probably GRUB screen resolution issue) so no indication of what's going on.
• Cannot recover from suspend to disk mode so only full shutdowns/reboots work
• Cannot get the Dell TrueMobile 1150 mini-PCI wireless card working other than with open networks with the default orinoco_cs driver - certainly cannot use WPA. A custom driver from the Ubuntu forums which worked for some people doesn't work at all for me. I tried looking at NdisWrapper but it would not install for me and the instructions for use seemed overly complicated.
• Using the trackpad causes the mouse to jump erratically all over the screen even though this works fine when booted from the Ubuntu 7.04 live CD.

 

[aircobra19]

Have to hold my hands up here. I always run out of time and patience with Linux. Theres always something I can't get working. Been dabbling with it for years. But I always go back to MS or Apple. So from that point of View, OS X is a very easy Unix to use.

 

[diarmuidc]

Not much of an option for the many people who have non Mac hardware?

True. But the subject of this discussion is "Purchasing new PC:"

Not totally correct:

From the article it's not very explicit, but there are no in-the-wild viruses for either MacOS or Linux.

Have to hold my hands up here. I always run out of time and patience with Linux.

I agree but it has it uses. I installed Ubuntu on an old computer about 3 years ago. That computer runs 24/7 with automatic backups being made to it from my Apple every day and it plays my music. I never have to touch it. It doesn't even have a keyboard of monitor.