13 replies to this topic

[BigPaw]

Microsoft's dominance was gained through activity that was illegal, and for which it was convicted in courts, in half a dozen countries around the world.

This kind of thing is happening all of the time in the realms of software houses, but I'm not condoning it, Software houses/vendors have be throwing litigations at each other like clowns with custard pies for years. It made such big news with Microsoft because Microsoft is as big as an IT company can get, and it is everywhere - so it will get stung wherever opposition can sting it. You may remember SCO wanting to scrub out Linux for misappropriated code. It really is part and parcel of the business, including corporate espionage, etc. I've been invited to many Microsoft events in the past, and the people who were at the core of the business weren't just paper, or *.docx, pushers, they had a real passion for their intrinsic involvement in their products.

The issue is clearly with the OS. (We've been told that by Microsoft Tech Support, HP Tech Support, GW Micro Tech Support, Freedom Scientific Tech Support, and the A11Y tech support we use. The faults are not intermittent. They are predictable, and unstoppable. Well, they are stoppable, but only if uses a computer that has a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. IOW, a computer that fails section 508 criteria.)

What you show here is that it is not an issue with the OS, but it is potentially a software issue. Windows requires drivers to operate any and all attached hardware, and this is an issue for the hardware vendor. I've seen it many, many times where a person with get a combination of computer components that are hot off the press, really new high-end kit, and then wonder why they are having problems. It is always a driver supplied issue, if not a hardware fault. It's a similar issue with older kit also, I had a Netgear sc101 external storage drive which was fabulous with XP, and Vista. But when Windows 7 arrived the Netgear driver was incompatible, and nothing came from Netgear. I used a workaround with a Vista driver and a registry tweak, and things worked out again.

What we must take from this is that, Windows has to take the middle ground of a unisex, one size fits all, approach... following this the hardware vendors should pick up the slack with their drivers and supporting software. If Microsoft were as hardnosed and stiffnecked as Apple, then I would guess that not as many people would be as computer literate as they are now, let alone own a computer.

FWIW, 7/24/365 paid tech support for Linux is available. Paid level 1 tech support for Linux costs roughly the same as paid level 2 tech support for Windows. Paid level 2 tech support for Linux costs roughly the same as paid level 3 tech support for Windows.

If you took your Linux computer to a corner shop to have them look at the problem, the chances are they would not know where to start diagnosing it. Many Internet Service Providers will only provide customer support for a Windows based system. There are only a few versions of Windows floating around out there, and each one has enough similarity and familiarity to be adequately supported. Linux is not so easy to deal with.

All this said, if I could completely switch to Linux, I would, but I at the moment I can't.

For various reasons, the firms that provide paid tech support for Linux do not advertise that aspect of their business.

Which versions of Linux do they support? Mint, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Suse, Puppy, There are about 100 listed in the link below, but there are over 300 or 400 active versions aside from these.

http://distrowatch.com/

If any haven't tried Linux yet, do it. You can set it up to dual boot from your PC. If you download Ubuntu, you can use it by just booting of the DVD and not installing it. Try it. :-)

[jonathon]

Software houses/vendors have be throwing litigations at each other like clowns with custard pies for years.

You are confusing litigation such as SCO v IBM, Apple v Samsung, and Oracle v Google with cases such the The European Economic Community v Microsoft, The Republic of Korea v Microsoft, and The People of the United States of America v Microsoft.

Civil litigation does not result in criminal convictions.

What you show here is that it is not an issue with the OS, but it is potentially a software issue.

Are you seriously trying to say that when Microsoft states that the issue is due to their OS, it is not an issue with the OS?!?!?!

If you took your Linux computer to a corner shop to have them look at the problem, the chances are they would not know where to start diagnosing it.

i) Diagnosis of hardware issues is platform independent. Repair of hardware issues is also platform independent;

ii) Economists have been publishing studies for years, that demonstrate that "support services" such as registry cleanup, drive defragmentation, and virus/trojan removal on Microsoft systems are the bread and butter of the corner shop;

iii) The ability of the corner shop to diagnosis and fix a specific software issue, that is not OS related, depends upon the familiarity of that corner shop with the installed software. Once one is past the 50 or so most popular programs, the ability of the corner shop to diagnose and fix software issues rapidly deteriorates;

There are only a few versions of Windows floating around out there

Depending upon the specific version of Windows, you are looking at between one and fifty different editions, each of which have subtle, non-trivial differences, without factoring in the different localizations, which do make Windows behave very differently.

Which versions of Linux do they support? Mint, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Suse, Puppy,

That depends upon the specific support vendor:

• Canonical provides paid support for Ubuntu, and community derivatives;
• Red Hat provides paid support for Red Hat Enterprise, but not Fedora nor CeOS;
• SuSe provides paid support their enterprise edition;
• I've forgotten which vendor provides paid support for any Linux distro;

The majority of vendors limit their support to one of the following:

• Specific geographic area, usually less than 1,000 square kilometers in size;
• Specific program, or group of programs;
• Specific functionality/capabilities;

Most of these vendors do not advertise their support contract/services, even though they advertise other aspects of their business.

jonathon

[BigPaw]

There are litigations going on every which way. They are all large companies and can be as unscrupulous as each other.

You live on a very interesting street to have all of that support available to you so readily. :-)

I've spent decades in software development, Systems Analysis, Hardware, Consultancy, etc. But I can reassure you that over time the technical support for all areas of computing has become so easy, it's now boring. Please tell me the problem your friend is having with his/her computer and I will tell you how to fix it.

There are just three Windows Operating Systems presently available. XP, Vista, and Windows 7, and there isn't a remarkable difference between them.

Because venders did not fully utilise the features of Windows in the past, Microsoft are going to release their own tablet with Windows 8 to set the standard. They've said that they don't want to be a competitor as such, but establish a minimum standard.

This discussion has been invigorating, but I can't see it going much further. I will read your reply with interest, but please don't be upset if I don't reply. It all boils down to preference at the end of the day.

Thanks Jonathans. :-)

[rosc]

esword works fine for me under Slackware/Wine. Haven't had any serious problems.

 

I did have to install the Microsoft fonts (available from sourceforge) using wine to get certain cmtx and refx files to look right.