Anybody upgrade to Windows 8 yet?

[Curt Harms]

4 gig of ram was so last century

So, what does that make this ThinkPad R31 PIII 1.1 ghz. running Lubuntu and using 200 MB of its 512 MB RAM? . Just for grins I had an Ubuntu host running a Win 7 32 bit guest in a VirtualBox Virtual Machine. The whole thing took just under 1 GB. RAM with Win7 running an office session.

[Rich Engelhardt]

So, what does that make this ThinkPad R31 PIII w/ 512 RAM running Lubuntu and using 200 MB of its 512 MB RAM

LOL!
Something MS can only dream of - efficient

[Brian Ashton]

So, what does that make this ThinkPad R31 PIII 1.1 ghz. running Lubuntu and using 200 MB of its 512 MB RAM? . Just for grins I had an Ubuntu host running a Win 7 32 bit guest in a VirtualBox Virtual Machine. The whole thing took just under 1 GB. RAM with Win7 running an office session.

Probably a pain in the arse for the average person. I can appreciate where you're coming from playing with the penguin... But the penguin is like apple 15 or more years ago - barely anyone knew there was a computer named after a fruit and less took it seriously. Maybe one day the penguin will have its day in the sun but I ain't waiting for it.

[Jerome Stanek]

The Penguin runs many company computers. My daughter and her boyfriend are both linux techs for different companies. Both are large being in the top 500

[paul cottingham]

Mac os runs on top of a form of the penguin as well. It is much more common than people think, and there are no longer valid reasons for not using it as a main OS.
except loving windows or Mac of course.

[Kevin W Johnson]

If Linux were truly ready for the average user, then the computer assemblers (Dell, HP, Acer, etc) would be selling computers with free Linux on them, rather than pay Microsoft for an OS.

[Steve Meliza]

If Linux were truly ready for the average user, then the computer assemblers (Dell, HP, Acer, etc) would be selling computers with free Linux on them, rather than pay Microsoft for an OS.

http://www.dell.com/us/soho/p/laptop...~0~1791343&p=1

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I am a "computing professional", and so obviously are the majority of my coworkers. I have not seen much of anything positive related to Windows 8, and I don't know anyone that has admitted to installing it. Usually, when there is a new release of Mac, Linux, Windows, or Android, it is talked about.

Usually, while trying to track a new Windows release, there was so much hype and all the journals were talking about it, and then the final release barely delivers on the promise (maybe 50% at best). I attended user groups when MS was in town. It was all about hype, working the crowd, throwing out free shirts and such; nothing technical.

I was trying to follow Windows 8, but most of what I read and heard was negative, and given that there is usually so much hype, it seemed implausible that it would be decent. In other words, I stopped follow it and nothing jumped out at me yet that said that I care for it at all (no overly positive comments, etc). I guess that to be honest, most of the people that I know still don't care for the latest versions of MS Office with the ribbon bar, and I know that some of them completely dropped MS Office and jumped to Apache OpenOffice or LibreOffice instead.

It was stated that you can continue to run your older MS products. Did you know that MS is moving towards a subscription based license? Only heard that relative to products such as MS Office, but no particular reason they won't do that with their OS.

So, should you jump to Windows 8?

I say absolute not unless you can try it first (report back if you do). If you have a bunch of friends that LOVE it, then they should be happy to let you give it a go and then you will know. Don't forget that the road back is not supported without a wipe. I think it was Matt that recommended you purchase a new hard drive and install it there. A GREAT idea because it is so easy to undo.

Also, validate that your hardware and software are supported.

Another possibility is to use a Virtual Machine and install Windows 8 there. Just be careful to NOT to lose your ability to activate it if you later install it onto hardware (MS is cracking down on that sort of thing).

I was once asked if someone should use Mac, Windows, or Linux. Well, I usually use Linux so they expected me to say Linux. What I told them was that they should either find the software that they want to run and buy the computer that runs it, or...... Buy exactly the same thing that your good friend the computer guru uses, because they will support you and fix all those problems you have that mere mortals fail to understand and fix on their own.

[paul cottingham]

http://www.dell.com/us/soho/p/laptop...~0~1791343&p=1

Beat me to it.
And the kernel for macs osx is FreeBSD, an open source Linux like os.

[Larry Browning]

http://www.dell.com/us/soho/p/laptop...~0~1791343&p=1

How many of those do you suppose they sell vs ones with Windows on them? My guess is probably less that 1%

I am afraid Linux has a long way to go before your average consumer can or will use it.

Plus, this is a thread about Windows 8, not Linux, Macs, or even Windows 7.

[paul cottingham]

How many of those do you suppose they sell vs ones with Windows on them? My guess is probably less that 1%

I am afraid Linux has a long way to go before your average consumer can or will use it.

Plus, this is a thread about Windows 8, not Linux, Macs, or even Windows 7.

Total, complete myth.
But,you are right this is not about Linux.
my apologies.

[Larry Browning]

Total, complete myth.
But,you are right this is not about Linux.
my apologies.

I think the Linux thing is all about perception and not about reality. But in the real world perception is everything. (This is true for most everything, not just Linux)

Anyway, back to Windows 8.

[Jason Roehl]

I was once asked if someone should use Mac, Windows, or Linux. Well, I usually use Linux so they expected me to say Linux. What I told them was that they should either find the software that they want to run and buy the computer that runs it, or...... Buy exactly the same thing that your good friend the computer guru uses, because they will support you and fix all those problems you have that mere mortals fail to understand and fix on their own.

Stellar advice right there.

[Kevin W Johnson]

http://www.dell.com/us/soho/p/laptop...~0~1791343&p=1

So, it doesn't prove it's ready for the mainstream, or ready for the (very large) segment of users that know just enough to turn on a computer, and maybe how to turn it off.

[paul cottingham]

Again, total myth. Why would learning the Linux GUI be any harder than any windows one? The truth is it isn't. If you have to Learn a new os, why not a stable, quite virus proof, free one? I put plenty of new users on Linux with no problems whatsoever.
Anyways....