A picture is worth 1000 words. If that’s the case, how much is a video worth?
During the Christmas holidays I managed to wipe out my Windows PC. Faced with the option of installing Windows (again) or installing Linux I chose to install both to compare them. Below is a discussion on the subject, as well as an invitation to join me at a live webinar next Tuesday to show you how close Linux is to Windows, and how much ‘Linux’ software runs under Windows. The major difference? Linux costs nothing. Windows costs a heck of a lot more.
But that difference has some implications. Firstly, the Linux guys are not going to threaten you or prosecute you if you copy the software. Actually, they want you to. Secondly, Linux uses a lot less machine than Windows does, and that means it’s far easier upgrade an old PC. It seems that each time Windows has a new release, that release needs a bigger machine. Windows, in a word, is not green!
Each time I broach this subject a few purists point out that the two are not identical, or even completely compatible. They are right.
A 90 Minute Demo comparing Linux with Windows
That’s why I ran a 90 minute webinar to show you how they stack up against each other. (You probably already know what Windows looks like, so it’s mainly to show you how much it looks like Linux, and how it can do anything you’re using Windows for.) Click here to view or download the video.
Most of us don’t use most of our PCs. Your own PC – no matter how old it is – is almost infinitely more powerful than the biggest mainframe I worked on before 1985, which occupied a very large room and had water based plumbing to keep it cool. It is thousands of times more powerful than the equipment that took Apollo 11 to the moon. And hundreds of times more powerful than my first laptop, all 13 KG of it!
Yet, most of us use our PCs for a few very simple functions:
- Access to the Internet via a browser;
- E-Mail;
- Word Processing (and most of us only use it as a typewriter, rather than all the advanced features);
- Spreadsheets;
- Presentations;
- Accounting;
- And possibly one or two specialist Windows applications. (Voice recognition is one of my specialist apps.)
Most of us, embedded as we are in Windows, have one or two Windows applications that we cannot live without. We think that this means that we cannot change to another operating system. Not true, because there are two ways to run Windows applications inside Linux.
Whether you are the only person in your company, or you have dozens of PCs in your firm, this hour is going to save you a fortune, as well as expand your options dramatically. Did I mention it’s gratis?
View (or download) the video here.
I was going to suggest using one of your PC’s as a bridge, but you arrived at a great solution before I manhaged to get back from my coffee shoppe! Well done.
Hi Pete,
You can ignore my previous post. Telkom actually came up with a solution. They supplied a Billion 400G ADSL modem which gives me a LAN subnet and is constantly connected to my ISP – no need to dial-up every time you boot your pc.
Cheers,
Richard
Hi Pete,
I have toyed with the idea of moving over to Linux but have not had the confidence, technical expertise to go and do it. Your article and the video gave me the push to start doing it. I have installed Ubuntu on an old pc and started looking at it.
Everything looks okay at the surface but one very important aspect – connection to the internet – has illuded me. I have spent most of last weekend trying to find a solution – google, talking to Unix Gurus etc – but in vain.
You need to know that my land line has been replaced by a WiMax connection by Telkom! Reason? You guessed it! More than 100 incidents of cable theft in Northriding Agricultural Holdings, Randburg in the past 2 years.
The problem with WiMax is that Ubuntu does not offer a PPPOE dial-up connection to a broadband service. Now, I have Telkom looking at the problem but without any success so far – still waiting for them to see what they come up with today.
I can connect with all my Windows PCs without any problem. However, each PC is given their own IP Address which means that I lost my Local network and my network shares as the individual PCs do not have a unique address range such as 192.168.1.x. This, of course, is not a problem that Ubuntu caused but rather it was hightlighted by me trying to use Ubuntu in my environment.
If you have come across a solution to this issue please let me know.
Greate webinar on your marketing motor last night!!
Cheers Richard