How to Remove Linux and Install Windows:
February 13, 2002 7:36 PM   Subscribe

How to Remove Linux and Install Windows: Just in case you were wondering... heheh. :) Ah, the fun never stops, now does it?
posted by crankydoodle (17 comments total)
 
If your computer came preinstalled with the Linux "operating system", please report your computer dealer to the 1-800 number provided below....
posted by electro at 7:57 PM on February 13, 2002


Should be the opposite...how to remove Windows and install Linux. Once you use Linux I doubt you'd want to remove it to put Windoze on a machine.
posted by {savg*pncl} at 7:58 PM on February 13, 2002


Except, of course, for that pesky lack of applications that even the Mac has...
(caveat: I like Linux. I think it makes a great server/utility platform, but it's still years away from the desktop.)
posted by darukaru at 8:07 PM on February 13, 2002


Does it count as a double post, if the post is different, but the commentary is all the same?
posted by ook at 8:16 PM on February 13, 2002


{savg*pncl} said: Should be the opposite...how to remove Windows and install Linux. Once you use Linux I doubt you'd want to remove it to put Windoze on a machine.

I have. Repeatedly. I just couldn't quite muster up the required techno-smugness to stick with linux. Nor do I have the artistic sense to use a Mac.
posted by srboisvert at 8:16 PM on February 13, 2002


Let the zealotry begin! Lack of apps?

Let's see:
- consumer level image editing, the Gimp is fine. (But doesn't cut it for pre-press, I'll admit).
- Office-compatible word processing, Open Office is opening and saving Word docs perfectly for me.
- Spreadsheets? Gnumeric is fine. The Open Office/Star Office one is also ok.
- Galeon supports Flash and Java. I have RealPlayer. Thanks to CrossOver, I also have QuickTime plugins too. There's Mozilla, Konquerer, Opera and Netscape as well.
- Evolution is basically an Outlook Express clone, but better. The Netscape and Mozilla mailers are acceptable. Mutt is very cool if you like CLI mailers.
- Dia and Sodipodi make cute vector graphic diagrams.

That pretty much covers my desktop needs.

Having said that, see srboivert's comment. I wouldn't use Linux as a desktop if I didn't have reasonable Unix knowledge. In the end, it's the ease of installing/removing/modifying apps that's the painful part of Linux desktops. Luckily, people are working on that. In my mind, there's a profusion of Linux apps, and free ones at that. But they're not very accessible to the average user.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 8:32 PM on February 13, 2002


comments make me wonder how long it will be before a front page metafilter post is an old MF thread with a new description and updated url fixing the broken link. Meta-Meta-MetaFilter. BTW, Linux and OSX are sweet. Saying they're not for the desktop is like saying Humvees are not for the road, or that digital cameras aren't for quality photos. Funny that there are 3 boxes we all try to fit into, Win, Mac, or Unix. Now just 2? Win vs Unix? Ah, ramble ramble, ramble.
posted by greyscale at 8:58 PM on February 13, 2002


there aint no decent dreamweaver replacement for linux though. main thing holding me back. sure i can roll up my sleeves, show off my muscles, and do it all by hand. but i'll admit it, i'm just not that tough

i like their note - "Windows and Linux can coexist on the same computer. For additional information, refer to your Linux documentation.". that at least shows a little manners.
posted by titboy at 9:04 PM on February 13, 2002


OK, so i've heard this all before, too, but i have to comment on StarOffice. I finally got rid of my last wareZ last year so got StarOffice now. As much as it does what i want it to do, it is slower than MOffice and there ARE compatibility issues. We use lots of overheard slide presentations at school, and are available on the Internet for download, but are always not correctly formatted in SO (granted there is a PowerPoiint viewer for d/l, but can't edit with it). I've used other document stuff converted from MSOffice to StarOffice and has visual things go wrong. Of course, StarOffice is FREE so i should stop my griping.
posted by jmd82 at 9:09 PM on February 13, 2002


I finally got rid of my last wareZ last year

brave man.

Is there some sort of patch or medication to help with the withdrawl?

One day the "for educational purposes" rationalization will stop working for me too I suppose.
posted by kremb at 9:40 PM on February 13, 2002


jmd82: of course, if Microsoft would simply support an open standard for its Office file formats, and not force vendors wishing to interoperate with its applications to reverse-engineer everything, you wouldn't have those problems either.

Incidentially, the small software engineering firm I'm cofounding has standardized on StarOffice - the Linux and Windows versions are fairly faithful to one another, the Word-format support doesn't completely suck, and it cost $1,000 in total licensing fees than Office XP. :)
posted by Vetinari at 9:59 PM on February 13, 2002


skallas, that depends on who "you" are. Eg my girlfriend copes with this box quite easily, because I've set it up. The use of the phrase "average user" was deliberate. Many users aren't average.

I should think that the kinds of sites that deploy Citrix or Windows Terminal Server, or have heavily locked-down desktops, would enjoy managed Linux desktops. Home users aren't the only kind of desktop user out there.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 10:03 PM on February 13, 2002


if Microsoft would simply support an open standard for its Office file formats, and not force vendors wishing to interoperate with its applications to reverse-engineer everything, you wouldn't have those problems either.

of all the things microsoft cannot afford to change, this is the biggest one. if users could easily and painlessly switch office products, microsoft would be just another player (albeit powerful) in the computer industry. ms office is the key to maintaining the desktop stranglehold.
posted by lescour at 10:24 PM on February 13, 2002


Which StarOffice version? 5.2? I feel your pain. The 6 beta or any recent OpenOffice, please tell me more as I've found it smashing great (on win32). What filters are you trying to use?
posted by nedrichards at 12:53 AM on February 14, 2002


if Microsoft would simply support an open standard for its Office file formats, and not force vendors wishing to interoperate with its applications to reverse-engineer everything, you wouldn't have those problems either.

As a developer, who has been working on Windows since 3.0, used Linux, and many many many many different tools, platforms and API's, I can't let this one slide again.

Microsoft Office File Formats are EXTREMELY open and well-documented... The problem isn't that... The problem is that they are sooooo closely tied to COM formerly OLE formerly DDE and all of the structued document formats, baggage, Windows API's, etc.

This is what makes it difficult to create compatible Office document software on OTHER platforms. Unless you have that infrastructure, you have to emulate, or build it. The format's themselves are quite simple.

This is the "tying" that ultimately the monopoly case is about. Sure this kind of thing happened before IE/Netscape, but it's the same tactic MS has used before.

It's one of the reasons Mac versions of Office required SOOO much engineering from MS's perspective. They have to provide these COM/infrastructure layers...
posted by jkaczor at 10:20 AM on February 14, 2002


Nedrichards- I have noth 5.2 and 6.0 beta, and they both have the same formatting problems with PowerPoint. Not to rub salt in a wound, but i tried it again last night and crashed my laptop when i tried to edit the file. It doesn't really matter to me since i don't NEED to edit these files, but i think its useful for other to know.
posted by jmd82 at 1:23 PM on February 14, 2002


I've found Mandrake Linux as easy to set up as Windows. Better in some ways because you don't have to look for drivers (which is nice when the people who make your graphics card suddenly decide to stop supporting it). There are a lot of graphical configuration programs in Mandrake. I was about to yell it about my sound card, but then I found out that that PCI slot just didn't work.

My boyfriend, who used a Macintosh his entire life, converted easily (in terms of ability; he's still mourning his dead iMac) and set up a Linux box, which his parents also use.

There are lots of good programs in Linux -- office suites that can open even your MS files; the GIMP, which rules, all your multimedia programs, more nice (and generally standards-compliant) browser's than you'd ever want...
posted by dagnyscott at 4:24 PM on February 14, 2002


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