Operating Systems (Split)

[lxndr]

True, but there's still the issue of your servers which are still susceptible to migration headaches. If you're using Active Directory, Group Policy and Exchange (or even the Linux equivalents) we're talking about quite a huge migration task with really only one chance to get it right, cos when it goes live you won't get another.

Also, things tend not to happen in neat 5 year chunks and all PCs tend not to be replaced in one fell swoop. PCs will normally be replaced on a rolling basis as current machines fail (or fail to meet the requirements of the people using them) so over any given one year period you will tend to see 10%-30% of your PCs being replaced. It's difficult for a new OS to break into this kind of environment.

Admins tend to be pragmatic above all other considerations when it comes to OS choices. If they're at a point where they need to change they will carefully consider what's available and select that which will give them the least headaches, enable the cleanest transition period, which is easiest to integrate with what they've already got all the way through from backend to frontend and including desktop and server apps, and which will stand the best chance of users on the new OS being able to log on in the morning and get their stuff the same way as users on the old OS do.

An office suite is easier to change, especially one that will coexist with MS Office and broadly share the same doc formats. I've no doubt that OpenOffice is great, but the Java requirement is a killer. Corporate deployment and management of the JRE is a nightmare, but I suppose if you're Fortune 500 you're not living in the same world as the rest of us, and you have the resources and money to draw on to help smooth the path.

I guess I've now moved on to talking about transitioning from Linux to Windows as well as transitioning from Windows to Linux.

I actually worked for big companies which were changing their IT infrastructure on a long time basis. They get the exact same image on every boxes to reduce administration headaches, they repaired failing hardware, changing mostly hard drives, not computers, and added extra memory when needed. Most operations on the user desktop could be done both automatically and remotely using HP Openview and PC Anywhere. This kind of environment is often frustrating for users, registry were heavily restricted and working on really old computer is always a pain, but it's the most cost-effective solution. Not necessarily the best solution in my opinion.

Knowing both side of the job, I think the server side management is a lot easier. You have a limited set of computer ensuring a limited set of services, have time to validate your solution before putting it in production, and nobody is supposed to install anything without authorization.

[Efess]

Just to add to the windows 7 is a big improvement discussion - I just upgraded my laptop to windows 7 from Vista, and i'm noticing significant speed increases with SQLite using a .net wrapper. Running a huge bulk insert of 30k records takes two seconds over 5, and the only thing which has changes is the OS.

I've also upgraded my Dev machine at work to Windows 7 after continued frustration with XP 64bit. Huge speed increases, most notably a much more efficient use of real and virtual memory. I usually have ~3-4 instances of Visual studio 2k8 open, which are Huge memory hogs, along with a virtual machine. The responsiveness of Windows 7 while switching between my projects is unbelievable now.

[foq]

Damnit EFESS, you're making me consider putting 7 on my desktop.

[Spirit]

mh, check out Home — Traverso DAW and Qtractor - An Audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer

edit: Nice, that <title> fetcher is not only annoying but also broken.

[Fuzznut]

Damnit EFESS, you're making me consider putting 7 on my desktop.

I will not touch that crap for a few years until it becomes stable.

Vista was such a flop, everyone hated it, yet M$ gives no refunds for its screw ups and crappy products, like Windows ME. What other company would we put up with that from?

We're all such sheeple.

[R00k]

I will not touch that crap for a few years until it becomes stable.

Vista was such a flop, everyone hated it, yet M$ gives no refunds for its screw ups and crappy products, like Windows ME. What other company would we put up with that from?

We're all such sheeple.

Lol! I think Micro$oft intentionally sucks at every other version so that they seem to be compassionate towards it's user base. Im using Win7 full time since this past summer and it's working fine for me. My new office box came with Vista and there was so much grief the vendor allowed me to switch to XP Pro without extra $$, ( anyone need a vista key? jk ), but for me if I can run my Quake stuff on it, then it doesnt matter WHAT operating system im using.

[foq]

I will not touch that crap for a few years until it becomes stable.

Vista was such a flop, everyone hated it, yet M$ gives no refunds for its screw ups and crappy products, like Windows ME. What other company would we put up with that from?

We're all such sheeple.

lol wut?

Sure Vista was a flop, but I was talking about Windows 7...

[Baker]

mh, check out Home &mdash; Traverso DAW and Qtractor - An Audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer

edit: Nice, that <title> fetcher is not only annoying but also broken.

I'll see if I can find out a way to turn it off. I don't like this feature either.

Now, if only I had any idea of the name of the "feature" to find it in the 120 pages of settings control panel.

/And if that fails ... Plan B: bug Solecord

[MH]

I will not touch that crap for a few years until it becomes stable.

Vista was such a flop, everyone hated it, yet M$ gives no refunds for its screw ups and crappy products, like Windows ME. What other company would we put up with that from?

We're all such sheeple.

It's been stable for over a year now. Seriously. Even Beta 2 was far more rock-solid than either XP or Vista could ever have hoped to be.

(Last time I looked I didn't notice Lou Reed giving refunds for Metal Machine Music either. Or ID for Doom 3, come to think of it... )

[oldendirt]

Well, hopefully Windows 7 as you say is a lot better than Vista.

ANYTHING is better than Vista.

xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe

[JPL]

Even windows 3.11 ?

[Dreadlorde]

Even windows 3.11 ?

Yes, since you can play WinQuake on it.

[Panix]

Just to add my 2c again,

I've heard really good things as well about Win7. Lowest I heard it on was a p3 500 with 512ram laptop a former co-worker ran it on and said it ran like a champ. I wouldn't dare put XP on that so maybe there's some hope.

Is Win7 gonna be 64-bit only? If so, anyone have any recommendations on hardware to buy to build a new computer or know where I can find decent hardware reviews? Since I started back working, I've thought about building a new PC but hardware isn't something I keep up with.

[Spirit]

You said it runs like a champ on a P3 500 with 512MB RAM so just get a P3 500 with 512MB RAM.

[MH]

Running it 32-bit right now. The days of 64-bit only are a while away yet.