Comments on: The £250 Challenge: the victor speaks

By: Mike Jennings

Mike Jennings — Fri, 08 May 2009 08:37:29 +0000

I admit that maybe using the word ‘proper’ in this context wasn’t entirely accurate.

Also, as Daniel points out with his comment about my ‘Curry’s-style’ warranty, that certain parts of this post should be taken with tongue firmly in cheek :p

Mike

By: Elmer

Elmer — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:15:47 +0000

Ubuntu is a stable, mature, rich operating system that has none of the ‘illnesses’ of MS Windows (viruses, trojans, botnets, etc.).

Mike Jennings, the wording in your comment “in a reviewing situation, having a legitimate paid-for OS is a definite advantage” is unfortunate because it implies that a non-paid OS is not legitimate. This could not be further from the truth.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:40:08 +0000

I love the “Curry’s-style” warranty that comes with it…

” I’m not claiming any responsibility when the CPU melts or the case decides to spontaneously combust”

By: Stefanos

Stefanos — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:36:59 +0000

Read that paragraph of your article again. Tell me how do you understand the wording “Ubuntu and the beta version of Windows 7 rather than a proper, paid-for OS” or in your reply “having a legitimate paid-for OS is a definite advantage”. How is it possible to list a non-paid for OS as a disadvantage in a £250 build-off competition?!? Where in most cases £250 would only buy you a license for a paid-for OS without leaving with much to spare for anything else. I am not saying that the non-paid for is better or vice versa. I use best of both worlds but if an open source operatiing system does not have a place or is considered a disadvantage in a £250 computer then I don’t know what does….

But then again what do I know about computers… I just run a network with 400+ clients with a mixture of “proper” and “non-proper” OSes and 20 servers with mostly “non-proper” OSes installed on them….

Can someone please enlighten me as to what a “proper” OS is?

By: Mike Jennings

Mike Jennings — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:10:06 +0000

Grimer – thanks! You were a great help throughout the process.

Stefanos – of course I don’t think that a paid-for OS is the only worthwhile one; I’ve got Ubuntu on my laptop, for instance. However, every other machine here came with Vista or XP pre-installed and, in the case of Dave Bayon’s machine, brand-new. In that situation, I think that the average buyer would rather pick that than Linux or a test version of Windows 7 and, in a reviewing situation, having a legitimate paid-for OS is a definite advantage.

By: Grimer

Grimer — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:00:33 +0000

Well done! I’m glad you won.

By: Stefanos

Stefanos — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:59:47 +0000

“rather than a proper, paid-for OS”?!?
If you think that a paid-for OS is the only “proper” one then you shouldn’t be writing for an IT magazine.