Ron Schenone

Windows 7 – Linux Killer? – Nope

Posted by on Jan 15, 2009 | 25 Comments

I read an article over at the Inquirer from a Linux fanboy of sorts who predicted that Windows 7 would be a Linux killer. The purpose of the article was easy to figure out. Write an article with a inflammatory title and people will take a look-see. But what the article did was just go to prove that using any operating system comes down to only one thing . Users personal choice.

But anyone who has been using computers over the years and who have read similar articles, know that these type of opinions rarely hold any truth. There are always going to be differences of opinions about which operating system is best.

Is Windows 7 really going to be that good? I believe it will be exactly what most of us thought it would be. Windows 7 will be what Vista should of been. Will it knock Apple or Linux out of the playing field? I doubt it. There are two things that will hurt Microsoft deploying Windows 7. One is that people will be cautious since Vista has such a bad rap. Second will be the economy. People will hang on to their older XP boxes for a little longer.

I also think that the businesses that stay afloat may not be upgrading to Windows 7 anytime soon. Windows 7 will still need a fairly powerful PC to function correctly and software that was not compatible with Vista, may not be compatible with Windows 7.

What do you think?

Comments welcome.

Source

Inquirer article

  • http://www.matthartley.com Matt Hartley

    You nailed it. I say this as a full time Linux user who did some testing with the Win 7 beta. Once people understand that it is just a beta, drivers are not there yet, I think what it will be is pretty obvious. Nice speed though, but my God – link to Hotmail or something for a mail application! :)

    That was my only real gripe – I had to search help to understand that there was no mail available. Many casual users really should see a Hotmail link provided being it is a MS product. Just my two cents.

  • http://cananitogudino.blogspot.com/ Rogelio

    I fully agree with you, and well, about windows 7 knocking apple and linux out of the play field, not gonna happen, at least apple won’t get knocked out, 100% sure of that, I only see apple growing more and more each day.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Thanks for the comments and for sharing your thoughts.
    Regards, Ron

  • César Eduardo Rosales

    Obviously Windows 7 will not knock Apple and Linux.

    People should demand their choose of what OS would like to use. As they are not informed so much about that, they let Microsoft still continues with its monopoly activity.

    If people know and inform before choose an OS, Microsoft surely lose all the territory that its have and made Apple and Linux the giants of the OS’s.
    :)

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  • Robert

    Right on the money, I think… Windows 7 is to Vista what XP was to WinME: what the previous OS should have been in the first place.

  • Gray Stroke

    Leaving all the extraneous applications out and just building a solid OS is a quantum leap for the MS mentality. In case many are not aware you can download MS Windows Live which will include your e-mail, pic management and file sharing etc. Good move gives the consumer more clean options.

    I will have to say something nice about MS……nice business decision………..all I ask for now is a discount upgrade for my Toshiba A215-S4757 Vista Home Premium……. ;-)

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Robert – exactly

    Gray Stroke – a discount would be welcome, but highly doubtful.

    Thanks for the comments.

  • http://www.bluepop13.cjb.net Eric

    Just my personal opinion. I’ve been using Windows since ME and hated every single second of using ME. To my point though: With what I just said, I’ve actually tried Linux for just a few weeks now and even with a few issues I’ve had an am still having with it that I actually might not have in Windows I still completely and absolutely can’t stand Windows period. Does that show how much I just “love” Windows?

  • http://www.GavinsTipsAndTricks.co.nr/ Gavin Roskamp

    Yes, Windows 7 is fantastic, but it will never kill Linux. Linux is free in more than one way. Free as in Freedom, right? Right. Windows 7 WILL be a Vista killer however. Anyone using Vista will most likely be upgrading to 7. You get BETTER performance, you can keep your old machine, all your programs and everything still works and stays in place, anything you could plug into Vista you can plug into 7. Only one thing is wrong with it at the moment and it isn’t even Microsoft’s fault; PunkBuster. It is an anti-cheat thing included with many online shooting games like Call of Duty and America’s Army. PB isn’t yet supporting Windows 7 so you get kicked from the server after a few minutes of play (AA you do anyway, not sure about the others)

    7 would have to be a mind reader to beat Mac OS X though. The Mac community (including me) will most likely be sticking to their beloved beautiful machines. The Linux community (including me) will prefer the way of everything being free, and they will be sticking to what they know and love. The XP lovers (including me lol)? They will most likely be skeptical because Vista was such a failure. However, I’m sure that 7 lovers (again, including me) will be able to convince them to cut back on the delivery food and put some green in the pig to get that new computer with 7 on it. :)

  • Yaro

    I came across a blog about some people who think the Linux community isn’t bothered by Windows 7 because “It is that good and Linux users have less to complain about.

    I dismissed them as being nothing but Microsoft shills. I’ve looked at the so-called “new” features of Windows 7, and it’s still basically just Vista, but with slightly less bloat and a stolen UI. People who don’t learn from their history seem to think that just because Windows 7 will try (And fail) to penetrate the netbook market means it’ll threten Linux is BS. Netbooks isn’t even Linux’s strongpoint, and since Windows 7 STILL lacks the big promised features like modularity and winFS, assuming they actually intended to put them in, Windows 7 is just going to be Windows Vista except even shinier.

    I’m not holding my breath for Windows 7 to be that great since Microsoft is infamous for churning out crappy operating systems. They’re not dominant because they made anything good, they were dominant because they did a lot of illegal and unethical things.

    Of course, I’ve seen this happen before, this cycle of “Windows (Such and So) will be the one” is not new. And it always proves to be wrong. But I had to get it off my chest:

    Windows 7 is *not* that much better than Vista, and Windows 7 will *not* slow Linux at all. Windows XP pushed Linux adoption rates up, Vista even higher. Windows has dropped below 90%. Anyone declaring Windows 7 will be great are shills or just naive.

    Windows is dying and a vast majority of Linux community can usually see that.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Thanks for the comments everyone.

  • Koen Vandewalle

    It was also my first impression: wow, this is a copy of the good things of open source, but in the style that common win-users understand their machines. I’ve used mandriva for one year, and now using ubuntu for two years. MS has learned… and thats in fact a threat to us, the good ones…
    People should not forget that MS is some kind of EVIL. Just read the EULA, before you install, and you’ll feel a prisoner not allowed to do anything MS cannot see or not control, or let you pay for. All your behaviour on your computer is now legally under the control of MS. Even soft you use, can in the future be remote-disabled if MS finds no valid license. Would one buy a car that the vendor can disable if he thinks you bought non-original spare-bulbs?

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hello Koen,
    Good points. Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
    Regards, Ron

  • http://www.timingindicator.net/ Timing Indicator

    Vista Killer!!!

  • http://www.misifi.co.uk John Quinlan

    Is there any manufacturer of PC boxes that will give one a box with NO OS and no AOL, Windows, Symantec junk pre installed?

    The amount of time I spend unloading office 2007, Norton stuff, AOL crap and of late Yahoo bundles I could load an OS of my own choice.

    I shouldn’t complain though, I have earned quite a bit removing Vista and installing XP.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hi John,
    I know that Dell makes systems that comes with Linux preinstalled. You can format the drive and install XP or any OS of your choosing.

    May I recommend building your own system.

    Hope this helps.

  • Jurist Macabuhay

    i can 100% agree with Gavin Roskamp’s comment. Also, a new WIndows OS will result in the emergence (and abundance) of new Windows 7 pre-installed machines. These tactic (as it had been since the dawn of Microsoft) affects market share and demand greatly due to certain consumers falsely seeing Windows7 to be “superior.” Some doesn’t even know they paid for the pre-installed OS in their machines,

  • http://www.microapple.com Dan nonymous

    You guys really don’t have much of a clue about anything you’re talking about huh? Yes, it is basically (essentially) what Vista should have been but it will be a Godsend for Microsoft. Why? This will mark the first release of Windows worth buying in over a decade. I’ve played with the Beta and the progress they have made in Beta is astounding compared to the Vista Beta I was involved with. Will it kill Linux and Apple? Who cares? Linux will remain for the “power-users” or for teenagers who think they’re cool by running it, and Apple will remain for self-absorbed douchebags who cannot be bothered to learn to use a computer so they buy the idiot-proof version. Windows will just be for everyone else, like it always has been. In the end, there will always be gripes but if you know dick about a computer, you can work around it. Or do without and complain, its all up to the end user.

    Don’t waste your time arguing about it, you have no control over it and in the end, your input doesn’t mean shit. Go back to work bagging my groceries and leave the techie talk to the people who get paid to do it.

  • bLaK

    Hey Danonymous:

    Generalize much? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people sharing their opinions. Maybe you should spend less time on your Apple, and try learning how to connect with people a little better. Douchebag.

  • Johnny pneumonic

    After buying Windows Vista 64, trying to be mor elegit with my system. Paying $200 for an O.S and then be told in a very politically correct way, that they screwed up and for 200 more bux you can get the O.S you really paid for seems to push me back to watning a less than legal copy of windows.

    and they wonder why piracy exists?….

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  • http://members.apex-internet.com/sa/windowslinux SA

    I think Microsoft should provide an upgrade to Windows 7 for free, to those that have Vista. If it fills in the voids left by Vista, this would be the most loyal thing to do for its customers. I’ve used Vista and admit that it’s garbage, just like everybody else. Instead, Microsoft is actually rumored to be charging MORE for Windows 7 than Windows XP and Vista! Personally, I have migrated away from Windows and I use Fedora Linux, so I don’t have any worries. I will always use Linux and whatever the market uses is what it is. I do encourage others to look at alternatives to Windows as well. It IS possible to migrate from Windows to Linux with a little patience.

  • Kelly Williams

    I’ll be upgrading to linux… Sorry Microsoft..

  • http://robertglenfogarty.com/ Robert Glen Fogarty

    Of course! With only one hand, though (as they hold quiche in the other).