Windows, It Seems, Ain't Easy

NewsForge: Once Again, I Delay a Switch to Windows

"Like all computer users other than a few free software zealots and Mac addicts, I secretly prefer Windows to all other desktop operating systems. I run Linux only out of cheapness and an old-hippie desire to 'stick it to The Man.' But lately Microsoft has started to embrace open source so lovingly that in a gesture of support for their new open-mindedness I was ready to dump Linux on my two daily-use computers and install Windows instead. Then another Windows security hole popped up. Darn! Once again, it looks like I'm stuck with free, reliable, secure Linux, at least for the next year or two.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The biggest problem with Linux is boredom. You install your distribution, you set it up and tweak it until it works the way you like it, and after that--nothing..."

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Mad Penguin: Switching to Windows: Not as Easy As You Think

"This is the way the world of Linux ends. Not with a whimper, but with a bang.

"I grew up on a Unix command-line. BSD, I believe. I have dim memories of dialing up on a black and green Wyse50 terminal, sending e-mail with 'mail', reading newsgroups and playing Nethack in all its ASCII glory. I even became rather adept at vi. I was happy, ecstatic even, wrapped all snug and safe in my warm, green world of text and terminal beeps. But my friends all had 'IBM clones', and as I grew, so too did the technology. My early youth was tinged in the stark, cyan tones of CGA. My preteens were illustrated in glorious EGA, and as I came of age, so too did the startling, varied hues of SVGA. But I get ahead of myself. As a child, we did play games, primitive games, on these 'IBM clones'. Bolderdash, Centipede, Double-Dragon, Golden Axe. But no computer game could compare to the imagination of a ten-year-old boy! And so for the better part of my youth I remained shrouded by the eerie, flickering glow of scrolling text. My first experience with a 'Graphical User Interface' was an X-terminal. Then it was Red Hat Linux all the way, until Ubuntu walked itself onto my desktop nearly a year ago... and there things should have ended. ..."

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Related Stories:

• NewsForge: Windows Rapidly Approaching Desktop Usability(Jun 01, 2005)
• ZDNet: Microsoft to Buy Red Hat? Say It Ain't So(May 17, 2005)
• Humorix: Microsoft Issues Warning Against April Fool's Day Jokes(Apr 01, 2005)
• Wired: The Microsoft Memo(Jan 26, 2005)