Migrating from Windows to GNU/Linux etc.

Migrating from Windows to GNU/Linux etc.

by Pamela Jones
Groklaw

April 04 2005

A reader in Sweden was the first to tell me that Tom's Hardware is running an article on migrating from Windows to GNU/Linux [ http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20040412/wintolinux-04.html ] . Here's the Table of Contents for the article:

Introduction
Installation
Desktop Usability
Migrating Documents
Internet Browsing
Installing Applications
Email
Instant Messaging
Audio Playback
Video Playback
Graphical Programs
Video Editing
Special Effects And Rendering
Games
Conclusion

There are a lot of training videos embedded in the article, so those of you thinking of trying to switch can have a helping hand. I get email about how to do this all the time, so this is for you guys. But here's the part that makes me happy: they used a screenshot of Groklaw to illustrate what it looks like when you switch to Mozilla. Moments like this are part of what keeps me doing Groklaw. Among other satisfactions.

There are a few other quick items you might like to know about too.

First, there is an article in Wired [ http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.04/robot.html ] about some high school kids who beat MIT students in a bot contest. Perhaps you saw the public television documentary about the MIT bot competition? If so, you probably felt the way I did, that I'd so love to participate in something like that. This was a competition to build an underwater robot, and the reason I'm mentioning it, aside from my interest, is the ending: the kids who won the competition -- who arrived as children in the US as undocumented immigrants from Mexico -- are not eligible for college scholarships, so not one of them has been able to continue their education. It's seems like such a shame for brain power like that to be stunted, that I decided to put the story here on Groklaw. Maybe someone will read it and want to help them. I know I would, if I had it in the power of my hand. I note others feel the same way. Here's [ http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.04/donate.html ] a link to the La Vida Robot Scholarship Fund, set up by the boys' high school.

Also, there is a cute story [ http://clevescene.com/issues/2005-03-30/news/feature_print.html ] about a college kid who stared Microsoft down in what may be the most stupid lawsuit ever.

Well. SCO has set the bar pretty high, but this is definitely top ten.

And here's an intriguing study [ http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/publicfeature/apr05/0405vcap.html ], which concludes that venture capital actually thwarts innovation. And according to this articlee [ http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3494891 ], only 24% of the 136,000 Windows XP PCs in 251 US companies have upgraded to Microsoft's Service Pack 2 (SP2), a survey by AssetMetrix Research Labs found. Somebody doesn't trust somebody? The article says they only have until April 12 to decide what to do, because that is when Microsoft turns on Automatic Update service to deliver SP2 to XP computers. Ah, the joys of using Microsoft.

Finally, there is an OSRM/Open Bar seminar featuring Heather Meeker, an attorney at Greenberg Traurig, (who has an article on SCO here [ http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/41447.html ]), on May 3 at the Hilton in Santa Clara, CA. It's on software liability, of course, but I notice in the afternoon there is a topic, "How Can Engineers and Lawyers Communicate More Effectively". If any of you attend, I'd very much like to know what they say about that. Here's what I say: come to Groklaw. We've been communicating together just fine for almost two years now. It's a real need, though, in my opinion, because both groups need to know enough about the other's area of expertise to be able to plan effectively together. It's a crying shame you can't do your work without knowing a lawyer or something about the law, but that's the way it is for now. And if lawyers were smart enough to ask engineers before they filed lawsuits, a lot of inane, wasteful litigation could be prevented.

10:48 AM EDT