Windows is good, I will grant you that. At least you can say that about a few versions out there. But at some point, an OS is just an OS, and it is the applications that become predominant.

That is something that Microsoft would rather we not understand. You shift over to some Linux distro or move to the Mac, and suddenly you begin to see things a bit differently. Now most people don't want to give up Windows completely, for several reasons, such as:

(1) Already know the OS, so why deal with a new one?
(2) My apps (okay, games then) demand I run them on top of Windows
(3) I've got too much money tied up in what I have now, so why change?
(4) The companies and clients I deal with all rely on Windows, so I have to do the same.
(5) I'm happy enough with the way things are, so why change?

The reasons above are valid ones for the most part, but change is being forced on you, did you know that? How, or rather Why, because Microsoft can't make the money it wants to make if you stick with the old stuff, so to get anything new (and to get upgrades as well), you are expected, even forced, to buy something new from them to replace what you currently have.

Don't you get a choice? Of course. You can refuse, or you can give in, or you can put the decision off for a time. And of course it is not just the OS that is effected, but every application that you currently have, or even the prospects of working with some of the new hardware that is coming out now or later.

Well, we can all see that. So what is the point of saying more? The point is, that there is another very effective and useful way to go, and it does not mean giving up what you already have. That could be the best choice of all.

Okay, how much is this going to cost me? Play your cards right, and it will not cost you more than the price of buying a few blank CDs, on which to burn some ISO images. The image files themselves are free to download and use.

If it is that easy, why isn't everybody doing it? I didn't say it was easy, I just said it was cheap. The cost is in the fact that you have to learn what to do and how, and then get it done. I've done it myself a number of times, and I like to think that I am getting better at it. But I will concede that others are helping by doing the same, explaining their methods, and having the developers behind the scenes upgrade the tools to work more effectively together. It can be both fun and satisfying, but sometimes frustrating and always a learning experience.

Then what is it? Just pick a Linux distribution, of which there are a great many, install it and add another package, which would be a Virtual Machine manager like VirtualBox, then set up a client in VirtualBox with its own virtual hardware and install Windows and its applications there. Just make sure that you have at least 1 GB or RAM for it to work well, and allocate at least 20 GB hard drive space to the client for its own softare to install and run in. You can allocate more at the beginning, but you cannot expand the space later, so make sure you have enough when you start.

Hey, I've heard all this before, and I also hear that it is hard to do, or does not work like it is suppose to. How sure can I be that this will work for me? It all depends upon the person that makes the effort. Stick with it, frequent the related forums, ask the right questions, and perform the needed searches when you have to, and you can get there. But it could take several tries or several weeks, maybe longer, to get it all in place. Only you can best decide when the task is done.

Why should I bother? Because, like I said before, change is being forced on us all. Our older versions of Windows and applications are gong to get cut off at some point, and there won't be any other support offered. But the Virtual Machine is not only a pretty safe place to run your client in, but can be set up to have certain characteristics that mask off advanced architectural features in the hardware that the client OS is not really able to deal with. And the VM manager is also able to let your host OS and guests OSes (yes, you can have multiples if your PC is that advanced) share data by clipboard or file sharing. In fact, the host and guests appear to each other as machines on the same network, even though they are all in the same box and using the same hardware.

There are still some problems to resolve for many, One is that XP is designed to have limited deployment, with verification, registration, and validation done so that it's reuse is virtually done away with. This has been coped with to some degree by others, but not all would want to undertake this approach.

An alternative that I favor is to use Windows 2000 Pro, which is essentially the earlier core aspect of XP, stripped of some of its enhancements, but also without the rigors of tight licensing rules. The only limitations on either version of Windows is that initially, neither is set up to recognize 48-bit LBA addressing, which is needful with large hard drives and partitions. But apparently this can be dealt with, either by a custom modified install CD or by only permitting the designated C: partition size of up to its limit of 137 Megabytes.

My search right now is to find out exactly how to customize an install CD for either Windows 2K Pro or XP that would cause the installer to recognize and use 48-bit LBA at the start of the install ,process. I've clues, but until I try the several methods suggested, I will not know for sure.

Is it all worth it? Hey, I really like the mix of Ubuntu and Windows working side by side on the same PC at once. (Okay, one is atop the other, but it seems side by side). There are features in both to make them worth while, and one might have something on the surface that the other lacks, so I just toggle over to use it.

I'm particularly thrilled to find and prove that I can come to terms with what has to be done to take the initiative away from a giant cooperation that only seeks to fill its own pockets at our expense. So there is no harm in knowing that my copy of Windows has been long paid for, and Ubuntu is a great Linux distro that would please many Windows users once they become somewhat familiar with it, yet costs us nothing to download and install.

So, to answer my own question, I guess it is a question of what you mean by the words "Go Any Farther".. In my case, I take that to mean go forward with what I already own and will continue to use, in conjunction with what else I choose to adopt. Others will likely take it somewhat differently.

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For some reason I enjoyed that read..

Maybe I'll put a linux distro on my second hard drive..

"If it is that easy, why isn't everybody doing it? I didn't say it was easy, I just said it was cheap. The cost is in the fact that you have to learn what to do and how, and then get it done."
There's your reason.
Speaking of home PC users, most don't have the time or interest to install and learn Linux. I have Ubuntu on my netbook and an older desktop, and have recommended it to several people, but no takers. Windows PCs are cheap enough that free has trouble competing,

"If it is that easy, why isn't everybody doing it? I didn't say it was easy, I just said it was cheap. The cost is in the fact that you have to learn what to do and how, and then get it done."
There's your reason.
Speaking of home PC users, most don't have the time or interest to install and learn Linux. I have Ubuntu on my netbook and an older desktop, and have recommended it to several people, but no takers. Windows PCs are cheap enough that free has trouble competing,

Hey, I'm turning 68 myself. And in my circle of family, friends, and church, I am considered one of the youngsters. But I am sure not up to what i used to be up to anymore. I guess that if there is something to recognize for my involvement with computers since the mid-1950;s it is the realization that problems can be solved, and new information acquired, but you also learn to see that many don't bother, and a lifetime of habits is hard to break either way you choose to go.

Still, are you going to limit yourself because of how others perceive you, or what they think of themselves, when you see a chance to move on and try to better yourself? You moved to Ubuntu, which is good, but others either don't care to or won't bother, which is their call. If for any reason they ever decide to, then you would be the person to see about how to do it. If they don't it really isn't something you have to deal with.

My post is really about reaching a decision point, and deciding that I would rather pick my own way rather than just follow the other sheep. IF I just follow the other sheep, I only see their rumps and have to watch where my feet go to avoid stepping where they ..., well you know what I mean.

Think of me as standing on yonder mountain and waving just to let you know that I've gotten that far, and you can too if you choose to head out in the same direction. Yep, it's that turn coming up there, just off to the left. Getting back to the flock later? Well yeah, you could, but you would miss a heck of a lot if you decided to. Best press on with the conviction and realization that you are really making progress at this point. How to use it all later is up to what comes later.

It's sometimes all tied up in how you see it, not just lying right before your feet if you keep trying to go along with everyone else.
Hey you, sheep ahead! What the heck did you eat this morning? Oh never mind, I can smell it now. Flock, can we just shift it around a little bit? I would like to try following someone else for awhile.

"Hey you, sheep ahead! What the heck did you eat this morning? Oh never mind, I can smell it now. Flock, can we just shift it around a little bit? I would like to try following someone else for awhile."

I've gotten into trouble more than once for going my own way, and I've been wrong sometimes, but it's the best way for me. That doesn't mean others are wrong, however, or even sheep.
Waving from the mountaintop is good, but waving from in amongst the flock and converting them is good also.
I think I detect a lack of rebels in high places these days, but rebels and free thinkers seem to be deselected by the process. Look at the congress and the generals who gave us Iraq and Vietnam. Check out the latest financial meltdown, which just one dedicated professional could have averted.
Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me Americans are more interested in their own survival than sacrificing for the group or standing on principle than in the past.

'Twas ever thus.
Your philosophy goes way beyond computers (I just turned 65, so I'm just a kid in this discussion).

It's not just Americans, and it is not just recently. We owe a lot to the men and women that founded this country, but you read about how they died in poverty or whatever else went wrong in their lives, and you can see that others are glad for the opportunities that came, but not much inclined to reward those that made it all happen.

You may think that is the distant past, and not like the present, but see what happens when a whistle blower takes action, and how industry and others just lock them out after that. Or how the men and women who serve with honor are often forgotten once the fighting is over.

The constitution is based on the theory that we are all created equal, but the fact is, we are all different, have different needs and interests, and some will succeed while others fail. To be held as equals in the eyes of the law should be a good thing, but some people get away with crime, and others just fall victum to circumstances. We all reckognize that there is white collar criminals, who get light sentences, and blue collar criminals, who often get much harsher sentences, though their crimes were of a smaller nature. Nothing fair about that. And of course, we see that race and ethnic groups effect the legal process at times as well.

But what really gets me is when the enemies of this country are removed from military control and placed back into society and allowed to use our own legal processes against us to avoid conviction. How is it that our constitution, which should only be applied to ourselves, suddenly becomes a means for them to escape or evade their proper classification and handling as either warring factions or terrorists? Who is it that seeks to undermine our whole social order and independence in this manner? They call themselves Americans, but what are they really?

Okay, it is getting too heavy in here. Sorry about that. I just find itself hard to reconcile myself to what has happened in this country over the last half centry or so. It was really a great country at one point, one to be proud of. Oh yeah, there were some trouble spots, but we've made progress. Only somehow someone always comes along that can see a way to turn that spot fixer into a major tool for undermining our structure in one way or another. And it just goes on and on. I'd say something about our leadership today, if you can call it that, but then you might figure out how I likely voted in the last election.

Anyway, maybe it's time to try and get back to Windows. My first efforts at adding the Unofficial Service Pack 5.1 to a Windows 2000 Pro install CD copy did not work to enable LBA on boot up. It was an untested idea anyway, so I had to try. However, there is a suggestion of hope if you slipstream the update into the Windows 2000 Pro Install process. I guess I will give that a try. I mean if it works, that will be great, but how come none of the threads I've followed on this subject has had someone report back that either this method works or does not? That's sort of thoughtless in my option. If it works, then welcomed news indeed. If it doesn't then what should we try next? It helps when other people don't just ask questions, but share some of the answers found.

Ever think that Windows is good enough? You are not alone. Some even feel that DOS was good enough. But the reality is that equipment gets old, and past a certain point. software has to move ahead in order to keep up.

I ran into that situation with a new 17" notebook that came with Vista. Vista suddenly died on me, but none of the provided recovery methods worked to get it up and running again. So I decided to reinstall either Windows 2000 Pro or XP Pro. The trouble is, neither install disk was able to work past some change or added feature in the hardware. One would just lock up, and the other would just die. I had to move to a different OS. My choice was Ubuntu 9.04, which went on easily. But I still wanted Windows as well, so I added VirtualBox (Sun's version) and installed both Windows 2000 Pro and XP Pro under that, again no problem.

Why bother? I mean, isn't Ubuntu complete unto itself? Yes, in a manner of speaking, but I still have stuff in hand that requires Windows, and this way I can go with whatever works best for my immediate needs. And some things may continue to prove so worthwhile that i may never be free of Windows completely. But not with the going ahead versions of Windows. I see no need for them at this time, and maybe not ever.

I'd still love to use WinXP x64, but I can't do that because MS forced me to change...
(developers won't support WinXP and choose to follow some garbage standards MS pulled out of their butts and slapped down for others to eat)
so I changed to Linux.

MS ain't gonna change, they want you to update and push your software back to the old days.

with Windows, if you want to do anything, you're best to work on your project on multiple OS's because the good software from then doesn't work on the platforms we have now.

if you use Linux, you won't have that problem, linux devs actually care about their users, where MS wants to simply throw crap at them and expect them to eat it.

in my life as a software developer, I don't have time for change, I have my own life to live, linux is my platform so I don't have to deal with the hastle of change.

the only thing Windows has is a good UI, XFCE on linux can only come close to what I could do on WinXP.

If you dont have a CD with the drivers that came with your computer, the easiest way to obtain the correct drivers is to identify the hardware and visit the vendor's support website.

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