Happily it is several years since I last had to install Windows on anything,
but this week it has been my lot to have to install Windows 2000 Advanced
Server on a machine*.
What a contrast it is to installing GNU/Linux.
Firstly, to get from an ampty hard disk to a fully patched and configured
machine takes hours, and heaven help you if you don't have a broadband
connection.
Secondly, licences. With GNU/Linux its so easy - the GPL is clearly in the
interests of humanity and is familiar enough that I don't need to read it
every time I have to agree to it. With Windows, every fix that Windows update
downloads seems to have a licence containing a new way for MS to screw you
over. A nightmare!
Cheers
*For those who think I must have taken leave of my senses, I am involved in
the release process for the windows binary version of PHP and need a machine
to build the installer on. My old NT4 installation has lost the will to live
- it does a BSOD immediately after login, and I neither know nor care to know
how to fix it.
--
Phil Driscoll