Operating Systems

"It’s 2017. The desktop computer market is a little boring. Apple needs to find the courage to let its desktops be a little boring. It would serve the company’s pro users better, and the non-pro users are unlikely to care."

- Andrew Cunningham, Modern “Hackintoshes” show that Apple should probably just build a Mac tower, Ars Technica, May 1, 2017.

"Is the next device that we deploy going to be an iPad, is it going to be a Windows or an Android-based tablet?" said Merritt.

That's a question that the IT staff at United will answer in time, but the mere fact that it can investigate all three client device operating systems is a major change for corporate IT.

-Patrick Thibodeau, With Post-PC Era Comes Real OS Competition, CIO.com, October 26, 2012

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.

I'm one of the unfortunate souls that is a Verizon customer.  I'm unfortunate in the sense that my cell phone company has been very slow in bringing modern SmartPhones with full browser and Wifi capability under their service plans.  Oh how I would love to have an iPhone or G1 Android in my hand, but neither AT&T nor T-Mobile includes big 'ol South Dakota in their service plans.  But someday things may change and I might get the iPhone or possibly even better, the Palm Pre (we have Spring here!).

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.

Gizmodo published their first impressions of the Windows 7 operating system currently being developed by Microsoft.  Microsoft allowed developers and reviewers get a sneak peek of this Vista replacement during this week's Professional Developers Conference.  Gizmodo and other tech blogs have indicated Windows 7, although still incomplete, looks to be a better version of Windows than Vista.  Improvements in boot-up time, work-flow, performance, and user interface all take center stage with this new version of Windows.

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.

"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

I have a long history of using Windows and Linux systems at my place of work. I'm not into Windows bashing as the operating system and other Microsoft software historically has been a much needed standard for the business world. When my workplace had a choice of either installing a Windows 2003 server or a Linux server to support administrative functions, I chose Windows over Linux. However, as much as I wanted to see Windows Vista succeed in the office, I just don't see a future with Vista. Vista reminds me too much of Windows ME.