[Liverpool] Hi, new member!

[Sebastian Arcus]

On 02/11/13 08:31, Oliver Stieber wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm a new member on the LUG mailing list, well I joined a few months
> ago, but have been tied down so not been able to attend any meetups
> etc... (also not the biggest fan of pubs!)

Hi Oliver and welcome to Liverpool LUG

>
> Anyhow,
>
> As you all may know, Windows XP is going to be out of support sometime
> mid 2014, and it seems like an ideal opportunity to get Linux out to all
> those people with older computers that will run like a dog on later
> versions of windows but may well run something like ubuntu (which I
> suggest due to lt's versions) etc.... quite well.
>
> I'm currently in saffron Walden for the next few weeks at least and
> planning to do at least a few 'moist' runs of distributing ubuntu to
> people, along maybe with some advise on memory upgrades and also I have
> a load of cross-over office licenses as I worked for about 2 years on
> the wine/crossover project writing the DirectX 9 3D layer,
>
>
> It would nice to know of peoples thoughts on this idea as it seems a
> great opportunity of Linux adoption and really a boat that should not be
> missed!
>
In theory, yes - Linux would be a nice replacement for Windows XP. In 
practice, as far as I've seen, things are a bit more nuanced:

1. Those Windows XP machines are already old by now. Windows XP was 
released in 2002. Many machines are approaching 10 years of age. Unless 
their owner's budget is beyond limited, most people in that situation 
are more than ready for a full replacement.

2. Installing and supporting a new system on such old hardware is rarely 
worth it in practice. To put in a number of hours into the installation, 
drivers troubleshooting, user training, transferring settings and 
documents - for the machine to conk out in a few months time because the 
motherboard or the hard-drive has given up is not a worth while experience.

3. If it is done as hobby, that might be fine. But if it is done 
commercially (and properly), very few people will be persuaded to pay 
for the number of hours required to install, configure and train users 
onto a new operating system on hardware which is completely worthless by 
now.

I have installed a small number of Linux desktops for users on ancient 
hardware - but it was mainly the case of people strongly committed to 
recycling and/or free software - not average users.

Strangely enough. the best experience I've had with recycling old 
computers has been converting them to servers for small businesses. I've 
found that if the hard-disks come out OK from hdd diagnostic software, 
and the power supply is replaced (the capacitors in them age at a 
predictable rate) - machines will last easily another 5-10 years as a 
server which is not powered up/down regularly. Specially if it has a UPS 
and power surge to protect them from large power fluctuations/spikes.

At least that's what I've noted in my experience so far. Other's might 
see things differently.

Sebastian