# Windows 7: The Linux killer



## dustyjay (Jan 24, 2003)

"Microsoft is finally taking Linux seriously as a desktop operating system, and it has designed Windows 7 to kill it "

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/12/22/Windows_7_The_Linux_killer_1.html


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## RootbeaR (Dec 9, 2006)

dustyjay said:


> "Microsoft is finally taking Linux seriously as a desktop operating system, and it has designed Windows 7 to kill it "
> 
> http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/12/22/Windows_7_The_Linux_killer_1.html


Linux must not be that bad if M$ is getting worried, eh!



RootbeaR said:


> "As InfoWorld's Kennedy has shown in his tests of the Windows 7 pre-beta version, Windows 7 is essentially Vista with some interface changes, a claim Microsoft CEO Ballmer concurs with --"
> http://tech.yahoo.com/news/infoworld/20081222/tc_infoworld/119938_1


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## sethmaclaren (Dec 23, 2008)

I'm fairly sure that they aren't going to be beating Linux in the pricing department.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I think the comment about booting Window 7 and using half of his gigabyte of memory is telling!  God forbid he should actually try to run an application!


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## RootbeaR (Dec 9, 2006)

JohnWill said:


> God forbid he should actually try to run an application!


And people wonder why you are my favorite poster.
LOL


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## ferrija1 (Apr 11, 2006)

<1% market share, what's there to kill?


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## RootbeaR (Dec 9, 2006)

ferrija1 said:


> <1% market share, what's there to kill?


My guess would be, since this machine came with XP, that I am a M$ number and not a Linux number. How many more like that out there?

I sought an alternative when Vista was being released. If 7 is as good as Vista, M$ has reason to worry.

Also, it is the netbook sales they are worried about. Vista, the pig, can't run on anything lightweight and cheap.

Desktops are no longer the #1 seller.

If netbooks comprise 60% of all new sales and Linux is on 30% of them, how long do you think it will take for Linux to rocket to 30% share? It is free. People will want it on desktops at home and at the workplace as well.

Edit:
Notebooks outship desktops for first time
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/nm/20081223/tc_nm/us_isuppli_pcs_1

Laptop Shipments Surpass 70% of Japan PC Market
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20081224/tc_pcworld/laptopshipmentssurpass70ofjapanpcmarket_1


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## Mumbodog (Oct 3, 2007)

> and it has designed Windows 7 to kill it


You mean W7 is a Linux virus? or does it just delete any Linux partitions when you install it Har, har.


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

RootbeaR said:


> My guess would be, since this machine came with XP, that I am a M$ number and not a Linux number. How many more like that out there?


Count me as one. In fact, the system recovery DVD I haven't won't work since I blew away the D: paritition that was setup as the system recovery partition when I first installed Ubuntu.

Peace...


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## win2kpro (Jul 19, 2005)

In my opinion I don't believe whatever OS Microsoft releases will have a significant impact on Linux growth.

Microsoft's domination of OS's and productivity suites is slowly slipping away at a rather steady pace. Although this article is a a little over a year old it clearly shows the trend that began in Europe slowly spreading to Asia and South America.

http://hehe2.net/linux-general/10-governments-running-linux-you-probably-didnt-know-about/

Microsoft has seen a significant impact to its "cash cow", i.e. Microsoft Office from Open Office. I began to notice the change in Microsoft's sales strategy for Microsoft Office a couple of years ago. Microsoft has always been as such "protective" of it's Student/Teacher Academic version of Office where a perspective purchaser had to "jump though some hoops" to purchase the Academic version. Now I see such online stores as Newegg offering Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 Licensed for 3 PCs - Retail for $74.95 including free shipping;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116135 As a side note this package was priced at $94.99 in mid September 2008 at Newegg. An approximate 23% price reduction in 3 1/2 months is fairly significant.

Everyone knows that Newegg is not going to try to qualify a buyer as to their eligibility to purchase an academic vesion, nor is Microsoft going to check for eligibility when a purchaser installs the product. Microsoft is allowing this to continue simply to try to steer people away from Open Office and is doing it in this particular suite since it contains the three most widly used programs, i.e. Word, Excel and PowerPoint. You can also go to a volume manufacturer such as Dell who a year or so ago in a CTO machine did not offer an Office Academic version and you now see them offering the Academic version in both their laptop and desktop CTO models.

Microsoft certainly isn't going to go broke, however from what I see now I do believe they will see a diminishing share of their products in the software market in the future. The giant is starting to feel the pain from decreasing market share.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I was also somewhat surprised to see the H&O version on sale for an attractive price with apparently no real restrictions on it's use. It's also interesting to note that it's licensed for three computers as well.


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## win2kpro (Jul 19, 2005)

Most people don't realize that in 2004 Microsoft released a Windows XP "starter edition" that was sold in developing Countries at a low price to try to steer future users away from Linux. In 2007 Microsoft released the Vista "starter edition" for the same purpose.

As a Microsoft OEM Partner previously I would get a newsletter once a month. A few months ago I started getting two a month, I believe in November I either got two or three plus a personal call from the Microsoft sales rep for this zone. All the news letters and calls all push the same thing; sell, sell, sell.

If you start reading between the lines, you can see everything is not as "rosy" in Redmond, WA as Steve Ballmer wants everyone to believe.


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## CrazyComputerMan (Apr 16, 2007)

Linux is freeware?


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

CrazyComputerMan said:


> Linux is freeware?


Yes but not _because_ it's open source. Also, the "free" part refers to the cost of legally acquiring it vs factoring in the "cost of ownership" stuff.

You can legally download a fully functional Linux distribution for free and install it on your PC or server without paying one cent for it.

The 64-bit Ubuntu distribution I'm running today I first downloaded from the Ubuntu site over a year ago. I downloaded a CD image (ISO), burned it to CD, and installed Linux from that.

I have purchased a Linux distribution CD in the past but that was mainly to support the distribution maintainer.

Peace...


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## ferrija1 (Apr 11, 2006)

tomdkat said:


> Yes but not _because_ it's open source. Also, the "free" part refers to the cost of legally acquiring it vs factoring in the "cost of ownership" stuff.


There are paid Linux operating systems...it all depends on what distribution you're talking about.


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

ferrija1 said:


> There are paid Linux operating systems...it all depends on what distribution you're talking about.


Not really because Linux *itself* is still free. It's the _distribution_ you're paying for. You might argue this is a semantic point but one I feel is important. Linux is *not* the distribution, the distribution is an avenue of making Linux available.

Peace...


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## terry26 (Dec 27, 2008)

ferrija1, which distributions do you have to pay for?


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Fedora (Red Hat), openSUSE (Novell) are a couple...


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## AKAJohnDoe (Jun 6, 2007)

I have Linux on one notebook and Vista on another.

I would really hate to see one OS kill another as I so dislike conformity.


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## terry26 (Dec 27, 2008)

JohnWill said:


> Fedora (Red Hat), openSUSE (Novell) are a couple...


Interesting, I'm curious to know where you got this information from, as I run both these distributions and they cost me nothing as they are downloadable from their websites http://fedoraproject.org/ http://www.opensuse.org/


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

Fedora is free to download and you can order CDs that I think you pay for. RedHat is now commercial only and Fedora is the free "spin off", if you will.

I think the same applies to SuSe, where the Novell "branded" distro is commercial and the openSuSe distro is free for download, etc.

Peace...


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## CrazyComputerMan (Apr 16, 2007)

I got Fedora for free by downloading it? I thought Fedora is free


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

Fedora IS free. 

Peace...


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## CrazyComputerMan (Apr 16, 2007)

Missed the piece about Red hat... My fault! 

Doh!


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

terry26 said:


> Interesting, I'm curious to know where you got this information from, as I run both these distributions and they cost me nothing as they are downloadable from their websites http://fedoraproject.org/ http://www.opensuse.org/


As mentioned, they have free and commercial versions. The commercial versions come with tech support, etc.


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## lotuseclat79 (Sep 12, 2003)

Windows 7 or Windows 8 is not a Linux killer for any one of the reasons stated above.

Wait for two generations hence for the OS which is derived from the Singularity project from MS Research. They designed an entirely new programming language to implement it, and have about 1200 PhDs working on different aspects of the project.

A while ago, I bemoaned the fact that it was a great idea - i.e. design an OS from scratch without any relation to Windows, with security a forethought in its design - and then I might be interested. At that time I pointed out that they did not have a bridge to any of their existing revenue stream products for it. A new project based on Singularity is code named Midori: see my post #9 in the thread: Analysts predict bleak future for Windows for links to articles about Midori.

So, it seems they have been working on that aspect to make it a reality someday. Perhaps then someone will notice it for commercial use, but only if the bridge encompasses backward compatibility to bring the customers up-to-date and no longer dependent on older MS software. As for Linux, it is not going away any time soon - it just keeps getting better and better - like the Ext4 filesystem in the Linux kernel 2.6.28 just released the day before Christmas this year.

-- Tom


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## RootbeaR (Dec 9, 2006)

Updated XP today.
Installed SP3 (needed to agree to a new eula)
Installed updates after that (22- one an update to SP3?)
112 MB to download and install(total).
10mb/s connection speed.
1 hour 59 minutes to update.

It will be a while before any MS is a Linux killer.


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## RootbeaR (Dec 9, 2006)

Scratch above time.
Reboot-wouldn't. Hung after splash screen on a blank screen.
Shut down. Restart-"Windows did not start ...blah blah blah"
Last known good config. Same thing, hung on a blank screen
Safe mode restore, did and rebooted properly. Subsequent shut down and start, hung again.

Restore to another point before SP3 which is where I am now.
Will it reboot again now? Who knows?

Close to 4 hours, to get to where I was before I got out of bed this am.

How many hundreds are they charging for this so called "Linux killer?"

Linux will always have at least one user.


P.S. I thought SP3 issues would be resolved by now.
What a POS os.


Edit:
9:15 was the time of my restore point from this am. I am now finally updated. Sans SP3.
Only 5 hours and 40 minutes.
I could have installed 10 or more Linux distros' in that time.


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## RootbeaR (Dec 9, 2006)

Well, once again, I don't think Linux needs to worry, but 7 is certainly an improvement over Vista so far.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Everyone talks about "Linux" as though it were an operating system. It's only a kernel. There are 100's or 1000's of operating systems built around that kernel. Some of the more ambitious manufacturers have created drivers for maybe 4 or 5 of them, but many are left without support, or there is major hoop-jumping required to install the simplest new hardware.

Linux is chaos. It's an assorment of individuals all going in different directions. It's a feudal structure in an age of Republics and contains within it the seeds of its own destruction unless some conformity can be brought to it in some manner.


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## RootbeaR (Dec 9, 2006)

Elvandil said:


> Everyone talks about "Linux" as though it were an operating system. It's only a kernel. There are 100's or 1000's of operating systems built around that kernel. Some of the more ambitious manufacturers have created drivers for maybe 4 or 5 of them, but many are left without support, or there is major hoop-jumping required to install the simplest new hardware.
> 
> Linux is chaos. It's an assorment of individuals all going in different directions. It's a feudal structure in an age of Republics and contains within it the seeds of its own destruction unless some conformity can be brought to it in some manner.


When I talk about GnuLinux (Linux) I am talking about a desktop distro. Not, for example, gParted.

No one had any problems with Vista and hardware?

MS is starting to get many flavors as well. 7 + Vista + XP = how many versions? 30 or so?
Don't forget to include 64 bit.


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

Elvandil said:


> Everyone talks about "Linux" as though it were an operating system. It's only a kernel.


The kernel IS the operating system. What the operating system needs is a user interface so people can interact with it, program it, and configure it.

EDIT: The OS provides the underlying interface between the actual hardware and software that runs on that hardware. Things like memory management, low-level I/O, process communication, process scheduling, etc., are things performed by the OS and is implemented in the OS kernel.

Peace...


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## Mumbodog (Oct 3, 2007)

> Linux is chaos


http://www.openbsd.org/


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

Mumbodog said:


> http://www.openbsd.org/


You know, I bought an OpenBSD CD years ago to support the distro and just couldn't get my head wrapped around the "slices" concept. 

I do plan on installing OpenBSD or FreeBSD in a VirutalBox environment some day. 

Peace...


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## CrazyComputerMan (Apr 16, 2007)

I thought i might have a bit of experiment because i have Windows 7 Beta.


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## RootbeaR (Dec 9, 2006)

"What is somewhat curious is that Windows 7 Starter could be nearly $200. This version of Windows will be quite limited with only being allowed to run three applications at a time, lower screen resolutions, no live thumbnail previews and limited processor support. Its purpose is for low-cost PCs and netbooks -- but with those systems already costing as little as $300, one has to wonder how a $200 OS will fit into the bill of materials."
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-7-starter-versions-pricing,6982.html


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

You have to remember that most of the"starter" versions will be bundled with those inexpensive laptops, and they'll cost the OEM a LOT less than $200, probably more in the $20 range.


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## aka Brett (Nov 25, 2008)

The netbooks have taken a share of the market..that is the only concern..Microsoft wants that share back...and i agree..I dont want a netbook..its a move backwards.


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## tomdkat (May 6, 2006)

RootbeaR said:


> "What is somewhat curious is that Windows 7 Starter could be nearly $200. This version of Windows will be quite limited with only being allowed to *run three applications at a time*, lower screen resolutions, no live thumbnail previews and limited processor support. Its purpose is for low-cost PCs and netbooks -- but with those systems already costing as little as $300, one has to wonder how a $200 OS will fit into the bill of materials."
> http://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-7-starter-versions-pricing,6982.html


Wow, this really surprises me...

Peace...


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