Category: Vista Stinks

Windows 7: What happens if I just keep the trial?

For those of us with a full cup of Windows Vista hate, the answer is to run to Windows 7.  The release candidate (RC) is out and I too plan to overwrite Vista with this as soon as I can get my head above water.   But this article from Lifehacker made me laugh this morning.  What will happen when you get the Windows 7 RC and fail to upgrade to the paid version?  At first (in March 2010) you’ll get a nag/pop up.  I’d expect that.  Then in June, you’d expect to be locked out, right.  But no, even funnier.  You can use it for 30 minutes. Then it auto-reboots – without warning.  🙂  Maybe it’s just me, but that’s funny and worse than a total lockout.  Like what you see?  Too ba(reboot).

It’s all fine.  They don’t have to give you a nag-free year to begin with. If you don’t want to pay for your operating system, then get Ubuntu (or some other flavor of Linux).

Only 2 minor hickups after upgrading to Ubuntu 9.04

I’m up and running with the latest Ubuntu release.  It’s an upgrade from 8.10 which was an upgrade from 8.04.. you get the idea.

Only two hick-ups so far.  The first, compiz boogered up on my leaving my Panels (or menu bars as some call them) not displaying properly.  I finally had to reset them back to square one.  Which is really easy to do, thanks to this post: How to Reset Ubuntu/Gnome Settings to Defaults without Re-installing.

My next minor problem was even easier to fix: Hide the drive and partition icons from my desktop.  Ubuntu question #2625: “removing icons from the desktop”.

I also had to reconfigure my compiz settings manually. Everytime I restored from the back up profile, it boogered up something again making me reset my gnome defaults.

If you are a Ubuntu newbie and don’t understand half of what I just said, please feel free to post a comment or check in the Ubuntu Forums.  We were all new once.

Don’t have Ubuntu or even know what it is?

Check out their website: www.ubuntu.com or nag me to put up a screencast of my own desktop.

Dvorak Likes Linux – Columns by PC Magazine

Dvorak nails it on this column.  But a couple points:  I look forward to the day when I read an install review without any minor glitches (yes, they are far and few between – but there’s still work to be done).  Secondly, when you take his advice and you hit a snag.  Don’t give up.. Buzz me or ask in the Ubuntu forums.  You’ll find the answer.. now back to Dvorak’s comments.

I’m tired of dealing with Windows malware, patch Tuesday, and the never-ending deterioration of the OS as it clogs up like a drain in a greasy-spoon restaurant. I can’t take it anymore.

And there’s something else that always bugs me about Windows. I have an iMac that I use at the office, and a few times every month Apple has some patch that it sends out. With few exceptions, each time a patch is installed with the Mac OS, the performance of the machine improves. With Windows, the performance always declines.

I don’t think Microsoft has ever sent out a patch that improved the performance of the machine. Ever.

read the whole column here >  Dvorak Likes Linux – PC Magazine.

The New Microsoft Seinfeld Ad

I imagine when the news that Microsoft first signed Jerry Seinfeld for 10 Million dollars to push Vista, that Steve Jobs and Co. at Mac had this “oh, this can’t be good” feeling in theirlower intestinal regions.  Well the ad is out.. and it is just bizarre.

Ad-man-super-genius, Roy Williams, has often said, “know what to leave out.”  But in this case It’s almost like an admission that Vista does suck.

That wind ablowin’ is a collective sigh of releif from Mac.

Cup of Ubuntu anyone?