I’m sorry to report that I have returned to using Windows as my primary operating system. The inability to use RoboForm, Quicken, and Goodsol just got to be too much of an irritant. Further, the odd behavior of Linux – why can’t I get it to automount all my drives on boot? How do I get it to establish a swap file? Why is program installation still such a pain in the ass in far too many cases?
I can make it work, and I have done so for several months. But I’m going back to Windows because, well, it’s just easier, and it just works.
I have done what I can to escape the Dark Force of Redmond, though. I’m running Win2K as my operating system, which doesn’t phone home, doesn’t make obstreperous demands about online registration, and still works pretty darned good for a grandpappy of an OS.
And I’m running Firefox, Thunderbird, and Lightning as well as OpenOffice.org, so I’m essentially free of Microsoft’s mandates. I’ll continue to use as much open source stuff as I can find, and there is a lot of it out there, so that’s all good.
And eventually, a Linux will come along that lets me run all the stuff I want to, with no hassles. Pretty soon, I expect.
I’m looking forward to it.
Good news Brussels is winning. The EU court upheld the trial court in the monopoly case against MS. That was on XP I expect a case to be filed concerning Vista soon.
That day isn’t far off. I, too, am stuck with a Windows version as my primary, although use Linux whenever possible, except for the cases where it simply has to be Windows.
Want to get away from Redmond software? There are a group of people trying to create an open source version of XP. It’s called React OS and is still pre-1.0, which means it’s a bit buggy. However, from my Live CD tests, it seems to run Windows based software fairly painlessly. It also acts like you’ve come to expect an OS to act. Anyway, just something to think about.
I once had win95 undebugged in a PC sometimes it would crash within 30 seconds and not stay up till after 6 or 7 tries. other times it would run for 5 or 6 hours.
Since XP, Vista, and Linux all crash from time to time whats it matter?
Will it run Battlefield?
how about an open source version of something like Quicken?
No Quicken, no Linux. This is non-negotiable.
There are many of us who don’t consider it good news that a massive and arbitrary European bureaucracy fines an American company half a billion dollars because they put a media player in their operating system.
You like EU mandates, genes? I knew you hated Microsoft, but I never would have thought you hated them so much you’d prefer the Euroweenies.
I don’t like either of them. If EU knocks Bill Gates down I’m fine with that. I have no problem with the media player, I use Nero for burning and MPClassic or Powerdvd for viewing. I do have a problem with not being able to remove IE. I did have a problem with having to reformat to get MSN off my hard drive. No, I do not want unnecessary programs I can’t delete from my hard drive. Since Gates bought the Clinton Justice department, Georgie is a wimp and Gates money allows him to ignore what the consumers want I’ll reluctantly take their dubious help.
I went back and forth a number of times before making a permanent switch to GNU/Linux. I suppose what made it easier for me was that Intuit told me they didn’t value my business any more (by their actions, not their words). For some other Windows only programs, I use Wine. If the need arose to use some Windows programs that doesn’t work with Wine, I can virtualize a Windows XP session as a last resort. And, now that Dell is offering computers with Ubuntu pre-loaded, one can avoid paying the Microsoft tax without going through the trouble (or having the pleasure) of building your own.
Of course the three things you mention aren’t hard (numbers 1 and 2 are basically editing your /etc/fstab and apt-get will do most of the work for you most of the time). But I appreciate that Linux still needs a bit of guru-dom to master. The problem comes when you try to make it easy enough for the ordinary guy to use: two thirds of your code is making it bozo-proof, and then you end up with Windows, which foxes people like me who have a quarter century beating on computers until they submit and find ourselves asking, “who the fuck wrote this? Just do what I told you.”
I would say in my work environment, 95% of my tech support time is devoted to fixing Windows issues, 4% to network infrastructure things and the remaining 1% to Linux support. How often do you Windows users have the ability to say:
[david@l### ~]$ uptime
1:32AM up 196 days, 12:17, 1 user, load averages: 0.10, 0.18, 0.09
That server was rebooted when we physically moved it across town.
Why, yes, David, but I don’t need a fucking server. I need a Dell 700m that will fucking do what I want it to do, without having to rewrite the OS as I go.
My spleen isn’t directed at you. But I’ve spent too much of life recently fucking around with operating systems. At my age, I don’t have that time to waste. I want them like my cars – turn the key and go.
Bill, I hear you. I’m a software engineer. I don’t do sys admin stuff any more, except at gunpoint. I can cope with Linux. But if you want a full taste of the hell that awaits the unwary, try BSD administration. That shit ain’t funny.
My problem with non-Unix systems is I turn the key and go, and then fifty feet down the road one of the pistons comes flying out the engine block.
Yes, but David, but to start to really torture the analogy, for your purposes you’re putting a Chevy into a job that demands a Ferrari. I won’t work on a Ferrari, though I used to work on TR-3s. But these days, Chevies do a pretty good job. I’ve had Windoze installs that basically never crashed.
Hey Bill, did you try GNUcash before dumping Linux? I just set it up for myself a few days ago, but haven’t really jumped into it. Anything I should watch out for? I’m only using it to track my personal finances, not anything fancy.
Just enough to find I didn’t like it very much. Why? Well, while it would connect with some banks, the process was cumbersome and drawn out. Also, it enforces double entry bookkeeping, which I don’t need or want.
I use Quicken in a highly integrated manner. Over the years, I have refined things to the point where even the most complicated operations are a matter of a few clicks. It takes me about twenty minutes to do and file my taxes – all my categories for filing purposes are set in stone – and my taxes are somewhat complicated, what between various separate income streams, investments, notes and loans, and deductible expenses. I file a Schedule C every year. I also autopay all of my recurring bills right out of Quicken. Nothing that runs on Linux can do that for me.
I realize that I can get some of this here, some there, and some somewhere else, but some I can’t get anywhere but Quicken, and nobody gives me the full one-stop financial integration that I’ve established over the years with Quicken.
The key point about Bill’s preference for Quicken is, it works for him. Doesn’t matter if ProductX has every one of Quicken’s feature on a checklist and also freshens your breath, Quicken works for him and ProductX doesn’t.
It’s really too bad this is a deal-breaker so far as Linux is concerned. Maybe next year.
I was just mostly just curious if there were red flags I need to look out for. Doesn’t sound like there are any.