Munich to distribute Linux CDs to get people to ditch Windows XP

[sanderj]

I just did that. A friend has a Dell P4 with XP. I had previously wiped it and restored XP. There was a file system corruption, even Ubuntu was unable to access the partition. The same thing happened a couple weeks later. Okay, I guessed a bad hard drive and replaced it. I also installed Xubuntu rather than XP. It's a P4 w/512 MB RAM so wouldn't run Windows 7 or 8. It runs Xubuntu 32 bit perfectly. She has very modest requirements, she just needs to be able to browse the web and check email. I asked if she needed to print her emails out. She said no, had a Dell printer that she didn't think worked anymore. On the rare occasion she needed to print something she went to the public library.

I put a Firefox launcher on the desktop and saved a screen capture of the desktop. She was happy once she saw the Firefox icon on the desktop. I printed out a screen cap of the desktop with arrows pointing to the applications menu and power options. I set updates for security updates only and told her how to install other updates if she wanted to. I installed Libre Office in place of Abiword & Gnumeric. Did a couple printed pages explaining about SUDO and normal passwords, why there isn't antivirus installed etc. It's been a month or more and not a peep. No news is good news.

Would this work for everyone? Of course not. Anyone with uncommon hardware or who needs 100% file compatibility with work systems is going to have to dance to the Redmond tune. But I'll bet there are a great many people much like my friend.

I get the idea that *you* installed Linux and you did not hand over a Linux CD to your friend? If so, that's - alas - exactly my point: giving away Linux / OS CDs is not going to help much.

[snowpine]

This is a great idea. Windows XP hits "end of life" in April. This represents a huge security nightmare that will affect us all (even Linux users) if EOL XP machines are hacked and used for malicious purposes.

My only concern is that the lifespan of Lubuntu is so short. Assuming they use Lubuntu 12.04 LTS, that means support ends in October of this year, sooner than Win XP!! If they are using 13.04 then that still only takes us into early 2014. So the root problem of people using end-of-life software is not mitigated. (Granted, I'd much rather use EOL Linux than EOL Windows...)

[Dr. C]

This is a great idea. Windows XP hits "end of life" in April. This represents a huge security nightmare that will affect us all (even Linux users) if EOL XP machines are hacked and used for malicious purposes.

My only concern is that the lifespan of Lubuntu is so short. Assuming they use Lubuntu 12.04 LTS, that means support ends in October of this year, sooner than Win XP!! If they are using 13.04 then that still only takes us into early 2014. So the root problem of people using end-of-life software is not mitigated. (Granted, I'd much rather use EOL Linux than EOL Windows...)

Upgrading Lubuntu to the next version is really not that different from applying an XP Service pack. In fact it may be easier. Windows XP without a service pack reached end of life back in 2005. The root cause of the problem is that there is no Windows solution for many perfectly good computers that running Windows XP today after April 08, 2014. The only options in the vast majority of cases are:
1) A Free Libre Open Source Software Operating system. The most practical being GNU/Linux
2) Create more eWaste

[snowpine]

Upgrading Lubuntu to the next version is really not that different from applying an XP Service pack. In fact it may be easier.

I understand your point, and don't want to sound argumentative. That being said, in my 5 years on these forums, I've seen that Ubuntu release-upgrades are not universally smooth for all users.

[Dr. C]

I understand your point, and don't want to sound argumentative. That being said, in my 5 years on these forums, I've seen that Ubuntu release-upgrades are not universally smooth for all users.

I have been through both. Failed Ubuntu release-upgrades and failed Windows service pack applications. The cure in both cases was to re-install. The cause in many cases was not even due to the OS itself, but all sorts of other factors. As for the motivation behind this move by Munich, I suspect it has to do with preventing ewaste and being green rather than fighting computer malware. They will also save a fair amount of money if they keep computers out of the ewaste stream even if it costs their bureaucracy 2 euros to burn a CD.

[sanderj]

As for the motivation behind this move by Munich, I suspect it has to do with preventing ewaste and being green rather than fighting computer malware. They will also save a fair amount of money if they keep computers out of the ewaste stream even if it costs their bureaucracy 2 euros to burn a CD.

The Munich / München municipal government's own computers are already on Linux. They have a support infrastructure for that: administrators, helpdesk, training, etc. There is a lot of discussion if that Linux infrastructure costs less than a Microsoft infrastructure. Microsoft let HP write a report FOSS is more expensive. Anyway. It's probably a close call.

The news is the municipal government wants to provide Linux CDs for citizens. My point is that a CD alone won't help many citizens; they will need more than just CDs; instruction, support, hotlines, etc. I guess the municipal can't/won't provide that because it costs a lot of money (and they don't generate any income from citizen PCs to cover for the cost). Providing services for free is not a great business case.

If they would provide that, and/or a carry-in service to do fresh installs of Lubuntu on old hardware, it would be more feasible.

My own experience:
My sons use Ubuntu computers, and that works because I'm there. And even not all of the time: their schools require Windows because of the school online registration system which is ... Silverlight-DRM-only. And my son just bought a DJ table, which only works with Windows and OSX. Not Linux.
I don't dare to put my father (who lives 80km away from me) on Linux, and thus I let him buy Windows systems
I put my neighbours on OpenOffice, but they switched to MS Office because they preferred paying 100 Euro more than using OpenOffice

EDIT: to avoid wrong ideas: I myself exclusively use Linux since 1999. So: Linux works for me. But my experience with others is as described above.

[snowpine]

I have been through both. Failed Ubuntu release-upgrades and failed Windows service pack applications. The cure in both cases was to re-install. The cause in many cases was not even due to the OS itself, but all sorts of other factors. As for the motivation behind this move by Munich, I suspect it has to do with preventing ewaste and being green rather than fighting computer malware. They will also save a fair amount of money if they keep computers out of the ewaste stream even if it costs their bureaucracy 2 euros to burn a CD.

Modern hardware is often "greener" than aging piece-of-junk XP machines.

[sanderj]

Modern hardware is often "greener" than aging piece-of-junk XP machines.

Ouch. Good point.

And additionally: a 390 Euro laptop (yes, with Windows) is probably more user friendly than a 8 year old bulky desktop.

[momist]

It can never be "greener" to junk the 8 year old bulky desktop and buy a new laptop. The embedded carbon footprint in making and transporting the new laptop to you would take more years of energy efficiency savings than the life of the new machine!

[sanderj]

It can never be "greener" to junk the 8 year old bulky desktop and buy a new laptop. The embedded carbon footprint in making and transporting the new laptop to you would take more years of energy efficiency savings than the life of the new machine!

From http://files.theecologist.org/resour...ootprints.html

The machine itself
200kg CO2e: a simple low-cost laptop

Electricity consumption
150g CO2e per hour: an old desktop machine

So BEP at 200kg/(150g/hour) = 1333 hours. At 5 hours a day, that's a BEP at 266 days...