__/ [Richard Rasker] on Monday 09 January 2006 13:30 \__
> Today, I went over to a regular customer (your average desk worker) whose
> XP machine had fallen victim to malware for the third or fourth time this
> year, rendering it totally unbootable. He had already resigned to yet
> another reinstall, but this time, he wanted to give Linux a try.
> I'd already told him that Linux probably offered everything he'd need,
> and also that installing Linux would take less than an hour - as compared
> to the average of two working days to get his Windows environment with all
> its applications and settings back to the desired state. So he figured
> he'd give Mandriva a spin - there wouldn't be much time lost in trying,
> and he could always reinstall Windows.
Assuming it has been too long since...
http://madpenguin.org/cms/html/47/5937.html
Now, more seriously and less sarcastically, consider using the new Linux
Distribution Chooser. Based on what people have said (not only in this
newsgroup), it can do a decent job. It often reflects on the truth, too.
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/
(patience, it was Slashdotted while I was at lunch)
> He already made a DVD with back-ups of all his important files (mostly
> Word documents and pictures), so we could get cracking right away.
>
> I loaded the Mandriva 2006 DVD, rebooted the box, made some simple
> selections (language, software), and started the install. Now I expected
> this to take approximately 45 minutes - the time it took on my old Celeron
> 660MHz box. My jaw (and the customer's jaw) dropped when this was finished
> within just eleven (11!) minutes ... One more minute to enter a few
> passwords and confirm networking and printer settings, and the install was
> done. After rebooting, copying the user's files to his new home directory
> took another minute or two, after which he could get back to work.
11 minutes? OMG. 20 minutes is often the best people report, even without
much user intervention.
> Total amount of time between booting the install DVD on a totally b0rk3d
> XP box and achieving a 100% operational Linux box - including migrating
> the user's files: 15 minutes.
>
> Linux just keeps impressing the hell out of me.
Windows has gone loco and disappointed our entire department today. I wrote
about it an hour ago.
http://schestowitz.com/Weblog/archives/2006/01/09/exchange-servers-failure/
I wouldn't usually link to my own items, but I find it to be very relevant to
this write-up of yours. Very fresh and timely as well.
Roy
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