[dba-Tech] XP - What to do Win 7 or Ubuntu

Jon and Mark,

The first question to ask is, How much RAM is available on the client's
machines. Second, Windows 8.1 is actually less demanding of RAM resources
than Win7.

If all your client really needs is a browser, then there's nothing at all
wrong with choosing Ubuntu or Mint, which is a fork of the Ubuntu that some
folks consider prettier. (I run them both as VMs in VirtualBox, just to
keep pace with their releases.)

With either Ubuntu or Mint, should it turn out that you need to run some
Windows-specific program, you can always install WINE and then run your
Windows app inside WINE. That doesn't work with every single Windows app
but certainly does with all the Office apps, including Access apps.

Mark, since you mentioned cost as a significant factor, then I'd choose one
of the Linuxes mentioned. Both include in their installation a browser
(FireFox) and an Office-like suite (by default it's Libre but there are
other choices available too, just not installed automatically. Mark,
perhaps you could do a dry run by installing VirtualBox + a Linux VM on a
laptop or something, then take that to the client's site and give her a
little tour.

The best part about the Linux choice is that everything but your time is
free, without violating any licensing agreements.

Arthur


On Mon, Mar 24, 2014 at 5:15 AM, Tydda Jon - Lonza Slough <
jon.tydda at lonza.com> wrote:

> I don't think that hardware old enough to still be running XP will cope
> with 8.1 - I'd be looking at doing hardware upgrades at the same time. Fill
> them with RAM, build them as 64bit, and you won't need to replace them for
> years.
>
>
> Jon
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:
> dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Mark Breen
> Sent: Monday, March 24, 2014 9:11 AM
> To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
> Subject: [dba-Tech] XP - What to do Win 7 or Ubuntu
>
> Hello All,
>
> I have a customer with 8 XP machines in a total of 16 machines.
>
> Options are
>
> 1) upgrade to Win 8.1, including a possible RAM upgrade
> 2) leave xp alone and wait until some problem occurs
> 3) install Ubuntu.
>
> They only use a browser so Ubuntu would work ok for her.
>
> Given I have only played with Ubuntu and cannot offer deep support, but
> cost is a factor for my client, what do you suggest I do.
>
> thanks
>
> Mark
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-- 
Arthur