Windows Vista laptop.....Obsolete?

[restlessnomad]

9 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

When I was running XP long after support stopped I used a paid for "protection" program that was a lot more than just an anti-virus. This product always reviewed as more reliable that the Microsoft product that still had updates. I felt perfectly safe, even more so than with Vista that encouraged the loss of data. If my protection software had not turned out to be Russian in origin I would still be running XP. The way Microsoft kept issuing new versions of Windoze that may or may not run my specialist software and which demanded ever increasing hardware performance. Then MS started pushing their "pay us every year"  software products. As far as I am concerned that showed the future MS wise. I don't feel easy with this need to ever buy newer and newer hardware so I invested a little time in swapping to Linux Mint (other versions available and may be better suited of a recent MS user).

 

It is true a lot of those inhabiting of the Linux forums the Linux forums delight in advising that you go back to the 1980s and using the command line without explaining what the gobbledygook they advise actual means and does but by and large that is no longer required for day to day routine use. In fact I suspect there are enough Linux users here who could give easier to understand advice on the Mint and Ubuantu versions.

 

I am wring this on an old second hand Lenovo laptop with a spinning hard drive.  My wife has an older one with a solid state drive and its on my desktop that must be 7 years old with a spinner and SSD and all are perfectly fast enough and do not feel slow, however I don't do much in the way of video processing.

 

Now with lockdown is an ideal time to dip a toe into learning Linux.  If you get what is known as a live version on a CD or pendrive you don't even have to install it to try it but it will run slowly without a lot of features. You can download the ISO images to put on  a pendrive or CD yourself.

 

for a lot of people, linux has steeper learning curve although its heartening to know chromebook can be so easy to use. Most people want to use their computer to do some interesting stuff, not to learn about computer(and hats off to microsoft for making pc popular by reducing barrier to entry)

I know people who use linux are quite excited about it, bit like newly converted atheist, but its not for everybody, some will find even tv remote difficult to use which is why I think OP should not really bother unless (s)he enjoys learning/fiddling with stuff. 

[Tony Brooks]

2 hours ago, restlessnomad said:

for a lot of people, linux has steeper learning curve although its heartening to know chromebook can be so easy to use. Most people want to use their computer to do some interesting stuff, not to learn about computer(and hats off to microsoft for making pc popular by reducing barrier to entry)

I know people who use linux are quite excited about it, bit like newly converted atheist, but its not for everybody, some will find even tv remote difficult to use which is why I think OP should not really bother unless (s)he enjoys learning/fiddling with stuff. 

 

At one time I would agree with your view but nowadays using at least Mint or Ubuntu its as easy to install as any Windows and just as easy to use for everyday tasks, in fact I find it far easier that Vista was. I consider that when I swapped back to XP I considered it an upgrade. I do very little fiddling and not a lot of learning for everyday tasks. If anyone likes paying ongoing fees to Microsoft then that is their right but I and many others including governments do not.

 

[Tony Brooks]

12 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

At one time I would agree with your view but nowadays using at least Mint or Ubuntu its as easy to install as any Windows and just as easy to use for everyday tasks, in fact I find it far easier that Vista was. I consider that when I swapped back to XP I considered it an upgrade. I do very little fiddling and not a lot of learning for everyday tasks. If anyone likes paying ongoing fees to Microsoft then that is their right but I and many others including governments do not.

 

 

Just to add I have not seen a Windows version provided free of charge with a try before you install option and then which gives free access to a host of fully functional programs - not the usual  time limited junk so often bundled with new Windows computers.

[eightacre]

I still have two XP laptops, both over 15 years old and still in use. They are used for specific tasks in an amateur theatre environment - and the important thing is: I have disabled the network adaptors, so they never try to look for updates. Not every PC application requires the internet.