Re: Teacher tells students Linux is “illegal” and confiscates their copies
 

Huh?

Compatibility? No.

Windows is not compatible with a damned thing other than Windows. That's it.

With Linux - Auto-detect windows installs, automatically asks you if you want to dual boot, automatically sets up a boot loader for you to dual boot.

With Windows - Overwrite MBR; no options; no care for other OS's installed; nothing.

Windows can't read/write ext3 without getting special stuff. Most modern distro's will automatically recognize and mount NTFS now days.

I agree with you windows is more popular; and more programs are written for windows - but windows itself is not compatible with a damn thing other than itself.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/compatibility

Re: Teacher tells students Linux is “illegal” and confiscates their copies
 

I don't understand all the hate on Microsoft.. I like linux and all, and I definately love my N900, but I also love Windows, Especially Windows 7, it's fast! Also the people who gets viruses on their computers are just a bunch of people that don't have common sense imo, if someone pays a little bit of attention + have a great Internet Security software (like Kaspersky) then they won't have any problems, last time I had a virus/spyware.. etc. well, Ijust can't remember when was that! ;)

Crazy stories btw.. O.o

Re: Teacher tells students Linux is “illegal” and confiscates their copies
 

I absolutely agree. I love Windows 7 and can't see any reason for switching from that to any other OS at this point in time.

EDIT: Having said that I haven't used Linux on a PC for 3+ years so...tonight I'll be Wubi'ing to try it out.

Re: Teacher tells students Linux is “illegal” and confiscates their copies
 

Perhaps you missed the mid to late 90s, culminating in their antitrust investigation and conviction. Or perhaps their persistent and vague flap about software patents to try and drive people away from Linux? Or the 5 years where IE6 was dominant and MS did absolutely nothing to truly innovate, resulting in stagnation and tons of workarounds until Firefox improved enough to force them to release IE7?

There are very, very good reasons to not like Microsoft and no reason at all to trust them.

Re: Teacher tells students Linux is “illegal” and confiscates their copies
 

Sure, you can use it right alongside. The easiest way, if you already run Windows, to head over to http://wubi-installer.org/ and just download the installer. You can even uninstall it just like any old Windows app (from the add/remove panel) if you decide you want to take it back out. Ironically, even installing it this way, it's still a full-speed real copy of Ubuntu Linux running on your computer.

Re: Teacher tells students Linux is “illegal” and confiscates their copies
 

Benchmark testing of Win 7 vs Ubuntu 10.04:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...ws_part2&num=1

Disclaimer: Never heard of Phoronix and not sure how credible their testing is.

Re: Teacher tells students Linux is “illegal” and confiscates their copies
 

Ironically, about a couple of years ago, my sister got fed up with Windows one time too many. She's the one I gave my old (broken kickstand) N800 to. She rather liked how Linux ran on the N800 and she knows I run a Linux on my own systems. So, she asked me where she could get it. I mentioned ubuntu and how she could run it live without installing over Windows, if she wanted.

The next day she gleefully pointed out that she tried it.. liked it and installed it. She is, by no means, a technical person. With the exception of some driver glitches (thanks, Acer.. jackasses) which I help her work around, once it's running she's exceptionally happy with it and even she points out that she doesn't want to go back to Windows anymore.

And my mom--the one that actually outright HATED computers for most of my life.. I got her a laptop that CAME with Ubuntu (A Dell 15-inch laptop) and it runs very well. She sometimes screws up a few things here and there (mainly her iPod that I'd gotten for her--less so Linux itself) but on the whole, compared to when she ran Windows on her first computer a few years ago, she's experiencing a LOT less headaches and she really seems to like her computer, now.

So yeah.. Ubuntu seems to have matured into an OS that can cater to the non-nerdy, non-geeky, non-technical of society just as readily as us goofballs.

Re: Teacher tells students Linux is “illegal” and confiscates their copies
 

So then, how do you explain all those Apple II's and Macintoshes in schools all in the late 80's and throughout the 90's? Also, please explain "dominant?" Isn't Linux being used at least as much as Windows, even if people aren't realizing it? (Think everything from embedded OS all the way up to servers)

Please response in a 500 word essay form. Thank you.

Re: Teacher tells students Linux is “illegal” and confiscates their copies
 

Users tend to prefer Windows because it works with stuff they already know and use. I would like to convert a friend of mine to Linux, but for one thing she is addicted to computer games that require Shockwave.She uses graphics programs and isn't prepared to learn the Gimp.

The fact is that many Windows programs are more user friendly than Linux programs. i have tried very hard to convert people to Linux and generally they won't go for it. I myself usually run Win7 because it is better at most of the stuff I do -- text to speech and speech to text, for example.

Re: Teacher tells students Linux is “illegal” and confiscates their copies
 

if i download ubuntu and make an image cd

restart pc with cd in

and follow instructions?

can i format whole computer?
and have a fresh install, no dual booting
will all drivers be found?
will my belkin wireless adapter still work etc??

im getting myself a super laptop at the end of the month so i dont need or want xp on this pc anymore!!

so i might aswell turn it into a linus beast and see what all the hypes about :D

i love maemo on n900 so why wouldnt i love linux