Why I use what I use (software)

Hi all,

Ever wondered what geeks do at home? What kind of operating systems they run? Well, here's a snapshot into the life of one such person, me. In this article, I open my soul and talk about the operating systems I use, including the driving motives and reasons for the choices made, like stability, long-term support, availability of software, games, and others.

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/why-use.html


Cheers,
Mrk

 

Very interesting, thanks.

 

Thanks, it is always stimulating to read your thoughts about the computer world. I still like to understand why would you go for a month without rebooting your Windows system, in order to test its stability, and why with Windows and not Linux.

 

It's more than just stability ... it simply works for a month without rebooting, so why reboot? The same goes for Linux machines. If there are no indications of distress, why reboot?
Mrk

 

Well, I don't know but in principle when I leave a room at night I tend to switch off the lights, and I'm not really playing the environmentalist here. I know some people have their computers on like other people keep their TV on all the time. Is there a particular benefit in keeping a computer on all the time?

 

Yes. There's less wear and tear on the system that way, particularly the drive itself where the less rotations there are the better. Read/Write heads can fail surprisingly easy as there are still mechanical in nature, so it's good to limit their use when possible. Obviously, this does not apply to SSDs.

 

I ran my last desktop 24/7 for over 5 years without anything failing. So I'm not sure, but it almost seems like having it on all the time was less wear and tear than turning it on and off all the time.

 

It's about steady state. When your hardware reaches its optimal work temperature and stays there, there's less damage and wear due to metal/plastic thermal expansion and sudden spikes of electricity when powering up or down.

I have machines running for years without powering down except when on long vacation or such, and they work fine. Purring along, happy and content.

Mrk

 

I wonder which is less expensive -- (1) paying for the power consumed by "always on" OR (2) paying for repairs/replacement caused by wear&tear of daily on/off of your computer?

I would think option 1 is more expensive. Why? Because I use option 2 & the only repair to my computer -- purchased in 1999 -- was a new HD in Dec 2009. That's ~10 years with only one major repair/replacement.

Of course, my experience may not be typical. For one thing, I am using a custom-built computer -- as contrasted with, say, an HP computer. (I have heard that HPs break down about once a week, on average. )

 

I don't know. My monthly pc-related electricity bill is about 30-40 dollars, so in the last 5 years say, I paid 60 months x30-40 dollars ~ 2,000 dollars, which is more or less the price of the two machines constantly powered on.

Laptops and other peripherals and a bit harder to include in the sum, but taking only desktops in equation, I paid their value in electrons. Now, if they had problems, I might have cashed out more, but most likely not. However, don't forget nerves, restores, pain, anger, trips to shop, these also cost money.

I think the bill comes down to the same bottom line, the first being more anger-free and malfunction-free, the second being cheaper

Mrk

 

It's actually (3) paying for the time lost while w/o computer during repair plus any data lost due to HW failure; dunno how you, but people rarely do a full back up more than once a week, but even if it's just one day worth of work, it may be a major PITA.