Microsoft moving windows to a monthly subscription service?

And I'll bet 95% on here could not tell Linux Mint from windows. It really is soooooo easy to live with and never craps on you with upgrades every few days. Just a discrete Icon, bottom right, when optional program upgrades are available. Once selected these upgrades take place in the background and you can't tell they are happening.

Masses and masses of quality software is available FOC. In fact I don't recall ever seeing paid for software though there must be some out there. I did donate to Linux mint and got a nice Thank You.
 
better get John fettling my laptop then , he runs both linux and windows I only have windows.
 
Sound like Microsoft are going down the Chrimecast model, albeit with more software installed locally and charging for the software rental.

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Seeing as Windows has just 'gobbled' 7gb of my internet today as it did a 'hidden' update on my laptop which it should NOT have done I am not a happy bunny ... we've only got 4gb left to us 6 days until it 'rolls over' to the new month's 40gb allowance. :mad:

Realistically are there any issues with running Linux as opposed to Microsoft stuff? What happens to drivers etc?
 
As the masses migrate so will the crooks untill linux requires daily bloated upgrades to combat the hackers
Be carfull what u wish for
Its only as good as it is due to the small audiance it has
 
Minxy Girl said:
Realistically are there any issues with running Linux as opposed to Microsoft stuff? What happens to drivers etc?
Click to expand...
Depends on what you use the laptop for.
If it's standard day to day stuff generally no issues -
  • web browsing - Firefox
  • office tasks (Word \ Excel \ etc) - LibreOffice
  • playing media - VLC
however if it's -
  • gaming
  • dedicated software programs, eg Garmin BaseCamp, etc
you'll struggle.

You can download Linux Mint (Cinnamon version is probably closest in terms of layout to Windows) from here - https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3597

Once you've downloaded the iso you can copy it to a usb \ dvd and run it as in a live environment from there without impacting your Windows installation. Won't be as fast as when you install it but it let's you get a flavour of what's there and what you can do with it.
https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/boot.html
https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-install-linux-mint-on-your-windows-pc/
If your hard disc is large enough you can even dual boot your laptop which gives you both Mint and Windows on it!
 
Geo said:
As the masses migrate so will the crooks untill linux requires daily bloated upgrades to combat the hackers
Be carfull what u wish for
Its only as good as it is due to the small audiance it has
Click to expand...

You’re probably right but it’s not doing too bad. We all use Linux every day, you used it when you wrote the above. :) Linux is already on one of the largest user bases as it’s on every Android phone and tablet in the world, a bigger audience than any other.
 
Geo said:
As the masses migrate so will the crooks untill linux requires daily bloated upgrades to combat the hackers
Be carfull what u wish for
Its only as good as it is due to the small audiance it has
Click to expand...

It won't get any more bloated than it already is. The way it does updates is TOTALLY different to windows.
You get a little icon like this in your task bar at the bottom right.

upload_2018-8-1_8-34-31.png


When you are ready to update you click it and get this screen.

upload_2018-8-1_8-35-17.png


You then click the update button, and off it goes to update whatever needs updating...
While it is updating you can carry on with your work but it is usually so quick you are done in a minute or less.
It NEVER reboots your system.
It NEVER makes you wait to shutdown your system
It NEVER makes you wait on bootup.

All updates for all software are done this way from one central location...

For instance if you don't use your computer for a month then come back to it. Linux won't ask you to install updates, Then each software program you open asks you to update separately.
Linux installs all software from the same repository as the core OS except a few which will have their own repository but are also updated by the same system.

Linux updates are much smaller because it does things totally differently and update each component of the OS separetly and can restart the related service without a reboot.

When you install new hardware you don't need to reboot, ALL drivers are built into the OS so no need to scrabble to driver disks or search the internet for drivers.
The only time you need to reboot is when you have to update the kernel or install certain graphics cards..

As for linux being a target for hackers. It already is. It is the most installed OS on the planet..
It is on everything from mobile phones, tablets, set top boxes for TV's, routers, lots of internet connected gadgets................. All the way up to every single one of the top 500 super computers.
It is at Cern, at IBM, Microsoft, Google, Amazon and even the International space station...

The one and only place it doesn't get used a lot is the home computer desktop...

Whilst, Linux Mint Cinnamon is great, I personally prefer the XFCE edition..
 
I think a trip to jims,and a few beers for my old mate,@Gromett ,I'll bring the beers,on its way:whistle:
 
Gromett said:
https://www.computerworld.com/artic...ng-say-goodbye-to-your-pc-as-you-know-it.html

If this is true you will end up having to pay each month for windows like you do for office 365..

Maybe this will lead to an uptick in Linux as you don't pay for it and there are no licensing fees.
Click to expand...
We never used to pay for MHFun either, if Linux ever becomes popular with the home user then you will also have to pay for the pleasure....At this time the masses prefer Windows, I cant see this changing in the foreseeable future, monthly payments or not....(y)
 
Last edited:
buttons said:
We never used to pay for MHFun either, if Linux ever becomes popular with the home user then you will also have to pay for the pleasure....At this time the masses prefer Windows, I cant see this changing in the foreseeable future, monthly payments or not....(y)
Click to expand...

I don't know about the masses preferring windows, for most of us it is the one most available and changing to other systems is beyond our capabilities, taken me long enough to fathom part of windows out.:)

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Oh well, sooner or later I'm going to have to ditch MS-DOS 5. :rolleyes:
 
Minxy Girl said:
Realistically are there any issues with running Linux as opposed to Microsoft stuff? What happens to drivers etc?
Click to expand...

Drivers, what are drivers ? Everything just seems to work.

It depends. If all you do is internet browsing and emails no problem. I use firefox and thunderbird as I did on windows. Several other browsers and mail are available.

But and specialist windows programs, like film editors, and you could have problems. I drop back to windows 7 to do the vary rare bit of video editing because I've not come to terms with the Linux ones. The still image editor is good - Gimp.

PC games are off, of course. The usual chess, backgammon, cards are all available.

I miss Irfanview, a classic sadly missing.

It is easy to buy a Linux DVD and boot off the DVD and try it without disturbing windows. £2.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_...ux+mint+dvd.TRS0&_nkw=linux+mint+dvd&_sacat=0

This computer has windows and Linux, boots direct to Linux unless I hit a key to boot windows for some of my old software, like the film editor and some special compilers.
 
hilldweller said:
Drivers, what are drivers ? Everything just seems to work.

It depends. If all you do is internet browsing and emails no problem. I use firefox and thunderbird as I did on windows. Several other browsers and mail are available.

But and specialist windows programs, like film editors, and you could have problems. I drop back to windows 7 to do the vary rare bit of video editing because I've not come to terms with the Linux ones. The still image editor is good - Gimp.

PC games are off, of course. The usual chess, backgammon, cards are all available.

I miss Irfanview, a classic sadly missing.

It is easy to buy a Linux DVD and boot off the DVD and try it without disturbing windows. £2.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_...ux+mint+dvd.TRS0&_nkw=linux+mint+dvd&_sacat=0

This computer has windows and Linux, boots direct to Linux unless I hit a key to boot windows for some of my old software, like the film editor and some special compilers.
Click to expand...

Boot??.....I just switch mine on:)
 
Ahhhhh, the bliss of IOS! :D :whistle:

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buttons said:
We never used to pay for MHFun either, if Linux ever becomes popular with the home user then you will also have to pay for the pleasure....At this time the masses prefer Windows, I cant see this changing in the foreseeable future, monthly payments or not....(y)
Click to expand...
That CANNOT happen. Linux is opensource under the GPL license. It is free for eternity. I can download the source code for it, make changes and recompile it if I want.

It is not just free as in money, it is free as in freedom...

10's of thousands of people if not 100's of thousands have contributed to it on the understanding that it opensource and their contributions cannot be made close source. If a company takes a linux distribution, improves it then tries to sell it they can do this, however 2 things still remain true;
1) The core linux distribution remains free.
2) They have to release the source code to their "improvements".

Linux is a community based Operating system produced and maintained by it's users. It cannot become closed source not can it be charged for.
 
There is so much to tell you about Linux and so many myths about it. But I have always hesitated to sing it's praises because it is not for everyone and I don't want to come across as a fan boy.
But here are a few little notes..

Linux was originally created by a university student who gave it away for free on the basis that any modifications to it had to be released in the same manner.
Linux is written by the community and no one company has control over it.
Linux is written by programming experts who's day job is developing software.
These developers quite often start working for a small companies and doing Linux on the side as a hobby, but once their expertise is established they then get sponsored by big companies like IBM, Redhat and even Microsoft.
Linux is about freedom and choice. There are literally 100's of distributions, 10's if not 100's of different desktop environments, (this is the bit you look at, which creates the windows, decorations and mouse pointer etc) So you can if you wish get a desktop that looks and (mostly) works like Windows 7, or Mac OS/X or anything else. If you have time and patience you can make it work however you want even mixing windows operation with a Mac look. The choices are one of the issues with Linux for the new user.
Linux has specialised distributions. If you want one to do music stuff there are specialised distributions for it. There are distributions covering loads of different specialities. Where as windows is a general purpose operating system. Linux is a general purpose operating system that has multiple distributions customised and optimised for different specialities.

Linux is not hard to use.... If you doubt me, try using a Google Chromebook. That is linux based.

I could go on....
 
hilldweller said:
Perfectly OK now. But not that long ago it was not that easy.
Click to expand...

I was around when basic computing was being taught in schools, one of my friends taught computing in the 70's, I was aware of the languages commonly used at this time, Fortran, Algol.

I am also aware that windows is just an operating system presumably using some computer language or other and that other operating systems are available but I have never had the inclination to delve into how operating systems work, I just want them to work, simply and efficiently.

On my laptop keyboard I commonly use about 50 of the available keys and most of them are alphabetic, I have no idea what around 40 of the other keys do and frankly don't have a great deal of interest in finding out.

If another operating system such as Linux is available when I replace this laptop then I may have a go and re learn but the essential for me is that the operating system 'operates' with minimal input from me:)
 
hilldweller said:
There was no such thing as a calculator in my school, I had a slide rule.
Click to expand...

And me, Faber Castell, still have it somewhere but it's operating system is lost somewhere in the depths of my brain never to be seen again, log log's anyone:)

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