Thinking about replying to a conversation on facebook.

[Virgil0211]

I was reading a facebook convo between some of my friends (whom I shall hereby dub 'person #' to protect the ignorant) and my bogometer spiked at points throughout. I was wondering if anyone thought it would be worthwhile to respond. I'm heading out the door, so the formatting is a bit rough, but here it is:

Person 1
So. My desktop is fucked. Who wants to help me build a new one?
Like ·  · Yesterday at 1:16am · Privacy:

Person 2 Well, it's not that hard. You get some lumber and some nails.... That isn't what you meant is it?
Yesterday at 1:22am · Like

Person 1 Not quite, no.
Yesterday at 1:23am · Like

Person 4 What are you thinking about to put under the hood?
Yesterday at 1:41am · Like

Person 1 I have no clue.
Yesterday at 2:05am · Like

Person 5 I think Josephine is on to something wit hthat wood Case idea though. Would probably have to be water cooled though. don't want fires to happen due to processor heat.
Yesterday at 6:56am · Like

Person 2 Yeah, I have actually seen one of those. Pretty awesome looking, but definitely a pain to maintain.
Yesterday at 7:13am · Like

Person 2 But seriously, what kinda budget are you looking at? Are you wanting something for gaming, or just schoolwork and basic stuff, or a combination? What is the most graphic/cpu intensive game/program that you use?
Yesterday at 7:15am · Like

Me: Check out CPUSolutions.com and see what you can get there.
Yesterday at 8:10am · Like

Person 1 I mostly need something for general internet use and school. My Laptop is pretty new and decent for games... I haven't actually played any games on my desktop in a while...It has issues.
Yesterday at 8:25am · Like

Person 1 I'm looking to spent around $400 on it.
Yesterday at 9:01am · Like

Person 2 Let me do some pricing and see what I can come up with. I am guessing you already have an OS?
23 hours ago · Like

Person 1 No, I'll likely need one...
21 hours ago · Like

Person 2 k.
21 hours ago · Like

Person 1 And I know that adds about 100 right off...
21 hours ago · Like

Person 2 yep. on the cheap end. 100 will get you a basic stock OEM OS, anything flashy will cost more. That is, if you want to go with Windows, which I assume you do.
21 hours ago · Like

Person 1 I've used windows 7, it's solid...
21 hours ago · Like

Person 2 Yep, that's what I use too. Mine was 89, for the 64 bit version, back in March. The 32 bit OEM version is around 99.
21 hours ago · Like

Person 1 My current desktop was discount stuff back in 04-ish when it was built... So I'm okay with hardware that's a couple years out of date.
20 hours ago · Like

Person 3 hahaha paying for windows
13 hours ago · Like

Person 3 it is to laugh
13 hours ago · Like

Person 3 anyway gonna recommend you get a nice monitor and keyboard/mouse and speakers docking deal for your laptop instead of splurging on a new computer
13 hours ago · Like

Person 2 Yes, Tobi, paying for Windows. That is what honest people do. And it is the dishonest people that make it cost so much for the rest of us.
13 hours ago · Like

Person 1 ‎*sits back with popcorn to enjoy yet another con-friend vs internet-friend argument on his facebook*
13 hours ago · Like

Person 3 I care plenty about paying people for their work but a jobless college student on financial aid does not have any moral imperative to throw a monetary drop in the ocean to a multinational corporation. That money has better places it can go.
12 hours ago · Like

Person 3 You should be honest because you care about how it affects people not just for honesty's sake.
12 hours ago · Like

Person 2 Oh, no, I get that. And I am - if you note the sentance where I pointed out how pirating the software affects all the others forced to pay an inflated price.
12 hours ago · Like

Person 2 And there is this little trick - just fyi. If you are a college student on financial aide, the financial aide will pay for things you need to accomplish your school work, including computer software. And you can get a killer student discount on it even. Just saying.
12 hours ago · Like

Person 3 My point is you're not forced. Windows should really be free for non-commercial use anyway.
12 hours ago · Like

Person 3 Oh god now I sound like a linux zealot.
12 hours ago · Like

Person 2 Haha, yeah, I agree with you there. Or they should at least do what several other companies do and offer a bare bones version for free.
12 hours ago · Like

Person 2 That would impress enough people that they would be willing to pay for the upgrades,.
12 hours ago · Like

Person 1 Don't they do something like that on laptops?
12 hours ago · Like

Person 2 No, they sell you a laptop with the lowest ranked OS, and the price is factored into the price of the laptop
12 hours ago · Like

Person 3 Charging for Windows 7 Starter is highway robbery. Max 3 programs running at a time and you can't set desktop wallpaper.
12 hours ago · Like

Person 2 Heh, charging for Vista starter was way worse. It killed my lappy. I couldn't run anything properly because of the amount of cpu power vista took.
12 hours ago · Like

Person 3 Vista was a complete clusterfuck.
12 hours ago · Like

Person 2 And then some.
12 hours ago · Like

Person 2 On my laptop they blocked you into it though. Laptop wouldn't handle 7 without serious upgrades and it was impossible to backroll to XP.
12 hours ago · Like

Person 3 ‎7 is actually way less intensive than vista, I ran 7 professional on my little ASUS netbook with a gig of RAM and a single-core Atom processor.
12 hours ago · Like

Person 2 yeah, it is less intensive, but the hardware scan I did told me it wouldn't run. I don't remember what the issue was. But the lap top had enough problems that it didn't hurt my feelings any when I gave it up for the desktop.

What do you think?

[MrBogosity]

First off, I'll second the recommendation of CPUSolutions, with the caveat that you should double-check places like TigerDirect and NewEgg to see if there are any good specials going.

What are you wondering about with the rest? 7 does seem to be less intensive than Vista, and MUCH less problematic. I think it was bogus of Microsoft to charge as a major revision what was really a massive bug fix, but that's a different issue.

[FSBlueApocalypse]

As shitty as Vista ran, its more like they charged full price for Windows 7 beta

[Virgil0211]

It was less about the computer stuff and more about the economics. File sharing doesn't necessarily result in decreased profits for Microsoft, as those who do so are unlikely to purchase the product otherwise. Then the stuff about how basic Windows should be free got a bit on my nerves. I mean Windows isn't Linux, and I dont mean just the names. The development and post-installation support systems are completely different. Things like that.

Keep in mind, person 2 recently defended warren buffet's article in the times. Not just his position, but trying to argue that he was still altruistic despite his conflict of interest. Person 3 argued that racism was primarily "right-wing" and favored fining Best Buy when they barred a customer after they tried to fix a screw up by giving him the service he asked for free of charge and said customer responded by filing charges for the initial screw up.