Wipe your shoes before you go tracking mud through the place! :>
The school issue was a concern of mine. E.g., I'm just finishing setting up a 10 machine "lab" and they opted for XP -- which surpsied me (I'd have thought 7 to be a more logical choice and they have the licenses...)
But, I'm just the GRUNT so I'll do what they ask -- having made clear that they had a *choice*.
OTOH, those machines are "captive" so perhaps they feel comfortable knowing that they are under their control and not needing to be maintained by individual students?
I ordered "restore media" today. We'll see in a few days...
OK. Perhaps I'll have to become "casually acquainted" with it -- enough to be able to answer similar sorts of questions expected to come up.
"Newly acquired" or "new"? Recall, these are all donated machines so I have no control over how "new" a machine may be. I suspect I will encounter "high end" (when originally produced) machines for which newer driver sets are unavailable. Do I "risk" XP on those? Or, drop them in the tip (or, find a FOSS home for them)?
So, "practical reasons". Not zealotry or clinging to the past, fear of the unknown, etc.
OK. Too often, I see one step forward and two steps SIDEWAYS! I.e., it may very well be "progress" -- but towards a DIFFERENT GOAL! :<
Well, I'll stick a foot in the fire and see how much I get burned. Of course, there is still W7 as a backup plan -- at the expense of a license! Perhaps they should start groveling a bit more among their suppliers/donors!
Yeah, I've shuffled through several ISA machines as the "ISA last resort" box. Finally opted to make it a Compaq Portable 386 (with expansion chassis). Takes the least amount of space (for an ISA machine) of any of the other candidates that I've had in that role, over the years (and the plasma display is cool :> )
But, just two (full length) slots!
(OTOH, it also gives me a 5" floppy in case I ever need to access that format media again!)
I think its also been the story of many MS attempts. They publish all this info on why the UI *should* be THIS way... then, change it (and promptly defend why it should be *that* way...)
Would be amusing to see what cars would look like if the auto companies were as fickle!
"We've moved the steering wheel to the right side of the vehicle to cut down on driver fatalities in driver-side collisions"
Year later:
"We've moved the steering wheel to the center of the vehicle to cut down on driver fatalities in 'passenger-side' collisions"
And then:
"We've moved the steering wheel to the *back* seat to improve driver visibility (we recommend leaving the front seat unoccupied while driving; though it may be a convenient place to store yard equipment while the vehicle is garaged)"
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