Political Blather

[Phil Thayer]

> And possibly the reason is forced tribute to ms?
> Just quietly omit support for non approved" hardware.
> And unlike the FOSS world where all it takes is someone to
> write the driver - the "approval process" equals yet another cost
> increase for the upgrade cycle.

As opposed to the cost increase  created by multiple overpriced "MS
Certified S/W Developers" writing new code for an upgrade that is not
compatible with the older versions of the OS's.

> .
> Even if it's not by evil intent the result is the same.
> A device we own stops being usable when we "upgrade"
> Even if we "just bought it"
> So the user cost of migrating to next year's OS includes?

The cost of the CD and the time it takes to download appropriate
drivers.  That would be the cost.

> 
> Not only the cost of the OS. It then needs new applications.
> How does that work? Because  the old applications will not
>  play nice with either the new OS or the printer required.

Well, if you would stop using Windows you wouldn't have this problem.

> Oh? yes- that printer that no longer is on the approved list.
> So - you are now replacing more and more to get up to date.
> Where does it stop? I submit that there are quite functional
> software tools for daily needs that will run on cheap hardware.
> Many of which sadly are legacy DOS or win95/98 yet,
> I challenge the FOSS world to get any OS  and Applications
> package that equals win95 for raw usability on old gear.

How about Linux, just for a start?

> My example is a Pentium 75 thru 233 laptop with under 50 mb ram and
> under 1gig hd. The  concept of a GUI distro that will have an
> acceptable user response time and run on laptops such as
> described has not yet been demonstrated to me.

I once had a couple of technicians who worked for me (back in the days
when I was managing a large IT organization that I have since left) who
mad e a bet between each other on this same type of subject.  One said
he could make a P75 work as fast as one of the newly purchased PII300
The second technician told him he was crazy.  So they squared off.  The
first tech took the P75 and loaded it with as much memory as he could,
added the maximum memory he could to the video card and swapped out the
single disk drive for two disk drives that were the fastest he could
find.  When we fired up both systems the P75 actually worked faster than
the PII300 and the second technician learned a valuable lesson.
Processor speed doesn't mean crap if you have a slower component
somewhere in the system slowing down the processor.  The system will
only be as fast as the slowest component in the processing chain. And
yes it did cost the second technician a few bucks to learn that lesson.
So if you want better response time from your older H/W then spend the
little bit of money needed at a used computer store to purchase
additional memory and a better drive to improve the user response time
no matter which OS you may choose to run.

> But win98 despite all it's flaws works well enough for most
> net interactions at a simple text and browse level.
> Much as I do use Livecd's from laptops there is still a lower
> footprint for win98 than any user comparable Linux
> shown to me so far.. So show me better on such hardware!
> I want to be able to displace ms from many more laptops!
>

Wow.  I really don't understand this one.  It sounds to me like you have
things a little backwards.  *nix OS's have traditionally been smaller
and run much better on lower end hardware then does MS OS's.  This has
almost always been the case.  Either you are not installing things
properly or your hardware is having problems because *nix against any MS
OS will run better on older and less powerful machines.