Howdy - OK, I have a need/dislike relationship with MS Windows, and I see there is so much more to explore out there in computer-world and applications-world.
I need MSW for some software vendors I use. This handful of vendors will NEVER convert away from MSW.
I dislike MSW due to the rat's nest of code that it is --- with problems that take weeks and months to fix even with paid support from people who can't really know it all. I am not going to say anything about the vulnerability of the OS or MS apps. I am not going to say anything about the mismanaged, micro-managed, top-down run organization or about the overcharging for products or about the pointed headed ownership's progressive politics that thinks it knows how to run your life better than you. These things would be irrelevant to my point. MSW is very dis-likable by itself.
The real point is that, although I have purposely kept my head in the sand for a long time, I have taken it of the sand for a breath every couple of years to be aware that there is a big, beautiful world of Linux (and other environs) out there that I must explore. To do this I must loose Bill's heavy Mother's Club, Lakeview shackles that limit and bind me while keeping a thin tether-line to those apps that can only breath MSW air.
Here is my half hatched plan: My current Dell Precision has W7U-64b and a good deal of installed software that I really do not want to install again (will take months). Dell is better on support than most with limited problems and decent support.
Side note: Until about 10 years ago I would only use a machine if I "built" it --- bought all the best CPUs and stuff and put it together --- "my" machine. lol. But, I got tired of all the spec changes, part availability with new CPUs and gizmos changing all the time; it was exhausting! I switched to a pre-made and supported machine and was able to get work done instead of being having my head in a machine most of the day. HP might have been just as good, but I choose Dell and I am sticking with them. Plus: Support in the US from US speaking people that I can understand without slowing them down all the time.
Back to my plan: I just bought a Precision T7500 with dual quad 5570 chips at 2.9 GH, 64 GB RAM, 4 2TB Hitachi Deskstars and two graphics cards to support 8 monitors. This will be called my "new" machine. Yes, the T7500 is a few years old, but to get a brand new box with a dubious 20% improvement and this amount of RAM would have cost 500% more dollaros-bearos.
Current machine: W7U64b with the c and d drives as RAID1 so each has only 2 TB. C only has W7 and d is for backup. No data on C --- only OS and programs; all data on NAS, things inadvertently placed on desktop are swept into NAS as night to save housekeeping.
I had been using the MSW backup (c drive OS and programs is about 435 GB so the d could take a cycle of 4 backups to the d drive), but about a month ago I tried the Acronis image backup for about a hundred bucks; but, so far the restoring to a boot-able 5th drive that I added for the test has not worked; so I may not stick with Acronis. Plus, there may be some other things wrong with Acronis and my plan which I will get to later.
I have not yet installed W7U64b on my new machine yet, as I want to work out and desk-check-test that my plan is solid using some older machines that I have around. For instande. I may replace the c drive with a SSHD (hybrid) which has 8GB of solid state memory. Right now it is about $120 for a 1 TB. Might improve speed a good deal. It arrived today and is waiting in the box for me to develop my plan further.
So, where is the "away from MSW" world I was talking about?
In Summary, a base linux with VirtualBox running W7 (maybe several) and a main linux OS (maybe several) with ALL the MS Office-like software than runs in linux --- plus every other product that I can use that runs on linux (transferring data from W7.
In looking over the possibilities, I have picked SUSE Linux (not sure about the open version --- paid version sounds better with support since --- today --- I know zero about Linux).
On that SUSE, I am planning to put VirtualBox. And, on that VB I am planning to put my main W7U64b and XP and SUSE plus another other OS that I want to play with or explore.
And, on one of these Linux instantiations I intend to put an entire suite of office and desktop tools and pick the best ones to wean me off of MS Office and all the other MS dependent apps that I have.
OK, that's the plan. Poke holes in it it you will. Any suggestions are welcome. I am open to learn where my thinking is "weird". Right now I am still trying to get SUSE installed.
I intend to post my progress and the main things I learn here.
