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"Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."

Windows Live Writer

I give this thread 1 more page...at most.

Well, this thread was good while it lasted...

theshadguy wrote:

Okay, so everyone here probably has their favorite operating system. I’d say that’s a given.

In the sense that one has a favorite OS like one has a favorite tape measure, sure.

theshadguy wrote:

So my first question is Why do you love your choice so much? What makes it so much better than MY choice or someone else’s choice?

I know Windows well. I can count on it to run most applications. It's skinnable.

It's also not as "mousy" as OS X and I don't have to edit arcane config files like I do in Linux.

theshadguy wrote:

Why won’t you use anything else? Is it cost, or support, or morals or more obviously form and functionality?

Well, I do. On my box at home I have VMWare Server installed and I use three virtual machines mostly: Xubuntu 6 and two MediaWiki virtual appliances built on Ubuntu that I use for working on story ideas.

theshadguy wrote:

And my second question would be what would it take for you to drop your current choice for something else?

To switch to Linux, I'd have to be assured all my peripherals work. I'd also have to be assured that the software I choose to install works like it should. And it has to look good. I've tried going to a Linux desktop two or three times and I usually come back to Windows because the fonts are so smooth and crisp.

theshadguy wrote:

What features in an operating system could possibly make you want it so bad that you’d switch and never come back?

That it runs both proprietary and open source applications, easily scriptable and lets me use my machine the way I want to use it (no DRM, no forcing certain drivers on me because other, higher-quality drivers don't adhere to a rigid philosophy). Other than that, good support (officially or through Internet forums) and good community.

Love the avatar, BTW.

I've read through an issue of Fast Company a long time ago, awhile after the dot com bust. While the theme of the issue was creativity, there was this whole sense of fear running through it because of China's ascendancy. I think at one point in that issue it said something like, "Prepare to work extra hours every day if you want to stay ahead of the Chinese."

That's the only issue I ever read.

eagle wrote:

I think you need to buy a MAC

I hear those run Vista pretty well.

corona_coder wrote:

Ray6 wrote: With the OLPC project picking up steam and the Asus eePC selling like hot cakes, Ars Technica asks if Microsoft is starting to feel the heat from the Linux fire.

Microsoft is done in the OS business, why do you think they are trying to break into other businesses.

Oops