Re: xxd -i vs DIY Was: C23 thoughts and opinions

On Thu, 30 May 2024 13:31:18 +0200
David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> wrote:

On 30/05/2024 02:18, bart wrote:

On 29/05/2024 22:46, Malcolm McLean wrote: 

 

Exactly. Windows costs a fortune. 

 
Actually I've no idea how much it costs. 

 
The retail version is too much for a cheap machine, but a minor part
of the cost of a more serious computer.  The server versions and
things like MSSQL server are ridiculous prices - for many setups,
they cost more than the hardware, and that's before you consider the
client access licenses.
>

It depends.
If you need Windows server just to run your own applications or
certain 3rd-party applications without being file server and without
being terminal server (i.e. at most 2 interactive users logged on
simultaneously) then you can get away with Windows Server Essential.
It costs less than typical low end server hardware.
MS-SQL also has many editions with very different pricing.
I think, nowadays even Oracle has editions that is not ridiculously
expensive. Not sure about IBM DB2.

 
But whatever it is, I'm not adverse to the idea of having to pay
for software. After all you have to pay for hardware, and for
computers, I would happily pay extra to have something that works
out of the box.

 
I have nothing against paying for software either.  I mainly use
Linux because it is better, not because it is free - that's just an
added convenience.  I have bought a number of Windows retail licenses
over the decades, to use with machines I put together myself rather
than OEM installations.
 
I'm not so sure about "works out of the box", however.  On most
systems with so-called "pre-installed" Windows, it takes hours for
the installation to complete, and you need to answer questions or
click things along the way so you can't just leave it to itself.  And
if the manufacturer has taken sponsorship from ad-ware and crap-ware
vendors, it takes more hours to install, and then you have hours of
work to uninstall the junk.
>

I don't remember anything like that in case of cheap mini-PC from my
previous post. It took a little longer than for previous mini-PC with
Win10 that it replaced, and longer than desktop with Win7, but we are
still talking about 10-15 minutes, not hours.
May be, quick Internet connection helps (but I heard that in Norway it
is quicker).
Or, may be, people that sold me a box, did some preliminary work.
Or, may be, your case of installation was very unusual.

On the other hand, I routinely see IT personal at work spending several
hours installing non-OEM Windows, esp. on laptops and servers. On
desktops it tends to be less bad.