Some video from CNET on five reasons you should get the iPad and another five reasons why you should not get the iPad. If you can't see the video, then perhaps reason number 6 for not getting an iPad is that it can't do Flash. Thank Apple's Steve Jobs for that decision.

Have you seen the new PC vs. Mac ads?  No, I'm not talking about those ads by Apple, but Microsoft's latest commercials.  Without taking sides in this war, I have to admit that Microsoft is finally doing a good a better job in their marketing. Of course, just the fact that Microsoft is no longer mentioning Vista by name can be enough to improve sales on PCs.

We can debate all we want to about whether Linux will ever beat Microsoft's Windows or Apple's OS X on the computer's desktop.  To be honest though, the opinion that matters to me the most is my own opinion.  Except for the occasional hardware compatibility issue, Linux is the operating system I have found to be the most dependable.

I know what most of you are thinking and let me address what is on your mind at this very moment. No, I'm not blinded with nerd goggles.  In fact, I'm currently writing this post from a Windows Vista PC while my wife in the next room is on her MacBook Pro.  Windows and OS X have earned their roles on the computer stage and I would be the last person to dismiss these great operating systems.  However, these days I'm finding that Linux has just as much of a right to this stage when debating the value of operating systems.  

Perhaps, I'm just saying this after finding a new variant of the Vundo trojan on a PC with Windows XP.  A trojan that even some of the better anti-virus software can't detect or remove.  That trojan took 25 working hours to analyze and remove from the infected Windows PC.  Or, perhaps I'm favoring Linux because after being mandated to install anti-virus software on the Linux boxes, I found not a single piece of malicious software on the systems.  I am also filled with joy because I'm nearing the purchase of a laptop with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed knowing that the entire laptop is likely to cost me far less than the MacBook Pro I bought my wife last year.  Linux, you are a sweetheart in my eyes.

Ironic how the world can change so quickly.  Yesterday, the CIO of my organization began enforcing the use of anti-virus software on all of our Linux clients and servers.  Today, I read that Apple is telling its Mac users to purchase anti-virus software.  Something nasty is brewing out there.

Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult.

Initial reports by Brian Krebbs, Security Fix and The Register.

ComputerWorld has put together one of the greatest # Best lists I've seen in a long time.  Check out 15 great turning points in tech history.

In every industry there are key milestones that mark a change in the course of history, and the fast-moving technology field has more than its share. Presented here are 15 turning points that shaped the computing world as we know it today, including some that still continue to influence its direction for years to come.

I can't decide which is my favorite moment in computer history, but as someone that was fascinated with then ousted Steve Jobs's company NeXT this rang true for me:

In 1996, with no release date for Copland in sight, then-CEO Gil Amelio made one of the toughest decisions in Apple's history. Abandoning the Copland money-pit, he acquired upstart NeXT, which not only had a Unix-based operating system that could be modified to run on the Mac but also Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as its CEO.

Whatever your favorite turning point in computer history, I think you will enjoy the list as much as I did.

My apologies for writing so much about hardware and not content management this week. I suppose though, if Dean Barker at Gadgetopia can talk about content management, I can occasionally discuss gadgets here at CMS Report. Sometimes it helps to take a look at the devices we use to view our content just as much as it helps looking at the software we use to run our Web content management systems. Well, at least this is my excuse for not being fixated so much on content management.

In Thursday morning's Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossberg did a review of the Asus Eee PC. The article, Asus Offers Travelers Small, Mobile Eee PC, but It’s Too Cramped, can be found in his column archive (a Wordpress site). I had been waiting for someone of his stature do a review on this product, but I was a little disappointed to see yet another review of a non-Apple device (this one is Linux based) be so negative.

Rich Hoeg, eContent, purchased himself the Nokia N800. The N800 is a linux based handheld Internet tablet with functions similar to those of Apple's iTouch. I'm not sure either device is for me, but I've been in a little bit of an anti-Apple and anti-Windows funk lately...that I felt it worth mentioning here. Rich Hoeg has this to say about the N800:

I've created a short screencast
which demonstrates many of the features found upon the Nokia N800.
However, here are a few of the reasons I chose the Nokia over the iPod
Touch:

• Open Source Platform and Software
• Bluetooth and Wifi Enabled
• Embedded Microphone (Skype anyone?)

The practical result of these three facts is that the capability of
my Nokia N800's is constantly expanding as developers create new
software for a platform which is not locked down (i.e. like Apple). The
fact that is was cheaper than the iTouch did not hurt either (about
$220 U.S.)...

The rest of Hoeg's discussion about the N800 can be found in his article, A Geek's Toy ... For Anyone! The Nokia N800.

The latest review I've read on the KDE desktop is from Ars Technica, A first look at KDE 4.0 release candidate 2. While the author notes that a lot of improvements still need to be made to KDE 4.0, overall it should be an impressive desktop. I'm contemplating that my next laptop will be fully Linux and hoping KDE 4.0 will bring enough Wow to impress others on why I didn't choose to go the Windows or Mac route.

Last summer, I reluctantly chose Windows Vista for my home desktop computer. I mainly bought the system knowing I needed an edge for when we finally introduced the new Microsoft operating system at work (so far we continue to downgrade our boxes at work from Vista to XP). Needless to say, I'm not too impressed with Vista.

There are some that argue that Vista was released too soon, but I'll argue that after five years of development, it was released to late. I can't help but wonder if post versions of Windows XP had been released in a 1 to 2 year cycle how much better developers would have a handle on the bugs and users would have understood the new features.

Last week, I mentioned that Mozilla is planning to give the Firefox browser a makeover.  Alex Faaborg had mentioned that they plan to integrate the look of Firefox with Microsoft's Windows Vista and Apple's Mac OS X.  The problem was Alex had failed to mention anything about the Linux operating system.  Linux users, of course, then replied by comment that they were unhappy that there was no mention of Linux in the post.

I even replied with my own poorly written comment (#33) that there was a perception that Mozilla was abandoning Linux users by not also paying attention to the Linux desktop.  Alex eventually responded via e-mail and his blog (#35) that he "dropped the ball" by not mentioning Firefox 3 on Linux.   Mozilla was indeed looking at how they could integrate Firefox 3 (still in alpha) with the Linux desktop.

Interesting stuff, right?  Yes, but not really the point for why I'm writing this post.  In my reply to Alex's response I wrote something that was later disturbing to me.

Alex Faaborg has some mock-up images on his blog of what Firefox 3 will look like on both Microsoft's Windows Vista and Apple's Mac OS X.  I have yet to see any images for what Firefox 3 may look on a Linux box and many of those commenting are also not happy Linux was left out of the picture.

You can see the mock-ups yourself by clicking here.

The visual for Firefox 3 on Vista looks very nice but I'm not so sure about the the visual for the Mac.  The Mozilla bloggers are giving a lot of reasons for why Firefox on the Mac will look the way it does...and that worries me.  The more effort someone spends trying to convince me of something, the more evident it is to me that the idea isn't selling itself.