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They are either fools or computers are not their lives. I know plenty users who Linux would be an ideal fit: web browser? Check. Office suite? Check. Device dr

by kefka 13y ago

They are either fools or computers are not their lives. I know plenty users who Linux would be an ideal fit: web browser? Check. Office suite? Check. Device drivers for hardware Vista/7/8 dont have? Check. WINE layer for common XP apps? Check. Better security and malware defense? Check. And it's free, and wouldn't require any new hardware. Getting 7 on XP hardware would be mighty uncomfortable, if possible at all.

keithpeter 13y ago
I teach adults. In my classes, I now have 3 or 4 people out of 20 who rely on tablets for all their Internet use, i.e. they don't own a laptop or PC. About half use a phone/phablet/tablet a lot but also fall back to a laptop/PC for some uses (e.g. Flash based learning materials). I'd agree with one of the more 'automatic' GNU/Linux distributions for casual use on an XP era machine. I suspect the future will be disposable tablets however. I'm now talking to students about backups...
scholia 13y ago
Windows 8.1 runs pretty well on XP hardware, and Update 1 will run even better (minimum 1GB). You might have to buy a cheap graphics card. It browses much faster than XP on the same hardware. Otherwise, if you have people who wouldn't pay for a cheap Windows upgrade (launch offers), they probably don't want to spend a huge amount of time and effort figuring out a "free" Linux with all the other complications you mention. On their own. From scratch.
- xtracto 13y ago
  Just a couple of weeks ago I got for free a Pentium IV PC with 514MB of RAM and Windows XP. I changed the cmos battery, the AGP card and did a clean XP reinstall in an SSD drive. The computer is blazing fast. Any newer version of Windows would make the computer slow as shit. Here in developing countries, we people tend to use our stuff for a LONG time. You see 30yr old cars running around; 20yr old washing machines, which have been re-re-re-re-patched. Buying a new computer just because of some magical limit date, just doesn't cut it. Is it unsafe? maybe, but why throw something away when it is 100% usable!.

by kefka 13y ago

keithpeter 13y ago

I teach adults. In my classes, I now have 3 or 4 people out of 20 who rely on tablets for all their Internet use, i.e. they don't own a laptop or PC. About half use a phone/phablet/tablet a lot but also fall back to a laptop/PC for some uses (e.g. Flash based learning materials). I'd agree with one of the more 'automatic' GNU/Linux distributions for casual use on an XP era machine. I suspect the future will be disposable tablets however. I'm now talking to students about backups...

scholia 13y ago

Windows 8.1 runs pretty well on XP hardware, and Update 1 will run even better (minimum 1GB). You might have to buy a cheap graphics card. It browses much faster than XP on the same hardware. Otherwise, if you have people who wouldn't pay for a cheap Windows upgrade (launch offers), they probably don't want to spend a huge amount of time and effort figuring out a "free" Linux with all the other complications you mention. On their own. From scratch.

xtracto 13y ago
Just a couple of weeks ago I got for free a Pentium IV PC with 514MB of RAM and Windows XP. I changed the cmos battery, the AGP card and did a clean XP reinstall in an SSD drive. The computer is blazing fast. Any newer version of Windows would make the computer slow as shit. Here in developing countries, we people tend to use our stuff for a LONG time. You see 30yr old cars running around; 20yr old washing machines, which have been re-re-re-re-patched. Buying a new computer just because of some magical limit date, just doesn't cut it. Is it unsafe? maybe, but why throw something away when it is 100% usable!.