Windows/Microsoft Substitute

[Lepke]

I don't have a big social circle, but know a number of people that put off Win 10 and one day found Microsoft had updated their pc to Win 10 without their knowledge. Something stinks. In my circle, everyone is having problems with high cpu/memory usage. And it takes a couple hours to find and disable all the spyware incorporated into Win 10. And so on...
I had hoped after 8, Microsoft would get their stuff together and 10 would be ok. Nothing is really free. The Mac works well and some of the software I already have is available there. I will use Linux for browsing and word apps and it looks like I can run OpenCPN there, too. The Mac runs OpenCPN and MaxSeaTZ.
I had hoped to get to 1 os and a backup nav pc.

[transmitterdan]

Lepke,

When you opened task manager and looked at which application was using all the CPU what did you find it to be? My Win 10 does not run the CPU at 100%.

I have heard about the "upgrade without consent" but I think these are not accurate. I think Microsoft made the upgrade nag box so that some users were tricked into agreeing. But that is almost as bad so I agree that this is kind of shady. However, if Microsoft does not move millions over to 10 they will have a hard time slowing down the hackers. Windows 10 is much harder to hack than Linux now. Microsoft needs everyone to convert if they are ever going to clean up the reputation for security flaws.

So if you tell what applications were hogging the CPU maybe we can help. But based on my own experience and many others I have talked to, Windows 10 is a better OS than Linux or OSX. It's more secure, faster on slow/cheap hardware and supports many more applications than all other PC OSes combined.

[tchavei]

It's harder to hack a dumb mute and deaf wall than an intelligent steel door. I do prefer the latter as it's more versatile than the former.

I've been using Linux servers since 1997 and my biggest gripe with them is that once configured, they work non stop for years. When I finally want to change something after 5 years, I can't remember what I did years ago and have to relearn every time.

For desktop Linux, I've been on and off during years mostly because what others have said, you can't find 100% replacements for some specific programs.

This time however, I'm doing a leap of faith with Linux Mint and so far it hasn't disappointed me.

Enviado do meu GT-I9195 através de Tapatalk

[Beausoleil]

Lepke,

What apps besides MaxSeaTZ and OpenCPN do you want to run? That's really the question here. If the bulk of the apps you run are available only for Windows, then perhaps you're better off running Windows.

The rumors about Windows update defaulting to installing Windows 10 are true, but the "window" for a free update to Win10 is closing soon - I believe at the end of this month (June 2016). Furthering the confusion is the fact that the latest "nag window" popping up in Win7/8.x is that there's no Cancel or Exit button to press - your only option is to proceed with the update.

People complain about the background traffic Win10 generates back to Microsoft - which an run you bankrupt on a metered wireless data link. This can be limited somewhat by enabling metering.

I've only recently begun using Windows 10 on my work laptop - my old one was Win7. All my home systems are Linux (Mint 17.3, and Raspian on my Raspberry Pi 2) and OS X - I prefer them highly vs Windows, but that's me. All the apps I need run under OS X and Linux.

The only Windows app I run at home and on the boat is Rose Point Navigation's Coastal Explorer - and I run that on a Windows virtual machine running on VirtualBox for OS X and Linux. I'll eventually switch completely to OpenCPN, but for now Coastal Explorer's Active Captain integration is nice - especially for voyage planning.

If you only need one or two Windows-only apps, then Ubuntu Linux or Mint are very good desktop distributions. Seriously - despite all the old wives' tales about Linux being hard to install and user are just that - tales. If a person can't install Ubuntu Linux on a modern PC, then perhaps they shouldn't be using a computer. If you're using a Raymarine chartplotter, then you're using Linux. Your Android smartphone? Linux (well, ok, it has a java-like skin on top called Dalvik). Your smart TV, WiFi router? Most probably Linux.

[Celestialsailor]

IMHO, all MS had to do was to take XP and add a touch screen feature to it. XP seemed flawless to me.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by transmitterdan

Microsoft needs everyone to convert if they are ever going to clean up the reputation for security flaws.

MS has been saying/claiming/lying about this for so many years, why would you believe them now?

I run W7 on my laptop with non-automatic upgrades (I disabled the W10 pop up nonsense) and XP on my desktop. Once XP was "refrigerated" it has never had any issues, as far as my experience goes and as far as I've read. The hackers have moved on.

[barnakiel]

'Security flaws' may count to a bank, a big company, a legal firm, perhaps. Alas, judging from my experience with big banks, they are not using Windows on their operations&settlements servers.

As for the little bunny, does the bunny have naked images of the bunny doing nasty things on his/her machine? Nasty bunny!

I can tell you one thing: if you want to hack into the machine I am writing this post from, just go ahead and waste more of your life browsing via my pictures of sails, waves, and folders full of financial / statistical and otherwise educative material that you can all just as well google out and download from the web ...

As if the bunny had god knows what on his bunny Windows 10 machine. We are all some kind of CIA agents or something undercover, really, stupid.

Cheers,
b.

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by Lepke

I've been using computers for decades, but not as a tech. I go back to Dos and Win 2. I use an older Dell with Win 7 for nav programs. I also use a Mac for a backup nav program. I waited several months before updating to Win 10, but after a few more months, I went back to 7.
Why I went back would need to be another thread.
Is there a real option to Windows like Ubuntu that will run software written for windows. One I looked at is Zorin/Wine. There are just too many programs written only for windows that I want to use. I would prefer not to keep a computer just for a few programs nor waste any more time trying to make newer windows software work as well as 7. As I see it everything after 7 was down hill. Windows 11 can only be worse. I want to get the transition over while 7 still is current.

I am a tech, so perhaps my approach is a bit odd, but for me, the answer is virtualization.

My desktop is running Linux Mint Mate, but only as a virtual host. My normal desktop is a Linux Mint Mate virtual, running on the virtual host. I don't use many Windows programs, but when I do, I have a Windows 7 virtual, and a Windows 10 virtual. (And a couple of older versions of Linux Mint, and couple of versions of Ubuntu I've tried out.)

Hardware has enough power now, and disk is cheap enough, that it's well past time to stop limiting ourselves to single operating systems.

(And virtuals are blindingly simple to backup and restore, or to move to new hardware, when your computer gets trashed, etc.)