I can’t tell for sure, but I think I may have become a little bit anti-Windows(r).
This time last year I had two computers, a desktop which is an AMD Athlon 3000+ running Windows XP Professional and a Sony Vaio 2.4 Ghz P4 which ran Windows XP Home painfully slow. I attribute the slowness to the fact that the whopping 40GB hard drive spun at a resounding 4200 rpm. Not fast enough to keep up. I upgraded it to 2gb of RAM which helped very little.
Now, I find myself surrounded by a pleasent ambiance of Mac. Let me explain my desktop setup. It has recently been the topic of conversation by some family visitors to the house.
Farthest to my left (within reach) is a 15″ 2.16 Ghz MacBook Pro (Intel) which handles alot of my iTunes needs when I am not traveling. Sometimes I will let it run Skype if I am participating in a Skypecast or interview so I can multitask on this machine.
Next to that is a Dell 19″ LCD Monitor which displays (using the DVI) a larger version of the MacBook pro desktop. When switched to analog mode it displays the ever heart-wrenching Windows XP display from the Athlon machine mentioned above. Truth is, I hardly ever turn that one on, partly because the on-board video chipset fan is going bad and it whines until I stop and start the fan a few times. Also one if its three hard drives died recently, an older 20GB. I built this machine, and am sad to see it falling apart. That fan is almost impossible to find since it’s for the on-board video I don’t use.
Next to this monitor is my 20″ Intel iMac. This is the machine I use primarily, and the one I am using to write this. If you had told me a year ago that I would be a Mac enthusiast, I’d have called you silly. Now, I am eating my hypothetical words. It has taken some adjusting, but I am in a position now that I absolutely love my Mac. There are a few programs I wish existed for the mac (Picasa and Filezilla, namely) although I have found alternatives (picasa exporter for iphoto and cyberduck), but other than that the sheer uptime and reliability is worth millions to me. I rarely restart it, just put it to sleep. I have found myself increasingly impatient when I turn my Windows machine on since bootup takes forever.
To the right of that machine is that older Sony Vaio laptop I mentioned earlier.
It’s running Edubuntu.
And runs it very well. I don’t have wireless for it at the moment (wife’s laptop uses the NetGear card) but it serves well as a backup.
I am considering a new primary hard drive for the “big” machine (the Athlon 3000+) and a fresh install of Ubuntu. I would have to make sure I could still boot into Windows occasionally without having to connect and disconnect cables, but it is an option still.
Ok, all that said, recently two different people have asked my opinion about new computer purchases. Assuming I await the new Best Buy ad with bated breath, they wanted to know what machine from a big box store would be the best for their purposes.
Being the geek that I am, I managed to covince the first couple to seriously consider a mac (education discount, anyone?), and I am going to install Ubuntu linux on the other couple’s machine, potentially saving them the cost of a new PC and breathing new life into that old machine.
Does this make me anti-Windows (r)? With Vista coming out, I have no computer capable of running it, and no desire to do so. I like the near-zero threat of viruses and spyware/malware. I like reliability and uptime. I like that my machines (save for the Windows one, but naturally that is hardware, not software) “just work”.
So why am I steering folks away from Microsoft? It is not for any philosophical reason, I don’t claim to know much about either company’s business practices, I guess I am just a bit of a pragmatist in the narrow definition that I just like to help folks find stuff that works.
It saves me the phone calls during dinner when they can’t figure out why they’re all of a sudden getting thousands of pop-ups.
Anything I can do to avoid being someone’s personal (and assumed free) tech support is worth a lot. It gives me more time to talk to you, and I enjoy that.
Update: I accidentally mentioned that folks think I await the Best Buy ad with baited breath, when in fact I should have said bated. Thankfully, the grammarcops only gave me a warning this time. Thanks, grammarcop!
Miguel Guhlin says:
I’m going with a new laptop, but loading ubuntu edgy linux on it…exclusively. Let’s see how long that lasts.
Miguel
1st January 2007 at 6:08 pm
David Gerard says:
Edgy is pretty good. If it hiccups or gives trouble, drop back to Dapper, which has older stuff but is still supported. The live CD for each should give you a good idea how they support your laptop hardware. Check the forums for other people with the same model laptop too, in case of gotchas.
1st January 2007 at 12:08 pm
stik mig så den staveplade » Blog Archive » vreden mod windows breder sig says:
[...] Have I become anti-Windows(r)? [...]
1st January 2007 at 2:01 pm
grammarcop says:
Good article. I love Linux and FreeBSD, and I believe in Free Software, but I must admit I keep looking at Macs with lust in my heart. They have all the polish that Linux lacks. Windows isn’t even in the same class as Mac/Linux/BSD, hasn’t ever been, and never will be.
A small nit: unless you were deliberately punning, it’s “bated” breath.
1st January 2007 at 2:14 pm
Martin says:
I would say you have become Un-Windows, not Anti-Windows. you are in the same place as I; you can take it or leave it. The fact you can leave it most of the time is co-incidental.
I was Anti-Windows until i bought my iMac 2 years ago. I also have a Macbook for travelling. I still have the clunky old thing which now dual-boots Fedora and XP (SP1, not SP2). I feel a sense of distaste when I have to use XP, and I turn it off again as soon as I can. (Yes, I use Parallels on the Macbook).
Now I am Un-Windows. Vista? Don’t care. Viruses? Not a problem. Crashes? One or two.
MArtin
1st January 2007 at 4:04 pm
Brian says:
Hi I would suggest instead of dual booting to try running XP under VMware Server (its free).
Installing it under ubuntu is easy:
0: sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential xinetd
1: download and extract VMware Server
2: sudo ./vmware-install.pl
3: Accept all defaults
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=183209
Cheers!
1st January 2007 at 5:17 pm
LinuxGuy says:
I started off by “saving myself tech support” and “breathing life into old machines”. I did this for a few people a couple of years ago with no business ambitions whatsoever. When their machines died (HD crash) I have received the ultimate shock – they want me to build them Linux systems, they INSIST on having a BRAND NEW Linux system!
1st January 2007 at 5:48 pm
Chris says:
I know exactly what you mean, I bought a mac mini a few months ago and it’s now the only system we use at home. At work, I develop software with Visual Studio, and I must say I miss my mac continuously!
I used to use Ubuntu exclusively at home, and my wife used XP, but since the Mac, we have both been using only MacOSX. The other PC has just been standing there, doing nothing.
1st January 2007 at 6:41 pm
Miguel Guhlin says:
Great tip on the VMWare! I’m going to plan on doing that. Here’s the laptop I’m going to run with ubuntu edgy (or dapper if edgy is too out there):
http://www.mguhlin.net/archives/2006/12/entry_2453.htm
Thanks,
Miguel
1st January 2007 at 9:05 pm
ansak says:
I’m also planning an at-home machine for working at a mostly-Windows shop and appreciate the VMWare tip.
LinuxGuy: “INSIST on having a BRAND NEW Linux system!”, eh? interesting…ank
1st January 2007 at 3:52 pm