Xandros

I am still using Xandros Linux 4 on my PC for my main operating system, it is still a good system and works well.
However, as it has a cost, this will put off some people from using it. Personally, I believe that the Home edition should be free and the Professional edition (and other business software they make) paid for. Xandros will never be popular amongst home users until that happens.
Earlier in 2007 Xandros released a free version called Xandros 4 Open Circulation Edition. They did this with previous versions, a version that did not have all the full features, but was free to download, usually via bit torrent, and fully working and functional, which then gives people an idea of what Xandros is like and how good it is.
But if you look today for the Xandros 4 OCE via bit torrent, you get nothing. Xandros ceased that free edition earlier this year. However, I found it hosted on a Xandros fan site at http://bryantrv.com/misc/, from which you can download the ISO file, to burn to a blank DVD.
Linux is so popular because so much of the software is free. It is the best way to compete with Microsoft. But maybe that is why Xandros stopped the free version, as they did a deal with Microsoft earlier in the year. The MS deal may produce some benefits for Xandros users, but stopping the free version means that the user base can only ever grow slowly (which Microsoft would want). So is the MS deal really in the best interests of Xandros?

Too good to be true

A few minutes later and the Internet is slow again on some of the sites I want to use (listed previously). This is not good, and when the Internet is not functioning well like this, it is really annoying. Maybe I should just go to bed, it is 3:15 after all.

Update on Internet Problems

40 minutes later and now it all seems back to normal. Wonder what caused the problem. Maybe just some maintenance work by the ISP.

Internet Problems

I was able to use the Internet a while ago perfectly well, but now, all of a sudden, things are going slow on some websites, although others, including this blogger site, are functionig normally.

At first I suspected I had lost my broadband connection, but a quick check of my router's status revealed that the connection was still active. I was having problems accessing anything on Flickr.com, despite being able to load several pages from there one minute, the next minute nothing was working on that site. Also ebay.co.uk is now slow and Google Picasa claims it has an internal server error.

Maybe someone pulled a plug out somewhere at my ISP (Freedom2Surf), or maybe a terrorist attack on the Internet has brought certain sites down. We have had lots of flooding in the UK in the past weeks, maybe that has something to do with, such as a main relay station on the Internet being flooded with water and thus unable to operate, or a power station is not working that powers an important Internet company. The BBC News site is functioning but no news on there of any Internet problems. I turned on the TV and Sky News mostly has news about the flooding, nothing about an Internet problem. I also check the System Status page of Freedom2Surf and it does not list any problems.

The only other thing I can think of is the problem is being deliberately caused by my ISP. I requested my MAC number last week and signed up with a different ISP called NewNet. They had good reviews, on sites such as www.thinkbroadband.com and DSL Zone UK, and as the owners of F2S, Pipex, are selling us out to Tiscali, I decided it was time to choose a new ISP for my broadband of my own choice, not one imposed on my by Pipex. Tiscali have been consistently rated as one of the WORST ISPs in the UK, and there is no way I want to be with them. So maybe F2S are deliberately reducing my access to my favourite websites as a punishment for leaving them. I have also had random times of no connection at all to the Internet through broadband with F2S, not recently, but in the past it has occured too often. Resorting to dialup instead of using broadband is extremely painful and expensive.

By Friday I shall be with NewNet and surfing the Net again without problems, in theory.

Switching to Linux or staying with Windows

An article at Desktoplinux.com (http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS3542601509.html), "Why people really don't switch to Linux", got me thinking about the subject, and here is my response:

I dabbled with Linux around 1999, and it just was not ready then to be a mass market product. At the present time, it is getting much closer. I do now use linux as my main OS, replacing Windows XP which had basically gone wrong too many times so I gave up using it on this PC.

I think that most people are not as adventurous as myself and other linux users, so they stick with what they know, purely out of laziness or just wanting familiarity. I know that when changing to Linux, it was nice for me to use Xandros due to its user friendliness for ex-Windows users (such as a File manager that resembles Windows Explorer, which is much easier to use than using the normal Konqueror as a file manager), and CrossOver which allows me to run some Windows programs like Dreamweaver and Photoshop.

I had already been using Firefox, Thunderbird and OpenOffice in Windows, so it was easy to carry on using these programs. But most people still think that the sun shines out of Bill Gates's backside and would rather hand over their money to Microsoft or else use pirated versions of MS software, simply because they perceive that to be the only choice, or at least the default choice for most computer users. Most users want compatibility with other users, hence even OpenOffice has to offer an option to save in MS formats.

A lot of negative reaction to Vista since its launch may well help to steer people away from the MS world, to a small extent, but when people go to buy a new PC, especially if it is their first PC, they will no doubt have a choice of any OS they want so long as it is called Vista. Most vendors just do not sell PCs with Linux, thus most users will buy a PC with a free OS already installed (i.e. they did not have to pay extra to get Vista so they will regard it as free software that came with the PC).

It is kind of like buying a Freeview box, DVD recorder, VCR or hifi — for most people they just want to get it home, plug it in and switch it on, and hope that it works okay. No one would seriously consider replacing the OS on a Freeview box (unless they were really seriously into hacking Freeview boxes), thus most people would not even realise that they could install a different OS on a PC, they just regard it as being an integral part of the PC the same as the hardware that comes with it. Most PC users are not tech-savvy and would most likely not even realise that they could add extra hardware to the PC or change bits, they just buy what they want and if it does not work they would demand a refund or repair.

Mass consumerism is predominant now in the PC world, so most consumers just will not care which OS they use. It would be great if they could all see the benefits of Linux, but no one is teaching them that, or they just do not have time to listen, they just want a PC that allows them to surf the Internet and send email, and maybe write a letter and print it out, or store photos on the hard disk.