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Linux Mint as Mainstream Replacement for XP

posted by mrbluze on Monday March 31 2014, @12:14PM   Printer-friendly
from the can't-resist-that-minty-freshness dept.

prospectacle writes:

How to best replace Windows XP has become interesting to a much wider group of people, due to the end of official support for the product. (a previous story mentioned an Indian state government that urged its departments to use India's home-grown linux distro "BOSS Linux").

Some people may be using XP because it came with their computer and they never gave it a second thought, but there are probably plenty of others who don't want to spend the money, don't like the look of Windows 8, have older hardware, or are just used to the XP interface.

To these people, ZDNet humbly offers Linux Mint as a suggestion to replace XP.

They provide fairly compelling arguments to their target audience like:
- You can make it look almost exactly like XP
- It's free
- You can boot the live CD to try before you "buy".
- Decent, free alternatives exist for email, office, book-keeping and web-browsing.
- Virtually no need for any anti-virus for home users.
- Installation is quite easy these days.
- Works on fairly modest hardwar

Ending free support for a 12 year old product seems like a sensible policy for a for-profit entity like microsoft. In the past they've been able to count on people upgrading from old microsoft products to new microsoft products, and so any measure that would encourage (or pressure) people to upgrade would increase their sales.

Seems like a winning formula.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by Tork on Monday March 31 2014, @10:31PM

    by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 31 2014, @10:31PM (#23795) Journal
    If they want to play the odds and fight with Wine at the same time, sure. Except we already know they won't. As for your other question, I'll answer it with a question: What do you think these guys are doing with their XP machines? Do you really think they're going to be in the mood to switch to something that will only work less as well as what they have now? XP was a mass-market success, beware of making generalizations about it.

    Take it from me as a long time Windows user: If you want to entice somebody to swith to Linux stop playing the "it's almost as good!" card and start telling them why it's better. Wanna impress a Windows guy? Show them Knoppix. Wanna piss of a Windows guy? Say it works just as well then leave him to fight with .conf files to get his machine to do what XP was already easily doing.
    --
    🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 01 2014, @04:39AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 01 2014, @04:39AM (#23903)

    fight with Wine

    Boy, I thought *I* was a curmudgeon until I came here and started reading **your** posts.
    What's the old line? Were you toilet trained at gunpoint?

    Now, if a Linux user has his box prepared by a pro--y'know, like the Windoze users do--everything is going to be equal to the Windoze UX.
    If it's obvious that you aren't up to the task, just tell the guy what you need then stand back and let him work.

    Oh, and the parent forgot to mention that -some- games will be quicker running under WINE than under Windoze.
    Every time I hear that one verified yet again, I just smile.

    -- gewg_

    • (Score: 2) by Tork on Tuesday April 01 2014, @04:50AM

      by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday April 01 2014, @04:50AM (#23906) Journal

      "Now, if a Linux user has his box prepared by a pro--y'know, like the Windoze users do--everything is going to be equal to the Windoze UX. If it's obvious that you aren't up to the task, just tell the guy what you need then stand back and let him work."

      Heh. And you are strong enough of the Linux faith to do this for a few converts?

      "Oh, and the parent forgot to mention that -some- games will be quicker running under WINE than under Windoze."

      So... after you dick around with getting them working, and assuming they work, SOME might run faster ... because that was obviously so important that they held onto their machine this long. Nice rebuttal.

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