The name of my pain is – Windoze
The name of my pain
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So I’m under the gun to get my next Middleboro Gazette column done, trying to rehearse for my next gig, and inundated at work. My wife – who is a very smart and careful computer user – gets this POS malware on her work laptop. The stuff apears to be rogue anti-virus software called Antivir Solutions. Every action you take launches a popup that says you have viruses and must buy their software. This stuff was a pain to remove. I tried several different web sites with removal instructions and finally one that worked. This all came at a cost of about 3 hours of time I didn’t have to spend.
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After I got that squared away, I booted into my beloved Linux laptop just a few minutes ago. My Ubuntu update manager informed me of the pending updates – which included a security update for Firefox. Click, auto-download, auto-install, done. You poor Micro$oft Windoze users will never know the worry-free joy of browsing the web, clicking on links, and email attachments with having any fear that your next click will send you into virus hell. True that Windows is targeted more than Linux, but it’s also true that Windows just plain sucks and is insecure by design. Beyond being less targeted, more powerful, easier to install, easier to update, cheaper, just plain cooler, Linux software management is so far superior to windows it’s just ridiculous. On Windows, each application (Firefox, Thunderbird, GoogleEarth, is responsible for updating itself. Windows has it’s own mechanism for updating the base operating system – and screw everybody else. On my Ubuntu machine, all the installation and updates are centralized and automatic. In fact when the next version of Ubuntu is released, I’ll be presented with a button to update to it if I choose. Can you imagine clicking on a button that seamlessly updated you from Windows XP to Windows 7. FFC – Fat Frackin’ Chance.
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Did I mention that I hate Windows?
Themocracy
I agree that Linux is a superior product, but my neighbor had it installed on her laptop and I think she told me that she can’t access or see every website? Does that make sense to you? I thought html or xtml was standard and could be viewed in every browser. I have been considering a change to Linux, but need to understand the impacts of my changing over.
That use to be more true than it is today. Back when MS Internet Explorer had a 90+% share of the web browser market, web designers were using features that only worked in IE and Windows – specifically Active X controls. Nowadays I almost never hit a site that I can’t view. The other issue is audio/video formats. Some windows formats can be difficult but generally I never have a problem. I’d say that I can view about 99.9% of the sites I wish.
There are tradeoffs for using Linux – but on whole I personally find it to be a much better choice.
And there’s always Mac…
I’ve been dual-booting Slackware Linux and Windows on my desktop system here since Linux became available. Yesterday my “Smart” hard drive informed me that it was about to skip off into the sunset and take my data files with it. Not being one to ignore warnings, I backed up all my data and ran out to Staples for a new drive. I then made a decision — Linux only on my desktop.
It’s kinda like taking that last step at a nude beach, feeling naked and vulnerable, but that fades. Except for a few windows-centric applications, Linux has everything I need. Besides, I have a [spit] Vista laptop, and even one running Windows 98!
I just got Slackware 13.1 64-bit via Bittorrent and it should be great. If I were new to Linux I would use Ubuntu or one of its many variations, but I’m an old fart, a clutch and stick, gimme a real oil pressure gauge not an idiot light kinda guy.
I like the security of Linux, not that a properly maintained Windows box can’t be secure, but Linux by its very nature makes me aware of security. When you can throw up the hood and smell the oil [oh,no, not another car reference!] it makes you get involved.
@When will they learn
I have this advice for anyone thinking of switching to Linux.
First – stay on Windows and switch over to applications that run on both Linux and Windows. Then you can see if you can live with that. For web browsers – Firefox or Google Chrome. Email – Thunderbird or maybe you already use your web browser to read mail. Instead of Microsoft Office go with OpenOffice. For photo management you might go with Picasa. For Instant Messaging – try Pidgin. For Internet telephony go with Skype. All of them are free. In short – identify what programs you use all the time and see if it runs on Linux or if there is an alternative that runs in Windows and Linux. Once you’re happy that you can get your computing done at the application level, check to see if your hardware is supported under linux. Google for your printer name and Linux, or your computer name and Linux, or your digital camera name and Linux and see if those devices seem to work.
Linux will work with a vast array of hardware right out of the box. On occasion I’ve had difficulty with wireless on laptops though not in a few years. I could imagine one of these fancy all-in-one printer/scanner/faxes being difficult to get working on Linux though I’ve never owned one. Once you do switchover, you will have no difficulty getting hardware to work so long as you just check up front that the device you’re buying is compatible – and probably more than 90% of them are.
Now you can get a version of Linux like Ubuntu. When you boot into it, it will run off the CD initially so you can sanity check your hardware, internet connection, etc. Providing your existing hard drive is not more than 1/2 full, you can even re-partition the disk, keep Windows and install Linux on the new partition. This gives you the option to boot back into Windows for that one web site that won’t work or that one application you can’t live without.
Some of the biggest applications that won’t work on Linux are iTunes, Quicken/QuickBooks, and most computer games. Your iPod will work – you just won’t be able to buy stuff off of iTunes and you’ll need another music management application. I haven’t found a music management application that runs on both Windows and Linux – though I just saw one called “Clementine” that looks pretty good.
So that’s my advice – switch to cross-platform applications, check your hardware compatibility, and then go for it. You’ll never look back. And I’ll can help you get over the bumps.
You had it right when you said “Some of the biggest applications that won’t work on Linux are iTunes, Quicken/QuickBooks”. I like Linux, and if you only use your computer for writing and surfing it’s great. If you do other things with your computer, you need Windows. Most of the hundreds of versions of Linux are great, to bad you can’t get a lot software to run on them.
Do you log into you Linux system as root? Many windows users have the administrator rights on their system. This prevents some of the protections in Windows from working, just as it would in Linux. I recommend separate “working” and “installing” logins for all systems.
@Bob
Linux can do a whole lot more than “writing and surfing”. I record and edit audio, rip mp3′s, convert various audio/video formats into other audio/video formats, burn CD’s and DVD’s, run a small business, and lots more. The only thing I use Windows for is recording TV and editing video and I could do that on Linux as well if I had a TV tuner/Video capture card and cable connection running to it.
I wouldn’t use iTunes even if I used Windows. If someone is really invested in buying stuff directly from iTunes you’d have a problem. I have music players on Linux that blow the doors off of iTunes IMO from the standpoint of managing a music library and playing music. Quicken is definitely one of the big problems.
The person who should switch to Linux is a person who is really sick of Windows insecurity. Linux will give you control of your computing life and introduce you to a Universe of free software. It WILL require time and effort and it’s up to each person to decide if the benefits outweigh the cost/effort.
As someone else, Macs will give you all of that plus commercial software providing you don’t mind the vendor lock in you get with Mac and the premium price you pay for their computers.
Compared to Microsoft, I’d take Apple in a heartbeat. As a Linux user, Apple is on my sh*t list because they have taken much from the opensource community and returned little that is usable to me as a Linux user – specifically iTunes and QuickTime. They have never(to my knowlege) produced an application for the Linux platform. That makes them useless to me.