Windows 7: The Linux killer

10 comments | 7I like it!
December 22, 2008, 02:31 PM —  Computerworld — 

Microsoft has long been worried about Linux competition in the server market. When it came to ordinary PCs and laptops, however, it knew it had little to fear.

But that was then. Now Microsoft may fear Linux on the desktop as much as it does the Mac. It's finally taking Linux seriously as a desktop operating system, and it has designed Windows 7 to kill it.

Let me explain.

The threat to Windows comes entirely from "netbooks" -- lightweight, inexpensive laptops that typically use Intel 's low-powered Atom processor and don't come with substantial amounts of RAM or powerful graphics processors. They're designed mainly for browsing the Web, handling e-mail, writing memos, and taking care of simple word-processing or spreadsheet chores.

Netbooks will account for about a third of all PC growth this year, according to Citigroup . Shipments will rise at an annual average rate of 60% to reach 29 million netbooks in 2010, compared with 18% growth for standard notebooks, says a September BNP Paribas report.

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Comments

No waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

Seriously, people need to uninstall Windows from their heads. M$ isn't ever going to develop a OS better than the good Linux distros out there. ROFLOL
| reply

Linux geeks need to get past

Linux geeks need to get past the fact that Windows is what people know and will gravitate to, whether or not it is a "superior" OS or not. Linux is, in a friends' words, "scary" because it's unknown, and people don't have time to learn an unknown OS, whether or not it's supported by the PC manufacturer or a bunch of geeks on a website.
| reply

linux vs ms simplicity

Well I do think that many Linux distributions are stronger than Microsoft. The problem is though with Linux if you run into a problem the average consumer would be stumped. By that I mean they have to find the distributions website and look into the forums for support, know how to type commands and all sorts of things most people don't even want to have to hassle with.

Make Linux easier for end users to troubleshoot without having to do command line repairs, or compiling kernels and it good.
| reply
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Where Google Chrome security fails: the password
I heard mention that the Chrome OS will have some sort of encryption available a la bitlocker. If it's possible to encrypt personal data using another password or key, then it may have potential for very secure data.... And Ubuntu has an 'encrypt home directory' option, perhaps google should follow suit.
- Dann

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