If MS gave away Windows for home use, would it....

Well if I had gotten a DOS option for my t400 that would have been less money spent on the system. I got vista with my t400 and I havent used vista since w7 release and I got that for free paid for by work. So honestly if I could have saved $15 or more on my system I could have possibly gotten another slight upgrade or just saved the money. Sometimes its those little savings that can allow you to warrant a slight upgrade elsewhere.

You asked for it.

Thinkpads with DOS option.

 

The difference between Sandy Bridge and Arrandale CPU security features is that the remote kill thing can be done with a 3G card if there is one installed in the SB comp. There are hardware requirements on both the CPU and the chipset for it to work. In Arrandale it was called Vpro and it was purely network based, I think the name changed when SB came out but it's the same concept with the added 3G capability.

For non-Vpro systems, you still have Intel's Anti Theft Technology (AT) which consists of more basic network based shutdown (poison pills) and lockout. I think you still need some kind of service subscription for it and your BIOS must support AT so it's not like someone can lock you out of your comp with an SMS.

I'm by no means an Intel fanboy, don't get me wrong here. I'll take a Llano any day, but there are misconceptions in this case about the Intel stuff.

 

It seems like the new windows interface will be as controversial as Unity and Gnome 3 with a fallback mode to more familiar spaces.

 

A TPM chip can be used for a number of things. Yes, sealing encryption keys can indeed be one of those things. But it can also be used in combination with several other links in a chain of trust designed to ensure that execution is never passed to untrusted code. In that capacity it could well be used to prevent the installation of third party OSs.

Now it's probably never going to be used that way, but saying that "it's not for locking the device from you" is somewhat incorrect, as it absolutely could be used for exactly that purpose.

 

ROTFLMAO.......

 

"If MS gave away Windows for home use, would it....change your opinion of Windows vs Linux?"

Nope. I bought this 1545 a year ago, with win 7, and after a month, put on lucid as a dual boot. Now that the year is over, and no warranty (BTW, some foreign lad working for Dell called and offered an extended 4 year warranty for $373, I think the damn laptop cost that), I removed 7 and only have lucid on it.
I rarely used 7 so why have it there. I do, however, have XP in VirtualBox if I need to run something in win, but quite frankly, don't really use that either.
As long as there is some linux variant (I'm quite sure MS's attack dogs are pouring through patents trying to find something to get the US government to stifle linux), I will use linux. Even if Balmer showed up at my door with a Bill Gates personal autographed version of Win 8,9, or 10, I wouldn't take it.
Well maybe I would, probably get $10 or $20 for it on ebay.

 

Well, I know one thing...Windows is cheaper than "pay for" Linux Distro's because it's not subscription based, i.e. pay up annually That said, it's only a game dependency to me anyway.... I use SL for most everything.

 

What "'pay for'" Linux Distros?" Perhaps you're referring to Red Hat, which has a far different business model than Microsoft. Red Hat offers support, whereas Microsoft has "download Tuesday." Yippee!

 

Well Red Hat is indeed a subscription service. You don't get RHN access if you don't have an active subscription, which means no updates. So it is very much a "pay for" distro in that sense...

(Off-topic, but I gotta say: RH's licensing leaves a *lot* to be desired. It's quite pricey compared to its competitors, and even gives MS a run for their money in terms of restrictive terms. A CPU limit for desktop installs? C'mon... Still, I do maintain an active subscription, as the length of support and the quality of work that they produce is indeed worthy of compensation.)

 

Well, Red Hat is mainly targeted at servers, so I can see that.

 

Rob....What's the CPU limit? I have a Quad in my laptop with 8 cores, so does that surpass the limit? LOL...I haven't looked at that part of it. I've spoken to a rep who didn't mention that. Basically as cheap as it gets for "updates" and no support is 49.00 year after year after year for the "desktop"...179.00 for "Workstation" year after year after year for updates, no support. He said what you'd probably want is the "Workstation" because it opens up more RH channels. I just told him if I pay it every year, then no for the 179.00 because I thought is was too high and I don't support "subscription" licensing. I don't like that one bit as a business owner...they should have a reasonable small business model these days given Linux is getting more popular...wouldn't cost them a dime extra, but might gain some business

Even though something in me deplores Windows, it's a much better bargain for the money for OS's that charge for them. Like I said, I use SL, but if somehow the clones disappear, I'll just go back to Debian stable.