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M$ has finally done it

Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 9:27 pm
by alex.barylski
<span style='color:blue' title='I'm naughty, are you naughty?'>smurf</span> me off so much...I think I'll seriously look into Linux as a viable replacement...

I reinstalled Windows XP today for the 50th odd time since purchasing the box and I get an product key is no longer valid error...

WTF...

So I have to call the damn hotline and I get some automated lady...who wouldn't say yes to a date...??? :roll:

Then when she couldn't get things rolling she directs me to some dude with such a forced English tone/accent it was almost humourous :)

We both actually got a chuckle by group 5 of 6 digits...as I couldn't understand the guy worth a damn and we both started to laugh realising it was kinda funny :)

What was weird...is he almost had a Japanese/English tone although I figure he was likely from India or around there...seeing as their the outsource captial of the planet :)

In anycase, depsite the chuckle and his constant unesscary apologies...I explained I wasn't mad at him...but M$...but still he apologized... :P

What a <span style='color:blue' title='I'm naughty, are you naughty?'>smurf</span> off...so M$ says now that I can't reformat more than 50 or so times in one license without reauthenticating my product code???

Geeeeeeeeeeeessss...

I think i'll start tomorrow by building my own distro from scratch... :P

Ambitious perhaps...but I learn best from the ground up...

Damn it M$...and here I was a supporter since almost day one...of Windows anyways...

Doh!!!

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 2:28 am
by Chris Corbyn
In that case you might want to download the LFS Manual :)

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/download.html

I haven't tried rolling my own distro yet, but even if I did I'd probably not use it; it would simply be for the experience. The long-standing distros will be far more stable and have huge repositories of ready-to-install software.

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 2:49 am
by phpdevuk
I got fedora core here on my lil test server, it seems like a fairly good distro. I had freebsd before I quite liked it, but I think fedora maybe slightly easy to use.

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 3:59 am
by Grim...
Didn't people stop calling them 'M$' about 10 years ago?
Or have I stumbled onto /. by accident?

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 10:21 am
by Maugrim_The_Reaper
You can't defy tradition...;)

Problem is that you may need Windows if in any way into PC gaming, otherwise Linux can handle most other things outside a few areas where an application is commonly used in an area... I actually suggest starting simple with Linux, like with Ubuntu or another user friendly distro which won't overload the menu with a dozen applications for viewing images and which has a nice update system like debian's apt.

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 10:25 am
by Gambler
XP sucks. Use 2000. It's the best windows so far, it doesn't have that re-activation BS, and it's much more stable than XP. Of course, MS wants you to buy every new windows release, so they say each subsequest version is faster and more stable than everything before. That's a lie.

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 10:36 am
by feyd
I think that's enough bashing on Microsoft.

Re: M$ has finally done it

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 10:37 am
by s.dot
Hockey wrote:I think i'll start tomorrow by building my own distro from scratch... :P
If you ever did start such a project, I would love to be on the team. How operating systems work, and the work that goes into them intrigues me I think more than anything. Ambitious goal you're right, but if it was started and even if it failed, it would be one heck of a learning experience.

Re: M$ has finally done it

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 10:54 am
by Grim...
Hockey wrote:I reinstalled Windows XP today for the 50th odd time since purchasing the box and I get an product key is no longer valid error...
Why were you reinstalling for the 50th time?

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 11:04 am
by Maugrim_The_Reaper
He has 5 PCs and is breaching the EULA continually...;) Just joking... Some people like to take their PC to pieces and put it back together so often they need to constantly re-install. I've reinstalled maybe 30~ or so times. Won't be hitting 50 soon, but it's certainly possible... About 10 were due to fatal faults either to my PC or Windows itself.

Re: M$ has finally done it

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 11:19 am
by Grim...
Hockey wrote:...so M$ says now that I can't reformat more than 50 or so times in one license without reauthenticating my product code?
Well, you can see why, surely?
And I assume by 'reauthenticating' you mean 'I didn't have to pay for anything'?

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 11:30 am
by alex.barylski
d11wtq wrote:In that case you might want to download the LFS Manual :)

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/download.html

I haven't tried rolling my own distro yet, but even if I did I'd probably not use it; it would simply be for the experience. The long-standing distros will be far more stable and have huge repositories of ready-to-install software.
Thats what I've been reading on/off for a while now...but I remember asking this question a few years ago...and someone refering to an even more bare bones setup...but i can't for the love of me remember what the heck it was called... :?

I'm only interested ni rolling my own for the experience...just so I really get a feel for Linux...then I'd likely go with Fedora...as thats what I've read most about and has always caught my eye...

Perhaps even Lindows or whatever it's called now... :P

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 11:38 am
by alex.barylski
Maugrim_The_Reaper wrote:You can't defy tradition...;)

Problem is that you may need Windows if in any way into PC gaming, otherwise Linux can handle most other things outside a few areas where an application is commonly used in an area... I actually suggest starting simple with Linux, like with Ubuntu or another user friendly distro which won't overload the menu with a dozen applications for viewing images and which has a nice update system like debian's apt.
Isn't that what Wine is for? The only games I play are flight simulators and haven't done so for years...programming is pretty much what I live for...I can't be bothered spending time doing much else...

I realize that Wine is likely a Win32 wrapper around X windows, etc...which would slow Game play for programs designed to run under DirectX and Windows, but...I don't play games...so I don't really have a worry... :)

Everybody learns differently...I learn best from start at the bottom and working my way up...and by reading books...I learn nothing in a classroom setting...I'm to distracted :)

I'm already familiar with the command line, as I've read some articles and I have a few books on Linux...sure i'll likely hit speed bumps...but I'm only gonna attempt this when I'm feeling techy...so i'll be up for the challenge :)

Cheers :)

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 11:42 am
by alex.barylski
Gambler wrote:XP sucks. Use 2000. It's the best windows so far, it doesn't have that re-activation BS, and it's much more stable than XP. Of course, MS wants you to buy every new windows release, so they say each subsequest version is faster and more stable than everything before. That's a lie.
Heres the problem...I already spent almost $200 on my copy of XP a while back and i'm not interested in buying another... :)

Besides for years now i've been wanting to get into Linux, but having done Windows development prior to PHP...it didn't make much sense :)

Ideally what I'd like to do...is keep nothing on the computer but essential system utilities...and L*AMP* and find equivilents to each of my Windows apps (outlook, etc) done in LAMP that way I can access my desktop from anywhere in the world :P

How coool would that be....although far fetched as I've yet to find any email client which is that good...or looks good as well...as Squirrel Mail...has a really crappy interface...as in it doesn't look nice...for 2006 anyways... :)

Re: M$ has finally done it

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 11:47 am
by alex.barylski
Grim... wrote:
Hockey wrote:I reinstalled Windows XP today for the 50th odd time since purchasing the box and I get an product key is no longer valid error...
Why were you reinstalling for the 50th time?
I'm religious that way :P

Besides nothing beats a re-format...as far as cleaning, virus destruction, etc...

A system just runs better when reformatted...and seeing how i'm on a 950Mhz...I need every boost in performance I can get :)