Problems in changing the Operating System

Software tips -> Problems in changing the Operating System

There are many versions of windows operating systems. There are many linux distributions provided by many companies. Based on friend's advice and IT magazines recommendations, many change their operating systems. Change is always good. But change doesn't always necessarily mean good. This is an experience shared by allpctips visitor. He was using Windows 98. One day his friend asked him why he was still using the operating system released in 1998 and suggested that he change to Windows XP. So this visitor upgraded his OS from windows 98 to Windows XP. The look and feel of XP compared to 98 was too good and he was very happy with his decision. Only when he tried to play songs from his CD, he noticed that there was no sound. His sound card was not working. The service engineer was called and the engineer found that the driver for the sound card was suitable for XP. Therefore they searched for the suitable driver for the sound card in the manufacturer's website, but the model of sound card in question was no longer supported and there was no driver for XP. Therefore he had to either switch back to 98 or buy a new sound card. He decided to buy a new card. The second visitor's experience is even more bitter. Having read a lot about linux operating system, he changed his windows 98 OS to Mandrake's linux distribution. Since the interface of the Mandrake linux OS looked familiar to windows environment, he didn't have much problem using the computer. The problem started only when he tried to connect to the Internet. The modem that he was using did not have a driver for Linux. But since he did not want to buy a new modem, this visitor is still not able to connect to the Internet. The only common reason for these two visitor's problems was their decision to change to a new Operating System from their existing ones. I am not saying that you should not change your Operating Systems. When you change to a newer version of the Operating System, there is no doubt that you get more features. For example when you change to XP you get Windows Firewall, USB 2.0 etc. If you need additional facilities then you should change to a new Operating System. But at the same time be ready to discard your very old hardware and upgrade your hardware too. Or instead of removing the existing OS and replacing it with the new OS, you can try the dual booting method and use both OS in the same computer. You can read the how to use multiple OS in the same computer article.