Robert Pogson

There are some thinga that other OS does better than GNU/Linux but updates are not one of them. That other OS installs malware supremely well but with that other OS, one has to replace drivers and applications manually at great expense. With GNU/Linux, especially Debian, there is a huge repository of applications updated in the same simple way as the kernel.

• apt-get update    get the new package lists
• apt-get upgrade     gets the new packages and installs them
• apt-get dist-upgrade    gets the new release

What will you do with the rest of the day that users of that other OS will waste going from XP to “7″ because M$ does not provide an upgrade process except trash and burn?

It is an interesting question why M$ provides no upgrade for hundreds of millions of loyal customers:

• are they punishing them for not buying Vista?
• are they lazy?
• are they foolish?
• are they forcing folks to buy new hardware?

The thing that is obvious to everyone is that because M$ claims “7″ will run on a netbook it should surely run on a desktop or notebook too, so there is no reason M$ cannot set up an upgrade process except that they do not want to have one. They boast about spending a billions on research so M$ cannot be so short of cash they cannot afford to provide an upgrade path. It must be that M$ knows the bulk of XP customers are hopelessly hooked and will wriggle off the hook just for the privilege of impaling themselves on the next hook.

Compare that with GNU/Linux which is happy whether you use GNU/Linux on an old machine or a new one of 12 architectures and you can run an old release as long as you please… The difference is freedom. No business should be allowed to dictate how you run your business no matter how big they may be.