And there are those who are already moving because Vista is a disaster...
Dual-boot Windows and Ubuntu Linux
,----[ Quote ]
| Running Linux from a CD in Windows doesn't get you much closer to computing
| in a Windows-less world. To make Windows and Linux and either-or proposition,
| you have to set your PC to dual-boot. With Canonical Ltd.'s Ubuntu 7.10,
| a.k.a. Gutsy Gibbon, the repartitioning is done for you during installation.
`----
http://www.cnet.com/8301-13880_1-9838725-68.html
Three steps to Open Source in the Church
,----[ Quote ]
| Check out this Microsoft KB article. It describes a (very complicated, very
| technical) process for reconfiguring your computer after Office 2003 Service
| Pack 3 quietly disables the ability to open certain older file formats. I'm
| certain that my grandma can follow that to access the old recipes she typed
| into her computer 10 years ago, aren't you?
|
| I've been warning people for a long time about the danger of relying upon
| proprietary software to maintain access to archived data. If you don't
| control the format or the software, there's no guarantee that you will be
| able to access your data in the future. Case in point: I have a number of old
| school files created using Lotus Word Pro 97. I still own a copy of the
| software, but the only Windows operating system I have is XP, and LWP97 won't
| install on Windows XP. So I have files, software to read the files, and yet I
| can't get access to my own data. Presumably I could pay someone to make
| conversion software, but why should I pay a second time to access my data?
`----
http://www.tedcarnahan.com/2008/01/02/three-steps-to-open-source-in-the-church/
PCLinuxOS Day 2 - Bringing the system up to date
,----[ Quote ]
| Any linux distribution is part of a continuous proces of development, updates
| and upgrades. When you install a freshly downloaded distribution you can
| expect at least a few updates waiting for you. For that reason I decided to
| run a full update before taking a closer look at the system as a whole.
`----
http://opensourcelearning.info/blog/?p=736
Yesterday:
Office 2003 Service Pack Disables Older File Formats
,----[ Quote ]
| In Service Pack 3 for Office 2003, Microsoft disabled support for many older
| file formats. If you have old Word, Excel, 1-2-3, Quattro, or Corel Draw
| documents, watch out!
`----
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/01/137257&from=rss
Legacy format FUD
,----[ Quote ]
| From CyberTech Rambler (and Slashdot) comes the news that the Office 2003
| Service Pack #3 disables (blocks) access to a number of legacy document
| formats. Details are in this MS support article. Formats so blocked include
| legacy Lotus 1-2-3 and Corel Quattro Pro formats. Why? According to the
| Microsoft support article, "By default, these file formats are blocked
| because they are less secure. They may pose a risk to you.".
|
| [...]
|
| Now it may be entirely possible that these old import filters in Excel are
| poorly written and poorly maintained and that Microsoft may be trying to
| reduce the overall security exposure of MS Office by ditching old code that
| is not strategic for them. But call it that. The MS Office code has the
| problem. Don't malign the formats. Don't make up some untenable story that
| DIF format is "less secure" and "may pose a risk for you".
`----
http://www.robweir.com/blog/2008/01/legacy-format-fud.html
|
|