My 5 Minute Review of MS Windows 7.

So yesterday I started playing with virutalbox and for some odd reason decided to try out MS Windows 7 in it. Actually, I do know why I was trying it out. First, I've heard alot of great reviews for it even from Linux users and was curious. In addition, it was suppose to have lower resource usage then Vista (which I've never used) and wanted to see how true all of this was. Finally, another reason to giving MS Windows 7 a test run was that I'm sure my wife would be eventually using it and I would inevitably be supporting it to some degree.

So, all this being said, here is my 5 minute review of MS Windows 7.

The Good
The installer has been simplified, which make Windows just as easy to install as most Linux distros. Good job Microsoft for doing some catching up. In general, it did seem to run "lighter" then even MS Windows XP. Finally, I like the KDE4 look and feel.

The Bad
The task bar. It's too big. I can't tell the difference between the quick start laucher icons and the minimized windows icons. Actually, I think if you launch a quick start app you don't get a new task. Minimized windows are icon only, no text. This made things frustrating because I wasn't familiar with the icons. I couldn't find an option to change this. Finally, I tried to install AVG anti-virus and it wouldn't install.

Well, that's pretty much all I had time for. If I'm bored I may boot up the WM again and get back to you with something a little more in depth.

The Application Named After Me.

There's a Jared application. It's used to edit MS Windows registry. Okay, I wish it did something cooler, but I'll take what I can get.

Wixi - A Personal Desktop Wikipedia

I've just discovered this great application wixi. It's a personal wikipedia you keep on your desktop. It comes in handy when you're creating documentation or trying to organize notes. It breaks out entries by pages which can be exported to html for web publishing. Pages can be easily be organized and viewed at a glance with a tree structure layout in a left hand column. The best feature is the search function. You're quickly and easily able to search through your documentation and notes.


Wixi is available for Linux, MAC OS X and that other OS. If you're using Ubuntu, you won't find it in the repos, but never fear, it's easy to install.

First install the dependencies:
sudo apt-get install python-wxgtk2.8 pysqlite



Then download wixi from here and unzip the package.
unzip wixi-1.03-src.zip

Then go into the newly created directory and install.
cd wixi-1.03/
sudo python setup.py install

Now you're good as gold. Just type "wixi" in a terminal or if you're using KDE press alt+F2 for the run dialog box.

When you start wixi for the first time you'll be asked to create a new database where all your information will be stored. Just type the name for your database and you're done.


Click "ok" and start using wixi. Visit the wixi homepage for more information.

Enjoy!




How many Linux Users are There?

Net Applications recently published there results of users by operating system. According to them, 0.81% of computer users use Linux. They say they are not counting servers and embedded systems such as TiVo or cell phones. Net Applications are WAY OFF on their statistics and here is why.

Net Applications gather their information by internet activity to sites they track. They do not track the entire Internet (that would be impossible), so the sites they track may not be of interest to most Linux users. Also, most Linux users are very security aware and 'disguise' their web browsing so that they are anonymous or browsing in another operating system. This could definitely skew Net Applications' results.

Net Applications does admit that Linux is growing quickly. They even show that Linux usage has more then doubled since January 2007. I actually believe that that statistic is very optimistic. Linux is growing quickly and has been for sometime, but I think Apple has had tons of growth as of late, thanks the iPod.

So how many Linux users are out there? Well, W3Schools estimates about 3.4%.
Which I think is closer to the actual market share numbers, though I would guess slightly higher, more towards 4%. Why would I guess that? Because of some of the reasons listed in my argument against Net Applications. With the recent success of Apple, I would estimate their market share slightly higher, about 5-7%. This leaves Microsoft sitting around 89-91%. Now I dare you to tell me that they are not a monopoly? Wal-mart doesn't even come that close in market share in their respective market.

So what are the actual numbers. Well, Microsoft says they have about 1 billion users world wide, which is roughly 1/6th or 17% of the world's population. Mark Shuttleworth of Ubuntu claims 6 million users. Linux counter estimates 29 million Linux users and here is why. If my 4% of market share is accurate, then Linux users should be around 35-40 Million, way more then Net Applications' guess and of course I'm right. :)

If you're into statistics, here are some U.S. censuses results about computer and Internet usage.

Story of 3 MS Windows Users Trying Linux.

Story #1
I was talking with a guy I work with a few months ago about Linux and how wonderful and great it is, so he decided to try it on an older computer (about 1 Ghz P4) he had lying around. He said he thought the hard drive was bad because MS Windows exploded or something and it wouldn't reinstall Windows. He downloaded Ubuntu, placed the newly burned CD in the drive and to his amazement it installed and brought his computer back to life. He was impressed! That is until he tried to get online. For some reason he couldn't connect. I believe it was a DNS issue with his home network, because I had a similar issue. He went to the Ubuntu forums to try to resolve the network problem. He quickly received a reply but he didn't understand it. At work the next day, he told me of his experience and professed how Linux sucks if it can't even auto-configure his network. I voluteered to go to his home and fix it for him, I assured him it was probably something simple and could fix it in just a few minutes. He told me not to bother because Linux sucks..... yada, yada, yada.

Comments:

So, let me get this straight:
1) You have a computer that will not install Windows for whatever reason.
2) Linux does install on it
3) There is a network problem, which I could easily fix, but you don't want me to (because Linux sucks).
4) So instead, you'd rather have the computer gather dust in the corner, then have it fixed in 5 minutes and be a powerful, useful tool.

Does this make any sense at all to anyone?

The guy I work with said he just tried Linux because it was free, but didn't like it because it didn't work. He said if Linux worked just like Windows, ran Windows programs then he would use it. Basically he was looking for a free Windows, which Linux is not. It's been my experience that those looking for a free Windows, just pirate it or only give Linux half a look. Linux is not Windows. Windows does somethings better then Linux (like games, and some hand holding, etc), but Linux also does somethings better then Windows (Freedom, and control over your system, no viruses and spyware, etc). They also both have their problems. I think they are both easy to use.

Now, I'll also say that this guy has problems with Microsoft and Windows, because he has complained about them, but he seems to tolerate it. Yet when it came to a very minor issue with Linux, he considered it trash and he won't put up with it and goes back to MS Windows!

Story #2
This story comes from a blog. http://www.pcmech.com/article/an-idiots-tale-of-choosing-a-linux-distro/

This guy wasn't too excited about Vista and I guess had some problems with it, so a friend at work encouraged him to try Linux.

At first he was blown away by all the choices of Linux distributions out there, but like a trooper he tried a few to see which worked best for him.

He tried Ubuntu and Kubuntu, but had problems configuring his video resolution correctly. He did comment that he liked KDE better then Gnome. Next he tried Linspire/Freespire, and he liked that it supported commercial applications, but somethings didn't install right and he had the same video problems he had with the Ubuntus (or is it Ubunti). This really isn't a surprise because Linspire/Freespire is based off of Ubuntu. Finally, he tried PCLinuxOS, and thought it was okay. His video worked great, so he left us saying he'd give it a go.

Comments:

First off, people need to realize that many times the hardware problems with Linux, is not Linux's fault. Most manufactures make it difficult for Linux users to have hardware drivers, leaving the Linux community to come up with their own drivers. So yes, not everything works perfectly with Linux, but most does. In fact probably 80-90% does. Not too bad for not having help from most hardware manufactures. That's quite an accomplishment and those developers should get major kudos for all they do.

Second, Windows users are not use to choice. This guy freaks out because there are too many choices, as opposed to Windows where there are two choices now, Vista with some features and Vista with all of its features. Isn't choice good?

This reminds me of a friend I had who was visiting from China and was in America for the first time. When he went to the grocery store he was blown away with all the choices he had in cereal. At first he was overwhelming but then he came to appreciate the fact that there was more then 3 types of cereal.

I admire this guy for trying different distros, though he only really tried two, since all but PCLinuxOS were Ubuntu variants. But PCLinuxOS, worked for him and he's going to give it a fair shake. I hope?

Story #3
This story also comes from a blog. http://scitech.teambio.org/2007/09/18/windows-guy-takes-ubuntu-gutsy-to-work/

This guy is a Windows systems admin and tries Ubuntu Gusty which is currently in alpha, so not really stable. He attempts to see if he could do his job with Linux instead of Windows. I think a very fair challenge. To summarize, he succeeds, but with some work arounds and tweeks.

Comments:
This guys story was very interesting and I enjoyed seeing how he worked about various issues. This guy knew what he was doing and knew how to research to find solutions to his problems, the sign of a good admin. His one problem with Internet Explorer running on Linux with the address bar, could be resolved by using an older versions of wine. I had the same issue and it took some digging to find the anwser. All in all I admire this guy for giving Linux a fair shake.

Conclusion:

I believe most people have some issues with Windows. Most people don't like paying for and constantly updating and scanning their computers with anti-virus and anti-spyware programs. Vista seems to have driver problems. And there's other issues, but most Windows users just put up with it, mostly because they don't know they have any other choice and Microsoft likes that. People need to know they have a choice.

I hope these guys in story #2 and 3 stick with it, because if they do it won't take long that they will feel just as comfortable with Linux as they do with Windows. I've been using Linux for nearly 7 years now and I'm now at the point that I don't feel comfortable with Windows anymore. I have trouble navigating around or knowing how to configure settings. I wish Windows was more like Linux, because to me Linux is easier. Maybe I should take a similar challenge to guy #3 and see if I could get my job done with Windows. It's all about preference and what you know, I guess.

You Never Forget Your First.

It's been nearly ten years since I bought my first computer back in 1998. It was an Acer desktop (where are those now) with an AMD k6-2 333 mhz Processor, with a whopping 64 mb of RAM and a 4 GB Hard Drive running Windows 98. When I purchased this computer I didn't understand anything about computers. I had no idea what processor speed was or what RAM was, I completely had to trust the salesman that he was giving me a fair deal. I now know that that was a decent computer for it's time.

Of course, computers have been around long before 1998, I grew up with a computer in our home for most of my life, but I never used it. Computers never interested me. They seemed crude and undesirable. I didn't see a need for them, but in 1998 the internet boom was in full swing and I liked the idea of email and having so much information at my finger tips. This computer was the first computer I bought with my own money and the first time I had an email account. From almost the beginning of having this computer I wanted to make it do as much as possible. I soon upgrade my system to 128 mb of RAM and to a 20 GB Hard Drive and I also bought a 2X CD-Rewritable. I thought at the time that I had the ultimate system.

Later Windows ME came out and I upgraded to that, which was the beginning of the end for my Windows days. Things started to go wrong, my CD-Rewriter won't always be detected and I had problems with my sound when I played a CD. It was on this computer in the spring of 2001 that I put Red Hat 7.1 on my little Acer, just 2 1/2 years later after enter the computer age.

I built a new computer later that year, but kept my Acer as a test computer. In the summer of 2004 after 6 years of loving service I sold my Acer for $80. I felt so dirty. You never really forget your first. I have fond memories of this computer, it will always be special.

What was your first? I'd like to hear your story.

My Affair with Ubuntu

My first experience with Linux was Red Hat 7.0. At the time I didn't really know anything else existed, in my eye Red Hat was Linux. Two things were frustrating for me during these early exploration days, no automounting and installing applications. For the life of me I couldn't access my CD-ROM or floppy drive and the mount command was confusing to me. Installing applications beyond what was available on the Red Hat CDs wasn't going to happen. At the time, I dual booted Red Hat and Windows 98. Spending most of my time in Windows and occassionally experiementing in Linux.

It didn't take me long to discover that there was more out there then Red Hat. Mandrake (now Mandriva) caught my eye early on, so I installed 8.0 and I felt much more comfortable with Linux. When I stuck a CD-ROM in my drive, an icon appeared on the desktop which allowed me to easily access and view all the data on the CD. Though I could still only install applications from the Mandrake CDs, it seemed to me at the time that Mandrake had a sufficently large repository of applications, more so than Red Hat.

I stayed with Mandrake for a long time, up to ver 10.2. During this time, my distaste for Windows grew and I became more and more relaxed with Linux. Linux in general seemed to mature quickly. It was like riding a rollercoaster, I loved it. I eventually removed my Windows partition and was ready for Linux full time.

After Mandrake, I tried several other distros and had significant affairs with Suse, Mepis and PCLinuxOS. They all seemed like the ideal distro for me in the beginning, but like most flirtations, the honeymoon ended quickly. Now don't get me wrong, these distributions are great, I would still recommend these to any new Linux user, but "challenges" seemed to crop up slowly which caused me to divert my attention elsewhere. Suse's YaST was slow and at the time they didn't seem to support particular and necessary formats such as mp3's and encrypted DVDs. Mepis came along and satisfied my urges with multimedia, which at the time was like a passionate romp in the hay and had me declaring it the "Perfect Distro". Mp3's and encrypted DVDs were no problem and it was my first experience with apt-get (synaptic) which made my legs quiver. But the starry-eyed lover lost me when updates began breaking my system and no one messes with my system. PCLinuxOS had longer legs then Mepis and looked sexy in a mini-skirt. PCLinuxOS made my bones melt. Everything lacking in every other distro I tried, PCLinuxOS had and more. I'll admit that my break up with PCLinuxOS was for very petty reasons. Texstar is awesome, but he's one guy I wanted some of the lastest and greatest packages and I wanted them now. Texstar tried but he just couldn't put out.

I tried for a long time to ignore the harlot Ubuntu. I gave into the pressure and found a motel for that South Africian seductress and we did the unmentionable and I liked IT. Yeah, that sudo thing is annoying but Ubuntu is hot and I quickly got use to it. She's stable, she plays with the lastest and greatest and her community assets are HUGE. There are documents, helps, wikis, books and more. I've been riding Ubuntu for just over a year now and I have to say, anytime I've needed help, there has been a tutorial, how-to or help giving me step by step instructions everytime. The instructions have been specific, easy to follow and worked every time and I do some freaky things.

My eyes have yet to wander from Ubuntu. Nothing else seems to attract me. Ubuntu satisfies me like no other distro has. I see a long and happy relationship here, in fact there maybe a bun in the oven developing. I'm working on a specialized distro based on Ubuntu-server. More to come on that.

Some Random Links

Here is a great rant for those who don't give Linux a fair shake.
http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2007/08/20/howto-leave-ubuntu/

And free 'Free Software' stickers. Enjoy!
http://raro.oreto.inf-cr.uclm.es/apps/stickers/

50 Reasons (but not all valid)

This is my response to a blog titled '50 Reason to Dump Windows' which can be found here:
http://www.linuxhaxor.net/2007/08/13/50-reasons-to-dump-windows/

Below is the list with my comments, (I'm a Linux advocate, but I'll try to be fair):

Windows is Expensive.
-Definitely a true statement.

Windows crashes more often than Linux ever will. (Windows BSOD) (Linux Kernel Panic).
-Maybe, I haven't seen significant proof of the this, but I do think that Linux is easier to recover from a crash than Windows.

Windows Task manager is not half as cool as Linux Htop.
-Htop is pretty cool.

Windows Notepad is not 1/1000th as cool as linux vi.
-Note: they do develop vi for Windows.

Microsoft office for windows is not free. Openoffice, which was originally developed for *nix platform is free on all platforms that it supports.
-ok.

Windows Terminal vs Linux Terminal. No comments, see for yourself what you can do.
-Very true!

Windows is not friendly towards Linux installations on a separate partition.
-True, but how is this relevant. Windows user could care less. This is a reason 'Not to use Windows?'

The release of Windows Vista comes more than five years after the introduction of its predecessor, Windows XP, making it the longest time span between two releases of Microsoft Windows.
-ummmmm?

Internet Explorer is prone to vulnerabilities more than any other mainstream web browser.
-Note: They do make other browsers that run on Windows. This may be a reason not to use IE.

Microsoft Windows still looks the same. (95 98 2000 2003 XP Vista Longhorn).
-No more different then different version of KDE or GNOME or other.

Windows in owned by profit hungry corporation with little hope of innovation.
-Profit Hungry.. yes. Is that necessarily bad... no. The way they conduct business...yeah, pretty bad. Microsoft not innovative...true. I believe the open source model does provide a greater opportunity for more innovation, but I think Apple has been fairly innovative, not following the OS model.

Linux is for people by people.
-Yes.

It is legal to share linux, not so with windows.
-Yes

Linux is not tied down by one look, like windows, you can choose several looks; ie, KDE, GNOME, fluxbox. To name a few.
-There are other desktops and Window Managers for Windows but not very common or reliable.

Linux hardware requirement is so minimum you can run most current popular linux distro on a ten year old hardware, try that with windows vista.
-Yes, but not with current versions of KDE or GNOME. Less user friendly WM's like Fluxbox, Windows Maker, etc.... sure.

Viruses are few and far between.
-As far as I know, ZERO 'in the wild' viruses.

Linux faces open standard unlike windows, and so a system update won’t make any programs or systems obsolete.
-What are you talking about?

Linux can be configured by the user.
-What!? Very limited as it should be.

Linux can be customized by the user.
-What!? Very limited as it should be.

Linux can be built from scratch by the user, (if you are programmer and know how to).
-You don't even need to be a programmer. Linux from Stratch and others.

Linux doesn’t hog system in default installation like windows do.
-ummmmm?

Linux gives you the freedom to choose application/hardware unlike windows.
-What!? You can't chose what application or hardware to use in Windows? That's new to me.

Most top linux distros are updated every six months.
-Some.

High quality support are available for free online, in the form of HOWTOs, forum, e-books, wikis.
-Yeah, they have the samething for Windows, but the community is definitely more informed.

Support of linux won’t be discontinued, like windows 98 in not supported by Microsoft anymore.
-Older versions of Linux are not supported.

*nix has been around for more than 35 years, and is well tested and as secure as possible.
-This could get ugly because I know how some feel about this. LINUX IS NOT UNIX! I some might disagree and that's your right.

No licensing fees for linux.
-Yep!

Linux is more secure.
-YES! Definitely.

You won’t have to upgrade your computer hardware in order to switch to the newer version of linux.
-True.

Linux is capable of operating on a wide variety of platforms (i.e., processor and system types), rather than just being limited to Intel-compatible processors and computers.
-True. :)

Government security agencies use Linux over windows; SElinux is an example of dedication towards Linux.
-ok

Linux doesn’t have Backdoors like windows do.
-Anything can be hacked, Unless it's unplugged, bury 20 feet in the ground and covered in cement.. then maybe.

Development and popularity on linux platform encourages competition and perhaps whatever innovation that window has.
-ok

Linux doesn’t need to defragment HD.
-Windows XP and Vista, don't really require this.

Ext3 and other linux file system is better than ntfs.
-I agree.

Google runs on Linux, there is a reason for that. Think.
-Think. Google may not be the ideal model.

Apache on linux hosts more websites than IIS on windows.
- Yeah, unfortunately IIS is still gaining in market share. Apache can run on Windows also. Is this 50 reasons to use Apache?

Apache is more secure than IIS.
-Yes. Apache can run on Windows also. Is this 50 reasons to use Apache?

Firefox is far more advanced/secure than Microsoft IE. Even though you can run Firefox in windows it doesn’t provide the secure platform that linux provides and are open to attacks/exploits that firefox on linux aren’t.
-ummmmmm?

Linux has superior network and system management.
-Sure

Linux is also supported by IBM, HP, Novell.
-Ok. Novell also support Microsoft.

Linux is reliable.
-Yep.

Linux doesn’t discourage running virtual machine like windows.
-?????? VMware?

Linux is the de-facto OS for security forensics.
-I don't know anything about that.

There is a reason why Apple switched to *nix; OSX is the defining example of what you can do with *nix. It has reached such a point that Microsoft is copying ideas from apple/OSX, again.
-One more time. LINUX IS NOT UNIX! geez! I'm ok. Though that was a good move on Apple's part.

There is no “service packs”. There are updates.
-ok.

If you think Linux doesn’t provide eye candy like windows does, think again. Two words, Beryl and Compiz!!!
-Linux eye candy is way better, man.

There is nothing you can do in windows that you can’t do in linux, not the other way around.
-I agree. It may not be easier, but true.

If you are stuck with the looks of windows you can switch to linux and still use the same looks. ie, Linspire.
-yeah, but why? I've seen a way to make Windows look like Ubuntu.

Last but not least. Linux is FREE.
-True, as in Freedom right?