Disposable PCs?

Staggeringly, the New York Times is reporting (registration required) that people are getting so overwhelmed with Windows malware (viruses, spyware and so on) that instead of cleaning their computers up, they’re actually starting to throw them away and buy new ones!

Tucker, an Internet industry executive with a doctorate in computer science, decided that rather than take the time to remove the offending software, he would spend $400 on a new machine.
“It was cheaper and faster,” he said.

Apart from the terrible environmental impact of throwing away all those old computers, what does this say about the parlous state of the Windows world? Fortunately, the Guardian has run an article about the excellent Knoppix. If you’ve got an old PC, or even a new one, get hold of the Knoppix LiveDVD. You put the DVD into your PC when you start it up and it configures itself and gives you a full running Linux system without touching your hard disc at all (in other words, it’s totally risk free). It comes with desktops that are prettier and easier to use than Windows, office suites (plural!), email and web browsers (including Firefox), graphics software, hundreds of games, everything you could possibly want (5300 programs), including proper firewall and anti-virus software. You can even update your software online with little more than a mouse click, and save the new versions onto a USB memory stick for next time. If you run a business, it’s even got a full LAMP stack (linux, Apache web server, MySQL database and PHP/Python/Perl scripting). And despite all this, it’s extraordinarily easy to use and totally free – no cost and no restrictions. The Guardian article finishes with this question.

When you have instant access to 50,000 free programs, why bother paying extra for a proprietary operating system that only comes with 50?

Why indeed?

(_The new Knoppix 4 will be out very soon – currently, it’s only available via BitTorrent download. A little patience could reap a great reward_ :-)
Thanks to GROKLAW for the tip)