Microsoft

We bought a notebook last week - one of those little laptops. It said it had 'Windows 7 Starter' pre-installed and the shop assistant said that Windows 7 is better than Windows Vista which we already knew.

Now our son wanted to change the background (the screen that comes up when you switch on the computer). Up came a little pop-up-window saying that he needs to buy the full version of Windows 7 as his version does not allow the background to be changed.[!]

Just wanting to see how much that would cost he continued, only to find that in New Zealand he can't buy the upgraded version at all.

He tried a few other things as well and several functions are not included in 'Windows 7 Starter'.[!][!][}]

Greed like that really puts me off. He'll try to install Linux now[8D]

I have sympathies with your situation but really the blame lies with the retailer not explaining to you the low functionality of windows 7 starter. The OS is streamlined because the notebook you have purchased is less likely to be capable of running the backgrounds and themes used in the higher versions. You may also find that you have issues when moving to linux also.

It might be useful to take a look at the comparison chart half way down the page at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions

Simkin - you have mail.

Andrea

Simkin, I've also located the Microsoft windows 7 upgrade a notebook from New Zealand pages. They are at windows.microsoft.com/en-NZ/windows7/upg...dows-anytime-upgrade

Make sure the computer is able to run the upgraded version by using the upgrade advisor first. You will see that an online upgrade is only able to be purchased from the following places

Windows Anytime Upgrade is only available for online purchase in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

So you will need to purchase an retail copy of an upgrade.

Simkin;315951 wrote: Just wanting to see how much that would cost he continued, only to find that in New Zealand he can't buy the upgraded version at all.

That's not correct Simkin. There are 3 different Windows 7 upgrades available here:

search.dse.co.nz/search?w=anytime+upgrade

The cheapest is $199 for Windows 7 Home Premium. Inger has this version on her laptop, and it does pretty much all that the Professional version (which I have) does, except backup to a network drive. Not a biggie, as you just use a USB stick.

Your son would be well advised to upgrade the memory to 2GB, which will cost very little, and then Windows 7 (or Linux) will run very nicely. 1GB is a little bit marginal these days and it hardly costs any extra to have 2GB.

7 has got to be better than Vista in any form. 3gig of RAM minimum req for Vista. And it still runs like a POS!

Simkin;315951 wrote: Greed like that really puts me off. He'll try to install Linux now[8D]

Go for it!

You can run Linux as your OS. OpenOffice for wordprocessing/spreadsheet etc. Firefox for web browsing, Thunderbird for email (or KMail if you choose KDE as your window manager). Then you have thousands of other capable and free* apps to play with.

There are many distros to choose from. *Everyone* runs Ubuntu these days, but I'd recommend you take a look at Mepis.

BTW what model of netbook was it? What was the most attractive feature for you (or him)?

A

GrantK;315968 wrote: Your son would be well advised to upgrade the memory to 2GB, which will cost very little, and then Windows 7 (or Linux) will run very nicely. 1GB is a little bit marginal these days and it hardly costs any extra to have 2GB.

That's not really necessary, and a bit tedious to do after purchasing the laptop.

A

I actually agree with Grant 100% about the memory upgrade. I asked the store to do it when I bought my Desktop computer package and didn't pay anything extra. Go back and ask then if they would be prepared to do it and perhaps price an upgrade to ther full 7 package at the same time? Can't hurt.

Well, the price was the most attractive feature plus NOT Windows Vista which is a real bonus. It's an Acer Aspire one. He runs Linux/Ubuntu on his desktop computer so knows about the benefits.

Thanks

Simkin;316046 wrote: Well, the price was the most attractive feature plus NOT Windows Vista which is a real bonus. It's an Acer Aspire one. He runs Linux/Ubuntu on his desktop computer so knows about the benefits.

Thanks

Excellent!

Which model? I have an Aspire One and I installed Mepis 8.0 on it. It is one of the original models, ZG5, from over a year ago. The newer ones look slightly different, but they are mostly the same hardware.

I had to download new drivers for the wireless network card, and the multifunction card reader doesn't work *until* you put a card in it, but everything else worked out-of-the-box with Mepis.

A

I get incredibly frustrated with people slamming Vista. Yes it was in hindsight a trial version to get feedback to enable the build of Windows 7 and yes it would make sense to upgrade to 7 -however - it is not faster that Vista - it just feels faster!

My issue is that I have cleaned up quite a few computers (XP & Vista) for friends and families just by cleaning out all the garbage that people collect and don't trash. Mail with hundreds of messages, jokes etc. Run CCleaner and get rid of Megabites of other rubbish etc.

I am on one of the oldest telephone exchanges in NZ, on cable Broadband and I download at 4300Mbps. Vista is anything but perfect, however after at least three years on it, I get fed up with people who don't use it, haven't done their homework to tweak it then calling it rubbish. Mine goes like a bat out of hell. I have plenty of friends who are blissfully happy with it. However, I would definitely upgrade to a higher level (as in not basic) 7 if buying a new computer. Meanwhile, I am happy to carry on with it. So there!

Linux installed, works a treat . Bye-Bye Microsoft

Didi, where do you get CCleaner?

DiDi;316101 wrote: I get incredibly frustrated with people slamming Vista.

I absolutely agree with you. Often people just repeat what they hear from others. Vista isn't worse than XP or 98/95 etc. It is just different. And people forget that the same whingnig could be heard when they released 95 and then XP etc. I remember especially XP was soo bad because nobody had drivers etc. It is just normal to bash Microsoft

Linux installed, works a treat. Bye-Bye Microsoft

I wish you all the luck and patience and time on earth. I used Linuxes on and off quiet a lot. What Microsoft has done in user-friendliness can not be said about linux. You look for an app which you get free and then it says "But sorry, you need to install this package" so off you go and look for this package. You might even find it on some dodgy server and try to install it and it says "Sorry but you need to install Gnome whatever and this and that" and off you go again.

Linuxes will never get a foot in the door as long as they do not work on user friendliness. As long as you don't just download a setup file, click on it, run it and your app is ready to use. That's all there should be to it. And not running scripts, downloading the latest kernel, compiling it and installing it etc.

Why isn't everyone using Linux? Because it is a pain to setup and install applications. At least for the normal user who just wants to do their emails, use a word processor and browse the internet. You need to be computer savvy in order to maintain it. I am not pro or con Linux and/or Microsoft. Everything has its place. But Linux is definitely not for the standard user. This is my experience from over 20 years IT.

Sara