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Just get Linux, its free

I really don't see what all the fuss is about.
Vista is only slower than XP if you don't have the ram, when you have 2gb vista runs much faster.
And the lack of legacy support: so what. It's not like it would hurt GM to keep there hardware up to date.

And no, I'm not an MS fanboy - I just think people are way too quick to jump down their throats about supposed 'problems' they cause.

@Matt: you don't see what all the fuss is about??

This is yet another blog who chooses to write about vista's failures because that's what people want to hear. Nobody cares about microsoft making $$$ or Vista not sucking.

Remember what people said when XP was released: "XP sucks, Windows 2000 is way better", that's the same people who now says that vista sucks.

Kilgore -

It's free, and to an everyday computer consumer, it's worth every penny. Usability issues continue to stand in the way, as do hardware support issues. Personally, I like it. But I'm a geek.

Now I'll stand back and wait for the 37 obligatory posts that say, "It's so easy my grandmother uses it!"

Bull feathers.

I'll answer those comments in advance. Either your grandmother is Grace Hopper or you're just being a fan-boy/girl/person. Linux is simply not ready for the masses. There is no normal-user distro and a super-easy distro is what it will take, along with a decent set of utilities that REAL grandmothers, grandfathers, and the rest of the non-uber-Linux-geeks in the world can just use, everyday, without going down to the basement to fiddle with the OS code.

That is why Linux is not taking the world by storm. It is not user-friendly. Period. Over 99% of the people that use a computer don't care about all the crap in the basement. They just want it to work. All the Linux acolytes who spend so much time saying how easy Linux is to use would be much better off spending their time doing something to make it easy for real. Until they do, it will remain in it's niches: hands-on OS geeks and servers.

Matt -

Pay attention now. Follow along. Vista is slow. It is awkward. It is ill-designed and user-hostile. Other than that, Vista is just ducky.

I feel your pain on the Linux usability problem. I have a dual boot laptop with XP Pro on one drive and Ubuntu 8.04 on the other. Linux has a bit of a learning curve.

My love/hate with XP is that it runs Java Runtime Environment, Flash - niceties I enjoy while surfing. I also enjoy Windows MediaPlayer and iTunes. Sadly, as an operating system, even XP Pro is glacially slow because of all the extra security it requires.

These days, I do most of my work in Linux: Ubuntu 8.04 and Mandriva Spring. It's way faster than XP running on the same machines, which aren't quite new enough for Vista.

For the same reasons as GM, I won't be upgrading to Vista.* unless Ultimate comes pre-installed on my next box. And if I ever get MediaPlayer running virtually in Linux, I'll say goodbye to Windows forever.

Jeff -

I like Linux, and I don't mind messing around in the basement. But most people won't. I am busily converting my PCs to Linux, although I am now doing almost all of my work on a MacBook Pro. I was able to replace all of my PC apps except DeLorme mapping (no equivalent exists) and my Adobe Web tool suite (just can't afford it yet). I went to the Mac because I refused to go to Vista, and OS X is stable and has a great UI. Still, I would go all-Lunix in a heartbeat if the problems with it were fixed. They are SO close!

Michael

So has The Southern Company with 20,000+ desktops.

Doug -

Thanks for the additional info. That's a lot of desktops. Most companies don't announce things like that, I guess, so we're all left guessing. With a few big companies opting out (and maybe a lot of them) perhaps Microsoft will get the message.

Ubuntu. That's what will fill the vacuum. It runs on the same hardware as XP, and despite the comparatively small number of users, peer support is superb, at least as good as Windows.

On most machines, "It just works". The 6-month release cycle keeps all the uber-nerds happy, and the long term support releases are perfect for systems admins.

I currently use Ubuntu 8.04. I find it to be a nice change from XP. Although Ubuntu dose have a small learning curve, I believe it could go mainstream if two things happened. 1.) It should come with a web browser that has all the plug-ins pre installed as well as java. 2.) It needs to be able to run more windows applications with out installing virtual box ( the whole point of running Linux is to get away from MS Windows.) Yes there is wine of course but it is still a little buggy and it takes a true geek to configure it properly. I believe when these issues are solved Linux will be accepted well by every one. I also think VISTA ultimate is cool as well as OS/X, but I hate the thought of DRM.

Windows XP is pretty good. A better OS is here though. Ubuntu. it's a breath of fresh air. But people aren't aware. For example, Michael said about Linux in general -
"It is not user-friendly.
Period.
Over 99% of the people . . ."
Sounds so familiar. Same old anti-Linux propaganda I've heard for years. Thing is, it isn't true anymore. As a previous commenter pointed out, Ubuntu is very useful. It's easier to install and make useful than Windows. You can buy a computer from Dell or another company with Ubuntu pre-installed! And yes, grandma uses it. She still has Dapper Drake and hasn't complained or required any more help since the first week a year ago when I installed it on her computer. True, she only uses it for email and the occasional amazon.com purchase, but Windows would be no more useful for that purpose. And if she ever wants more capability, it's there.
What is so scary about Linux? I think some people have a hard time believing that anything that's free has any value.
An interesting fact is that when I provide for you a copy of my software, I still have my copy. If I'm selling mine, for like, $100, wow. How much money can be involved here? And, by the way, I'll have to be spending a large percentage of my profit on methods of preventing piracy, because after all, it's just software that can be easily copied, right?

On the other hand, if I just GIVE it away, and give the source code too, then I can get help developing it so it improves for free! The linux kernel for instance has thousands of developers, some of them working for IBM and some working for other companies and some just working to see the work done (someone has to do it!) In fact a lot of money and resources go into developing linux. Big companies spend big bucks on it.

Anyway, that's the way I see it, and I encourage anyone to try the better alternatives that exist! Even if they are free, they are valuable. Don't listen to the naysayers. Statements that disparage Desktop Linux in an arbitrary and general way are inaccurate. As Michael says, they are worth every penny paid for them. I say they are, too, and much more.

Terry of Arizona -

Sorry, Terry, but you are incorrect. Your vaunted Ubuntu may be fine for you. It is, as a matter of fact, fine for me, something you would have noticed if you had bothered to read the comments above before you started talking. I have done dozens of Ubuntu installs. Of those, two have actually worked without very painful problems, usually including replacing hardware. Running it is not easy. You have to know stuff, and most people not only don't know stuff that stuff, they don't want to know that stuff.

I have been using *nix since 1982. Get it through your head that *nix for experts and *nix for users is not the same thing. If people could "just use" any of the *nix variants, they would be doing so. That they are not is proof that you are wrong. If folks could get what they wanted for free, they would not be paying Microsoft.

Ubuntu has been close for a few years, but it hasn't gotten any closer. Go forth, Terry, and support all the hardware and make it as easy to use as Windows XP (when it works) and Linux will be a winner. To be honest, I'm not sure that the Linux community has much interest in anything but the OS hobbyists or this would have happened already.

I know its possible. As we speak, I am writing this comment on *nix, a perfectly solid and usable *nix operating system called OS X. That sort of ease of use is what your operating system needs to be in order to displace Windows.

Linux does not do as well as OS X in these areas, Terry. If it did, Windows would no longer be an issue. You need to understand something about the greater world. It does not matter that you think your *nix toy is nifty. The marketplace knows better. Fot the needs of the marketplace, your flavor of *nix falls short.

If you want to win the greater marketplace, address the needs of the greater marketplace. If you don't want to do that or are unwilling to do that, fine. Stop talking about going somewhere you're not ready to go.

i dont like you very much, and your facts are weak, and your need to use obscure words fails next to your bad english, thank you and please write no more of these blogs

Dear Mr. actual computer user -

LOL! Thanks for the vote of confidence. However, these columns are pretty much what I do, and I think I shall continue despite your advice.

Michael, you said it yourself - you've used Unix since 1982. Don't you realize that this has also skewed *your* view? Your mindset will default to terminal commands that the average Windows user wouldn't understand, and you don't realize that newer distros often have a GUI way to do the same thing that a Windows user would understand.

'Sides, Ubuntu has "just worked" on every average computer that I've tried it on.

@Kilgore Trout
Sounds like you don't work for GM... if so it'd be difficult to understand the impact of "simply updating everybody's hardware" & why the company would shy away from Vista. There's a LOT of hardware. There's a LOT of proprietary software.

I do work for GM and this is a sound decision. If I can run my specialized h/w and s/w already then changing to Vista is a lose/break even proposition for me.

RetainYerDiggity -

You are right in that the situation at GM is magnified because there is so much specialized hardware and software in use there. Thanks for your thoughtful comment!

Michael