Now there I disagree with you. Windows is used so exclusively because it's the default on just about every computer you'll buy off the shelf and most people are either not savvy enough to switch OSs (or even know that they can, never mind how to), or just can't be bothered. Rather like why so many people use Internet Explorer instead of upgrading to a browser that actually works (and doesn't insist on displaying Wikipedia in "compatibility mode" because it's too stupid to display them properly, meaning our editors have to waste time tweaking the Common.css).
But alas, we're getting slightly off-topic!
Harry
________________________________ From: Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com To: wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Saturday, 14 January 2012, 23:25 Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Laptop recommendations?
On 14 January 2012 23:15, Michael Peel michael.peel@wikimedia.org.uk wrote:
For context for my position here: I use Mac OS for my laptop, since that has all of the benefits of Linux combined with a somewhat nicer user interface. Linux is the next best thing, and I use that for my (dell) desktop. I've used Windows for many years in the past, and generally view it as being rubbish software that's not reliable in the long run (I used to have to reinstall my computer every 6 months when I was using Windows; nowadays I reboot my Mac laptop and Linux desktop with that same frequency.)
I've been using Windows almost exclusively for years and the only times I've ever had to do anything as drastic as reinstalling it have been times when I was messing around and broke it.
The one time I seriously tried to use Linux, I never got it to work properly (although that was a few years ago and I understand hardware drivers for Linux are a lot better now).
The reason Windows is used so extensively is because it's actually rather good. It works out of the box, it's easy to use and it's (fairly) reliable. (There are a few monopolistic business practices going on to prevent people switching, it's true, but it only got monopoly because it worked.)
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