beware of the updates you install

So you criticise Windows for needing support, but praise Linux for the same reason? The on-line user base for both OS is equally helpful IME.

Trevor.

Exactly, FAR more applications for Windows.

Nope, it's what I have been saying all along, MANY vendors do not feel there are enough Linux users to spend money on supporting them with drivers, software, bug fixes, or tech support. That's the way the world is, you put you money where it does the most good.

True, but anyone who argues there is *more* support for Linux is a liar.

Exactly!

Trevor.

Color me unimpressed with all Linux photo apps compared to PS/Lightroom. Most Linux apps are good value for money though :-)

Trevor.

Not at all. I criticize Windows for charging money for what others give for free.

BTW: The Windows bundled with a new consumer PC is usually paid for by the adware included with the OS bundle. PC makers include Windows because Microsoft used monopolistic methods to crush any competition.

I'd be fine if they charged a reasonable fee, but over $200 is excessive in light of what others charge for theirs, which I believe is zero.

(snips)

Sounds like Corel's VP5 thru 7... they were major screw-ups. I've never had to reinstall xerox's VP 1.1 thru 4.1, nor Corel's VP8+.

Both VP and FM handle tables exceptionally well, which is one reason that QuirkXPress, InDesign and other apps are not well suited for tech docs. It isn't uncommon to have tables that run 20+ multi-column pages, and most apps just can't do that. Other "must haves" include equations as typographic text, mulitple cross references, and indexes, which both FM and VP do well.

VP is also strong in long-document and multi-chapter functionality. I can't say that there is much of a difference in capability between those two apps in that regard. If by "mulitple delivery paths" you are referring to FM's "conditional text" capabilities, I agree, but that isn't new, FM4 had that!

For me, one of the best features of FM is its MIF format. I've built 500 page technical products catalogs completely by programs written to parse databases and create the pages without intervention using that feature.

Fair enough since you obviously work for nothing and therfore can't possibly pay for an OS right?

Rubbish, Micosoft CHARGES them/the buyer for the OS. Scumware is just a way the hardware manufacturer makes a bit more profit, and most people remove it anyway.

What monopoly, YOU said Linux is a viable competitor didn't you? I believe Apple also thinks they are :-)

Since you can buy a laptop with Windows for $300, are you really supid enough to think you are paying $200 of that for Windows, and also stupid enough to suggest that is already paid for by scumware in the very same post! So if it's paid for by scumware, you are getting it for free and should be happy! :-)

Trevor.

This was true in the days of MS-DOS, when Microsoft obliged computer makers to put DOS on all their machines, if they wanted a license. Microsoft took a lot of flak for that, and it eventually ended. I don't believe it occurs with Windows.

It depends on what you're getting. In theory, the product you pay most for should give you the best quality, the rationale being that the manufacturer will continually plow its profits into improving its product.

Unfortunately, Microsoft has demonstrated its inability (or unwillingness) to produce an OS that's stable and bug-free. The reason Windows 7 was an improvement over its predecessors is that Microsoft finally got wise and hired some guy (I forget his name) who kicked butt.

I just read that Apple appears to be falling down on the -- uh -- job, and its current OS release has many problems.

Steve Jobs supposedly admired Edwin Land, who said "One or two people can be creative. A committee cannot." Great products (and Land certainly had his share) are usually the result of a single, focused point of view. When he was working on the SX-70, many people within the company said it wouldn't work. Land didn't fire them -- but he kept away from them.

A similar problem exists with Linux -- there is no central authority dictating what Linux should "look like" or how it should behave. This would appear to make Linux susceptible to the same problem as most operating systems -- creeping featuritis.

In case you're wondering... I hate Apple and I hate Microsoft. Both companies stink, the latter because its products rarely come up to the quality level you expect, and the former because it lies, lies, lies.

I'm writing this on a computer running Windows 7 Professional 64. Though it might surprise you, the system is stable and rarely locks up or has Weird Problems. On the other hand, a friend of mine who used a Macintosh told me (about seven years ago) that the OS "collapsed" and had to be reinstalled. It happens.

Until some time in the very late 1990s a retailer that sold Apple was not allowed to sell Windows. Either you ditched Apple or you could not sell Microsoft. That is monopolistic methods. Like DirecTV with DiSH, same deal, back then.

A computer with Windows installed can cost less than the same computer with no OS installed, because Microsoft makes deals with OEMs that allow a virtually free Windows license in exchange for exclusivity and prominence in advertising.

I need RS232 ports, not portability. I am living on a mostly fixed income, but I can always squeeze out a couple hundred clams for an investment. If I needed a Windows machine to work I'd have the company furnish me one.

Gaming is the only thing I can think of that I would need a WinTel box for, and that is because of the DirectX graphics rendering library that developers like to use. Sony Playstation is Linux and it plays games great, so this is an artificial restriction.

Mainly, like I said so many characters ago, I like to build, rebuild, unbuild, crash and recover my own computers. I like to kill them and resurrect them. I have 3 ways to boot my ham radio computer. I sure as hell am not going to call Microsoft every time I move the hard drive to a new motherboard.

I don't work for nothing, but damn close. I charge a music store a flat rate of $25 to fix a guitar amp (tubes, obsolete silicon extra). The store charges $15 on top of that. It has taken a couple years to assemble a fast bench to make money at the above rate, one ebay purchase at a time.

Re: support. Sure, Windows solutions are out there, but they involve passwords and key codes and expiration dates and all manner of distrust and I don't need any more of that. I do this for fun.

From what I've read elsewhere, they no longer force Windows on manufacturers officially, but if they don't buy licences for each machine they build, then they are put on a much less favourable tariff than if they do.

I don't hate either company; I even own an iPod touch. Like I said previously when my XP netbook is no longer supported I will get a Win 7 premium used desktop from an authorized refurbisher for under $100, OS inclusive.

I am on an old gamer machine right now, an ASUS P4 with liquid cooled 3 GHz Intel processors.

My previous computer was a P4T. Very nice.

Yes. You've shown your ass several times, so it's no holds barred. I use Window. I use Linux. I just bought a second Android tablet. The first was defective, and died after a few weeks. I've used operating systems you've never seen or heard of. The first was over 30 years ago. The company that created that OS and built the hardware was out of business. We had $60,000 tied up in the two systems, so I fixed both hardware and software problems for the next three years. They bought new computers after I quit. How many 8" single sided floppy disk drives have you repaired or replaced?

Yep, but Apples doing, not Microsofts. Apple has always been like that.

So not the $200+ you previously claimed then.

Yet even $25 is more than you seem to think the OS developers time is worth.

Rubbish, the same user groups support is available for Windows as for Linux. I've used Windows since 3.0 and never once contacted Microsoft, but I do appreciate their online knowledgebase.

Trevor.

Agreed. You can almost find an answer with a Google search. However, the "official" help from Microsoft in these groups is sometimes terrible, with the helper offering trivial solutions that the questioner has almost always tried.

I worked out of Blue Cross in Phoenix. We had hard disk drives the size of washing machines, IBM punch cards (along with the room full of ladies to keypunch them). 2 inch magnetic tape was another favored portable mode of data transportation. As I recall the 8" [truly] floppy was still in the lab stage at that point.

It took two stories of equipment to print a blue lock box full of medical bills.

I was curious about the crude language, do you have anger issues?

Who uses Google? Why?

Try duckduckgo.com

I just tried it with my recent printer problem. It was even worse than Google.

I was speaking "in general". My Linux uses the same printer system as Apple, CUPS. I have never had to fish for a printer driver, just agree with the software.

duckduckgo doesn't save your browsing history or push certain names.

Who's ever had to fish for HP printer drivers? "They're everywhere, they're everywhere." My problem was not with the printer driver, anyhow. (I did find a question from a decade ago about exactly my problem. Unfortunately, no one came up with a resolution.)

Then what's that sponsored link I see at the top?