windows alternative?
 

anyone recomend a windows os alternative?

i tried activating my windows xp.
and it won't work.
tried ringing up ms, and they told me to input the code (sticker behind pc)
a msg came up saying ERROR CODE
the idiot on the phone told me to take it back to the shop and ask for a new code!
the damn pc is about 2 years old.
so i told him "sod it " and put the phone down

Buy a Mac then, (the only real alternative).

What did the MS bloke say when you told him it was 2 years old then?

Windows 2000 doesnt have any of the activation bollox thats in XP. We still use it on all our machines and it is a good solid no nonense OS. Really depends what you are looking to do. If it is just email, internet and office docs then yes you could look at using a Mac or putting a decent Linux distribution on your machine.

wwp8,
first of all, if you want to give XP another go, then PM me ;)

If you are sick and tired of Windows, of any flavor, then ask yourself this:

What do I want to use my PC for?

If you're wanting to do a bit of surfing, email, word processing, spreadsheets, graphics work, things like that then you have a couple of choices; Apple Macintosh, or Linux.

Now, being a Macintosh zelaot ;) I'd usually say, go the Mac route, you'll possibly never look back, thing is, you'll need new hardware for this, so the expense might not be acceptable to you.

Linux is another alternative, there are free versions out there, for example, Fedora Core, which is easy to install, runs very well and is, personally speaking, every bit as good as Windows. I've got Firefox and OpenOffice on my build and I can do everything thing on there that I could on windows, without all the bloat of Windows, and with far fewer crashes, and of course, very little, if no spyware/adware/viruses/trojans.

Linux will install on your existing hardware, so no need to purchase new hardware, always a bonus.

Now, if you're into gaming, well, Mac's are ok, but, being brutally honest, if you want a games machine, stick with a PC. You can custom build a fantastic PC for gaming, and that's something you can't really do with a Mac. Yes, you could get a nice Dual G5, but then there isn't always the mac versions of the games you'd want, for example, half-life 2.

Linux, well, I'm not sure about that and gaming, but you could have a dual boot system. Run linux for normal use, then boot into windows to play games. Bit of overkill but some people do it.

As said, really does depend on what you want to use the machine for.

linux it is then :D

heard that its free and i don't actually need to install it

XP corporate doesnt require any activation either :p

Looks like he didn't get the chance as wwp8 hung up on him. Another 5 minutes and he might have had a working Windows pc. Given that's s/he has this little patience I don't think s/he's gonna want to spend a lot of time configuring Linux. Buying a Mac requires new hardware so is the most costly option.


wwp8 - phone up MS again and explain the situation.

wwp8,

Hope you have the patience of a Saint if you want to try Linux. It's a feckin nightmare and not user friendly at all IMHO.

You need to try Mac's first before taking the plunge. I've been mucking around with a new'ish iBook and although good it's not had me all giddy like some on hear.

Mind you it's IT, so just how exciting can it get ;)

Agree with Ozzy

Linux is great if you're into IT or run some kind of dedicated server (e-mail, web, sql, etc..). If you just want a desktop for e-mail and browsing it's far too complicated.

It's good that it's based on something stable like Linux/Unix, but that's complicated to start with and they really need to dumb it down for it to take off - exactly like Mac OS X.

I tried this - http://www.linspire.com/ ages ago and it looked promising until it didn't recognise my video card. Then it took feckin ages and a lot of swearing for it not too work. Fine for me coz I've worked with Linux for a while, but for you average Windows user it would be a nightmare.

Maybe Linspire have gotten their act together and actually provide drivers, but yet again that's the problem with an operating system with so much 3rd-party hardware. That's why Apple stuff works coz they have a monopoly on everything.

Just installing RedHats Fedora on my old laptop. Taking friggin' ages to install though. I saw Linspire last week and that was quite impressive.

RedHat or Debian.....?

Guess, bottom line is, I just don't like it.
I admin Solaris and AIX systems, and just don't like the way linux hangs (literally) together. :p

True Unix OS's like Solaris or AIX are great for what they do. I used to connect PC based systems (e-mail, printing, NFS services, etc.) to those types of boxes.

The problem is it has no real place on a desktop unless the user-interface is idiot proof. I mean who really wants to learn (or know) about file permissions or compiling/making code just to install something? I work in IT and I don't.

Red Hat, Debian, Linspire, Mandrake and all the rest are just too complicate for the average user. It's just far too much effort to do most of the simple things. God forbid anything actually stops working, then it can be a fecking nightmare trying to diagnose it.

It can actually be better if your clued up - all touchy-feely text files and logs to actually tell you what's going on, but for an average user it just doesn't cut it.

Windows would actually be good if it was more well-written and not bloated full of cr@p. Would also help if 3rd-parties wrote decent drivers and/or MS allowed developers proper access to all the internal workings to allow them to do so.

Agreed, Solaris and AIX are definitely not desktop O/S's.

As much as hate to say this, WinXP is still best for home use if you are heavily in to gaming as well as productivity stuff.

Linux is promising, and is getting there, but still isn't for the masses.

I'm currently involved in rolling out Redhat Enterprise v3 AS and will also be looking at SUSE too.

One point I guess I'm trying to make, is even for a seasoned Unix *cough* professional ;) - Linux has a reasonable learning curve.

Have a look at the Ubuntu distribution. Great free community support at Ubuntu Forums and they also offer a "Live" CD which you can use to boot your machine into a full Linux desktop without having to install anything on your HDD.

now i know why windows is the most popular os,
i got my xp sorted (found a program that deactivates that irritating 30 day thing)

however i still got a 2nd HDD with ALL my files, and all the viruses,
need a os that can get me to connect to the net to find something to kill the viruses.
don't want to connect it as the slave YET in case the viruses crawls over to the master.