@kd7ota,
replacing the mobo is not an option as this is my business system and just had the mobo replaced under warranty about two months ago. The warranty is for another 3 years and I don't think another brand mobo would fit as cleanly inside this XPS tower case, the design is actually very well thought out IMHO. I hesitated buying my Dell but it was too tempting with the employee discount offered plus another percentage off due to it being on sale to the public at the time I bought. Also Apple had not switch to Intel inside yet, or I would have probably waited until I could afford a Mac desktop or tower.
@gdanko,
You are right, I never should have let myself get sucked into becoming dependent on any Windows only programs. But you must admit that it is an easy thing to do when almost all the best programmers, and applications are written for Windows first and so many are never ported to other OSes. I did begin using an Amiga CAD program called Cycas, before the bankruptcy I think. But then later switched to a Windows program and once you spend years learning and becoming good at using one CAD program, you don't want to spend the months of time learning another. I have looked for CAD programs for the Mac and did not like them, or their price either. I don't know, but I don't think there is a Linux CAD program that is as good as the one I use and for the price my program (TurboCAD) can't be beat, unless there is something that is free.
After being forced into early retirement due to health problems, and until I can get my own business to become profitable, I don't have the money right now to replace the other programs that have cost me hundreds of dollars, if not thousands and I have not taken the time to become comfortable with Linux to explore all that it has to offer in the way of free, or low cost programs, but doubt it has the equivalent financial programs that I would feel secure with and that would have the same feature set.
So, yes, I am stuck for now and will continue to use Windows for certain business critical tasks while I wait for an opportunity to switch to a Mac, Linux, or Amiga :lol: solution.
For now I will just have to minimize the pain and trouble of using windows like most of the rest of the population in the world. :boohoo:
