Comment Re:YIC! (Score 2, Insightful) 631
I prefer Windows 2000 to XP, and since it only costs ~35-45EUR on eBay (with Server generally between 70 and 140 depending on location and language) so it's actually half the price of XP and even cheaper than "consumer linuxes" like SuSE or Linspire... Funny that it is often forgotten.
From a cost point of view...
(Warning: "Free" means as in "Free Beer", as not all software is Open Source)
Windows 2000 (45 EUR)
+ Cygwin (free unix environment - gnu utilities, gcc, openssl, openssh, etc)
+ KDE (free KDE environment)
+ Vim7 (free text editor)
+ innovatek VirtualBox (free virtual machine software)
+ VMWare Player (free virtual machine software)
+ Visual C++ 2005 Express (free C++ compiler and IDE)
+ 7-zip (free file archiver)
+ Firefox (free web browser)
+ Thunderbird (free email client)
+ FileZilla (free FTP client)
+ OxygenOffice (free office suite, an expanded version of OpenOffice)
+ Media Player Classic (free media player)
+ Combined Community Codec Pack (free media codecs)
+ WinAMP (free audio player)
+ Trillian (free all-in-one instant messenger for most common networks)
+ Audacity (free audio editor)
+ GIMPshop (free image editor)
+ Irfanview (free image viewer)
+ SUPER (free A/V converter)
+ CDBurnerXP (free burning software)
+ ERUNT (free automated registry backup)
+ FullSync (free automated backup)
+ Avast (free antivirus)
+ UltraVNC (free remote control)
+ Comodo Personal Firewall Pro (free personal firewall)
+ if you *really* need "Fast user switching", NetExec (for personal use) only costs 24$.
Sure, it doesn't have ClearType or System Restore - It also doesn't have any DRM annoyances, WGA, product activation, or massive hardware requirements. On the other hand, it also supports running unlimited (*NIX, for example) virtual machines (VirtualBox can even rum them headless as services, accessible via RDP) while still fully supporting Directx 9.0c. It also supports many personal (software) firewalls which is something I've found lacking in many other OSes, and I've seen it run responsively as a small server on a 166MHz system with 32MB ram.
A total of 45EUR for such a system, which I know to be very stable, but also very compatible (not counting Cygwin, Virtual Machines, etc) with programs for other versions of Windows (from the ancient game "Carmageddon" which runs fine with VDMsound to Apple's Safari Beta which supposedly only runs under XP), and for all the software that has been mentioned - much of which can be slipstreamed, along with all updates, drivers, and default configuation and/of unattended-installation settings (such as the common "DisablePagingExecutive" tweak) directly onto a single CD with nLiteOS...
From a cost point of view...
(Warning: "Free" means as in "Free Beer", as not all software is Open Source)
Windows 2000 (45 EUR)
+ Cygwin (free unix environment - gnu utilities, gcc, openssl, openssh, etc)
+ KDE (free KDE environment)
+ Vim7 (free text editor)
+ innovatek VirtualBox (free virtual machine software)
+ VMWare Player (free virtual machine software)
+ Visual C++ 2005 Express (free C++ compiler and IDE)
+ 7-zip (free file archiver)
+ Firefox (free web browser)
+ Thunderbird (free email client)
+ FileZilla (free FTP client)
+ OxygenOffice (free office suite, an expanded version of OpenOffice)
+ Media Player Classic (free media player)
+ Combined Community Codec Pack (free media codecs)
+ WinAMP (free audio player)
+ Trillian (free all-in-one instant messenger for most common networks)
+ Audacity (free audio editor)
+ GIMPshop (free image editor)
+ Irfanview (free image viewer)
+ SUPER (free A/V converter)
+ CDBurnerXP (free burning software)
+ ERUNT (free automated registry backup)
+ FullSync (free automated backup)
+ Avast (free antivirus)
+ UltraVNC (free remote control)
+ Comodo Personal Firewall Pro (free personal firewall)
+ if you *really* need "Fast user switching", NetExec (for personal use) only costs 24$.
Sure, it doesn't have ClearType or System Restore - It also doesn't have any DRM annoyances, WGA, product activation, or massive hardware requirements. On the other hand, it also supports running unlimited (*NIX, for example) virtual machines (VirtualBox can even rum them headless as services, accessible via RDP) while still fully supporting Directx 9.0c. It also supports many personal (software) firewalls which is something I've found lacking in many other OSes, and I've seen it run responsively as a small server on a 166MHz system with 32MB ram.
A total of 45EUR for such a system, which I know to be very stable, but also very compatible (not counting Cygwin, Virtual Machines, etc) with programs for other versions of Windows (from the ancient game "Carmageddon" which runs fine with VDMsound to Apple's Safari Beta which supposedly only runs under XP), and for all the software that has been mentioned - much of which can be slipstreamed, along with all updates, drivers, and default configuation and/of unattended-installation settings (such as the common "DisablePagingExecutive" tweak) directly onto a single CD with nLiteOS...
