BeerFiles is a sometimes irreverent blog concerning all things to do with IT, technology, people and the media from the point of view of a hard boiled technology journalist and commentator. Stan has been in the IT game for about a quarter of a century. He has seen and written about the rise and fall of more than a few IT players and made many friends, some of whom he has even crossed swords with on occasions. Everything in this blog is purely Stan’s opinion so if you agree, wish to expand upon, correct a post or tell Stan he’s a clueless know nothing, please feel free.

Vista spyware may give filip to Linux and OS X

Written by Stan Beer

Sunday, 08 October 2006

Page 2 of 2 While they're formulating a strategy about what path they should take, enterprises may as well stick with Windows XP. As far as consumers are concerned, unfortunately no Linux distribution has shown itself to be ready for prime time. Perhaps for them, the best option is to upgrade to an Apple Mac. Then they can run their Windows XP stuff in a virtual window using Parallels or in dual boot mode using Boot Camp, while also taking advantage of all the cool Mac applications that come with their system. If consumers don't like the thought of being tied to a Mac for the rest of their life, then they could use Parallels or VMware, when it's available for a Mac, to run a Linux desktop distro like Ubuntu in a third virtual window. They could then gradually migrate applications to Linux that they don't want to be tied to any particular hardware. It's a pity that I feel compelled to write an article like this. However, the thought of being forced to pay through the nose to upgrade to a highly configured PC running Vista, only to face the prospect of constant check-ups from some server in Redmond about the validity of my software has me a little spooked not to mention outraged. No doubt there are plenty who disagree and believe that SPP is necessary to stamp out software piracy. To them and Microsoft, I say don't try to fool yourselves. The vast majority of software pirates are in second and third world countries. Many will find a way around SPP and those that can't will probably turn to Linux. In fact, Microsoft's decision to try to nab Vista software pirates using spyware may be the best thing that ever happened to Linux and Mac OS X.{moscomment} Tags See All Tags Linux  Macintosh  Software  Vista  Windows  microsoft  Get stories like this delivered daily - FREE - subscribe now When you subscribe get a 12 months license for LiveProject Valued at $99 USD Download the FREE iTWire desktop alert widget << Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>

 

< Prev		Next >