Got about halfway to a migration...

One of the ladies who I work with has been having trouble with her computer.

First, she couldn't get DVD Shrink working on the preinstalled Vista. So I suggested putting Ubuntu and k9Copy on. I did that, and it worked alright. But then, for reasons I'm not entirely sure of, she decided to have somebody install Windows XP on the laptop. All hell broke loose - the person installed a weird pirated mashup of XP and Vista, inheriting the slowness of Vista, and causing instability in Outlook Express. Her DVD burner stopped working, too - not sure if it's a hardware problem or an OS problem.

Bob ("bob, bob, lick his knob") put the idea of building a desktop computer into my workmate's mind. I told her that I could build desktop computers, and I gave her a figure of how much the parts would cost for a rock-bottom, bargain-basement computer. I would build it for her without charging a cent for the labour. I said that it would be running Ubuntu.

At the end of the day, she said that she'd SMS me once she'd made up her mind. I got an SMS a few minutes ago, asking if I could install Windows XP on it.

A Windows XP OEM license is $149. Ironically, Vista is about $20 cheaper. But the biggest thing is that I would derive no pleasure out of the build, if it's running Windows. It would cost her a fair whack of cash more, and I have absolutely no confidence in my ability to install Windows and make it suitable for use (drivers, codecs, useful software etc). I couldn't guarantee that she won't have the same problems if she's using the same operating system, and I can't bring myself to feed her addiction to Microsoft.

What should I do?

Comments

[recycle]

Wiped Linux for Windows is sad.
I somewhat know what this is like.
If you decide to install Windows, I guess you will have to reinstall/repair it after some months.
Every time installing Windows feels like supporting a dark age. It's boring also.