Um... What Operating System Did You Have When You First Learned Of DU ???

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31. does it really matter if XP's "supported"?

I mean it won't blow up or anything (more than usual), and their antivirus software is next to useless anyway ... all you'll miss out on is the steady stream of security patches (which I install every year or two, because I like life on the edge, or maybe there's a higher chance of it breaking stuff than actually solving a problem), and I suspect 3rd parties (maybe even freeware ones) will fill in the void if there's a truly ZOMG exploit.

Installing Linux is the easy part, using it might be daunting at first (tho it's mostly painless these days), it's basically the same boss once you get used to Not-Quite-Microsoft-Office and occasionally having to google things like "my grub config did what?" ... I think everyone should run 20 year old computers instead of paying The Man for something 2^10 times faster with 2^10 times the useless bloatware. It's just an economy built around planned obsolescence, like General Motors or those newfangled Walmart microwaves. Most people don't really care about Bluetooth 20.0 or Infiniband powered optical mice, I think it's mainly marketing hype to convince grandma to trade in her Oldsmobile.