Those that have followed my blogs over the years know full well that I'm operating system neutral. At work I use Windows and Linux right next to each other. At home my family uses a mix of Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux PCs. I have my likes and dislikes with each operating system. I don't drink the kool aid with any of the systems as I'm not easily impressed with what I see.

During the past couple years, I've been extremely disappointed in Windows Vista and consider the experience delivered by the operating system to be just as bad as Windows ME. It has long been my view that if Microsoft screwed up Windows 7 we could kiss the Windows line goodbye and for evermore be just as happy with both OS X and Linux (with Ubuntu as my favorite Linux client). However, it looks like Microsoft's developers have responded well to the criticism and Windows 7 is going to deliver the goods consumers and enterprises need in their operating system.

I've been testing Windows 7 since Beta 2 and currently have the Release Candidate version on my desktop. It is a great operating system and delivers on the performance and stability improvements Microsoft promised but didn't keep in Vista. Surprisingly, my favorite feature in Windows 7 is the task bar. The task bar is a delight to work with and in my opinion outshines the outdated Dock in OS X. Windows 7 is such an improvement that I just don't see myself complaining about this operating system in the same way I did with Vista. Those days are coming to an end.

Not long ago I wrote that KDE 4 might produce enough changes to its look and feel to help Linux become more Mac-like.  At the time, Windows Vista seemed to be trying to move in the same direction.  Interestingly, someone has noted that Windows 7 now appears to be moving towards Linux's direction with the Windows desktop looking more like KDE 3.5.

The review
features screenshots and I must say, even though it has not convinced
me, Windows 7 is a step forward from Vista, at least as far as the GUI
is concerned.  Aside from the removal of some annoying Vista bells and
whistles and the new Peek and Snap window-management enhancements, it
is difficult not to notice the resemblance between Microsoft’s
much-touted revamped Aero and the excellent, now 3-years old, KDE 3.5.x.

Personally, I think Microsoft, Apple, and the Linux desktop developers have run out of ideas.  Any new innovation for these desktops seem to be ideas borrowed and improved from each other's desktops.  This is one of the reasons why I have lost my "wow" when it comes to operating systems.  In 2007, I wrote:

With PCs or laptops at my house now containing Windows, Linux, and
Apple computers, I'm a three-operating system household.  It dawned on
me that indeed "this is a frustrating time" for me when it comes to
operating systems for personal computers.  For all the "variety" of
computers we use in my home, they basically have the same features and
from a user's perspective the operating systems are really not all that
unique from each other.

Last Tuesday evening, I upgraded my Windows Vista desktop to Service Pack 1. If you regularly visit my blog, you know that I'm a long-time user of both Windows and Linux. You also know, that I've been deeply disappointed in Windows Vista.

The install of Vista SP1 went smoothly and I haven't discovered any of the driver issues other Windows users are having. This shouldn't be a surprise since I did have good luck running my box on the SP1 RC1 Refresh. Performance has been slightly improved since the original version of Vista. More importantly, I don't have to reboot my PC once a day just so I can get my LAN connectivity back. In short, Vista users will want to upgrade to SP1, but I still recommend those happy with their Windows XP, Linux, or Mac desktops to stay exactly right where they are.

"At day's end, what I found was that Vista SP1 really has not improved that much from Vista. The Linux desktop, on the other hand, has improved since I first compared MEPIS 6 to Vista. It's not so much Linux has improved its performance as it has increased its ease of use and hardware compatibility. The Linux desktop of early 2008 is clearly better than the Linux desktop of early 2007. The same cannot be said of Vista."

- Steven J. Vaughan-Nicholas, "Vista SP1: Still lagging behind the Linux desktop", DesktopLinux.com, March 4, 2008

A few weeks ago, I seriously thought about buying either Apple's latest MacBook or a Windows laptop where I could dual boot between the laptops native operating systems and Linux. In the end, I chose to install Linux on a three year old laptop. This old laptop isn't just any laptop but one of the first sub-$1000 laptops that hit the United States market. The laptop is the Averatec 3220 and over time I've found it just too sluggish for running Windows XP.

This old Averatec 3220 had a lot of negatives going its way for installing Linux. The laptop is from a company that almost no one knows so support was limited. Even Google had a tough time helping me find "best practices" for installing Linux on this particular laptop model. This particular laptop includes an AMD Athlon XP-M 2000+ processor, 512 MB RAM (upgraded from the original 256 MB), a 12.1 inch screen, and both Ethernet and wireless networking capabilities. The laptop could barely be considered "up to date" with regards to hardware, although its exterior is designed well and doesn't look dated like other laptops of the same age.

Before I discuss my troubles with installing Linux on this laptop, let me first talk about the positives. During the past two weeks, using Linux on this laptop has been pure joy.

PC World recently released their list of the 15 biggest disappointments of 2007. Two of the items on that list didn't surprise me, but two other items were shocking to see on the list but in reflection absolutely true.

I wasn't surprised to see that both Apple's "Leopard" OS 10.5 (#8) and Microsoft's Windows Vista (#1) on the list. I've been talking about my disappointment on the state of the computer desktip for sometime now. I'm just glad to see others have noticed the problem so I don't look like Mr. Glum to everyone.

However, I was surprised to see two content management system related items that made the list.

Desktop Linux has an interesting story for Linux users, Google Desktop arrives on Linux.

Google has finally released a long-awaited native Linux application: Google Desktop for Linux. As with the already shipping OS X and Windows versions, Google Desktop enables Linux users to search for text inside documents, local email messages, their Web history, and their Gmail accounts.

Now what I'm not certain is whether this is a good thing or bad thing.  Call me paranoid but I'm just not comfortable inviting an online service to search my desktop whether the OS is either Linux or Windows.  If you prefer to have convenience over security then please feel free to download it at Google.

Those that have followed my writings (even from the WebCMSForum days) know I've spent about the past year or two dealing with an aging  PC.  Even the wife, who doesn't always appreciate the geek part of her husband, says it is time for a computer upgrade.  When she says it's time, you know the deadline is near to order up a new computer.

For the past several years I've configured my home PCs with a dual-boot of Windows/Linux.  While there are some things I don't like about Apple's propriety hardware for it's OS, the need for something different has me considering purchasing a Mac.  However, as I posted at the Open Source Community, I've started to wonder if over time the desktops for Linux and the Mac won't be that much different from one another.

KDE 4.0: Why I likely won't get a Mac -

Desktop Linux has an article and shapshots out on the first alpha version of KDE 4.0. The article is titled, KDE 4.0 alpha arrives!.

Features in this alpha version of KDE include:

• A new visual appearance through Oxygen (think Aqua)