[ale] If you must restore a windows computer, how do you make it better?

[Michael B. Trausch]

On Thu, 2009-10-15 at 17:00 -0400, aaron wrote:
> > What I tell *everyone* is this:  I'll set them up with a Windows
> > instance, if that is what they want and they have all the
> materials  
> > for
> > it (license/certificate/etc.) and once it's all said and done,
> I'll  
> > take
> > an image with it, make two copies, and give them both copies.
> [snip]
> 
> It's a whole lot simpler to actually make it better and
> stop enabling their addictions by saying:
> 
> "I don't do windows. Doing windows is an inane, frustrating
> waste of time and energy for everyone. You could never pay
> me enough to make hurting you like that an appealing
> proposition."

This doesn't fix the primary problem in play here:  people simply do not
back up their data.  Now, while I will wholeheartedly admit that Windows
is a poor choice of an operating system IMHO, and I _will_ tell people
that if they ask why, I will answer them, attacking their choice of
operating system is a less than constructive use of both my and their
time.

If the ultimate goal is to get people to try the system, I've found the
approach that I take rather useful.  It takes patience and a lot of
time, but it's worth it to me to take that time if the end result is
what I'm looking for.
> 
> If they want or need or insist on an explanation as to WHY,
> I recite the full mantra:
> 
> "The only possible way to make a windows machine better is
> to remove windows. Windows is a disease and I don't want
> anyone, especially people I care about, to be crippled by it.
> It would be both illogical and unethical for me to be a party
> to infecting you or your personal technology systems with any
> form of Mafia$oft products.  If you want assistance with
> discovering and using the capable alternatives for your
> hardware, I'll be more than happy to cure your machine of
> windisease infections and install healthy, competent and
> functionally equivalent Free Software that will meet all
> basic your needs." 

I think you already know how I feel about that.

I prefer something along these lines:

"Microsoft as a company engages in many unethical and illegal practices.
It has very few truly original products in their line, and the way that
they do business is, if you take the time to learn about it, something
that will leave you wondering why you have been supporting it with your
money.

"However, there are better options.  One can purchase computers without
operating systems that are prefabricated, or buy parts directly from
vendors and assemble them and then choose their own operating system and
software.  I often do this, and I prefer to use Ubuntu* on my systems.
It will take some time investment to get used to the way things are laid
out on the system, but I've found that it's usually well worth it for
many others who have made the switch."

If someone doesn't want to just go with Ubuntu or another Linux
distribution as their primary operating system, I am not going to try to
manipulate them into doing so.  However, I *do* give people some
choices.  Usually, I set people up with a dual boot system between
Windows and Ubuntu, so that they can try out Ubuntu at their own pace.
Sometimes, I get someone who says something along the lines of, "Well, I
think I'd be fine with Ubuntu, but there's this one application..."  I
find that showing them that there are alternative applications that are
(often) better and more featureful is enough to alleviate this concern.

Sometimes, though, it isn't.  Sometimes, they really don't want to move
away from that one application, and so I'll tell them that they can
still use that application in one of two ways.  I'll try to set it up
for them running under Wine, and if that doesn't work, I'll offer to set
up a virtual machine running Windows for them that will house the
application.

Often, users concerns about migration are data-centric.  I've also
started taking users that have application software that they rely on
and trying to reverse-engineer the file formats in play so that I can
write utilities that will load their old data in a lossless manner into
a new system and ready for use by a new application.  I've succeeded at
this a couple of times before, and indeed I am working on another one of
these at present.  The application in this case is Microsoft Works 3.0,
specifically database files.  Of course, in order to effectively do
this, I generally have to have a copy of the software and an operating
system.

I do have Windows licenses that I can use for that purpose.  The
downside is that I've put a little bit of money into Microsoft's pocket.
The upshot is that I'm using those resources in order to help people
move away from the operating system, thereby taking more money out of
their pocket than I'm putting into it.  The net effect is that ethically
and morally, it is a net positive thing to do, and I'm happy with that.
(In many cases, neither Wine nor ReactOS are yet good enough to be able
to do these things with.  I do hope that one day they are, or better
yet, that one day it will not be necessary at all.)

I'd prefer to find ways to acquire licenses when I need them by not
putting money into Microsoft's pocket, but they already have money from
me for Windows XP and Windows Vista.  I see no reason (yet) to put money
in their pocket for Windows 7, but at some point if there is an
application that runs on Windows 7 and I need to move someone away from
it, I suspect that I may need to find a copy.  Hopefully, should I need
to acquire a copy, it will be far enough into the future that I can
acquire a second-hand retail copy and go from there.

And when the concern isn't one of data, but of user interface, the only
solution I generally have is to set users up with a VM (or Wine, if it
works) for their application software.  In some cases, these are
applications that the user has been using literally for years (in my
present case, these people have been using Microsoft Works 3.0 since it
was released!).  This tends to be more of an issue with things like
financial software such as Quicken.

But if someone truly doesn't want to try Ubuntu, then that is their
choice.  All I can do is educate the person on their choices, plant the
meme, so to speak, and wait for the meme to grow into an idea later down
the road.  I'll (barely) provide support for Windows systems for several
reasons, one being that I personally dislike the system, dislike the
company that sells the system, and dislike many things about it on
technical, legal, and ethical levels.  The second reason, of course,
being that while I can get around a Windows system just fine, I don't
know it like I know the UNIX family of operating systems.  And so, if
they insist on Windows, I tell them, that's fine.  I give them an image
copy that is known-good after installation and setup, and tell them to
keep it for later, and a second copy that I tell them to put in a safe
place like a safety deposit box.  I tell them to keep backups of their
data, so that if either of those restoration discs ever need to be used,
the whole mess of going through the entire system setup doesn't have to
be done again.

I charge by the hour so that is incentive for them to not lose the discs
and to back up their data.  I'm even willing to image the system if the
system is still in working condition and give them another set of
recovery discs.  Of course, I use Ubuntu to make the recovery discs, and
I use Ubuntu to restore them.  Eventually, they'll likely become more
curious and start wondering about this Ubuntu thing.  And that's an in,
which is good.

	--- Mike

-- 
Blog:  http://mike.trausch.us/blog/
Misc. Software:  http://mike.trausch.us/software/

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too
high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving
our mark.” —Michelangelo