Windows 7 Family Pack Vanishing After Dec. 31st?
If you have been considering updating the PCs in your home from Vista to Windows 7, now would be a good time to jump. According to Amazon, the Windows 7 Family Pack (Home Premium 3-pack) is a limited edition product. More specifically: "This product is available for a limited time and will be available to purchase until December 31, or while supplies last." That makes it seem as if 12/31/2010 will be the final day Microsoft hosts this deal, and after that, it's hard to say where these will be in stock.
This is definitely a better deal than shelling out for three separate retail boxes of Windows 7, and if you decided against a new PC altogether this holiday season, maybe this is what you needed to spend that cash on that was left under the tree.
|
In the interest of equal time: Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, OpenSuse, Debian, PCLinuxOS, and Mandriva have a better deal that lasts until the ends of the earth. You can get a million licenses for $150 less than the cost of this 3 pack, with free community support. If you don't like being tricked into buying 3-packs by an artificial element of scarcity/urgency, check them out. Unless every machine in your house is a high-end gaming rig, you'll be surprised to find how much you've been paying for nothing but less security. (If you're just doing bleeding-edge games, you'll be happier with Windows) |
Man...To tell you the truth, I haven't met or know of anybody yet that run on their PC any of those OS you've mentioned, except for Linux. Kind of hard to even want to try or consider them when non of the programs I used or want, support running on them. Us regular folks will stick to windows, Its does everything I want and there's no compatibility issues with my other devices. As for 150 bucks, nah, my friendly neighborhood "Pirate" sells Win 7 ultimate for $10. |
3vi1:|
>> , I haven't met or know of anybody yet that run on their PC any of those OS you've mentioned, except for Linux. ROFL.... They're *all* Linux. You make a good point though: People don't know what Linux is or what it can do because there's no major "branding" to it.
>> non of the programs I used or want, support running on them. That's the interesting thing: Most of those programs you use have completely free equivalents on Linux. All you have to do is select them from the package manager and they'll install (That's right: You use one single interface - the original version of the AppStore - to install all new software. It's much simpler than in Windows where you download random .Exe's from potentially untrustworthy sites). Some freeware equivalents: Internet Explorer: Firefox, Opera, Konqueror, Aurora, etc... MS Office: OpenOffice, KOffice, etc.. 3DMax: Blender, K3D, etc... WinAmp: Amarok, Rythmbox, Exhaile, etc... Windows Live Messenger: Kopete, AMsn, Pidgin, etc... Photoshop: Gimp, Cinelerra, etc... Illustrator: Inkscape Windows Movie Maker: KDEnlive, Pitivi, Openshot, etc... Nero: K3B, Brasero, etc... Also... many major Windows programs *will* work under Linux, if you install Wine (it's free, like pretty much every other Linux program). |
|
If you feel like giving it a try, download a LiveCD - burn and boot it. It won't disturb your Windows partitions unless you specifically tell it to install. I'll be happy to answer any further questions in the Operating Systems section of the HH forums should you run in to issues. I can also point you to a half dozen community boards that have gurus *way* more knowledgeable than I. |
Say...  LOL, Well, hey , I've learned something new!!
That's a big problem, people grew up using and knowing those programs. Be kind of hard to want leave them for something inferior, ex : from PhotoShop to Gimp, Winamp for Amarok, Rythmbox, Exhaile(never ever heard of them) but, one thing I do know, "free is good", it 's just that "change" is very difficult !! |
Isn't Cinelerra, a video editor for non-linear editing? Have they added Photo manipulation to its bag of tricks? |
|
>> Isn't Cinelerra, a video editor for non-linear editing? You're correct! I was thinking of Cinepaint and writing that all off the top of my head, plus or minus a few holiday rum & cokes. |
|
>> Be kind of hard to want leave them for something inferior, ex : from PhotoShop to Gimp, Winamp for Amarok, Rythmbox, Exhaile(never ever heard of them) In a lot of cases, it doesn't matter. For instance, most people using Gimp would never need Photoshop (since Gimp does the 99% of things non-pros want.. less to those who would pay for Photoshop - which works on Linux under Wine, BTW). And if all you want to do is read your email and facebook... Linux is *way* superior, insulating you from all the normal vectors of attack. |
|
3vi1 is pretty well on track, though to be a *** I'll point out those OSes are all UNIX distros, not all LINUX distros, which I'm sure you merely misspoke. I use my desktop for gaming mostly, so unless when I get married/a life I stop gaming as much, I doubt I'll ever stray from Windows, at least on my desktop. If I re-install an OS or get a new laptop not already packaged with a windows OS, I'd probably go with Ubuntu, the little I've played with it, I've liked it. I barely use my laptop anyway, just watch videos and whatnot that are shared from my desktop on my TV with my laptop, it does little else normally. |
|
>> I'll point out those OSes are all UNIX distros, not all LINUX distros I think you might be confused. Those distros are all GNU/Linux. Not a single one of them uses a UNIX kernel; they all use the Linux kernel. Which brings me back to my earlier point: "People don't know what Linux is". LINUX = Linux Is Not UniX. GNU = Gnu is Not Unix. Linux is the kernel (think memory management, job scheduling, driver framework, etc.) and GNU is a collection of free and portable software that will work with Linux, FreeBSD, OS X, and other Posix-compliant kernels. There are no components of Unix in these unix-like systems. |
|
Indeed, you are correct. Clearly those not in the know should remain silent about such things. |
stuff on Hot Hardware
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
