First impressions of Windows XP.

[Blt]

I am and have been a fervent GNU/Linux user since 1997 and have used nothing else since. Recently, after having heard great good of Windows XP, I decided to give it a try.

3 words:

What-The-Fuck?

What is this supposed to be? A joke?

It got my resolution settings bad, my video card drivers and I think I got something bad, because it comes with no software! The start menu takes ages to load because it has so goddamn many visual effects starting at once!

That is the last time I touch a product made by Microsoft. Not only did I waste 200 hundred dollars on nothing, not even simple applications like arcade games or Text Editing tools ( 500$ for office? Yeah right! ).

Windows has a lot to do until it can win power users like me. Bloat factor is also too high to do anything memory ( like editing graphics or gaming ).

[njovin]

Having been a Linux user for so long, what are you surprised about? I, myself, have used Linux (Redhat and Debian), and currently administer several Linux web and mail servers. When I first starting using Linux it took me a while to figure out how to install and configure drivers. Also, Linux doesn't (or didn't used to) come pre-installed with a bunch of free software (other than server programs, apache, etc.).

I also find it surprising that your biggest complaint is that it didn't load the proper video card drivers. Many times Windows XP will load the wrong (or outdated) video card drivers, and it does cause the system to run very slowly. However, after installing the proper drivers for your card you should see these problems cease. Plus, Windows has a TON more issues that I'm sure a hardcore Linux user could find to complain about.

And why are you so peeved about MS Office costing $500? Yeah, it's outrageous, but many of the same FREE officesuites enjoyed by Linux users (staroffice, openoffice) are also available for windows.

And windows does come with "arcade games" (the standard card games+pinball). If you are a more hardcore gamer...oh wait...last I checked most games (Unreal, CounterStrike) don't run on Linux (not without a ton of hacking, anyway), nevermind.

Anyhow, I've used most OS's, and find Windows XP to be pretty damn stable. It's easy to use, powerful, and can be tweaked out pretty nicely. Yeah, it's got problems, but a lot of so-called experts like to rag it mainly because it's made by MS.